More Summer Activities

 I finally updated our travel map with current pictures of the places we've been. And the kids and I enjoyed perfect day at the zoo. School was back in so we enjoyed it all alone. We also discovered the zoo has a splash pad!

With the perfect 70 degree weather we've been having the kids have once again spent tons of time outside. They called this new game "Dune Buggy Death Racing!"

Brad and the kids

I had 3 severely impacted wisdom teeth removed this month. It was something I was really dreading, because I've always hated dentists. And then I read about what surgery is like when you've waited more than 10 years too long. Getting them out was really the last thing I wanted to do, but I've had increasing amounts of pain from them for the last 5 years....so I finally did it. (What's amazing is that a few physical symptoms I've had the last 6 months have gone with those teeth. Apparently the roots had grown so long that they were messing with the fluid in my inner ear because I was dizzy nearly every time I stood up and I frequently had plugged up ears.) Brad and the kids were so amazing. They took care of themselves for over a week and let me lay in bed the whole time as I recovered. Brad even took the kids to work with him when he went to town and after a week he took Ruth and Will to El Paso with him! (Claire spent a lot of time watching TV those two days!) I really love and appreciate that they allowed me time to take care of myself and they did it happily!

 Buffet in El Paso and the beautiful mountains down there

Silver City

 We went with Brad on a work trip to Silver City. We stayed the weekend in an awesome cabin and enjoyed seeing the prettiest part of New Mexico.

 They have a cool downtown area and the best park we have ever been to, that's saying a lot since we've lived in six states and visited every playground in each of those areas and others that we've visited.

We also visited the Gila National Park, it's basically a smaller version of Mesa Verde. But we enjoyed the experience more because we got to walk through the cliff dwellings...and see a bunch of awesome lizards.

It was really nice to spend a weekend together, away from home.

Summer Fun

 Sprinklers on the trampoline and showing our team spirit during the Olympics!

 The kids went through a Gothic phase for about a week. They made a hall of screams by recording themselves screaming and playing it in a fort they built. Then they decorated with all sorts of monsters. I guess visiting the natural history museum with friends snapped it out of them!