It's gotten worse...

Ugh!! This morning when the kids went out to feed the bunny one of them is dead (although the kids are handling that pretty well)and the other two have been attacked. One was bitten in the face and her eye is swollen shut. She came out to eat and I've seen her cleaning it so I think I'll leave her alone until I see a change in her behavior. She gets really upset when we handle her and I don't think she needs that kind of stress right now.

Then this afternoon our a/c broke. I've already called to have that fixed, but man, this sucks. :0/

On a brighter note...I had promised the kids that if they kept their bedrooms clean for two months that they could have hamsters. Today I had to follow through on my end of the deal. Kirsten didn't want one but Addison and Wyatt both got hamsters and Abigail got a mouse. I made everyone get males because I don't want any extras. Well, it's quite obvious that the mouse is a male. Abigail asked what all that extra skin by his butt was. How do you explain to a girl what testicles are? Yikes!! I'm so not ready for all of this....

Back to the real world too soon

Life returns to it's normal self way too fast. The garage door got broken while we were gone and then Dax had to go get new tires on the truck today. When we went out to feed the bunnies, we found that two of them are missing. I'm afraid that something got them, but even if that's not how they got out of their hutch, there are too many wild animals around here for them to still be alive. Waahh! I wanna' go back on vacation. ;0)

Vacation Day Sixteen

Well, we're home!!! WooHoo!! On the way home Dax was kind enough to stop in Fredricksburg and let me shop. I LOVE that town. *giggle* I had mercy on them and cut my shopping short so that we could eat dinner and head home. It's so nice to get home and shower in my own shower and I look forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight too. There are some odd things going on here but I guess it's not so important. It's just good to be home.

Vacation Day Fifteen

We went back to Carlsbad Caverns today. It was great!! What a lot of walking that is. And, it was down right cold too. I think the kids enjoyed it right up until they got cold all the way through. I don't remember it being that cold the last time we were there, but Dax says it's because we had just gotten married and we were 'warm with love'. lol



Here's some of the wildlife we found at the cave entrance. Looks like a killer doesn't it?


We're staying in Ft. Stockton tonight. We decided to go ahead and drive a little farther than we had originally planned so that we won't have to on the road so long to get home tomorrow.

Vacation Day Fourteen

After we left Santa Fe our first stop today was Roswell. We went to the UFO Museum. The kids have recently developed an interest in UFO's so we thought they might enjoy it. I think they liked looking at the pictures and the displays but it requires a lot of reading which they didn't much want to do.


After we finished in Roswell we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. We got there too late to be able to go into any of the caves but we stayed to see the bats fly. It's just hard to comprehend how many there were even though we were there watching it. It's amazing. It's too bad that they won't let you take pictures of it.


We're staying in Van Horn which takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to but there really wasn't anything close that seemed decent.

In hopes of saving time tonight and since everything else was closed we went to Wendy's at a truck stop to pick up some dinner quickly. Well, after I placed our order a bus showed up and most of the people came in to get something to eat. At this same time the two people in charge went on break and just left three people to work and only one of them was cooking. Somewhere in all the confusion one of the computers went down and quit sending the orders to the cook. Unfortunately ours was one of those that got lost. It took 45 minutes to get our food. We would have been better off to go into a restaurant and have a sit-down dinner. I'm sure IHOP was open. lol

We'll be heading back to the Caverns tomorrow to go into the caves. I think the kids will like it.

Vacation Day Thirteen

We spent most of the day shopping today. It was a little disappointing because I didn't buy much, but I guess I don't know what I really wanted to buy. There wasn't much exciting that happened...oh, I did get the laundry done. lol

Oh, here's a tribute to my Indian name:


We're staying in Santa Fe again tonight and then tomorrow we're heading to Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns.

Vacation Day Twelve

Before we left Moab today we went to a chinese buffet for lunch. They were still getting things set up so we decided to just wait the few minutes it would take. While we were waiting all of a sudden we heard a dog yelping (coming from the kitchen) and then a few seconds later we heard a circular saw cutting something. Now, I know that it was not what it all sounded like (they were remodeling the front dining room) but when you hear all the talk about eating dog and then that happens it just really makes you a little nervous about eating. rofl

We did a lot of driving today. We stopped in Durango and played a round of putt-putt golf and then had lunch. It helped to break the trip up a little for the kids and they enjoyed the golf.

We're in Santa Fe tonight. I went to the laundromat to do some laundry while Dax and the kids went to the pool. The laundromat was already closed when I got there so I'll have to get up and go back in the morning. That's fine because the only thing on my agenda for tomorrow is shopping. WooHoo!! :0)

Besides, when I came back disappointed because I couldn't get the laundry done and out of the way, Dax took me Sonic and got me a caramel java chiller. That's enough for me to make everything alright. lol

Vacation Day Eleven

This morning we got up early and went horseback riding. It was really relaxing and peaceful and the scenery was beautiful. With that said, boy do our butts hurt!! lol






Here's a little tribute to my people:

After we finished with the ride we went to Arches National Park. That was kind of a spur of the moment decision but it was really pretty there. Although, the ride there was just long enough for our muscles to get good and tight. lol



This is balancing rock:


We decided to stay in Moab tonight. I couldn't get a good connection in order to book a room online and we didn't want to risk it. Although, the room we're in is a little scary. But, we went and had dinner at a local place and then did a little shopping. We were out at the pool but the mosquitoes were too bad so I guess we're in for the night.

Vacation Day Ten

Today we went to the 'planetarium'. It wasn't really much of a planetarium but we did watch a great 3D Imax movie about prehistoric sea monsters. We all really enjoyed that. Since the planetarium was a little disappointing we decided to go to the aviary. It wasn't very big but it was feeding time so we got to see some of the birds eating.

This is a golden eagle eating some other kind of bird:


This one is some kind of vulture feasting on a rat:


I saw a mama partridge with a bunch of little tiny babies following her. They were so cute!

There was a park next to the aviary so Kirsten and Abigial decided to ride on the ferris wheel. Kirsten didn't look too crazy about it once she was on there.


There was a lot of road construction is Salt Lake City and it took us at least 30 minutes to even get to a spot where we could get onto the highway. We're in Fruita, CO, tonight. We'll be going horseback riding tomorrow for 3 hours (I'm sure our butts will regret that.)

Vacation Day Nine

We went white water rafting today and it was a blast!!! The other people that we got paired with were a lot of fun too. There was a place along the river where the water was pretty calm and all of the kids jumped out into the river to float. I was impressed that they had the guts to do that. I like that they're willing to try new things. The trip was about 10 miles down the river and it was so relaxing.

After we finished with that we headed to a little diner to eat. The food wasn't important but for desert I had a lava fudge cake with icing. OMG!!! It was to die for! lol

Once we recovered from desert we made our way to Salt Lake City where we're spending the night tonight. We're staying in a Radisson and they upgraded us to a suite and it's really nice. The entire hotel is nice but our room is great. It's got a wet bar and a fire place. It would probably be really romantic if we weren't sharing the room with four kids.

Tomorrow we'll do a few things here and then head on down the road.

Vacation Day Eight

It was back to Yellowstone today. We took the route around the north side of the park because we wanted to go see some of the waterfalls. It's a long drive around but it sure is beautiful.



We stopped here and had a picnic lunch. It was Dax's favorite part because a bird in the tree pooped on my arm. *sigh* I thought he was never gonna quit laughing. lol

After lunch we were much higher in the mountains and there was still a lot of snow (over 6 feet in some places) so we stopped and let the kids play in it. (Although I only see one 'kid' with snow balls! :0) )



After we finished there we headed to Twin Falls. We're white water rafting tomorrow and we're all really looking forward to that.

Vacation Day Seven

Today we went to Yellowstone National Park. It's quite a haul from where we're staying but this is as close as we could get and still be in our price range. lol The hotel here is nice anyway. We've got a room big enough for everyone to have beds (nobody has to sleep on the floor) and we're on the first floor with a room that looks out onto the indoor pool so the kids don't have to go far. :0)

Anyway, about Yellostone. We saw a lot of buffalo today and they're so much bigger in person than they look in pictures...but here are some pictures anyway. lol



We spent most of the day around Old Faithful. It was awesome to watch.


This was a very important part of the day for the kids.





And we even did a little hiking.




I thought this was kind of scary though!

Just kidding....love ya babe!!
We ate dinner at Bullwinkle's in West Yellowstone. The food was really good but a little pricey I thought. And they don't have a kid's menu either. That's always a bummer.


We're going back to Yellowstone tomorrow.

Vacation Day Six

Today was mostly a day of driving so there wasn't a whole lot of activities. We ate lunch in Cheyenne at a place called the Tortilla Factory and then got on the road.


Along the way we stopped on the side of the road to take more pictures. :0)



As you can see our butts are getting tired of sitting. *giggle*


And we ate dinner at this place - but I'm not really sure where we were at the time. lol But the food was good!!


We're staying in Rexburg, ID, tonight and are planning to spend the next two days in Yellowstone.

Vacation Day Five

Look at the cuteness that was outside of our hotel room this morning.

Wow!! What a busy day we've had today. We started the day off by going to the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver. It was a neat tour and the tour guide really knew her stuff. I absolutely loved the house and wouldn't mind living there myself. Addison really liked the tour since she's such a fanatic about Titanic.

Once we left there we headed to the Wildlife Experience (or something like that.) It's an interactive museum about animals and the environment. They had 9 holes of putt-putt golf set up that the kids really enjoyed. We also watched and Imax movie about Australia. It was good.

After the animals it was on to the Argo Gold Mine where we learned a little of the mining for gold history, got to tour a small part of the mine and processing facilities, and then tried our hand at panning for gold. The kids didn't want to leave but they were trying to close the place. lol

We had dinner at a local place--The Buffalo Restaurant. Driving through the town (Idaho Springs) it looked like a place we'd like to visit again when we have more time.

On our way out of the area we drove to Buffalo Bill's grave and stopped on the side of the mountain somewhere and took some pictures because it was so pretty.

After that we headed on to Cheyenne where we're spending the night tonight. I paid a little more for tonights hotel than I wanted to because I really wanted to stay here. It's called The Plains Inn (I think) and it's around 100 years old. We're staying in a suite that's actually two rooms instead of the usual where it just means they put a couch in it. lol I think it's great, but the kids think it's haunted. :0)