Mountain Momma

This post may end up being the longest yet! I have lots of pics and stories to share about our trip. The kids and I spent the past week in the mountains of Ruidoso, New Mexico. I am proud to say I successfully flew with them by myself and overall, flights both ways were good. The kids did great. (It helps big time to have a direct flight) And its amazing what a new pack of Hotwheels can do for a "car crazy" 4 year old! I managed to get Olivia to sleep for about the last 30 minutes and things were pretty uneventful except for the spilled water incident! Jacob spilled his water cup all over himself and then Olivia knocked over the rest of it about 1 minute later! Other than that, they were great passengers! The first few days, Jacob wasn't feeling well and ran a high fever, but we did manage to do a few fun things despite his crankiness (oops did I say that out loud?). Our first big outing was fishing! We went to a trout stocked pond and fished with bamboo poles. Grandpa and Uncle Chris were a big help in baiting the line and getting the pole in the water.




It wasn't too long before we had a bite and then this catch!


Unfortunately our luck ran out soon after this and it took a good while to catch another one. The fish were smarter than we thought and would just come nibble at the bait but not get hooked. However, even I ended up getting lucky! Check out my fish!



By the end of the afternoon, we had caught 4 in all and we "declared victory" as Grandpa would put it!

Another fun day we had was spent at FunTrackers. We rode go-karts, played miniature golf, and splashed in the bumper boats. Uncle Chris rode go-karts with Jacob while I raced beside them. Jacob had so much fun as this was RIGHT up his alley! He had never ridden on a go-kart before but did great and wasn't scared at all!



Then the three of us decided to play a round of golf. Sadly enough, Jacob hit better than Chris and I did! Here is our miniature golfer in action!




We also rode bumper boats which was Jacob's least favorite. He (we) didn't realize the boats were equipped with water guns so you could shoot the other boats. Jacob liked spraying but didn't care too much for the spraying that was retaliated. Here we are to the far right in the yellow & white striped boat.



After all that fun, we decided to go across the street and check out the pony rides. Jacob took a big long look at the ponies and then decided he would "try that later" (what as in 2012)?? So we strolled over to Rio Ruidoso and splashed around in the COLD mountain water! It felt good on our toes but with all the rocks was a bit challenging to walk around. Here is silly grandpa, Jacob with a goofy face and me.



About 5 minutes after this picture was taken, it started raining and we made it to the car JUST in time! Everyone was exhausted that evening after such a fun filled day!

The next day we drove to Capitan and went to the Smokey Bear Museum. It was small but cute & informative. Jacob loved hearing Smokey "talk" about preventing forest fires. Remember "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"





In between all of our sightseeing, we made a couple trips out to visit my Grandma (the kids' Great Grandma). It was her first time to meet Olivia and she thoroughly enjoyed seeing the kids in action. Olivia especially loved all of Grandma's beads!




Uncle Chris also took some time off work to hang out with us. He plays guitar and with Jacob's recent interest in wanting his own guitar I thought he would enjoy seeing Chris play. Chris brought his over one day and gave him a few lessons. Here they are together playing. Jacob LOVED it and keeps saying "Maybe Santa will bring me a guitar for Christmas". He got one from the grocery store while we were there, but the strings kept popping off so getting to play on a REAL one was a treat!!!



Olivia wasn't left out of the fun. Uncle Chris also took time to play with and hold her. I tried to convince him diaper changing was part of his "uncle duties" but he didn't oblige. Oh well. It was worth a shot!


In this last one she is waving bye-bye. One of her newest talents that she repeated over and over on the trip!!

We spent our last day driving up two different mountains to get a great view. Jacob was enamored with the mountains the whole time we were there and would just stare out the window in awe at them every time we drove somewhere. I guess they were just so different than what he is used to looking at. It seemed like he couldn't get enough! Here are a few on the road to Ski Apache.




And these were taken at an elevation of over 9,000 feet! We hiked to the top of an old fire tower. Ok, well we didn't exactly hike the WHOLE way up, but we did have to manage up some old steps made of stone that were narrow while taking turns carrying Olivia. Trust me--it wasn't easy but sooooo worth it for the incredible view!




Last but not least (and possibly Jacob's favorite part of the entire trip) was the ride in Grandpa's convertible! Not only did he get to go for a ride, but he got to sit in the FRONT SEAT! He was really pumped about that!



Whew, well I think that is all I can blog for now. I started this blog 5 hours ago and am just now able to finish. These were the highlights of our trip and as you can tell, we did a lot. I think we wore Grandpa and Suzy out!!! Thanks for a wonderful time. We love you and miss you already!