Rafting the San Juan

Since we had Gran and Pa with us this trip, it allowed for Chris and I to do a few things we couldn't have otherwise. Mainly white water rafting. The river was really running high and it made for a great time to raft. We went before in August and no trip were going because the river was so low. Chris made or reservations with Pagosa Outside. They were great. Splash gear comes included in the price and was very much needed.

I will admit that I have rafted since I was a teenager and see the water so high I was a little nervous. But after getting splash gear (YEA!) and a little instruction from our guide Jay, I was feeling pretty good.

For the first half of the trip, Chris and I were in the back. Not a bad place to be for a nice relaxing trip down the river. You don't get too wet, but you get wet. On the second half we were in the front. They asked for volunteers and I told Chris, we should go because he is a "front car of the roller coaster" kind of guy and we really needed to try it.
IT WAS AWESOME! It was a totally different ride up there. LOTS of water and the most beautiful scenery, wide open with nothing blocking your view.

From Colorado

From Colorado

These were taking when we went thru downtown Pagosa. There is something the town built in the river under there that makes this a bumpy ride.

We had some adventure on our way down the river too. There were 3 others going down the river that day too, but they were in duckies (individual rafts). Two guys and their guide. One of the men was 72 and had exerience on the river, the other had some, and the guide Matt, well he was pretty awesome. After our lunch stop, only about 10 mins, the two guys fell out of their rafts on some big rapids. One guy was able to swim to shore, the other wasn't. and did I mention the water was SUPER COLD...oh yeah, the WATER WAS SUPER COLD. They luckily had wet suits on, but still. Well the old man couldn't swim to shore so Matt the guide had a hold of him and was trying to get him to shore. Along with one of the rafts. Oh the other raft and oar, well that we floating down stream to our boat. Our guide turned us side ways to try and catch it, but at one point had to stop and face front again because "we need to pay attentino here"...uh yeah!! So the next chance we could we turned out boat again (imagine going down the river sideways) and we tried to catch the oar and raft. Well I was on of the ones holding the raft...not too hard until we tried to go to shore and we turned downstream. The raft was hard to hold and I suddenly remember the 1st rule of rafting.."STAY IN THE BOAT". When the smaller raft I was holding started to fell like it was going to pull me out of the boat, I quickly thought, "if it is me or this raft, sorry raft, I win" and I let go. I then went about holding the other person that was holding the raft. Chris and another guy jumped out of our raft as it was close to shore and held it until we could get the smaller raft and everyone else out of ours and onto shore. He said after about 30 seconds his feet went numb...remember the water was SUPER COLD.

All is well that ends well. The raft was saved, the men were fine and we all made it back safely. The older man rode the last part with us...he had just too much excitement for the day.

Visitors and Trains

We were lucky enough to have some visitor on out trip to Colorado. My friend Jennifer and her family live in Denver. They are soon to move to Memphis so it is lucky we caught them when we did.

Jennifer and her son Mark come down to Pagosa to stay with us for a few days.

Mark and Christian are just 2 months apart so they boys had fun playing together.

The first day they arrived we took the boys to play at our favorite picnic area. They loved throwing rocks in the river.


Monday we took the boys to the Train Museum in Durango. Trains and little boys are a perfect match. Like girls and princesses, they just fit.
The boys loves running around and climbing on all the train cars. There were several full size cars they could explore.
Mark was the Conductor and would say "Welcome aboard" each time we arrived at a new train car.

After a quick lunch and a stop at the candy store, it was one last visit to the train museum.

On the way home both boys fell fast asleep...YEA!!! A NAP!!!

For dinner we went to downtown Pagosa. After dinner we walked around and the boys threw more rocks into another river.


After dinner we came back and put the boys to bed then Jennifer broke out her Cricut and showed Mom and I the scrapbook she has been putting together for Archer. See Jennifer and I have a system now. It started with Christian. I send her money for book and supplies. As I take pictures I send them to her. She then takes her amazing talent and puts together the cutest scrapbooks you have ever seen. I have one for Christian's first year and now one for Archer's. Archer's just has a few more pages to go.

Tuesday they headed home. It was so great to see them. The boys has a great time playing superheroes together. Mark was Superman and Christian was Batman.

Top Ten List

Here is a list of Christian's top ten things to do in Colorado while on vacation.

10) Eating at the boys table


9) Staying up past bedtime, driving around looking for wildlife


8) Playing super heroes in Daddy Pop's yard.


7) Playing in the water at Williams Creek Lake.


6) Watching movies in the loft at Daddy Pop's house

5) The Train Museum in Durango


4) Fishing with Pa


3) Playing with fishing worms


2) Pee-peeing on trees and rocks


1) Throwing rocks in streams, rivers and lakes.

Road tripping, part one

I don't think I can tackle the whole trip in one posting...so I am breaking it up. At last count I had 377 pictures from my two cameras. I don't think I will be posting all of those either (aren't you lucky).

Part one will be our road trip up to Colorado. We left Friday afternoon and drove to Hobbs, NM. It was a long drive and the boys did great. Gran had made each of the boys a travel bag full of games, toys and treats. They came in very handy.

From Colorado

There are many stops to coordinate and they don't always get coordinated well. There are bathroom breaks for the parents and the 3 year old and there is a feeding schedule for the 9 months old. This makes for lots of stops.

As you can see Chris has the car very secure. He had been to a car seat inspection site earlier in the month and they mentioned that all loose items in your car become projectiles when you are in an accident. So for our trip to Colorado most everything was strapped down with bungee cords and covered with blankets. We bought a rooftop bag to hold our clothes. This was a great addition to our roadtrip.

Our dinner stop was at McDonald's in San Angelo. It was about the grossest Mickey D's I have ever seen. We avoided all Mickey D's for the rest of the trip based off this one stop.

We finally made it to our hotel pretty late (after getting a little lost in Hobbs, NM due to being tired and bad directions). We were up early the next morning, excited to get to Colorful Colorado.

We made a stop in Roswell at the Walmart. Another place we avoided for the rest of the trip. We decided we are Target people, not Wal-mart people...nothing wrong with Wal-mart people, we just had some bad luck with Wally World. We did get a ride in on the Flintstones car for Christian. He also got a Batman activity book. He in now a HUGE Batman fan.

One of our last stops was about an hour and a half outside of Pagosa Springs. It was in Echo Ampitheater. We stopped for a picnic. It was way better than McDonald's or Wal-mart.

Finally we made it to Pagosa. Gran and Pa arrived the day before so there wasn't much for us to do except unload the car and make ourselves at home. The next day our friends Jennifer and Mark drove in from Denver for visit with us for a few days.

Pre-vacay post

This will be my 1st post in a while and my last one for a while (maybe).  We are going on a vacation to my beloved Pagosa Springs.   The car is packed and we are ready.  Gran and Pa will be up there tomorrow and we will get there on Saturday.  I'm excited because I think Christian will love it.  I think Archer will too and I know we will love it with them...but Christian will start to remember these trips more and more.   I'm extra excited because my friend Jennifer coming for a visit too. Her and Mark, her 3 year old son, will come up for part of our trip.

I wanted to recap last weekend a little before we left.  I am hoping to post pictures and maybe blog a little while we are there, but I'm not sure I will get a chance.

Saturday before Mother's day we had dinner with The Dudley's.  Chris and Eric are old high school friends and Meredith and I grew up around the corner from each other...well practically...I went to Hays and she went to Wimberly.  That is close right?!??! 

Here are our pictures from Dinner. 


Sunday we didn't make it to church due to an early lunch with the family. It was great Mother's day. The boys gave me a safety hammer (I had been asking for this), a neck massagers and some lotion.

Muffins with Mommy

Today Christian's class had "Muffins with Mommy" for breakfast. It was Christian's first day back to school since Monday so this was a nice treat. It made for an easy transition back into school life for him. I was able to spend some time with him this morning and then he ran outside to play. The teachers in his class were really sweet to host this breakfast for Mother's day. There were some homemade muffins there that the kids had helped make. They all helped by mushing banana's for the muffins. I don't think Christian was able to help with that, but we enjoyed the muffins all the same.

Rite of Passage

Playing in the cabinet with the plastic wear is a rite of passage in our family. There are pictures of me with bowls on my head...Sassy with bowls on her head and I know I have pictures of Christian in this very same cabinet.

Quiet

So I have noticed something about Christian. The way you can tell he really doesn't feel well is that he stops talking as much as he usually does. We dropped Archer at daycare and Christian was unusually quiet for the entire ride there and back.

There have been cases of hand, foot, mouth reported in his class at school, but after just getting off the phone with the Dr. They want to make sure he doesn't have strep throat. Good times...Good times.

And a special note for Shane. Christian is watching Spiderman. He immediately requested Spidey when we got home. Luckily there are about 3 versions of Spiderman cartoon on the Disney Channel, Disney XD.

Teeth

Christian August 2006. 1st tooth, 7 months
Archer May 2008 1st teeth 8 months

The many faces of the little man

The very last one shows his 2 new little teeth.