Hueco Tanks State Park

I'm sorry that I haven't gotten more pictures of our vacation to El Paso up sooner, but life kinda snuck up on us when we got home on Tuesday. Last Saturday, for Halloween, we headed out to explore Hueco Tanks State Park and its volcanic rock formations. We were ultimately pleasantly surprised at the incredible sights as well as how much our little girls enjoyed the hike. Tony & I went a little crazy with the camera due to the beautiful scenery so we hope you enjoy the plethora of pictures that we just had to share!

Canaan & McKenzie ready for our hike.

Tony & I on the way up one of the trails.

Canaan with McKenzie, Bailey & Jocelin working their way up the trail.

Bailey getting a little help from me.

Tony & Bailey stop to get some water from our camelback.

Me, Bailey & Tony with the great scenery.

Canaan, McKenzie, Bailey & Jocelin with the beautiful scenery.

Bailey with the best pictograph we found.

Tony helping Bailey down one of the steeper parts of our descent.

A sleeping McKenzie, Canaan & Jocelin as we try to find some more pictographs.

Bailey carrying the camelback & getting some water while we head back to the trailhead.

Bailey was so pooped after our hike that she actually fell asleep while trying to snack on some raisins (check out her hands).

After we got home McKenzie & Bailey played in the backyard while Canaan carved the pumpkin.

Bailey & the finished pumpkin, which we lit up using glowstick.

Bailey all dressed up in her scrubs trying to sneak some candy.

Bailey & Tony taking one last look at our pumpkin after an evening with no trick-or-treaters.

The pumpkin!

This was just the beginning of our explorations of El Paso and the surrounding areas. I'll do my best to get the pictures of White Sands, NM and the El Paso zoo up soon as well as some fun pictures of our crazy life since we've gotten home and some new fun factoids about Bailey's growth and development.

El Paso, finally, plus Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park

Friday morning at 610am we begun our second trip to the airport in our attempt to visit our friends the Blake's in El Paso. Continuing our adventures from Thursday night, we somehow made it to the ticket counter to check our bags a mere 30 minutes before take-off. Of course because of our belated appearance all three of our checked bags had to be screened by TSA. As if that wasn't enough, as we went through the security screening they decided that Bailey's milk and her diaper rash cream had to be individually tested. This wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't gone through the entire rigamarole only 12 hours before. Thankfully we made it on our flight to Houston and arrived safely at IAH and made our way to the terminal listed on our boarding pass.

Just to be safe, when we arrived at our gate I went up to the counter and asked the information agent there to verify the gate and that the plane was on time. He quickly typed something in his computer and then said "Yes". Appeased, Tony, Bailey and I settled in to wait for boarding to begin even though the sign above our gate said "Omaha". Twenty minutes before our flight was supposed to leave we decided to ask another gate agent if we were in fact in the correct place, much to our dismay we were no where close. So Tony took off at jog from B63A with our bags in toe in hopes of making it to B73 before our seats were given away and I trailed behind with a very cranky and clingy Bailey. Thankfully we made it on our plane and to our seats with moments to spare (we weren't even the last ones to board). Once on the plane, we quickly pushed back from the gate only to find our that our plane wouldn't start... something wrong with the starter. All I can at this point is that, at least the delay gave Bailey a chance to catch some much needed shut eye.

Looking out the window as we approached El Paso.

After finally arriving in El Paso, we found our luggage & Bailey's carseat, met up with our friend Canaan, and then headed to his house to drop off our bags and make some plans for our day. We ultimately decided to check out the Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park in the Franklin Mountains, about a 20 minute drive from his house, then pick up his little one from daycare and head back home for some lunch and much deserved relaxation.

Bailey on our ride up the mountain in the gondola sporting her new vest & blue flame hat.

Uncle Canaan & Bailey enjoy the view on the ride up.

Our gondola carrying people back down the mountain.

The view from the top.

Tony & I at the top of the mountain, elevation 5,632 ft.

Canaan, Bailey, Tony & I in front of our gondola after reaching the bottom of the mountain.

The gondola ride was a great way to kick off our vacation in El Paso. After the ride we picked up McKenzie, Canaan's daughter, and headed back to the house for some grub and to catch up while we waited for Jocelin to come home from work. Although the road was a bit bumpy getting here, our visit is off to a great start with more adventures in store.

This week, before we got to El Paso...

We had a very busy Halloween week including three days with Robert Thomas, one Kindermusik class and two gymnastics class' for Bailey and two workouts with a trainer for me along with all of the normal everyday chores... not to mention our week was only four days since we were supposed to leave for El Paso thursday at 435pm (more on that later)! One of the main joys of our week, aside from the cooler weather, was the fact that it was costume week at gymnastics and the kids got to play on a blow-up obstacle course and the trapeze!

10-27-09 : Bailey in her doctor scrubs before Tuesday's gymnastics class with Robert Thomas, Abby (far right) and Izzy (far left). Bailey not only wanted to be a doctor for Halloween but she also picked out the fabric for her scrubs which Mo put together for us.

On Wednesday afternoon Bailey wanted to play in the backyard by herself (a normal occurance) and when we didn't hear much, Tony & I decided to check in & this is what we found. Bailey had moved most of a brick pile from the center of our back porch into the top of her sandbox and was constructing a building of her own.

10-28-09 : A view of Bailey building through our screen door.

A better view of Bailey's construction.

Bailey helping me pin the fabric for some special ordered burp cloths.

Bailey was very excited that she was allowed to help.



Bailey counting the pins that she had selected for me to use pinning.

Thursday morning started with the arrival of Robert Thomas & dropping Izzy off at the vet to have surgery to remove two moles which had been growing very quickly. Thankfully Izzy's surgery went well and the day, although hectic, got off to a relatively smooth start.

10-29-09 : Bailey had to wear last years costume to gymnastics on Thursday because her scrubs were dirty (amazingly the rose costume still fit).

Bailey shower off her spider tattoo (upper left arm) which she named itsy bitsy.

Bailey last year in her rose costume a couple weeks before Halloween.

Thursday afternoon we were supposed to leave for El Paso but four lines of tornado producing storms between College Station and Houston delayed our flight until after our flight from Houston to El Paso had departed and there were only two seats available for next (and final) flight so we were forced to reschedule. We could have called it a night at that point but on the way home we decided to pick up some pizza since we had been planning on having dinner in El Paso. After waiting three hours in the airport and 40 minutes for our pizza, we finally headed back to the house to eat and grab some shut eye before our very early flight the next day. As we drove home, we were stopped at a red light a half mile from our house and were rear-ended by a young lady going between 25 and 35 mph. Thankfully Tony, Bailey & I along with the young lady who hit us were all ok, although our bumper is a loss, as was the pizza which ended up crumpled in the box after flying from the front seat into Bailey lap. I guess this was our first hint that our trip to El Paso was going to be a huge adventure!

Last Weekend

Since both Tony & I worked on Saturday of last weekend, we started the weekend on Thursday with a walk to Lick Creek Park with Mo & Grandaddy. This was the first time that we had been out there in a long while and it was really great because we didn't have to keep Bailey confined in a stroller. Bailey ran everywhere we went and enjoyed getting up close to all the different types of animal tracks as well as checking out all the different trees, bushes and flowers.

10-22-09 : Bailey running off down the trail (notice the hiking boots with shorts)!!

Bailey & Mo find a new use for the bicycle rack.

Apparently if you go over, you must go under!

While Tony was at work at the fire station and I went to work at the challenge course, Mo, Grandaddy and Bailey headed into downtown Bryan to enjoy the Fall Festival. Bailey had a blast on the dozen different bounce houses and the obstacle course. She also saw a cow milking exhibit, made a her own crown and played games where she won fake money that she used to purchase her very own Hanah Montana necklace.

10-24-09 : Bailey ready to head out to the Fall Festival.

Bailey enjoying a quick rest in front of the cow milking demonstration.

10-25-09 : Bailey helping to pull the guts out of the pumpkin.

Bailey watching Daddy cut along the lines she drew to outline the pumpkins face.

Tony & the finished pumpkin.

Bailey & her finished pumpkin.

That concludes last weekends excitement. At the moment we are headed out to see Alamogordo, White Sands & Las Cruces, more updates & pictures to follow.

Habitat for Humanity Pumpkin Patch Visit

On Tuesday, Tony had the day off from Teex, the paramedic class and the fire department so we decided that we would head over to the Aggie Habitat for Humanity pumpkin patch. Robert Thomas was spending the day with us so we packed him in the stroller and set off on our half mile jaunt to the pumpkin patch.

We made it about a block from the house when Bailey decided it was time for a ride on Tony's shoulders, she wasn't tired she just thought this mode of travel would be more fun!

Bailey at the pumpkin patch. Since we were visiting at 10am on a Tuesday we thought we'd have it all to ourselves, boy were we wrong!

Bailey picking up the first pumpkin she saw while Robert Thomas checks out a pumpkin of his own.

Robert Thomas really excited about the pumpkin he picked.

Bailey very happy with a pimply pumpkin she found.

Robert Thomas sitting in the pumpkins enjoying the breeze.

Bailey trying to give Robert Thomas a kiss on the cheek.

Me & Bailey posing for a quick picture (Bailey requested that I be in the picture).

Tony, Bailey & Robert Thomas (we improvised and seated Bailey on the handlebars since neither Tony or I felt like carrying her - I'm pretty sure that she liked our solution).

Robert Thomas didn't make it far from the pumpkin patch before falling asleep. We didn't want to wake him when we got home so we just left him strapped in and he slept from 1045am-115pm, he was totally tuckered out.

Tony taking Robert Thomas for a quick spin on Grandaddy's lawn tractor (I wasn't quick enough to capture Bailey's ride).

Tony & Robert Thomas riding off into the sunset!

We have tons of crazy events coming up including costume week at gymnastics and a trip to El Paso not to mention Halloween. But if Bailey has taught me one thing in the past two years its to expect the unexpected because you never know what crazy shenanigan's she will come up with next.