The El Paso Zoo

Our last day in El Paso Jocelin had to go to work at Fort Bliss so McKenzie, Bailey, Tony, Canaan & I headed out to find and explore the El Paso Zoo. The zoo, although tiny and partially under reconstruction, was incredible. Since we were there on a Monday, the zoo was pretty much empty and we had a front row seat to see all the animals.

Before we left, McKenzie was considering taking a nap in Tony's arm.

Bailey pushing McKenzie up to the ticket booth at the zoo.

Canaan & McKenzie watch Sunny the sea lion "perform".

Canaan, McKenzie (in front of Canaan), Bailey & another little boy get an up close view of the sea lions in one of the underground viewing areas.

Bailey & Tony pop up in the prarie dog exhibit.

Canaan & McKenzie pop up in the prarie dog exhibit.

McKenzie pushing Bailey through the zoo.

Tony enjoys a ride on the chicken on the merry-go-round.

Bailey loving her first merry-go-round experience on a giraffe!

Canaan helping McKenzie to stay on her zebra.

Bailey getting a quick elephant ride after the merry-go-round.

Tony riding a tiger!

Canaan holds McKenzie while she touches some dried elephant poop!

Bailey posing for a quick picture in front of the elephants.

The Ray Family in front of the hummingbird garden, which sadly had no hummingbirds.

Bailey & Tony and the gynormous El Paso moon.

We saw a ton of animals at the zoo including an ocelot, a Galapagos tortoise, some Mexican wolves, two spectacled bears which Bailey thought they looked just like they do on Diego, a Malayan tiger, a Malayan tapir, an orangutan and lots of different birds and monkeys! After exploring the park for a couple hours, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed off to visit with Jocelin at the veternairy clinic she runs at Fort Bliss. She gave us a great little tour but had to get back to work so the rest of us headed to the comissary for some groceries, which brought back a ton of memories from my childhood, and then back to the house to play, relax and prepare for dinner!

We had a fantastic trip to El Paso. Honestly I didn't know that there were so many cool places to explore and so many fun things to do. We didn't have time to visit everything and sadly had to pass on the exhibit of gigantic bugs in downtown El Paso. We are truly blessed to have friends like the Blakes who let us invade their home and then share with us so many great experiences. It was a blast to see Bailey & McKenzie interact and I hope that over the years they grow to be friends, as their parents have.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

On Sunday, November 1, we headed to the White Sands because we couldn't pass up the opportunity to sled down a sand dune! On our way there we passed the White Sands Missle Range and tons of beautiful mountain scenery. Once we reached the White Sands National Monutment, which really is an oasis in the middle of the desert, we eagerly searched for the gift shop to find us some toboggans. We did take some time to look through the visitor's center but after a two hour car ride the girls were ready to hit the dunes.

Tony instructing Bailey on how to properly wax a sand toboggan.

Tony and Bailey head up the sand dune for the first time.

Bailey & Tony's first slide down the dunes.

McKenzie not sure she's ready to slide with Canaan.

Bailey's second solo slide down the dune.

Me & Tony atop our dune with the parking lot & more dunes in the background.

Tony & Canaan racing down the dune.

Tony & Bailey take a quick break to pose for a picture in the toboggan.

McKenzie enjoying the dunes.

Our crew: Jocelin, Canaan, McKenzie, Tony, Bailey & me.

Getting ready for the Daddy/Daughter races.

My second slide down the dunes - I totally lost control & fell out at the bottom!

Jocelin maintaining control of her toboggan & filming her ride to boot!

Tony & Bailey buried in the gypsum sand.

The Blake Family

The Ray Family

Bailey thought being buried was really neat!

Bailey passed out as soon as we got back in the van for the ride to Alamogordo for a late lunch/early dinner.

For those of you that are interested, White Sands is 275 square miles of gypsum sand dunes. It is the world's largest gypsum dune field and is one of the most incredibly beautiful places I've been.

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.