Don't Forget the Beach Towels

We decided to escape the heat yesterday, Labor Day, and drive into the Jemez Mountains to Fenton Lake State Park. We thought we might stop and get into the water somewhere along the way (there are creeks and lakes scattered about up there) so as we were leaving I hollered at AJ "Don't forget the beach towels . . . just in case!" And this is what we encountered:



Yes. That is a lot of hail. It got worse too. It looked like snow on the ground after a while. It got so bad that I had to pull over because there was so much water on the ground. When we got to Fenton Lake we used the towels for an entirely different purpose than we had imagined. Mud was everywhere. People were everywhere and the bathrooms were unspeakably disgusting. So we left shortly after arriving. And it isn't really a "lake" by my standards. It is more like a "pond".


On the way back down the mountain the kids were climbing the walls and none of the food I had brought with us was good enough to make them SHUT UP, so we stopped and got the kids something they have never had before. Convenience store food. Remember Randy the Macho Man Savage? The Pro-Wrestler with the funky sunglasses? "SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!!!"


Here is Nick snapping into a Slim Jim.


Olivia was hoping to Snap into a Slim Jim.


AJ was busy eyeing the Triassic rocks (red rocks) for that elusive triceratops skull that he's been wanting. I kept yelling out "oooohhhh I see bones!!" just to mess with him. Of course AJ was kidding about the skull. He kept telling me that he wouldn't settle for a partial skull, he wanted an intact skull.


And here is Nick. I couldn't find him and was looking all over the house . . . and it turns out he was ON LUCAS' BED!! I looked in Lucas' room but didn't see Nick because I didn't think he would be ON THE BED. Apparently I have a little climber on my hands. Lucas' bed is the same height as a normal bed. Pretty tall.


He was reading Lucas' books. In fact he really hates his crib now and has made several nearly successful attempts at escaping. This might mean that he moves into a big boy bed even earlier than I thought. . . sniff sniff. First Lucas and the bus and now Nick getting out of the crib!