My Life In Ruins...not really

This was our morning yesterday...
Naked Beau sitting on my bed, reading a book...Bekah commandeering Beau's old shoes to brace her crippled bear...Colonel taking a nap on my pillows...and sweater...Insidious pooper. He pooped on the legs of my table. And peed. I know you're sick of hearing about it. Believe me. I know. Oh and he's getting bigger. eek.Bekah insisted on packing lunches for our adventure yesterday. When I went downstairs I found her lunchbox filled with five granola bars, an orange, and three fudge brownies. Apparently those were the essentials. I added to that more real food and seven water bottles along with three winter jackets, gloves, hats, two kelty packs, Colonel, Colonel's kennel and leash and food, and Jacob's toolbox equipped with a batman movie we had rented the day before.
Jacob seemingly woke up in his hiking clothes (actually he did sleep in the same shirt...), complete with shoes and a big boogery smile. I hate how allergies and colds ruin my kids' good looks. Couldn't they just feel rotten but still look adorable, not like a petry dish of germs? Jakey is pretty stinkin' cute here.By 10:04 we were loaded in a clean van (I vacuumed, wowza, when you find an orange rind, a shriveled apple core, and a bald polly pocket, it is time) and headed south to have a picnic in Socorro, visit the New Mexico Tech Mineral Museum, and go for a hike at Ft. Craig.
We had invited anyone we thought would be remotely interested and so we were pleasantly surprised to find two families waiting at the rendezvous point...Carla and Doug and kids, and Scott and Lisa and kids. The park still had lingering snow, but the weather was wonderfully warm and sunny. I think we were all happy to have the sun warm our coats, especially half the kids who won't keep their coats on. I was finally able to show Bekah and Jacob the art of making a snow angel. After playing and eating we visited the Mineral museum which was a perfectly sized room (as in small and contained, one way in, one way out) full of displays of all different types of rocks. Here's Bekahite:
Ft. Craig was about 40 minutes south of Socorro. It was an old Union fort from the mid 1800s. Now all that's left are some crumbling walls - evidence of poor construction if you ask me. We had fun walking the trail around the ruins - the kids took turn holding Colonel's leash and winning skipping contests, whining about being tired and breaking down into tears, falling behind and being carried to the front. Here is Emma, mad at Rus for letting Jacob take a turn with Colonel's leash.On the way home Rus insisted we take the scenic route - meaning frontage roads, back roads, dirt roads, canal roads, and "Are we supposed to be driving here?" roads. I love looking at old homes and buildings, signs and bridges and fences. We drove past the Bosque del Apache, a wildlife preserve and took some neat pictures from there.We had a great time...I love spending time with my family! And that's just the way it's supposed to be, isn't it?

By the way I submitted some essays to a Santa Fe magazine, Tumbleweeds, and they are going to be published next month! I'll keep you posted...yay!