Labor Day Weekend - Canyon Creek Adventure

It took almost an hour to get into the canyon (holiday traffic + system glitch), but once in we had the best time exploring the creek along the Paseo del Rio trail. The water was refreshing in the heat and most of the morning we had the place to ourselves. This was a new adventure for us, but one we will definitely repeat!

Hopped out of the car to take a picture by the sign since we were in standstill traffic

The creek varied in depth from just a few inches to waist deep and was perfect for kids

Griffin was nervous at first, but eventually got brave enough to start exploring on his own

The kids worked hard to carry rocks and shovel sand to create a dam. At the end of our stay we broke it up, but it was a fun project and they enjoyed the temporary pool it created

This outing was approved by the whole family. We will be back!

School's Out Celebrations!

The school year has come to an end, and it went much better than expected!! There were no field trips, assemblies, or parties this year, but there were also never any closures for COVID and Sophie got to attend in person for her entire 2nd grade year, which is a major victory. The school even did away with mandatory masks towards the end of the year, but she kept hers on out of respect for a friend who has a brother with leukemia, plus it also didn't seem worth the risk with just a few weeks left. 

Even more exciting was grandparents coming for a surprise visit! They had asked to come up for the holiday weekend, but I kept it a secret from the kids. Sophie kept asking on the way home from her last day of school if we were going to do anything special, and I said, "not right now" and just took them home. I think she was disappointed, but her reaction was priceless when she looked out the window a few hours later to see that grandma had snuck into our backyard! Best surprise ever!

While grandparents were in town we were able to spend a day hiking at Palo Duro on the Kiowa trail, and afterward we went out for a yummy lunch at Tokyo. On Sunday we played lots of games, worked on crafts and a puzzle, including an "Escape Room" type surprise that grandpa had put together for the kids. What a fun weekend to celebrate the start of summer!

Sophie on the last morning of 2nd grade

End of school ice cream treat at Braums, and yes, she did eat that enormous cone all by herself

Davey showing off his emerging reading skills to Papa

Proof these brothers can occupy the same space, only it didn't last long. We moved Charlie in with Davey to free up room for guests, but those two are just not compatible (fighting, crying, poking, bothering) so Charlie later came in to sleep with us. 

Everyone was obsessed with finding the perfect hiking stick at Palo Duro. Dave found Sophie a strong, sturdy option that she politely declined, haha. Davey found two sticks that he thought looked like guns and he pew-pewed everything in sight as we hiked that morning.

The kids with grandparents while Davey does his best Lion King impression :)

A rare photo of the whole family! It's always hard to get pictures of all of us so I love it when we have someone there to help capture the moment. 

Playing in the Canyon (and with a cactus)

Monday was a holiday, so we decided to go to Palo Duro Canyon for the first time since spring. Over summer it’s just too hot to do any hiking. Spring and fall are by far the best times to visit. We packed a lunch and spent a couple hours on the canyon floor exploring. One day when the kids are bigger I want to try some of the rim hikes, but for now I feel much better having everyone down on the ground where there are no cliffs to fall from. 

Next time we visit I think I will bring a camp chair so I have somewhere to sit while the kids play. They are so happy just to run around, dig in the dirt, and climb on rocks while I watch. Then I would not have to sit on the dusty ground. If I’m feeling really fancy, I will also bring a shade umbrella to make myself extra comfortable! 

The only sad part of our day came at the very end when Charlie was running around laughing and tripped and fell right into a cactus. He got several big spikes in his pants and shoes, but those were pretty easy to pull out. The real problem was all the teeny, tiny spines that got stuck in his hands. There were hundreds and they were so small! He was actually really brave and only cried a little bit, even though it must have been painful. It took some time, but luckily I was able to remove them all using my teeth (a mother's love knows no bounds). Hopefully he has learned to watch where he is going!

Building cairns

Sampling the local dirt

Playing in our favorite tunnel

Attempt at a group photo

The kids always get so filthy, but have so much fun so I guess it's worth it

Our poor cactus boy

Our First Adventure as a Family of SIX

We renewed our Texas Park Pass at the end of March and then it closed less than a week later due to COVID. Nooo! It was disappointing not only because we had just renewed, but also because spring is also the best time to visit before it gets too hot. Luckily the closure only lasted a few weeks, although we still had to wait because the initial opening only allowed groups of 5 or less, which meant our family was too large. The state must have received a lot of push back on that rule, because they modified it a few days later to allow larger groups if they were all from the same household. Now we could visit!

This was Griffin's first outing so somewhere other than a doctor appointment. Lucky baby got to go hiking before grocery shopping! We went back to our favorite place that has lots of open land for exploring. The kids had a great time running around after being cooped up for several weeks. We also found a new little cave system that Sophie and Davey had a fun time exploring. The whole morning actually went really well, which gave me hope that we will survive having six kids!

Sophie tried to make a bridge of sticks

Sophie and Davey had a great time climbing up on lots of different rocks

Exploring some little cave tunnels 

I got to hang out with the littles while the big kids explored with dad

Playing with the dust

Hiking can be an emotional experience for Charlie. He always wants someone to carry him, and we want him to walk. Sometimes a fruit snack is needed to distract him. 

If I trusted Sophie more, I would have had her hold Griffin so all the kids could be in the picture, but I thought it was best to wait :)

Palo Duro Adventures

We made three trips to the canyon this month, which is more visits than the last 6 months combined. Spring really is a wonderful time because even if it's windy, the temps are normally warm enough to still have fun, but it's not blazing hot yet. Hopefully we can make it back in a month or so after I recover from baby, because that's when all the wildflowers will start to bloom!

Our first trip was at the very beginning of March for a quick photo shoot of the kids (which I already wrote about), but then we also went back with friends one day after school, and then again just this week for a field trip for a break in our coronavirus isolation. 

Amarillo is flat and colorless so the canyon landscapes always welcome views

Charlie refused to walk the afternoon we went with friends so I got to carry him the whole time, which was quite the workout in my current state

Attempt at a group photo - 2 out of 5 looking and smiling is pretty normal!

The big kids hiked up through the cave while I stayed back with the little kids. Davey was really mad about being left behind, but it was nothing a fruit snack couldn't fix. 

Our visit this week was on a really warm day so we got there early to beat the heat and also avoid the crowds like good social distancing people should.

My Cactus Cutie and dusty Charlie

Taking a leap of faith - daddy was always there to catch them!

I tried to get the kids to help me build a rock tower, but they were not patient enough to stack slowly and left to go do other things after a couple attempts. Eventually Dave and I were able to make a pretty tall one!

After the tower was done, they came running back to take pictures with it :)