Yoo 716 - Guadalupe Mountains National Park (and the EVENING BAT FLIGHT AT CARLSBAD)

Towards the end of September we stuffed our car full of gear for a dog, a baby, and 3 adults to survive 10 days on the road. It was especially challenging because we were planning on camping most nights. And we still needed room for the dog, baby, and 3 adults in the car while driving.

I had to get creative with the packing list and Greg had to play tetris with the trunk but we made it work. Though if you ever ask Dylan how comfortable she was, remember she only had to pay 75 cents for the trip. It was going to be free but we were scrounging up coins to pay cash for a campsite one night and she had to help supplement.

Despite this, getting out of Texas was the actual hard part. Over seven hours of driving and we were still in Texas! Peanut stretched the drive into nine hours because she only has so much tolerance for her car seat. The second you take her out she's cute as can be. But we survived terrible highway 285 and a wrong turn in Orla, TX (we didn't turn, that was the problem) and made it to our first way point: Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

I think I would like this park. It's hard to tell seeing as how we did absolutely zero hiking because Roscoe isn't allowed on trails. I really really wanted to hike up to Guadalupe Peak (the tallest point in Texas) as it's one of the few remaining items on my Texas bucket list, but it wasn't to be. No convenient dog boarding options!

But it was still a fun place for Skylar's first night camping. We luckily snagged one of the last tent sites on a busy weekend! The tent pads were too small for our super tent so we had to rig a "two-thirds" pitch and hope for a calm night.

Dinner was terrible because we forgot the salt and cheese. I know we bought the cheese because I remember seeing it on the counter. Dylan swears she packed the cheese. We never found the cheese on the trip and still haven't found it anywhere in the house so the case of the missing cheese remains unsolved. But dinner needed the cheese. All the while we were smelling the hot dogs roasting at a neighbor's campsite and looking at each other like, "Why did we try to get fancy with our food??" At least we had peanut butter M&Ms and Starbursts to reward ourselves for eating all the veggies.

Then we drove up to Carlsbad Caverns for the sunset and evening bat flight program. The problem was, I went into the evening bat flight with high expectations. Greg had visited as a boy scout and all through our relationship I've heard about THE EVENING BAT FLIGHT AT CARLSBAD(!!!).

Dating: "Want to go see the bats at Natural Bridge Caverns?" "It's not Carlsbad."

First anniversary (bats at South Congress bridge in Austin): "This is so cool!" "Carlsbad has way more bats."

Everyday life: "These tacos are delicious!" "I guess, but they're not the evening bat flight at Carlsbad."

If only I was exaggerating. Also probably relevant, Dylan and I had just watched Batman Begins (...and Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises...) to further pump ourselves up for the all-consuming tornado of bats that was going to erupt from the depths of the earth in THE EVENING BAT FLIGHT AT CARLSBAD. Also also, Dylan is terrified of bats so at a very minimum I was hoping to enjoy her reaction.

And that's where I'm coming from when I say I was disappointed.

Greg hung out in the parking lot on Roscoe duty while Dylan and I (and Skylar!) walked to the cave entrance. They're really serious about silence during the program and Skylar quietly watched the ranger presentation while we waited for the (all-consuming tornado of) bats. And then it was time. First, a trickle. "Oooooooh! Bats!" And then...a trickle. Minutes later? Still trickling. Any second now...nope. Skylar was the first to voice her frustration and at the evil-eye cue of a park ranger, I got up and walked around with her off by the bathrooms. I still had a perfect view of the trail of bats disappearing off into the sunset.

It was pretty. And went on for close to half an hour. But it didn't quite live up to the hype. And Dylan didn't even get squeamish. We walked back to the car and I had one word for Greg.

"Really?"

In his defense, he was 12 at the time and maybe there were more bats. I don't know. It's my fault for setting expectations off the mind of a 12-year-old boy. I hope I didn't mar his childhood memory too bad with my post EVENING BAT FLIGHT AT CARLSBAD teasing. All the way back to camp.

And then we slept. Peanut all thru the night! I had the genius idea of using the bin that we store all of our sleeping/tent gear in as her crib. I cut a cheap foam camping pad to size, covered it in a pillow, and voila! No need for the bulky pack 'n play. Though that only worked on this trip because it was already a bit of a squeeze. She slept better than I did though. My sleeping pad had a slow leak that I thought I had fixed. Around midnight I discovered that I hadn't.

All funny memories. Even if Roscoe was giving me the stank eye by morning. "Yeah, tomorrow night you guys can just leave me in the car with the air conditioner on. And the whole backseat to myself, thanks."

He still doesn't love camping in Texas.

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 712 - Geographic Center

I've had this draft sitting in my editor for months, so all the way back to the beginning of June...

Pictures from a beautiful Saturday evening drive to the geographical center of the United States! It's just outside the bustling city of Lebanon, Kansas, for reference. The scenery doesn't change much between Clay Center and Lebanon but I sure enjoyed watching it go by as the sun got sleepy. Closer to Kansas, the corn and beans did morph into a shag carpet of wheat, covering rolling hills to the horizon. It was pretty in the golden light and I love the flyover states of our country.

I'm still floored that I grew up here and had never heard of this place. It was only an hour away! I have now stood in that geographical center, with Peanut, and fill like a void is filled.

For the record, we did drive to "Downtown Lebanon" for the advertised souvenirs but the whole town was closed because Saturday evening. Though we did see someone mowing their lawn with an old push-reel mower as well as a former school with goats and chickens running around the yard.

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 711 - Shooting With Dad

Dad's into reloading bullets. It relaxes him. Taking his girls shooting doesn't relax him but somebody's got to use all those bullets so he has more brass to reload.

"I just pull the trigger, right?"

You're welcome, dad.

Mom watched Peanut so I could join the fun last Monday. It's been a couple years since I've been shooting...but I got two bullseyes! Whether or not I was aiming for that target is irrelevant. And I only shot dad's stand once. About an inch away from where Morgan shot dad's stand once. But more than an inch away from where Morgan shot dad's stand once and completely obliterated a joint. That part had to be replaced. But my dad likes fixing things so again, we're happy to help.

The prettiest part of the night was the sunset.

The longest part of the night was teaching Morgan how to release the clip from the Glock.

The safest part of the night was dad shooting without eye protection.

The best part of the night was all of it. Morgan's funny. Dylan's the better shooter. And dad likes to pretend we bother him while not-so-secretly hiding the fact that he loves spending time with his girls (minus Jordan at camp...). I love these people.

Yoo 710 - Nebraska Update

I'm still in Nebraska and still not ready to leave anytime soon. The whole family is here again. Well, minus Adam who just gallivanted off to Idaho. But for a few days the whole family was reunited and it was so fun to have everyone under the same roof. I love Nebraska and the lazy days and thunderstorms and number of riding lawn mowers and golf carts that grace the "city" streets and watching the corn pop up and country roads and sitting on the porch swing and everything else that's great and good about the Heartland.

I do not, however, love the garter snakes. But I guess life can't be perfect.

So in no particular order, the update.

It's Jordan's birthday today and we got an Eileen's cookie over the weekend to celebrate. I shouldn't like a frosted chocolate-chip cookie as much as I do but their frosting is intoxicating. I think it's almond extract and it kills my self control. Plus the colors! It was the prettiest Eileen's cookie yet.

Fueled by the Eileen's cookie, we did a team Crossfit workout on Saturday morning. It involved running a 1.25 mile relay, followed by taking turns to complete 125 pull-ups (with a giant rubber band...), then 250 45lb push presses and 375 reverse lunges with a 25lb kettle bell. Then back down the ladder with 250 push presses, 125 pull-ups, and another 1.25 mile relay. The real workout was trying to control our laughing fits long enough to execute any reps. With all of us together, someone was always saying something funny.

Morgan's half pull-up reps.

Adam getting intimate with the pull-up assist band. "Whoa! That's not where I wanted that to go!"

Trying to convince Jordan to join us by downplaying the amount of running involved. "Just run around the block once...twice."

Using pups as the baton for the running relay. Easy way to get a couple miles on his paws.

And Dylan and I getting real serious about pushing to finish the workout in an hour at about the 46 minute mark. Skylar came out to cheer us on as we made it.

It was too fun. Good intentions, we're going to make a tradition of it every time we're all at home. This will probably last about as long as our other traditions.

Skylar and grandpa, having a conversation. This kid just gets cuter and more fun everyday. I miss her newborn days so much I want to cry, but then she looks at me with her bright eyes and busts out her smile and my brain just shuts down because it can't process that much emotion. AND HER COOS. I have to still be on my baby honeymoon because I can't get enough of her. Even when she has gas and I have to bounce on the exercise ball while massaging her back for an hour.

And her crazy hair. It's straight up all the time. I can't even get half of it to stay down when I comb it with water. She has very determined strands.

This photo is all weird and blurry, but that bubble though. She's got skills.

We're waffling all our sandwiches.

Roscoe, as Greg was packing to leave. He acts like he's super sad.

And then Roscoe about an hour after Greg left, taking up his half of the bed.

He's such a spoiled dog that he gets mad when he has to sit outside and dry after he's gone swimming in the ditches. Stands out there and barks incessantly.

The corn literally popped up over night. It might be growing faster than my daughter. MIGHT.

Walks on the country roads never get old. This was a particularly perfect evening with NO WIND.

And then Sunday evening with a thunderstorm in the distance. Keep on keeping on, Nebraska.

Have a great day :-)