Big Bend

2011 allowed us to once again take the Bi-Annual Big Bend Family Trip. As Kristy and I were driving we realized that our son has had the opportunity to go on this trip 4 times...he's only 6. His first trip happened when he was only 4 weeks old!! He's already a veteran at climbing "mountains". I have a feeling in two years it's going to be a big fight to try and keep him and Aly off of Casa Grande. What that means is I have two years to get back in shape and be ready to climb that beast with them.

Normally we only go to West Texas the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. However, this year we decided to take the entire week to see the other sites in the ares...Fort Davis, McDonald Observatory, and the Marfa lights. As things turned out we ended up being on this extended trip with the King family. This worked out perfect as our kids adore the King kids and it's great to see that interaction. I think the highlight of this leg of the trip was......the LASER used at the observatory to show the constellations. I know there are probably 5 of us trying to figure out where to get one of those things. If you have the opportunity to visit this area I highly recommend it. Between the history and clear skies that reveal stars you never knew existed, this is simply an amazing area.

On Wednesday we took our time getting down to Big Bend and enjoyed some geocaching (if you want an addicting habit, email me and I'll explain this game to you). Caleb actually located his own cache from beginning to end which was very excited. It's fun to watch him and Aly search high and low for these little treasures.

We finally made it down to Big Bend and as we were unpacking I noticed our camera was missing. I figured it would turn up...but it never did. Towards the end of our stay it dawned on me that I had left it on the back of the truck at one of our stops inside the park and didn't remember putting it back in the truck. Camera lost...or was it. Stopped at the Ranger Station in Panther Junction and the Rangers had the camera! Upon further inspection, it would appear that it had been run over. So I don't have a ton of pictures from our trip for this reason.

As always, Big Bend was amazing. Kristy and I opted to stay on easier hikes and allow the kids to be able to explore. Keeping Caleb on an existing trail was a chore as he always wanted to take the path less traveled. The trip overall was another great experience and I'm glad we keep up with tradition and are able to show our kids these types of awesome places.

Catching Up

Catching up....or starting back up again. When I set up this blog, I fully intended to keep it updated, but that became a chore that required my laptop or some computer. Over the past few months I've been trying to think of way to share our experiences, especially the kiddos experiences with our family and friends. I thought about Facebook, but if you know me you know I don't have an account and don't plan on changing that. Then there was Twitter...but I'm not important enough to let everyone know where I'm eating or what I'm doing, plus it wouldn't accomplish the goal of keeping the family up to date.

Finally today it clicked in my head: I have a blog! Not only that, but I have the ability to update it with my iPad or iPhone, so there's no more excuses for not keeping it up to date. Most pictures are taken on my phone...and I always have my iPad or iPhone on me at all times (not sure if that's good or bad, but I like it).

So here I am...more importantly, here the family is back again. I shortened the URL as I couldn't remember the other one. So be sure to bookmark this, subscribe, check back frequently and I promise to do a better job to keep this updated.

Until then, here a few recent photos of the kids. Caleb and Aly both went to their first college football game (see pictures below) and Caleb just wrapped up football season. Also, Aly did her best at competition this year and we are so proud of them both. Oh yeah....and then there was halloween.

That's all for now!