We traveled to Puerto Penasco, Mexico for the week prior to Thanksgiving with our neighbors, Dave and Renee. The temperature was in the 70s and the water just warm enough for a little playing (although I thought it was fine and snorkeled a ton).
Had an early celebration for Evan's 5th birthday beating on a Spiderman pinata and eating a fresh shrimp feast.
Ideal travelling for us includes simple accomodations. So we stayed in the cheapest motel we could find, and spent all our time on the beach that was just steps out our door.
Evan's highlights included beating the pinata and a hole we dug in the beach; perfect for hours of jumping fun.
Maya's highlights included buying a dress and when she found a "dried up seahorse" while we were swimming; she grabbed it to show me and turns out it was alive. Oh the screaming that its wiggling provoked!
a new wine rack for the adults...
a new kitten, Thunder, for Maya and she took voice lessons this fall...
first day of school: Maya's in 2nd grade and Evan's in his last year of preschool...
Evan's first soccer season where he is a natural defensive player protecting the goal.
In the great tradition of super heroes, you can never tell an identity when they are wearing glasses.
We had a cajun boil at Cookie and Graham's house and then headed out with Spiderman and Tinker Bell.
In September, Grandpa Denny let the kids and Doug skip school and work so we could ride the narrow gauge rail road from Durango to Silverton. The tracks go far back in the San Juan mountains along the path of the Animas River.
The crew: one of the rare moments Evan was awake!
Amazing views and lots of soot and ash for souvenirs.
Maya was cute enough to get on the train, but we had to lay out some bribes to get the kid in the KU (yuck) shirt on the train.
We went to Creede in Aug. before school started. It was a nice quiet trip camped next to the Rio Grande river in a canvas wall tent. Did a lot of dutch oven cooking, including pancakes on the lid.
Lots of time playing in the river during the day...
and lots of time next to the wood stove in the evenings.
Home away from home.
