Our Adventure

I am on VACATION!! Whew...what a whirlwind. It has been great so far!

We are currently at my Dad's place in Omaha....where it just so happens to be the swimming Olympic trials. We bought tickets for 3 days (tue/wed/thu) and have been fortunate enough to have been given tickets to the finals Sun and this evening as well!! Houghton has been having a great time...the only problem was when I went shopping in the speedo store...they had such great swag!! We got to see Michael Phelps break a world record...can't remember the event though...I know it's late. We also saw Katie Hoff break another world record. It has been a great facility and really cool!! We have had great seats and really cool to visit and see history in the making.

So far we have been through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska. We spent last Tue evening with Aunt Julia and Tio Rene...and Rene made us a wonderful steak dinner!! The weather has been the best part of our trip. When we left Tucson Wed. morning, it was a bit overcast and driving through the desert was great only getting to about 87 degrees. We miscalculated bit and getting out a little later than we planned got us into Carlsbad NM a little behind schedule. I also made an error and we missed our turn from El Paso which probably cost us time. However noone was mad and we did just fine....we're on an ADVENTURE!!! So we made it to the Carlsbad cavern just in time to see the bat flight. It's really cool! Every night (while they stay there) around sunset-ish they leave the cave....it was AWESOME!! Then we checked into our hotel and finally got some sleep. It was nice not to have a schedule. We then took the natural entrance hike down into the caverns. It was beautiful...(thanks to the Thompsons for the recommendation...and the back pack!!) Mary was quite a trooper and wasn't too much on Paul's shoulders. She wanted to walk quite a bit but when she didn't it was great to have the back pack. We then ate lunch 750ft below the surface where it's a balmy 56 degrees....which was ok while we were hiking but sitting down to lunch...we got a little chilly. So we took the big room tour and saw more...we couldn't get enough! Once we left Carlsbad, we headed to Roswell. Not as kitschy as I would've thought. We checked into our hotel (which they were much better than expected!) The kids and Paul took a break to swim then we went to dinner and splurged on DQ for dessert! Then, we passed out in our beds! The next day (Fri) we spent driving to Denver. Beautiful and not as mountainy from the south. Again, the weather couldn't have been better. The best thing ever to get for the drive is a DVD player. I am tellin' ya, that thing saved many tantrums (unless it was about which movie) I would never let my kids watch that much TV at home but sometimes you just have to bend the rules!! We arrived in Denver and unloaded the car...we tipped the bellman well!! It was great, we explored the area and went to eat. It is a great little downtown mall area and they have a free shuttle that runs up and down so if you get tired to just want to make it to the other end you just hop on....really cool...plus the kids thought it was a ride!! We spent Sat. at the Aquarium which was cool and had lunch at the restaurant by the big fish tank. After a brief nap....we went to see Wall-E....a very cute movie and Mary sat through it all!!! On Sunday we made sure to get up way early and get a good start since we found out we had tickets to the finals that evening. We made great time and got in around 4ish. After a quick turnaround and unloading of the car...Houghton and I went to the trials....That brings us to today!! We went to the zoo...the zoo here is fabulous! It has always been a favorite of mine. They have a new butterfly exhibit which appealed to both of my kids for different reasons....Houghton for the science part...Mary, just because they're butterflies!! The also have a rainforest which is really cool!!! While at the zoo we got word that we had tickets to the finals this evening...again really neat!

Phew...

Wow, so I have been busy....not really enitrely but it sounded good.

"Hi, my name is Molly and I am an addict"

I have been reading other people's blogs and I cannot stop. I am not sure where it started but someone mentioned a blog and I checked it out. So super funny and most of all witty (which I am not but dream one day it will just happen to me) and so I have bookmarked them and check them everyday. It multiplies too! Everyone has links referring to someone else's blog...I just can't stop! These people who blog seem to be able to do it with much more frequency than me. I do wonder what kind of lives they have....the grass is always greener....**sigh**