Run With The Fishes

What do you know, a post about something that actually happened this month. Slowly but surely getting caught up again. On Sunday of Labor Day weekend we went camping at our favorite place within close driving range. This time setting up camp on the “primitive” island. “Primitive” meaning no water or electricity. It also meant no RV’s and their loud generators. Greg and the kids tried it out when they took Nick camping and came back with tales of how nice it was. They weren’t joking. It was pretty and peaceful.

Looking over the pictures makes me want to go camping again soon. The weather has been absolutely perfect, cool in the evenings and warm, but not hot, during the days. If it’s not rainy this weekend, we may have to pack up the gear and go. Why does it have to be rainy on the weekends and perfect when a person is at work or kids have to be in school?

School started last month. We have one seventh grader, one sixth grader and one kindergartner. All three in real school. Every day for a week Allison woke up and asked how many days there were before school started. On the way to school, the morning of the first day, Allison said, “I think this is going to be the best day of my life.”, and she meant it. She comes up with some of the greatest things to think about and say.

Here’s a quick picture of the latest middle schooler. She tried to get away before I could take her picture. You can all hear it in your heads, right? The slightly exasperated, “Mo-om”. She was a little nervous/excited to be moving up to the new school. After receiving their schedules at meet the teacher, she proceeded to draw up a map of the campus, pinpointing each of her classes and the best route to take.

The first 3 weeks have been busy. With Nathan and Zoey both in middle school, we have something going on every single evening. Pep squad, band, tennis, various clubs and required attendance to sporting events leave them with hardly any free time. I know, it’s only going to get busier.

Wow, I really was terrible about posting this summer. Two whole posts for each month in July and August. Pitiful. Want to know something sad? I don’t even really know where August went. I mean, it felt like we were super busy but in trying to think of what to type here, it’s all a blur. Old age and senility are clearly on their way to my house.

Here’s what I can remember and if anyone else can tell me what happened last month, I would appreciate it.

The first weekend we went to Shreveport. New shoes (thanks to slipping into a mountain stream) and a few school supplies were purchased. Then we all tried dinner at a hibachi grill which was great fun and a movie for Zoey’s birthday. Eleven. Double ones. Here’s a portion of a post that I never published from that week:

Zoey is counting down the days until she turns eleven. I am counting down the days until Top Chef starts.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I can wrap my head around one of my favorite television shows starting it’s new season. It’s a little more difficult to believe she is eleven and starting middle school this year.

The next weekend we drove to Dallas to pick up Nick (Greg’s youngest brother) from the airport for a week of visiting.

As soon as he stepped off of the plane from San Diego he was drenched in sweat, “There is a lot of moisture in the air in Texas!”. To try and beat the heat there was an almost nightly water balloon fight.

I’m pretty sure we bored the poor kid. There is no cell phone reception in our house, one computer all of the kids share, no places to go within walking distance, and it was over 100 degrees most days.

Want to know something? He had never gone camping before. City kid.

So, on one of the last nights of his stay, Greg and the kids remedied that situation.

Camp fire, hot dogs, s’mores, and lake swimming.

After they returned home, Nick asked, “Can you believe I’ve been in Texas almost a whole week and haven’t eaten at a restaurant?”. I could, because… you know, I was there. We hardly ever eat out. It didn’t even occur to me that not going out to eat would be strange. On the way back to Dallas to drop Nick off for his flight we stopped for breakfast. Now Nick can say he has been camping and eaten at the World Famous (according to them) Dairy Palace. Lucky guy, right?

The weekend before school started we took a trip to Houston for school supplies and clothes. It was only our second time to drive to Houston since we moved here so many years ago. I don’t know why, but I always thought it was so much farther away than it really is.

I guess that’s why it felt busy. We weren’t home any of the weekends in August. Ever had a month just fly by you?

After relaxing in Northern New Mexico it was time to start our long drive from the top to the bottom of the state. The drive from Eagle Nest to Roswell was uneventful. Rocks, dirt, old style wind mills and farms of their more sleek and modern replacements.

Our plan for the day was to stop in Roswell for lunch with Greg’s Grandparents before heading to Carlsbad Caverns to watch the bat flight. Roswell was an interesting city.

They have taken the Alien theme and run with it. A McDonald’s space ship play area, an Arby’s sign that says, “Aliens Welcome” (Illegal or Extraterrestrial? I want to know.), and many shops dealing with outer space.

I couldn’t resist taking this picture. The bumper sticker just cracked me up.

We didn’t really do anything touristy while we were there because the whole point of this stop was to visit Greg’s Grandparents. It was really nice to spend time with them.  The kids and I got to hear new to us family stories.

Our last real stop of vacation was Carlsbad Caverns. It was the season for bat flights. Sure, sure we toured the cavern and it really was impressive.

Allison was the best at seeing different shapes in the stalactites and stalagmites. Young minds full of imagination.

At dusk we all started walking towards the bat cave. No cameras were allowed so after a few quick shots of the crowd, the camera was put away. First they told us that if we were quiet, the bats might fly right over us. Then we were told that we were one of the larger crowds they had seen in a while.

The two don’t usually go hand in hand. They didn’t on that night either. Once some people got bored and left though, the theater got quieter and the bats started flying closer and closer. They started flying over and through the remaining audience. If you can go during the summer, you should.

After the bats it was time to kiss a sweet baby good bye and start our drive home, across the whole state of Texas.