Playing

We did LOTS of playing in Cortez at the Prince family reunion. Here are some random pictures Clay has deemed acceptable to blog...

Us three shared an air mattress. That wasn't the plan originally. We were going to have Zoey sleep on the ground with lots of blankets but of course, she refused to sleep anywhere except snuggled in between us two. In the above picture Clay is just pretending to be asleep for effect (obviously someone was) but I was totally passed out and about to fall off the air mattress. I swear, I slept on the edge and had about 3 inches to myself that I balanced on while half my body was off the air mattress.


Zoey absolutely LOVED the trampoline (I think Clay did a whole post just of trampoline pictures, to come later of course). She was on this thing always!


She also loved wandering away from us to go and see anything new and exciting.

Yes, I am on a horse. Growing up I LOVED horses but as an adult I try and stay away because they just scare me they're so big and powerful (as I've grown I seem to be more aware of dangers around then the potential fun). Don't worry though, my cousin Stephanie guided us and we only rode for about 3 minutes then Zoey was done.

There were like 7 four-wheelers or something crazy like that. The kids were always off running and riding them but we got a few turns. Zoey really enjoyed riding them. One day, when she refused to nap, we took her in between us and drove for around until she fell asleep. She was so cute then!

As you can see, we spent almost the entire time outside. Most of us camped in tents in the backyard and all the food and games were outside. We only went inside for bathrooms, to cook the food, and to put Zoey in front of the TV when she refused to take a nap!

Well, until the next post....

Swimming in Crawdaddy River

My mothers side of the family has a family reunion once every 3 years. It is always held in Cortez Colorado because my Aunt/Uncle has a HUGE farm and tons of space and fun things to do that us city kids don't see that often. One of the traditions is on the day we all gather before the festivities 'officially' begin, we go down to this river and swim. We've always referred to it as the craw daddy river and I have no idea what it's real name is! I was so proud of myself, I was one of the first people in and I stayed in until we left! I never got my head wet or went in past my waist because the water was FREEZING but I was in it!

There were almost 50 people at the family reunion. We all had a blast!
Awe, isn't Alison just adorable!!! Oh, and for those who don't know...SHE'S ENGAGED NOW!!!!! Yeah, she wasn't at the reunion, it all happened after but I'm so excited for her!
Zoey absolutely LOVED the water. She did not care that it was freezing cold. She wanted to swim and swim.


Of course all the 'old folks' sat in chairs and watched everyone else. I guess that's what you get to do when you're now a grandparent instead of just a parent at one of these reunions!
Across the river is a rock ledge and it's every one's favorite to jump off. That's what the picture above and below are showing, they're not meant to show my white shirt and white arms but the kids across the river jumping!


Zoey was wiped out by the end! Grandpa had given her a sucker when we got in the car and she fell asleep with it in her mouth ( I guess we took it out before this picture was taken, but trust me, it was so funny!)

Well, that's all for this post! Keep checking back for the next one!

Dinosaur's

Vacation Part 1 - The drive:

About a month ago Clay uploaded all the pictures from our family vacation this summer in like 7 different posts so that all I had to do was go in any type and post. You can see how quick I'm getting that done! Well, since I found a few minutes during my lunch at work before I have to run up front I thought I'd start and get the first post done. So bug me until you see another cause I have lots waiting!

For vacation this summer we drove to Cortez Colorado for a family reunion on my mothers side of the family, then drove to New Port Beach California for a family reunion on my husbands side of the family. We were gone for almost 2 full weeks and were exhausted at the end but had a blast!

This was our first true, family vacation since being married. On the drive to Colorado Zoey was getting a little restless in the car (surprise hu?!). We started seeing signs for a dinosaur museum in the next town so we decided we were making good time and it was almost lunch so we might as well stop and see the dinosaurs. It was a little museum that was also a research lab for the local community collage. It was only a few dollars to get in and it was pretty small but it was just perfect for what we needed!


They had a little children's area lots of displays all around that you could actually touch (they even had one of different hardened poops you could tough, don't worry, we washed our hands after!)

Zoey really liked running around and seeing all the different exhibits.

This was in the children's area. You could make foot prints in the sand. They even had a walnut shell pit where you could 'dig' for fossils and things, she didn't care for the pit very much but we had to drag her away from the sand. I can't wait until we have a backyard or even a patio again and can put a sand table up for her!






Some of the larger exhibits she would get scared of if we got too close. It probably didn't help that we tried to pretend and feed her to the dinosaurs but that's what you can do when you're a parent, right?!

Zoey has always loved to swing so when we stopped for lunch we let her play for a bit before getting back in the car.
For me one of the best things about the drive up was after the dinosaur museum we stopped at a local park and ate lunch that we had brought in our cooler. Whenever Clay and I have traveled in the past (usually no more then 4 hours to see family) we always just stop and eat fast food. I was determined to make this trip fill like a really family trip that we use to take growing up and I wanted to stop on the side of the road and eat sandwiches from the cooler and for breakfast have cereal in a cup! We did the lunch, once, then I think we ate out every other time! But hey, we had the experience!

Well, that's part 1 of our vacation. I hope you'll stay tuned for part, 2, 3, 4,....