Digging in

Recently I've come to the conclusion that Sammy's preferred habitat is anyplace that involves dirt.  Fortunately for us, 99% of our yard is a lovely mixture of desert sand, rocks and random weeds (the other 1% is mostly dead or dying landscaping)--the perfect environment for a toddler that loves to play with dirt.

I brought out a few of his toys that I thought would be perfectly suited for outdoor play, like his shovel and pail and his bulldozer, and let him dig and play to his heart's content.

After awhile, Sammy decided to lay back and soak up some rays.  (I was pretty tempted to do the same--it was such a gorgeous afternoon.)  He also took this opportunity to watch the planes fly overhead and point out each and every one.

After that brief respite, Sammy moved on to pointing out all of the cars and trucks that drove by the house; one vehicle drove by and he started pointing excitedly and saying, "Daddy!" over and over again.  I didn't think much of it--one of Sammy's new favorite things to do is to walk from room to room during the day, saying "Daddy?" over and over again.  But then look who walked up?!

Captain Husband!  Apparently I need to give Sammy a bit more credit when it comes to vehicle recognition.

The artist at work

I had a bit of a draining morning yesterday (and I mean that literally--I had some twelve vials of blood drawn), so I needed a nice, laid-back activity that would keep Sammy happy and wouldn't have me running all over the place.  I remembered that I had some sidewalk chalk stashed away somewhere in the house, so I searched it out, put some shoes on Sammy and headed outdoors.

Sammy didn't take much prodding and eagerly dumped all of the chalk out on the ground and started doodling all over the patio.  I drew a few shapes for Sammy to identify (and hopefully copy) and then sat back and relaxed while I watched my little artist at work. 

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Stylin'

{Sammy is starting the no-pants trend here in Texas, which is the result of him splashing happily in the cat's water fountain for several seconds before I figured out what he was doing and put an end to his playtime like the mean, cruel and nasty mother that I am.  At least one good thing came out of his impromptu splash time--the kitchen floor is now a lot cleaner than it was before.}

Bye-bye Unky Bum

My brother left last Wednesday but I'm still getting used to not having him around.  There have been a couple of times in the past few days where I've found myself saying, "Hey John..." only to realize that I'm speaking to a mostly-empty house.  I guess nine days of 24/7 togetherness will do that to a person.  I hope we're able to get together again soon, either here in Texas or in Pennsylvania; I really miss being a couple hours' drive away from my family, especially when I see just how much fun Sammy has with his uncle and vice versa.  Someone needs to get on inventing a teleporter, STAT so we could visit whenever we wanted.

The world underground

As promised, here are some of the other photos that I took during our trip to Carlsbad Caverns.  After walking the 1.25 trail through the Natural Entrance, we decided to take the 1 mile self-guided tour through the Big Room.  The name is not a misnomer--the Big Room is immense and just over eight acres in size.

 The route is relatively flat and easy to traverse with a great deal of features to see along the way; I chuckled quite a bit at the optical illusion used to label the Mirror Lake.

There were monumental rock formations nearly everywhere you looked, all lit to dramatic effect.  I bumped up my ISO as high as it could go and did the best that I could with the light that I had, but I was still kicking myself for not packing my speed light.

Throughout the cavern were remnants of old paths, stairways and ladders left over from the early-twentieth-century explorers who braved the caves without modern luxuries such as electricity and marked and paved trails.  

For the more adventurous types, there are other guided tours that one can take when visiting Carlsbad Caverns that range from the lantern-lit Left-hand tunnel to the strenuous (and claustrophobia-inducing) Spider Cave, which is described as a three-dimensional maze cave where excessive crawling and climbing ensues, but they're limited to certain ages and only available at specific times each day.

By the time we finished the Big Room tour, Sammy was starting to nod off, so John and I made our way over to the elevators and waited for the 75-story ascent to the surface, which took approximately one minute to complete.  We did a little souvenir shopping and then enjoyed a nice late lunch in the park's cafe.  Bellies full, we then got back in the car and returned to El Paso; I have a feeling that there will definitely be more visits out to the Carlsbad Caverns in our future--one trip won't be enough!

To the bat cave!

After our brief stop at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the three of us got back in the car and headed towards the Carlsbad Caverns National Park--thanks to the awesome 75 mph speed limit, we were there in a little over half an hour.

After a quick diaper check and an obligatory kitschy photo op, we purchased our tickets and got ready for our journey to the caverns.  We decided to take the self-guided tour through the Natural Entrance, which entailed descending some 750 feet into the earth via a 1 1/4 mile trail.

As we started on our way, I noticed several caution signs and I chuckled at the "weak knees common."  Oh, hindsight!

Strollers are not permitted within the caverns (and there was no way I was about to let a toddler roam free down there), so my brother "volunteered" to wear Sammy on his back; normally, that job falls to me, but thanks to my growing belly, it's getting to be too uncomfortable for me to wear the carrier safely.  Fortunately Sammy didn't seem to mind riding around on his uncle's back and I was left to take photographs at my leisure...at least until Sammy would get bored and yell for the walk to continue.

I have vague memories of being taken to the Laurel Caverns in western Pennsylvania as a child, but these memories don't even come close to the majesty and sheer enormity of the Carlsbad Caverns.  It was unlike anything I've ever seen before--almost like being on another planet.  My photos don't even come close to capturing the size and grandeur of the rock formations.

I'll have a lot more photos to share with all of you on Monday--have a great weekend everyone!

The reef of the desert

My brother, John, returned to Pennsylvania yesterday, but we managed to fit in one last long road trip on Tuesday because we're crazy like that.  We packed some snacks and loaded up the diaper bag (plus a spare tote bag of extra clothing--we learned that the hard way when we went to White Sands last week).  We were heading to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico--some three and a half hours away--but we had a pit stop scheduled at the mid-way point before we crossed the Texas border.

The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is breathtaking in its scenery, and from what I understand, we only saw a tiny little fraction of the varied beauty that the park has to offer.  I really wish we had more time to spend there, but we had a timeline to stick to if we wanted to make it into the caves before Sammy's nap time.

The mountains are actually the remnants of what was once a great coral reef several hundred millions of years ago, when most of what is now western Texas and southeastern New Mexico was covered by the Delaware Sea.   It's kind of crazy when you think about the fact that the most well-preserved fossil reef in the world is out in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert.

While we couldn't stay long, we were able to stretch our legs a bit on the Pinery Trail, a short 3/4 mile path that winds its way through the desert towards the ruins of the old Pinery Station, once a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Route.  Sammy had a great time running around, pointing out the different kinds of trees and gathering rocks to play with in the car.

Although it was a short visit, it left an indelible impression on me and I'm really looking forward to the next time we make our way to the park; you could definitely spend all day (and more) taking advantage of all the Guadalupe Mountains National Park has to offer.