Oh the joy and glory of kids

Well you know me, always having to vent about the kids. So here it goes today....Kayleigh was actually well behaved today and quite cute and Jordan well he always has that teenager mouth and of course his schedule has me on my toes, but Trinity today!...that girl had cried probably 95% of the day. I don't know if it is teething or she was just having a bad day. The only quite time was her taking a nap and of course going to bed. I couldn't wait for some quite time, sitting on the couch, watching Season 2 of Ugly Betty on DVD and drinking some hot chocolate. Well that hasn't come yet since Kayleigh is still up and Jordan and I are still doing school work. We are about a week and a half behind in school since last week we had tons of things to get done. So basically we have been either doubling or tripling up on our school work a day. I figure we should be caught up in a week or so, but it is alot of stress and work for both of us. Please pray for my patience and stress free day:) ok you can stop laughing now!

The kids all get checkups!

So on Tuesday, I brought all three kids in at the same time for their routine checkups. They all received shots and their physicals. Jordan received 4 shots and they of course hurt. Then Kayleigh got her 2 shots (she did very well). Well right when the doctor went to put on Kayleighs bandaid, Jordan fainted. It freacked me out, I almost started crying. The doctor said that most teenagers faint from shots due to their pain tolerance. I asked Jordan what he remembers and he said all of a sudden his arm hurt really bad and he just blacked out. The doctor had to take a breather and then finish up on Trinity with 3 shots. It was pretty tramatic for all of us. I then went to the doctors and was told again that my blood pressure was high. I don't know what is going on, other than I am really busy and maybe that is stressing me out a little. Who knows? Other than that, everything is going well. Jordan is now in 3 sports!!! Argh, why do I do this to myself? He has football 4 to 5 days a week, soccer 3 days a week and now basketball, which will be 3 days a week. Not to mention he has his homeschooling activities and church functions. He wants to go to church 2 days a week, so guess what, we are! It is nuts, this boy is OVER socialized! The girls are just tagging along, but also have their playdates 2 days a week. Wow...I am tired just from writing all of this:)

Take 3 of our vacation...and last!

Brent and Jordan in front of the McLaury and Billy Clantons graves (the 3 who died in the famous shootout with Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp) at the Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, AZ.

Jordan and I in front of the Birdcage Theater in Tomstone, AZ. Other than Whitesands this was Jordan and I's favorite thing to do together. Jordan and I's favorite TV show is Ghost Hunters and a couple seasons ago they went to the Birdcage to see if it was haunted and by golly it was way haunted. So we had so much fun going in there to see if we could "capture" something. Of course we didn't, but we had fun trying.


This is a picture of inside the Theater. Up above stands the "birdcages" which over looked the whole main floor. This is where the ladies of the nights would entertain the drunken men for $25 a night, which is about $1000 in todays money. By the way, this theater is the only building, other than the court house, in its natural preservation including all the paintings, bar, and miscellaneous furniture remaining in the place where it was left. That in itself was interesting.


This is a picture of the OK Corral which where the infamous fight took place between Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the McLaury's and Clanton brothers. We didn't go into to see the actual site (it was very expensive and we felt not worth it), but seeing it from the outside was good enough. I will say that Tomstone is way overrated and is a tourist trap where they get you for your money. The Birdcage Theater and Courthouse was what made Tombstone well worth it.

The last picture of Tombstone is of the Courthouse where Wyatt Earp brought many. Other than the Birdcage Theater, this is the only building left in its natural state.

After Tomstone, we headed to Bisbee, only about 1/2 hour from Tombstone. I fell in love with this quaint and beautiful town. Jordan said that it resembled San Francisco, except that it was built in the canyon and on the hills of the canyon rather than on the hill only. Plus of course it had history and all the buildings were in their natural state with some refurbishing here and there. It was beautiful!! Again, Ghost Hunters went to the Copper Queen Hotel to see if it was haunted so Jordan and I had to check this hotel out. Very beautiful and richy!





In Bisbee, we went to the Queen Mine for a tour of their once very active mine, from 1880 to 1976 (I believe that was the year in the 70's). They only stopped mining here because copper was no longer worth much to sell. This was great and very informative. Jordan was able to identify the mineral calcite on his own in the mine, which he had learned earlier on our trip. It was really cool to see that he had learned something. We got all dressed up in the gear as well and got to ride the train in.

This is the Copper Queen Hotel where Ghost Hunters tried to find it haunted. They didn't consider it haunted but one thing did happen on film. So it was fun to just be in the hotel that Ghost Hunters were once in.

Take 2 of our Vacation

So after we left Socorro, NM we headed to Artesia and stopped in Lincoln County which is noted for the Lincoln County Wars where Billy the Kid and the Regulators got started. Basically, Billy the Kid worked for a rancher, Tunstall, who later bought a store with another man (first picture is of the store in its natural preservation) and put another store out of business (2nd picture which is also the Court house as well). That other owner killed Tunstall and Billy the Kid, who joined up the regulators, went out to revenge Tunstalls death. The second picture later became the Court house and jail and is where Billy the Kid made his last escape from prison.

Then we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. Amazing!!! Beautiful formations everywhere and is a huge room. It took an hour an a half just to walk down a huge steep walkway and then another hour and a half to walk the Caverns.s The first picture is of Jordan in front of the entrance to the caves and the others...well I think you can guess. We stayed after the Caverns to watch the bat flight.

The next morning we headed for Kartchner Caverns where we would be camping. But first we headed towards White Sands National Monument. Oh my gosh!! By far my favorite and so beautiful. I have tons of pictures I would love to share but will only pick a couple. When driving in, Kayleigh commented "Mommy, snow!" but it was really sand. As you can see we all went sledding down the sand and the girls played in it like it was one big sandbox. This was a day of a good work out! The last picture is of our campsite where we camped at 34 degree weather! No joke for 2 nights. I will finish the last of our trip hopefully tomorrow with pictures from Tombstone and Bisbee.

Some pics of our vacation

So our trip was 10 days long and was wonderful. We had some rocky moments but for the most part was awesome. We saw some amazing things and got to experience some great part of America's history as well as Gods wonderful ways of nature. We took about 1025 pictures so of course I will only pick out a few and then maybe throw out a few more over time. I am not sure how to do it as an album so I will have to do it this way.

This was day one and day 3 of our trip. We started in Alberquerque, NM for the balloon fiesta. There were hundreds of balloons and as you can see from Trinity staring up at the sky, she was in awe of all the big balloons. Kayleigh of course loved them!

Day 2 of the trip was Santa Fe, NM where we saw the capital, St. Francis of Assissi Chapel, the famous Loretto, and San Miguel church. We taught Kayleigh all about Jesus and the cross on this trip and Santa Fe is loaded with Jesus and crosses all over. So everytime she saw Jesus or a cross, she will tell the story of how he died and would "cry" about it. She posed in front of Jesus at the Loretto so that I could frame it and put it in her bedroom. The staircase is the famous staircase in the Loretto. The kids got to ring the original bell at the San Miguel church. Then they got to play tug a war with the kids in front of the captial:)

Kayleigh and Jordan playing around with eyeball balls at the Atomic Musuem in Alberquerque, NM

This is Day 4 of our trip where we visited the Natural Mineral Museum (Jordan's favorite on the trip) and the VLA (Very Large Array) one of the largest Radio Telescope in the Country. We stayed with Brent's family in our very own private guest house with the most gorgeous view of Socorro. This was our favorite part of our stay. Brents family had an original Model A and Model T car. This was alot of fun because the kids and I were able to sit in it! Not able to do that every day.

So I will continue with the rest of the trip tomorrow with some more pictures.

Our vacation!

So our vacation started off horrible. First we were told by relatives we couldnt stay with them so we had to find alternate arrangements, which worked out way better for us. Then the day we were leaving, we took my car in for an oil change and found out it needs like $1000 worth of work done, so we had them rush the needed for the road trip work done and will get the rest done when we get back. Then we left for Lake Havesu, AZ. We got there fine, but realized when we got there that we left our fanny pack to hold Trinity on long walking trips and our sled to sled down the white sands at home! Ok so we regrouped and traveled on to Alberquerque, NM. Half way into our travel, Brent starts busting up laughing. I asked him what he was laughing at and he says "I am afraid to tell you, but I left our pillows in AZ". Ok so we are going camping and will have no pillows. We get to Alberquerque and everything is going ok, but now we lose our AAA travel guide, so now everything is by memory, and then I lost my glasses in the capital and Kayleigh lost a bracelet I bought her in Santa Fe 2 hrs later! So we figured it couldn't go more wrong it could only go up. We did the balloon fiesta in Alberquerque, which was AMAZING!! and then traveled to Santa Fe to see the capital, a few historic churches and the Cross of the Martyers. Then we traveled to Socorro to stay with some of Brents relatives. Oh my gosh, awesome! We had our own guest house with the most beautiful view. We went to the Natural Mineral Museum which was very interesting and bought some minerals for the kids. Kayleigh was very proud of her rocks and Jordan said so far it has been the best on the trip. Then we went to the VLA (Very Large Array) Radio Telescope. This was very interesting and was well worth it. Today we traveled through Lincoln County where we were able to see how Billy the Kid got started in his town. Amazing!! A must see!! This town is in the most natural preservation that I have ever seen. We saw the jail where Billy the Kid made his last escape and the Tunstall store and many others. To walk in history's footsteps was fun. Then we went through Roswell (LAME!!). I guess for being a christian you have to laugh at these people. There is alien stuff everywhere. Now we are at a hotel in Artesia and will make our way to the Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow. I will probably not post til we get back and I will share all our fun picks!

Kayleigh is too cute!

We went to a Ducks game last night, all four of us (Trinity didn't go). Kayleigh was so cute. I went to check out what the Kids Club had to offer this year and she was totally down for it. In the box they got a shirt, beanie, shaker, duck tag, a calendar and other perks. So Kayleigh waits patiently for 2nd intermission to get her "box". She immediatly puts on her shirt (which fit her like a dress they only had one size), her beanie and duck tag and starts shaking her shaker. Just then a fight breaks out and the whole crowd is standing up cheering it on (of course) and Kayleigh stands up in all her gear and starts clapping and shaking her shaker cheering it on in howls!!! It was hilarious! The people around us were busting up:)

So this weekend we leave on our infamous road trip:) We will leave to Lake Havesu and stay the first night there, then head out to Alberquerque, NM for the Balloon Festival. Then up to Santa Fe to check out the capital and city and then down a little north to see a mineral museum, a mission built in the 1550's, and the largest radio telescope in the US. Next up is Rosswell to see the UFO stuff and then to Carlsbad Caverns. Then on to White Sands where we get to sled down the dunes:) Then headed to Kartchner Caverns (Jordan will learn his Science for sure) and off to Tombstone and Bisby. So excited for Tombstone and Bisby. The history there is amazing! Then on to Phoenix and back home. So please pray for our safe travelings and I will blog with hopefully pictures when we return.