Total number times we almost lost our football to a dog: 5
Total times Emily bossed her siblings around: 7
Total number of times our kids asked if they could move here: 3
Well we are getting close to wrapping up our vacation. The next 2 days are just driving days, although after our 600 mile trip tomorrow we are headed to THE university. Texas Tech of course. Home of the Red Raiders. I haven't been there in such a long time... can't wait to see it again, and finally replace some of our Longhorn gear. :) Hehe.
Today we were in SW Colorado again, Mancos to be exact. We contemplated staying in our awesome cabin instead of doing what we had planned today, but we came to see Mesa Verde and the Four Corners, so that is what we did.
First off we had breakfast at a small cafe in Mancos. Nothing is big in this town. All these small towns are so pricey. We spent way too much on breakfast. That's not the worst thing, except we thought we were staying at a Bed & Breakfast. Evidently it's just a Bed.
This was the first of many Abby meltdowns today. I'm not sure if she had a rough night last night, she is missing home, or this fresh air is messing with her brain. She was really testing us. Abby and I had to go to the car while the others were finishing up. As I was dragging her out she thought she was getting a cookie. Ha.
Off we went to Mesa Verde, home of the Ancestral Puebloans a thousand of years ago. So much history, too many kiddos to really get all that we could out of it. I love this kind of stuff and could have spent hours here.
We visited the museum and one of the cliff dwellings. They had a bunch of cool exhibits. We walked down quite awhile and I knew it was going to be rough coming back up. I was right. This is Abby before another meltdown. I didn't really take any pictures during them... nothing I care to remember. :)
Austin and I climbed a ladder to the bottom and found this room. Thinking about the harsh winters these people endured... it's amazing. We even learned that they faced over 2 decades of droughts. Amazing people.
There have been a few fires that came through, the most recent being in 2000. A lightning strike ignited a 23,000 acre fire. You can sure tell.
We headed back down the mountain and started our trek to Four Corners. The owner of our cabin said 35 minutes to the monument from Mesa Verde. Yeah. Try an hour and a half. Construction everywhere. We would have turned around an hour into it, but this was something Austin was really looking forward to. He is really into states these days and can even recite all 50 of them in alphabetical order.
Four Corners is in the middle of Nowhere, America. In the picture you'll notice that Austin only touched 3 states (although before the picture he was in all 4... thank goodness. I have no intention of ever going back here).
After our adventurous day, we treated ourselves to some Indian flatbread. Yummy. Tons of calories I'm sure. Navajos sure eat good. For the record - they are just over-priced beignets.
Do you think he liked it?
The plan was to be home around 1ish, but it was more like 4ish. I was anxious to see if all of our things made it, considering we couldn't lock the doors. I was thrilled that we weren't victims of the first robbery at Sundance Bear. We also wanted to go explore the 80 acres we were on. We didn't make it to the bottom of the canyon but sure had fun.
Austin has had a year of gymnastics training, obviously you can see by this tuck jump over a weed.
The kiddos were dying to see Oreo the dog tonight, so we went to the "Great Room" and fetched her. They then put on a magic show, every kid disappearing for a bit. Highly entertaining.
Oh and we think now that something in Abby's cheek is broken. It is still bruised and it feels very weird. They have their 4 year check up on the Monday after we get back... so we'll see what Dr. Bel has to say.
