Moon over White Sands, When September Ends

David approached me with this crazy idea a few months back.  I really didn't think he was serious, but it turns out, he was.  I should know better by now.  White Sands National Monument hosts a bike ride twice a year by the light of the moon.  Obviously, it's a night ride - from 8-11pm, on the night of a full moon.  The idea is that the moon is so bright in the dark desert sky that it reflects off of the PURE white sand for an unearthly glow that lights your way and provides for an out-of-this world experience.  You have to be quick to enter.  They only take 200 riders.  David was worried we wouldn't get in, but we watched things closely on registration day and managed to get 4 spots for our family.

David's siblings have all visited NM a lot lately and our nephew Jeremiah thinks that White Sands is the coolest place on the planet.  Keep in mind, this kid has lived all over the country, currently in San Diego, and has been to Hawaii, Alaska, and Sweden.  Who knew NM had such an awesome spot to win out over those places?!  Our kids had never been, so we decided this was a perfect way to do it, given the cycling gene in (apparently) everyone but me.

We knew we'd have to miss school to do it, so we carefully planned ahead with the teachers, did all the make up work, and made sure everything was set so that nothing would ruin our weekend.  We did a practice 8 mile ride last weekend and determined that we could probably make the full 16 miles if the kids switched on and off to the tag-a-long bike for rests.  I bought over $40 worth of glow sticks and extra lights to go on our bikes (safety rules insist that everyone has a head light and a blinking red tail light, plus you can decorate your bike to glow however you like.)  We booked a Marriott room, put our swim suits in for the pool, and took off Friday morning for a whirlwind, 32 hour, vacation.

As we headed south, the sky got more and more cloudy, even rainy.  We checked the weather forecast again.  We hadn't looked at it in a couple of days (WHY?) and found out that things had changed quite a bit since last glance of "highs in the 80's, lows in the 60's with clear skies for the full moon."  Instead we were looking at complete cloud cover, rain, and chilly temps.  I had not packed for that.  Not a single shred of rain gear was in the car.  Luckily, I had thrown in 1 pair of long pants for everyone "just in case."  How did I have 2 sacks of glow sticks and no rain jackets?  Why would anyone who lives in NM even own a rain jacket?  How are we supposed to do a full moon bike ride if you can't even see the moon?

We remained optimistic, checked into the hotel, and set out swimming.  It was kind of fun - we were the only ones at the pool and hot tub, so the kids had a blast.  We were careful not to let them swim too long so they wouldn't be too tired to ride, brought them back in, washed the chlorine out of their already green hair, and got dressed to head to dinner.

We were staying in Las Cruces, an hour from White Sands, because we wanted to take advantage of David's Marriott points.  There is a very famous restaurant in Las Cruces called La Posta de Mesilla.  It is incredibly quaint in this historic adobe homestead building.  They had tons of birds and fish on display too.  The kids and I had so much fun talking and playing with this one macaw.  I seriously love living in the southwest where we can take advantage of the great food too.

(hmmm... bad cell phone pic)

When we decided to head onto white sands, I started feeling very doubtful.  They do cancel for weather if it's bad enough, but calling ahead, they assured me the ride was still on.  Still, as we drove, the rain was just pelting down with no sign of breaks in the clouds.  Looking at the weather map, the clouds extended to California - no chance of clearing anytime soon.  We decided we wouldn't try to do the whole ride in that kind of weather, but we'd do our best and give it a shot.  We drove through a set of pretty wicked looking mountains.  With the gloomy skies, I felt like we were driving into a horror movie.

As we pulled into the parking lot, there were a few crazy folks getting ready.  I think in the end, there were maybe 3 families with kids there.  We're guessing most people with kids bugged out.  So, we were the only ones making efforts to cover the bikes in glow sticks.  I ended up only using half of them since doing it in the rain kind of takes the fun out of it.  Still, the girls both had glowing wheels and plenty of glowing objects around all the joints of their bikes when I was done and they never lost enthusiasm to go.

 Here we are - ready to ride!

I think they kept shutting their eyes because the rain was dripping from our helmets straight into our eyes.

Check out the blue and purple rims.

They look cooler without the flash.

We started out the ride in a pretty heavy drizzle.  Not a total downpour, but enough to drip down your neck and make you cold.  Grace was a trooper and didn't make Harriet switch off with her except for a one mile stretch in the middle.  Poor Harriet was a little cold - her bike seat had gotten wet on the drive and she was probably the least well dressed (gold star to mom.)

We rode for about 4 miles before Grace asked for a break and Harriet took over the single bike.  That was the first time I felt like getting my camera out on the ride since the rain had finally lightened up.

But, the kids really didn't complain and we rode the 5 miles to where the pavement ends and were able to ride a bit further onto the pure gypsum road.  The sand out there was absolutely incredible.  It was unearthly, even without the moon shining.  I can't imagine what it must look like on a clear night with a full moon.  The kids are thrilled with a reason to have to go back now!  We did get off our bikes and let the kids roam around on the dunes for a bit.

I had to take a picture of all the bikes against the dunes.  I don't know why.  It was just cool.

 It really felt like we had landed on another planet, or at least the moon.  Truly alien.

Grace begged to go farther.  It was so tempting since we were just getting into the really thick dunes, but we knew we wouldn't make it back if we didn't turn around.  So, we forced her to head back.  She was pretty mad about it until she kind of hit her wall with about 2 miles left.  At that point, Harriet was too cold and tired to switch with her, so she had to tough it out and get back on her own 2 legs (and wheels.)  We totaled about 10.5 miles overall.  Not too bad for a cold rainy dark night with kiddos.  Truthfully, not too bad for me either - missing the cycling gene in my DNA and all.  I am so proud of the girls though.  They did awesome, and it really was a great thing to do as a family.

We were already planning on going back the next morning to sled on the dunes, but after seeing them like that in the dark, the kids practically couldn't wait for morning to come.  Getting back to the hotel at midnight with wet bikes to unload and soaked, dirty, tired kids to bathe, morning came plenty soon enough.

Heading back out to the monument, in the near-CLEAR BLUE SKY, was a little annoying.  I have to admit, I feel a little betrayed by my NM weather.  Check out the mountains now!

It was so clear and bright and blue, and, HOT!  I totally took a picture of the sun head-on.  Traitor.

Seriously, where was that weather last night?  I guess you can't have everything perfect all the time because that would be too boring, right?

We bought some sled wax, and headed out to the dunes, this time in the car.  Harriet was worried it would take too long to get out there.  She was glad the car gets there faster than a bike.

waxin' up

The kids spent hours sledding down the dunes and hiking all over in the sand, which was really cool to the touch.  The sand is made of gypsum which (for my chemistry friends,) is calcium sulfate dihydrate. I thought it would be hot like the hot sand on a beach, but I guess it's white enough that it reflects all the heat.  The girls took their shoes off and just had a blast.

yes, mama went down too

Grace biffed it pretty bad on one of her first rides down.  Her mouth was full of sand and she came home with a serious bruise on her back.  Both girls actually came back with several bruises.  The landings aren't so soft sometimes, even though the sand itself has the consistency of slushy snow.  It is so soft.  Even when completely dry it makes for perfect sand-castle building.

sent good ol' dad down a few times too

The rain from the night before had left huge pools of water (I'm sure that has to be a rare occurrence there,) so they did plenty of playing in the water too. They didn't want to leave, but well after lunch-time we decided we really needed to head for food and start getting home.

They kind of agree with their cousin, Jeremiah - it's one of the coolest places on Earth.  David said it might be the coolest bike ride he's ever done (if you know how many different rides he's done, that's saying something.)  It is truly an unearthly experience to be there.  I'd go back.  I think it would be fun to organize a horse trail ride there, which they do allow.  Galloping Grace field trip anyone?

Needless to say, we were wiped out.  

And, then, this morning (day after), I woke up to THIS, gorgeous, full moon, setting in the west (over my neighbor's house) out of my bedroom window.  I won't beat a dead horse but...

Thanks for the great family memories, White Sands.  We'll be back, I'm sure.

September Shenanigans

This post is full of pretty unrelated stuff.  You'll have to pay attention:

We started the month with a little Labor Day weekend trip up to Denver.  We haven't been to see the CO cousins in nearly 2 years.  Last year, we also had a Labor Day trip planned to see them, but everyone got sick right before we were supposed to leave, so we canceled it.  Wouldn't you know it - this year our kids came down with some awful back-to-school virus again!  I did everything in my power to get them better in time to go.  Of course, that meant I came down with it very close to leaving.  Darn the fresh viruses at school and the kids who don't know how to blow their noses and wash their hands.  Luckily, I was able to rally (after a miserable ride in the car) and we had a very fun, but very short weekend with our beloved Denver kiddos.  

Janie and Evan loathe, hate, detest, to have their pictures taken.  So, I tried not to torture them too much.  But, we do love spending time with Jane and Richard and their great family.  It is so nice to be in their home and go out and do fun things with them.  We think they need to move to Albuquerque and live down the road so we can do it more often.  

We took the kids bowling and to a movie.   We think Evan was so brave to go with us to a movie theater.  He has been so scared to go to movies since the Aurora Batman shootings in the summer.  I can't blame him.  I'm a little scarred from all the crazy random stuff people seem to keep doing.

 We wrapped up the trip with a lazy night on the patio with a fire pit and s'mores.  We seriously need to get one of those things!  They are so much fun.

Next it was our turn to have a visitor.  Our BFF, Bret from MA, graced us with his presence for over a week.  Really, he came for the mountain biking, but we love hanging out with him and our kids love him.  They went on about 5 rides locally around ABQ for the first few days.  Then, they gathered a gaggle of other guys and headed to Grand Junction and Moab mid-week for more epic mountain biking (babe, you've got 2 weeks to blog about it before I just post all your pics and attempt to explain them.)

While Bret was here, he took a photo of the sunrise out of our guest bedroom window every single morning.  They were actually pretty cool.  The day he left for Boston, he was in the security line at the airport during sunrise, so I took this one for him.  Sunrises are gorgeous, but I still don't mind sleeping through them.  Want to wake up to this every morning?  Come visit us!! Chapman B&B is always open.

With the boys gone, it was time for the girls to play.  I took the kids to opening day of the NM State Fair.  We have never gone to the fair before.  Opening day was cloudy, chilly, and in the end, rainy.  No one was there!  It was kind of nice actually.  I have heard of freaky scary things that happen at the fair, so I was glad it was a low-key day.  We didn't have to wait in line for anything.  

 I wonder how long my kids will continue to love the carousels.  The carousel is really one of their favorite rides anywhere they go.  I just look at how long their legs are getting!

The fair had some cool side-shows.  This bird guy had a great little act full of rare and exotic birds.

   At the end, this darling little cockatoo took money from everyone and put it in the donation box.

What?!  A picture of my kids feeding farm animals?  Does that ever get old?  They don't think so.

 I thought it was so funny you had to feed the cow with a spoon.  Safety first!

Ooohh, and then there were the TIGERS!  Grace has been obsessed with tigers, and specifically WHITE tigers for years.  She could not contain her excitement when she found out they had a white tiger show at the fair!  We sat down to watch it early and a crowd of people gathered around us and got in our way and blocked our view.  But, then the weather got them.  It started DOWNPOURING shortly after the show began.  The desert folks upped and left pretty darn quick until we were the only ones watching the show.  We got absolutely soaked.  Good thing we've lived in New England and know how to handle a little "weathah."

At the very end of the show, they asked if anyone wanted their picture taken with the tigers.  Do we?!  The only trouble - mom was out of cash.  Why is everything at the fair cash only?!  We had already blown through the wad we came with.  I knew hitting an atm would be ridiculous fees, but Grace already had one scoped out.  So, the kind tiger trainer let us take the picture first, run to the atm for the cash, and come back to retrieve our print.  All, still, in the pouring rain. 

In other news, 4th grade is pretty cool.  The whole 4th grade had a big tie-dye party and made shirts one day and then wore them all together on another.  

And... the dogs are still alive.  Some of them, barely.  Shadow is still in pretty good shape.  Velvet has developed a lot of cancerous tumors over the summer.  Her bodily functions and general ability to get through the day haven't been affected, but she definitely can't do as much as she used to.  I had to quit taking them on our 3+ mile walk with the stroller parade.  Now the best they can really do is our 1 mile walk on the mesa with Max.  Poor Max-puppy isn't doing so well these days either.  He has aged a lot this year too.  Still the 3 of them make quite a team and very much look forward to Thursdays when they are free to roam and sniff and be doggy together.

Shadow and Velvet can also still make it to the park and back, so that makes things fun if the kids want to walk them over.

And, I have been spending quite a bit of time at the Galloping Grace ranch feeding and riding horses the last few weeks.  I took the dogs with me on Monday.  They were in 7th heaven sniffing the ducks and chickens, chewing on freshly trimmed hoof pieces left by the farrier, and running loose in the desert.  They were totally exhausted by the time I was done feeding and could barely stay awake for the ride home.  

Oh, and did we mention the Utes won the BYU/Utah game?  It was kind of a hilarious and frustrating ending, but we still came out on top, right at midnight.  Go Utes!  To celebrate, we made a red velvet cake the next day and invited our fellow Ute fans (the Merrills) over for the sweet taste of victory.

September kind of went out with a bang too, but that deserves its own post.  I'll see if I can get it done before September is completely gone in less than 5 hours.  But, you might have to wait til October to read about it - especially if you don't keep up with facebook. 

First Day of School 2012

The kids just started their FOURTH week of school today?  Literally, Labor Day, was YESTERDAY.  Something isn't quite right here, but I'm sure I won't be complaining when we don't have to return after Christmas until January 8th and our last day is well before the end of May.  Still, something seems really wrong...

Most of my friends, in other states, are just posting their "first day of school" pictures to facebook today.  And, it's really their first day.  So, I'm trying not to feel too badly about my timing on my blog and that it's taken me 3 weeks to get around to it.

Here they were, back on August 13th!!

Grace is in 4th Grade this year.  She is LOVING her awesome home-room teacher and the rotation of classes.  Now she has 4 different teachers for the 4 main subject areas.  

Harriet is in 1st Grade.  She has a brand-new first-year teacher.  So far things seem to be going well.  Harriet is already bored with first grade work though, and is starting to remind me of Grace at that age, always wishing she had more challenging and meaningful school work.  

Today, really does, feel like the kids should be at school though.  I even tried wearing jeans today, myself, but frankly, it's still too hot in the 505 for jeans in the afternoon.  The passing of Labor Day says I can't wear white or open toed shoes anymore.  What's a stay-at-home-mom to do?  But really, when have I ever cared much about being in current style?  Secretly, I hope that this whole "throw-back to 80's wear" cycles back around to the '90's so I can be totally cool again in my Doc Marten boots and plaid shirts.  David and I just threw out the last of our 20+ year-old denim shirts.  Crap.  That was probably a bad move considering I just saw them again in the Gap window last week.

But, what's really important is how cute these two are.  I always get so many comments on how different my girls are.  It's true, they couldn't be more different in most ways, including the way they dress.  I continue to be disappointed in the choices of clothing available to both of them though.  There is nothing cool for Grace to wear, and very little that is cute for Harriet.  99% of the girls' clothes disgust me.  You either have to dress your daughter like a tramp or like a cupcake-loving, miniature-dog-toting, pink-frosting-exploding airhead.  Why can't our girls be cool, sporty, smart, and beautiful?

Harriet really does love pink though.  I love that she loves pink and doesn't let Grace's or my aversion to it affect her at all.  I forget to buy it for her sometimes, so I feel bad about that.  I want her to look cute and feminine and love all the girly things, but I have a hard time reconciling that with the extremes in the clothing.  Everything just reminds me of junk food.  Isn't there anything healthy anymore?

The one thing that Harriet has really gone for this year (that is truly cute to boot) is the Hello Kitty brand.  David was surprised when I told him that Hello Kitty has been around since we were little.  To prove it, I dug around in an old box of stuff and found my old Hello Kitty bank from like 1982.  Harriet was THRILLED, of course for me to give it to her.  She has never, in her whole little life, been into anything.  Even though she likes the princess stuff, she doesn't just go insane over it.  Grace, on the other hand, always has something she is into and would love to have.  So, it's been fun to kind of go all out for Harriet this year.

Hello Kitty seems to be EVERYWHERE.  There doesn't seem to be a single common item that doesn't come in a Hello Kitty version.  It does cause problems sometimes, when Harriet would buy bathroom cleaner if it had Hello Kitty on the front.  But mostly, it has been super fun.  She has 2 pairs of Hello Kitty shoes, a t-shirt, pajamas, hat, earrings (the white-gold piercing version... I might add...since her ears weren't ready for the cheap ones), a headband, lunch box, thermos, water bottle, school supplies, even a roll of duck tape, plus she's starting to gather the toys too.

 This is school day #2 - head-to-toe Hello Kitty

Hmm... I spent way too much time talking about clothes.  That is pretty unlike me.  I have a love/hate relationship with fashion.  I like to look good, but I don't like to spend a lot of time or money or effort to do it, and I hate how much judging we all do based on nothing but what people wear (or don't wear.)  But, it is something that keeps coming up for us and I'm sure as we head into the teen-age years, will become even more important.

Back to school we go!  Chuck Taylor All-Stars for Grace.  Sparkle sequin Hello Kitty shoes for Hattie.  Whatever works.