Yes, even Stormie took a turn for the worse and was sick for Wednesday and Thursday! We are so glad she got to go camping with us last weekend, and also glad that we did our Spring Break get-away at the very start of Spring Break, otherwise we may not have made it at all! Both kids had the flu, but for some reason, Colton only got the fever part of it and nothing else, but the fever lasted Friday through Tuesday. Cady, on the other hand, got more of the yucky symptoms (cough, congestion, tummy problems and even the dreaded achiness). She started running her fever Monday evening and still had a low-grade fever yesterday afternoon. Was much better last night and this morning, so we decided to take advantage of our last official day of the break and go to the zoo in Alamogordo, not realizing how cold it was supposed to be today! We picked my Gramma up at 9 and headed out on our way. By the time we got to Alamogordo, the temperature outside had dropped to 39 degrees and you could see a light dusting of snow on the mountains outside of town. I couldn't believe it! I had at least put jeans, socks and tennis shoes on Cady, but I had worn capris and flip flops! I did think to grab each of us a light jacket, though, although it was still COLD! Everyone else there had their kids bundled in heavier jackets, gloves and even ski caps - obviously I didn't get the message!!!
We have always loved the Alamogordo Zoo. It is a small zoo, but very well kept and very enjoyable. Our last visit was in July of 2007 and I was surprised at all the new cages and stuff they had done since then. They were still working on a small part of it, too! The front entrance is one of our favorite parts. A large pond with a bridge and small waterfall that is full of a variety of ducks, geese and even a large swan - all waiting for us to buy a quarters worth of food from the machine and feed them. There were even some cute and fuzzy ducklings today:
Sharing the pond with all the waterfowl, are a bunch of turtles. Not sure why, but turtles always fascinate me! There's just something about them!
Also located in the same enclosure (just not in the water) are capibarras - the world's largest rodents. They are usually asleep in the corner when we are there, but today both of them got up and went and stood by the waters edge. We thought they might be wanting the food we were throwing the birds, and threw some over to them, but they didn't move a muscle and just stood there! Oh well!
Our next stop was our next favorite place - the river otters! I thought it might be too cold for them to be in the water today, but there was at least one crazy one swimming around. It actually may have been warmer in there due to no wind! They are always so cute and fun to watch! As usual, I made the kids stand there posing for the camera until one swam by!!
The monkeys are always fun to watch, too and they have lots of them. I think they are capuchin monkeys, but not sure. Colton snapped this pic of Gramma, Cady and I in front of the cages, but couldn't get a monkey to cooperate, so you will just have to take my word for it!
They have little statues of a buffalo, deer, bear and lion there and since the very first time we ever went, when Colton was 2, I have taken his picture on the buffalo. Even though it was cold and Cady didn't want to, today was no different!
That's about it for the pictures! I was too cold to snap shots of the mountain lions, kangaroos, mountain goats and all the other neat things there were to see. The porcupine, tortoise and black bears were to cold to come out and see us, although not promising I would have taken their pictures either!! After the zoo, we went for lunch at Applebees and warmed up. We were supposed to take the kids to the park to ride the train, but in 40 degree weather that wasn't happening, much to Colton's dismay! I think the cold weather didn't do Cady too much good, so we headed back to Cruces and Cady and I came home so she could rest, while Colton and his Nana went to see "Race to Witch Mountain". Not the way I had pictured it, but it was still a nice morning. And, the kids and I did get lots of one-on-one time here at the house while they were sick! I can never complain about too much time together!
When that was all done, we walked just a little ways down from our campsite to the creek, which was full of neat giant rocks with a little bit of running water. We all had a great time climbing on the rocks, but the kids weren't happy that we didn't let them get their feet wet. The water was real cold and Colton had been running a fever off and on, so there was no way I was letting them get wet!
Colton and Daddy getting ready to load up and go for a drive to look for wildlife:
Colton took a picture of Cady and I before we left, too:
This was the view of the mountains from our camper, and this particular picture was taken right before sunset:
It was very beautiful!
With Colton right above her on the top bunk:
We all slept pretty good that night and awoke to cloudy skies the next morning with a bunch of people moving out. We talked about moving to a better camping spot, but decided since we were already set up where we were that we didn't want to go to the trouble. Due to the cloudy skies, though, we did decide to go for another quick drive. We found a coyote and right as I was going to snap a picture, Colin saw a herd of about 30 elk. They weren't as close to us as the deer were the night before, but we still enjoyed watching them. There were even a couple of calves. They were so beautiful, and I may have said this before, but elk are my favorite animals!
We drove a little more, hoping to see a bear (which are seen pretty frequently in the area), but no such luck on this trip!
We walked up the trail a little ways before Colton started feeling kind of puny again. Before turning back, though, we snapped a couple of pictures:
So we headed back to camp, but this time, only Cady and I rode in the back:
Colton took a nap and woke up feeling a little better, just in time for our good friends, the Hamricks to come see us. They were on their way to Ruidoso for a couple of days and took a detour to come spend the afternoon and eat dinner with us. It was great to have visitors! We all took a walk down to the creek and hung out for a couple of hours down there, climbing the big rocks, throwing rocks into the creek and just visiting.
We then headed back to camp where Sherri and I visited some more while the guys took the kids back down to the trail. 
We all had a great time and we were a little sad to see our great friends drive down the road, headed to Ruidoso. We are very grateful that they took the time to come hang out with us! As they left, there was the most beautiful sunset:
We then retreated inside the camper to get out of the nasty wind. Colton, Colin and I played Phase 10 while Cady was the first to try out our little bathtub and take a warm (much needed) bath:
She was so worn out, that she crashed on mine and Colin's bed as we finished up our game:
The wind blew all night long and was still blowing the next morning. So, instead of staying most of the day as originally planned, we went ahead and loaded up and headed out. It was a great camping trip, though, and we already can't wait for our next one!!