This year, for the first Father's Day since Colin became a dad 13 years ago, we didn't have either one of our dads with us. That is definitely not a good thing and we missed them both greatly. We did celebrate Father's Day with my Dad last weekend at Weed, though, and that was very nice. Colin's Dad's celebration with us is on hold, until they return from their Washington trip later this week. So, because it was just Colin, I told him to pick whatever he'd like to do and we would do it! Once he heard that the temperatures in Las Cruces were supposed to reach 105 degrees, he decided he wanted us to head back to the mountains! The kids and I were very excited about his decision!
We didn't arrive until Friday night, and not only was it dark, it was also raining pretty good. Thankfully, our favorite camping spot was still available. After we arrived and got the camper where we wanted it, we all went straight into the trailer for chili dogs and some games of gin rummy.
The next morning, we stepped out into the freshness and got stuff set up. Colin and I did come to the decision, that this was probably our last year in our camper. It is old and too small for us, two growing kids and 3 dogs. Our camper is far from fancy - not even a slide out - but we have really enjoyed it and have taken it on numerous camp trips to the Gila and Lincoln National forests, a couple times to Caballo and Elephant Butte lakes, Three Rivers, Carlsbad Caverns, twice to Ruidoso, a couple of Father/Son camp trips to Aguirre Springs, and a big family vacation to Durango, CO. My parents, brother, uncle and I also slept in it at White Sands Missile Range the night before we walked 26.2 miles in the Bataan Memorial Death March! It holds some wonderful memories and it will be bittersweet to get rid of it but we are excited to think about upgrading!
Some snuggle time after breakfast that first morning:
We did learn one thing that morning - Sunny is a runner!! No wonder she was at the Animal Shelter in need of adoption, she probably ran away from her owner one too many times. Piper and Roxy are very good at sticking around camp so Colin let Sunny off her leash to see how she did. Well, she took off running full speed as soon as she was free!! Took over 10 minutes for Colin and Colton to catch up with her and we were all pretty scared. They got her, though, Praise the Lord, and it was back to being tied up for her! This is right after that ordeal - you can see how tired she is:
She can't be left free to roam like Piper and Roxy:
That afternoon, I took my camera and went for a little walk. I love to take pictures of the trees and flowers!
There were two trees growing up there that I had never seen before. Both deciduous, flowering trees. This one I was able to find online and it is a NM Locust tree. Beautiful pink flowers that the giant yellow butterflies loved:
This one, also deciduous, had clumps of tiny yellow flowers and actually reminded me a lot of a Mexican Elder tree, except for how tall it was:
I couldn't find anything even close to it online.
The wildflowers, as usual, were beautiful!
The kids had a great time just doing their thing.
We had some cattle walk near camp. This one stopped to say hi as we were eating lunch:
The dogs were a little bewildered:
For once, I remembered my hummingbird feeder and food!
That night, it was beautiful out! The sky was clear and all the stars were perfectly visible!
Colton, who always enjoys sleeping in the tent, actually got Cady to join him this time. I didn't think she would last all night, but she did and had fun doing it!
The next morning was Father's Day and I made apple cinnamon pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then a few pics. We are so blessed to have Colin in our lives. He really is a wonderful husband and father. Couldn't imagine navigating through this life and these parenting adventures without him. Praying he knows how much we all love him and care about him and that he had an amazing Father's Day camping trip! We love you, Daddy!
