March

The kitchen island is activity central most days after school.  Whether it's doing homework, legos, playing with synthetic sand, drawing pictures, or snacking, it's definitely the place to be.

Jack is very much into putting Lego sets together right now.  He is completely independent with following the directions and assembling the projects.  Like everyone else in the family though, he's kind of a perfectionist which can lead to angst when a particular piece is missing.  We're working on how to deal with problems like this when they arise!

For the kids spring break this year we took a mini local road trip in Southern New Mexico to some sights we have been wanting to see.  The first stop was Valley of Fire State Park where we walked on the nature trail through the lava field.

Second stop:  Pistachioland.  Jack in particular is a pistachio connoisseur.  It was fun to sample all the different flavors and see the biggest manmade pistachio in the world.

Third stop:  White Sands National Monument.  We hit it on a beautiful warm, still day with beautiful cloud formations changing the landscape all afternoon.  Our friends who had been there before lent us their saucer sleds which were great for sliding down the gypsum sand dunes. 

We had planned to meet up with Jackson's family (someone from her class at school) and the kids had a blast sliding and galloping down the hills all afternoon. 

Jack catching some air.

The sand was the softest, whitest sand we have ever seen.  It felt divine on bare feet and was perfect for burying each other.

That night we stayed at Inn of the Mountain Gods, a beautiful hotel on the Apache Reservation close to Ruidoso.  The indoor pool and hot tub were the highlight for Sasha and Jack.

The next day we drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We walked down into the caverns via the natural entrance.  Jack had bought a souvenir miners hat in the gift shop before we went down, but still was pretty fearful of the dark cave at first. 

We got a snack at the little cafe down in the bottom of the cave.  Pretty cool!

Jack doing one of his many drawings. 

Sasha whipping up some brownies for dessert.

After church poses

Is she 7 or 17 here?  I can almost imagine the latter in this picture.

Sasha said she wanted to try La Crosse this spring, so we signed her up.  She had a really good attitude about it, but as you can see, she was by far the littlest girl on the field!