Mission With No Record

Sixty years ago this month, John Ford released a movie starring John Wayne called "Rio Grande" based on a short story entitled, "Mission With No Record."  JC and I went on our own mission to the Rio Grande Friday morning, but with a small change.  We brought along our beautiful, camera-happy momma to make this a "Mission With A Record!"  Below you can almost make out our target for the day - the Rio Grande!  Looks like a short hike to me...

Going down the cliffs was pretty slow for little JC.  His legs are really short!

So this is how we went down most of the way.  Good thing my dad was there!  Look we are getting closer!  We've almost made it down to the second plateau...

Once we got to the second plateau, things got a little bit easier for my dad's back and for all of us!

Alas, before we could continue our descent down off the second plateau, the sun started to set necessitating a return ascent.  Rats!  Unlike John Wayne's Kirby Yorke, we did not succeed in our mission.  But look how close we got!

The return ascent started off quite easy.  Here is an action shot showing JC hauling across the second plateau...

Then the ascent got tougher....Here JC asks, "We have to climb up that?!?"

Wait a second...did you hear something?!?

The howling of the coyotes caused us all to flash back to an early scene in Willow!  And so the ascent restarted with a sense of urgency!

We reached the crest and made it back on the White Rock plateau.  We may not have made it to the Rio Grande, but the shared experience will give my brother and I a bonding experience we both will remember for the rest of our lives.  How will a two year old remember an experience for the rest of his life you may ask...

....because this was the "Mission With a Record"!



Winter has begun....

"Whaa?" said my dad dressed in a golf shirt and sweat pants.  "Is that..."

"SNOW!"

Look at it come down!

Winter began in Los Alamos this past Sunday.  By Monday it was almost Fall again, much to little JC's chagrin!

Dad, why does everything close at dark here?

Oh, how different the living is here.  Not too long ago, a certain Aunt J talked about how poorly maintained the road in front of our house looked.  Here is a picture of of my brother, JC, and I on the main route through town.

The fences on either side are meant to keep the coyotes out as they chase elk, rabbits, and other delectable treats down main street after dark.  Most people keep rose bushes on the inside and outside of their fence to prevent the elk from jumping the fences and drawing the coyotes into their yards.  Our house is no exception!

      At the end of the road is an intersection with our local supermarket.  You can see the traffic is a bit more intense here than in other places.  We are walking home empty-handed because they had already sold all their bananas for the week!

When a (rare) car passes, we step to the side of the road.  It's a good thing it only rains three months out of the year here, or the town roads would be impassable. 

With wild life control problems and a low population, our town shuts down around dark every night.  We better book it to beat the coyotes!  

To quote the great Tecumseh speaking to Governor Harrison in 1810, "Any tribe could go to an empty land and make a home there."  That's true, as long as we have Net-Flix and Hot Pockets!  

Swimming in the Sky

My dad says that it's a good idea to begin at the bottom in everything.  Here you can see my brother, JC, and I unrolling the new carpet while my dad supervises from the couch watching the Army football game.  We are excited, as we can now eat indoors!  Just in time for winter!

My dad also says that rules, just like wild hearts, aren't meant to be broken.  In this case, the rule was amended to it's a good idea to begin at the bottom in everything except swimming.  Here we are at the local aquatic center.  The life vests are meant to help us stay on top of things!

Behind us you can see the gigantic indoor obstacle course!  Here I finish the course in the astounding time of just over 34 minutes!  I'm the new Esther Williams except without all the baggage!

There was an assortment of floating toys that my dad didn't have to blow up, even though my beautiful momma says he has no shortage of hot air.

At the local library, I checked out the movie, Beauty and the Beast.  If you haven't seen it, I will tell you the entire story ad nausem.  My brother, though, checked out the movie Sync or Swim after hearing it had won best feature at the 2009 Kansas City FilmFest.  Here he attempts to master some of the basic moves involved with the sport of synchronized swimming.

I welcome all challengers of the under five variety to beat my time of 34:12 on the indoor obstacle course!

Halloween Weekend

With apologies to all those who think Halloween only lasts for one night, I, M, present you the full-on Los Alamosan Halloweekend!  First, you must paint your toenails on the preceding Friday with polish mailed from the great state of Virginia!

Second, the whole lab leaves work early.  The town shuts down for vehicle traffic.  All kids trick or treat through the commercial sector.  I am dressed as a flower.  How 2008 you may say?  Well it still fits me (kind of)!  My brother, JC, is dressed as Mister Lady's Bug - a lesser known parody popularized by Tim Meadows.  Finally, my dad is wearing an ultra-rare non-plaid mackinaw.

Here's a picture of the local video rental/tanning salon/sports memorabilia/pizza shop.  They now do Fed-Ex, too!  We had to take a picture in honor of Gma L.  My dad wanted to go in but he was feeling a bit kyphophobic!  Too bad, because inside they gave me and JC a LOT of candy!

Here's the main crossroads in town.  A Halloween band was playing.  We looked for Uncle B on the bass drum, but it looks like he still may be in basic training!

After counting your candy, head to sleep!

After waking up, head to a Halloween party followed by Trunk or Treat and a Halloween carnival!  Look at the decoration job done by my beautiful momma...

Look at all those trunks!

After a carnival that involved my old favorite, the dangling donut game, go home and count your loot again!

And that, my blogger friends, is how you go Los Alamosan for your Halloween!  Thank you for all the care packages!



The Atomic Hokies

Yo ho!  We made it past Oklahoma and the CST to arrive in our new home 7500 feet above sea level.  Our last day at the Holiday Inn had us looking down at the weather system and clouds from our perch in the beautiful Jemez mountains.  Did our stuff make it, you ask?  In the words of Lew Wallace, (author of Ben Hur and former governor of New Mexico) "Yes."

Yes that's Golda the Corolla riding in the truck.  Easily visible is our backyard playground, my telescope tripod, and a box labeled "B's chocolate #5 of 12".  B was worried about her chocolate, but she was worried about her two kids more!  Did the movers pack M and JC well enough with packing paper?

Oh phew!  The kids made it through the move with nary a dent!  And they didn't spoil, either!  After being unpacked, JC was disappointed to find that our comfy old sofa and chair were now slick and squeaky as seen below.

He soon realized that something even more therapeutic than popping bubble wrap is to tear saran wrap off of furniture!  We jumped in the Swagger wagon and went to explore Santa Fe, only an hour away!  Here we are outside a church named after my Uncle B (St. Francis of Assisi Church) working on the labyrinth foot maze!

As we told all of you, chain stores have to fit in with the surroundings.  Here we are outside the Santa Fe Target - you'd never know!

Finally, we drove back to our mountain aerie and tried baking.  Could we achieve a chocolate chip cookie as light and fluffy as we made just weeks ago as low landers?  Well, the kids were dressed far better for the job thanks to B's friend Amy K.

How did the cookies turn out?  Flat and looking a lot like stuffed french toast!

The Move - Day 4 - "Oh Reginald! It's just so ENCHANTING!"

Amarillo gave us 72 oz of steak, but the next morning we were on the road again.  Could we reach our goal?  This sign let's you know that we made it!

We immediately hit the rest stop for our bladders sake.  Little JC asked, "Where are all the trees?"  I have to say, this wasteland view is enchanting to only those who enjoy watching CSPAN!

As we drove farther, the landscape became much easier on the eyes.  It also helped that we got lunch.  We stopped at Joseph's in Santa Rosa.  They had a photo op that JC and I talked about all through lunch.  My beautiful momma said, "No, no, you are too short!"  Luckily I can get my dad to do whatever I want by dangling a Ho-Ho!

By the way, there are overpasses, and then there are New Mexico overpasses.  They rarely let an opportunity for art pass them by.

After a pit stop in Santa Fe at the Dunkin Donuts, we made it to Los Alamos and our new home - The Holiday Inn Express (at least for the next few days)!