Hiking in Santa Fe

On Sunday we decided to go for a hike up in the mountains, which we normally do when we visit at Thanksgiving but haven't done during the summer since before Olivia was born. We met up with Aunt and Uncle and walked to the Plaza Cafe for a delicious breakfast. After, we hung out on the Plaza and the girls danced while listening to a woman pay her violin. They had a ball and the woman loved that they kept dropping money into her violin case. Aunt Shirl and I visited the Indian jewelry vendors, which is always interesting since each of their jewelry or pottery is different and unique. After a while, we headed back and loaded up into our cars and headed toward the mountain.

Aunt and Uncle lead the way to a trail that no one was at and we parked our cars. On the way up the mountain, Sofia started to feel a little queasy so it was the perfect time to stop. Shortly after getting out of the car, she felt fine. We started on our hike, following a narrow trail up the mountain and along a little creek. It was really beautiful with all the flowers and Aspen trees and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for hiking. At one point we had to step on a rock to cross over the creek. Uncle Steve and CK were at the front, so they stopped on the other side to offer a hand to each of us. I was at the very back with Sofia right in front of me. She reached the creek and just walked right through it without a thought to stepping on the rock or keeping her shoes dry. She actually wears Crocs so it doesn't really matter if they get wet, but it was just funny how she walked through the water without hesitation.

The path took us up the mountain and weaved through the trees where we saw tent caterpillars everywhere we looked! They were busy building their "tents" and eating the fresh shoots of the Aspen trees. They were everywhere. Because of the recent rain, there were also a lot of flowers and greenery, which was really pretty. CK, the girls and I followed the trail as far as we could and hung out on a little flat spot that lead up to a very steep part of the mountain. There was no way the trail continued upward. The girls found a large tree that had fallen, so they walked along it and then we headed back down the mountain where we met up with Aunt and Uncle.

After some water, we loaded back up into our cars and headed up the mountain to our "usual" hiking spot that we visit in the winter. Given the beautiful day, the parking area was packed with cars! Usually when we visit in November, there may be a car or two but that's it. We got out and headed out for our hike. Sofia wanted to explore down the mountain to the right, so she and CK headed off that way while the rest of us headed to the left and on our usual dirt road/trail. Olivia walked a short distance and sat down and wanted to "go home." Thankfully, I'd packed snacks so I gave her a bag of pretzels which she ate while sitting in on the trail and was soon energized to start going again. Just as she finished, CK and Sofia joined us.

Sofia and CK soon took the lead and were gone from view while Uncle Steve and I stuck with Olivia and Aunt Shirl was just behind us. Sofia had my cell phone and was busy taking photos of her adventure up the hill, usually taking three photos of everything. She actually did take a few good photos too. There were so many people walking and hiking and lots of dogs. Buddy would be in dog heaven if he were with us. We wanted to walk to the creek, which we'd never been to before and it is just shy of a mile from the parking lot. We passed the spot where we usually end our winter walk and it was so interesting to see it covered in grass and flowers instead of snow! Just as we passed our usual stopping point, Olivia decided she was done walking...which meant I then carried her up the path. So, we continued walking with me carrying her, then her walking, then my Uncle carrying her. Finally, she really wanted to find a white stone, so we told her Aunt Shirl had one. Aunt Shirl had passed us and was up ahead so Olivia tried to catch up. As she did, we pointed out various rocks that were pretty to distract her. It worked and we were soon at the creek.

Sofia already had her shoes off and was wading in the shallow water. Olivia went to join her and soon found that the water was COLD! We cooled off and took a few photos at the creek before putting shoes back on and heading down the path toward the car. Along the way, our little rock collector, Sofia, picked up rocks that she found unique and we soon had my backpack pockets full as well as her shorts pocket. Olivia also collected rocks, which I would generally toss behind us as we walked unless they were really special.

We made it back to our car pretty easily, and it probably helped that it was mainly downhill so there was little request to be carried. We drove back down the mountain toward Santa Fe and had to stop a few times to give Sofia's tummy a chance to catch up with us. It's amazing that she can read for hours while we drive all over town, but any winding road makes her sick. Once we made it into town we went back to Aunt and Uncle's house and had pizza. It was a nice way to end a fun 4th of July weekend and a relaxing night before heading back home in the morning.

The girls and CK ready for the day's adventures!

Walking up to the Plaza Cafe

The girls dancing to the violin music

CK and the girls enjoying Mexican hot chocolates

One of the pictures Sofia took! Love Olivia's smile

The beautiful mountains of Santa Fe!

Ready for our hike!

Off we go!

The little waterfall near the start of the trail

Water is no obstacle for Sofia!

Tent Caterpillars!

The beautiful view as we hiked

The hikers!

CK and the girls "at the top" or as high as we could climb

The girls found a really great free to walk and climb on

Snack break! The pretzels were much needed for this little hiker!

Aunt Shirl! Another photo by Sofia and it really captures Aunt Shirl well!

Another photo by Sofia!

Our group near where we usually turn around in the wintertime.

Such beautiful landscape!

We made it to the creek!!

Aunt and Uncle

Me and Aunt and Uncle

A few of Sofia's rocks

Heading back down the trail toward the car

The girls at the overlook near our car. Such beautiful landscape

Sleepy little hiker....

4th of July in Santa Fe!

On Friday morning we dropped Buddy off at my friend Adrienne's house for the long weekend and headed to the airport. It's always nice to gain an hour when we fly, so loading up in the Baron at 9:30/10am isn't really so bad. As soon as we arrived at the hanger, I realized I'd left my real camera at home! I remembered everything else, but was sad to think all my photos would be taken with the iPhone. The flight went smoothly and much quicker than expected, I thought. Three hours and a good nap for Olivia, Sofia and me and we were ready to land. Once on the ground, we loaded up our rental car and headed into Santa Fe and my favorite first stop: Bumble Bee's Baja Grill! The food is so good and we had a little bit of time to kill waiting for our room to be ready and for Aunt and Uncle to return from Albuquerque, where Aunt Shirl landed about the time we did in Santa Fe. After a delicious lunch we checked into our room at Las Palomas, which was very comfortable with a separate bed room and living space that included a sofa bed, where the girls would sleep. We normally are lucky to stay directly behind Aunt and Uncle in their friends' casita, but they were in town and using it. As it was, Las Palomas is only a few short blocks away and gave the girls room to spread out and was very comfortable for all of us.

After dropping off our stuff at our room, we walked over to Aunt and Uncle's casita and chatted for a while before walking over to the arroyo to stretch our legs. Normally, the arroyo is very dry and sandy, but since Santa Fe has received a good amount of rain lately, it had damp sand and showed signs of recently moving water! The girls had a ball running around and pretended they were unicorns, flapping their arms. We walked down to a concrete ledge and Sofia went beyond and explored for a few more minutes by herself before getting her shoes muddy and finding her way back up to our level. We took a few pictures, then headed back. The girls played with the bag of toys I'd packed and were really good at playing together and not getting too involved in Aunt and Uncle's house things. Sofia loved playing hangman on their chalkboard in the kitchen, using all Roman and Greek gods as her words. She's reading a book about a unicorn that gets a girl from New York to help her with the Roman/Greek gods. At some point Aunt and I headed out to do the grocery shopping for our big bbq feast tomorrow that will include bison burgers, potato salad and cole slaw. It was fun to visit the grocery stores with her and people watch (there is some serious people watching to be done in Santa Fe!)

For dinner we went a little early to Maria's, since there were no reservations to be had. We actually didn't wait long to be sat and enjoyed a delicious meal, as usual! After dinner, we said our goodnights and headed back to our place. Both girls weren't ready to sleep given their afternoon naps, so we heard a lot of giggling coming from the next room. Before long they were quiet.

On Saturday morning, we were up and ready for Aunt and Uncle to meet us at our place at 8:30am so we could walk up to the Plaza to eat pancakes! Prior to their arrival, CK took the girls to the Las Palomas main lobby to get me a cappuccino (delicious), a cup of coffee for himself, milk for Sofia and juice (cranberry) for Olivia. Olivia's juice didn't sit well with her and she ended up sort of expelling it all, even though she said she didn't feel sick. Aunt and Uncle arrived and we walked up to the Plaza and scouted out a good place to set up our four folding chairs. CK and Uncle Steve headed over to get into one of the long pancake lines to get our pancakes. They were back sooner than expected and the pancakes were delicious! They were fluffy and tasty and were a great start to the 4th of July. Unfortunately Olivia didn't eat a bite, although she also didn't seem fussy or sick, so we let it be.

We hung out in our little circle of chairs on the Plaza and the girls ran around and played until they "had to have" little white fans that were sold at a stall next to where we sat. They bought them and then proceeded to play with them like they were mermaids, unicorns, and any other kind of fantastic creature. They really had a fun time with their new fans. CK took both girls to the car show down the street while Aunt Shirl and I hung out. After a little more relaxing and listening to the patriotic music being played by the military band on the Plaza stage nearby, we packed up and headed back to Aunt and Uncle's casita. The girls played, watched little clips on my phone and hung out while we chatted, snacked and enjoyed the day.

Uncle Steve started up the bbq and soon we were enjoying delicious bison burgers, Aunt Shirl's homemade potato salad and cole slaw. We'd been snacking most of the afternoon, so weren't terribly hungry but it was all so delicious! We then loaded up into two cars and headed over to Santa Fe's high school to watch fireworks. We set up on a little hill across from the high school parking lot, where we've set up before and were then told by a police officer that we needed to clear out of the area and sit behind the railroad tracks. As we were gathering our things along with the small group of others around us, another police officer arrived to tell us that we could stay but needed to know we were in a fire danger area given the proximity to the fireworks. We set back up and enjoyed some fabulous fireworks! They seemed to go on for a long time and the grand finale was great! They really outdid themselves this year!

We headed back to our cars which were parked in a neighborhood across the street and headed home, missing nearly all of the traffic! We waved good night and put two very tired girls to bed. Sofia even told CK as we were walking to our car that she could just lay down and fall asleep right there! Olivia was cross eyed as she laid down on the bed and there were no giggles coming from their room this time! What a fun day!

Olivia checking out the Santa Fe airport

Secrets!

Beautiful wild flowers thanks to all the rain.

Our beautiful girl ready for a walk in the arroyo

Two unicorns flying through the arroyo

CK and Uncle Steve chatting about something in the arroyo

Heading down the arroyo together

The group!

Dinner at Maria's Friday night

On our way to the Plaza for some pancakes

The girls and a pancake!

Selfie!

Uncle Steve and Sofia

Family picture

The girls enjoying their new fans

CK and me

Time to enjoy some pancakes

Happy 4th of July!

Our little spot on the Plaza

The Plaza was particularly busy this year

The guys heating up the grill

Burgers on the 4th!

Our sweet girls!

Waiting for the fireworks to start

Beautiful!

Goodbye Thumb!

A week ago Sofia had an orthodontist appointment with Dr. Lewis to determine if she will need an expander on her top jaw to make room for all of her adult teeth. We originally went to an orthodontist in Southlake who comes highly recommended and who already sees a few of Sofia's classmates. He was very personable and I liked how close his office is, but decided on a second opinion with Dr. Lewis, who is located at Dr. Simpson's office in Carrollton every Tuesday. Dr. Simpson is a family friend of CK's boss, Tex, and has been seeing the girls for a few years. He is very gentle and great with the girls and is very generous about getting us in to see him. I don't love the 30-40 minute drive, but he's worth it.

So, last week the girls and I headed out to meet Dr. Lewis for the first time and although he is younger than Dr. Simpson, he has a similar friendly and easy way about him. He looked in Sofia's mouth and agreed with our first estimate that she would need an expander. He said that because she has sucked her thumb for so long, it has changed the shape of her top jaw and has caused her teeth to start to push in instead of straight down. He also said that her two front teeth, which have been coming in for well over 6 weeks have not progressed because the pressure of her thumb is causing the teeth not to drop. He said she really needs to stop sucking her thumb or he could put a bar in her mouth which would discourage her from sucking it. We have tried convincing Sofia to stop sucking her thumb and she did for a short time before Kindergarden, but soon started back up. Most recently she sucks it every night to fall asleep and a lot of the time when she's reading, watching a show, bored or tired. So, a lot of the time she has her thumb in her mouth. We've tried the liquid nail polish that tastes terrible (I tried it and it is terrible and stays in your mouth for awhile). That worked but as soon as it wore off, she would be right back to sucking it again.

Dr. Lewis told me about the importance of Sofia not sucking her thumb while the girls were busy looking at toothbrushes and stickers, so I asked him to tell her what he told me. He called her over to him and told her very kindly that she needed to stop sucking her thumb or else her teeth would need a lot of fixing, including an expander and braces. He was really very gentle and kind and Sofia listened intently. She really doesn't want an expander and I think she thinks that she can avoid it if she stops sucking her thumb now.

We left Dr. Lewis' office and without saying anything Sofia just stopped sucking her thumb! I noticed while we drove home that she read with out her thumb. Usually I have to remind her a time or two while she reads. A few days later she announced that she hadn't sucked her thumb since Dr. Lewis' appointment and she was done! She said she's hoping it means that she will not need an expander, which she is getting in a month, but we'll cross that bridge in the coming weeks. We are so proud of her!!

The thumb through the years.....