Sofia at 11!

Sofia is ELEVEN years old! It seems like time is flying by and sometimes I get this pained feeling thinking of how soon it will be before she is off to college and out of the house! But, until then we do have a lot of fun years ahead of us too! Sofia is growing up fast and is 5 feet tall (60 inches) and 104 lbs! She still loves graphic t-shirts, especially those with space-related images or animals. She almost only wears skorts and the best ones for her are those from Target that cost $6! She has them in every color and pattern offered. She wears Crocs every day and we recently went to the Crocs store at Grapevine Mills where she picked out two new pair, in a womens' size 8! I still try to buy her dresses and know she doesn't like them with a waistline, but I still struggle with the length since she is so tall. Maxi dresses that fit her are actually the best kind for her and she has two favorites that she wears nearly every Sunday to Meeting. I'm trying to get her to try a few other styles, but without luck so far.

As far as her favorite things, they are:

Sofia's favorite breakfast: pancakes, eggs over easy with toast, french toast
Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich
Dinner: spaghetti casserole
Vegetable: radishes and bell peppers

Sofia's favorite colors: Purple and Blue
She wants to be: an astronaut (and go to the moon, but not necessarily Mars or be on the Space Shuttle)
Her favorite book: Aragon
Her favorite Movie: How to Train Your Dragon

Sofia has absolutely beautiful hair and always wants to wear it down. Occasionally I can talk her into braiding it or pulling it into a pony tail, and I love messing with it because it is so thick and beautiful to work with and always looks great when it's done well. Like the clothes she wears, she just doesn't really care what her hair looks like and we have to constantly remind her to brush her hair before we head out.

She says she still plans to be an astronaut and still has interest in space and space-related books, but I wonder if she will find a new passion at some point. I still believe she would be an outstanding writer for young adults. I can just imagine her writing about dragons, fairies and unicorns. She has such an amazing imagination and a creative mind and is a master storyteller! The other day, Olivia asked Sofia to tell her a story about the "mouse and the rabbit" and Sofia told us this really great story. After she was done, I asked her where she read the story and she said she'd made it up and had told Olivia before. She then told us two more stories that she'd made up that were equally creative. Not only is she a great storyteller from her content, but the way she delivers her stories are really interesting. Whatever she decides to do, I hope she always holds on to her imagination and creativity!

Sofia continues to read, but ever since she found MineCraft a few weeks ago, she really loves to either play MineCraft or watch YouTube videos of two guys who are playing MineCraft and have dragons in their MineCraft world. I honestly do not understand the MineCraft fascination and continue to believe that she will look up one day and say "this game is dumb" and move back into reading full-time or move on to something else. I just want to be sure she is expanding her mind more than MineCraft allows and don't want her to lose interest in books and reading. As far as books go, she continues to love anything with dragons. Recently we listened to a book on CD called "Dragon Rider" which ended up being a really fun story. She bought the second book with her birthday money I actually want to read it too!

This summer she ran around with her summer "crew" which included Antonio, Natalia, Olivia and occasionally Brandon. The kids spent their afternoons scootering around the neighborhood, swimming at one of the houses, drinking countless Gatorades and juice boxes at my house, playing and occasionally watching a movie when it got to be too hot. They had a great time together and played very well. One night the girls begged to have Natalia spend the night, so we picked a night and they built a fort over Sofia's bed and had their sleepover. However, they also stayed up until 4am!! Poor Natalia had gymnastics for 3 hours the next day, so I know she was beyond tired. I know they had fun, but they also didn't get the idea for another sleepover!

Sofia and Olivia continue to have a great time playing together and they either make up their own stores, usually with ponies or dragons, or sing songs and make up dances to the songs. She still loves being a dragon and I don't think she's been in the pool all summer and not been one species of dragon! She still really loves to pretend and make up stories.

Sofia continues to play soccer and seems to enjoy it more with every season. Thankfully Coach Jeff is overly encouraging of her and the girls on the team are all sweet and fun. It's been such a great experience for her over the years and I love that the majority of the team remains the same years later. With 6th grade starting, I'm trying to convince her to start taking tennis lessons so she can play tennis as a sport in 7th grade. She actually agreed, but only if she and I take lessons together or I take her out by myself and Olivia can collect balls. I told her once we are into the swing of school and it cools off a bit, I'll take her out to hit some balls.

As 6th grade and her first step into middle school looms, she is excited and nervous but probably more nervous than anything. I think she has heard how "hard" middle school is and how "mean" some of the kids can be. I've tried to dispel all of these ideas and keep telling her how lucky she is to be part of the Academy. For all but P.E. and her art class, she will be with her Academy friends. Plus, I keep telling her of all the CES kids who she will get to see regularly now. I really think she'll flourish in middle school and keep trying to talk it up. We've also talked about how we are going to tackle her assignments and her lack of organization. She picked out a nice day planner and I told her I would get onto Skyward to track her assignments with her every day after school, but only for 3 or 4 weeks. After that, she needs to have found her own rhythm. Again, I think she'll be great! She has so much to offer and so much opportunity and literally the world is her's to decide what she wants to do!

Our girl is 11!!!

She fills in the chair now that's she so grown up!

Happy girl!

The four of us in Santa Fe

With her sister at one of her favorite places, Rain Forest Cafe

At another of her favorite places, the library

With her sister at the Altitude H2O at Grapevine Lake

The three of us

The perfect shirt for our girl! She does love dragons!

Fooling around with Papa's guitar

Having fun at the lake riding the hot dog with friends

Closing around!

Happy 4th of July!

We woke up on the 4th and we were all surprised that we weren't sore from the rafting trip the day before! Before heading to the plaza for breakfast, Sofia and I took a short hike in the arroyo and she took me to the top of the ridge where she and Olivia spend a lot of their time exploring. It was fun to see the area and the arroyo is such a beautiful and interesting place to be. For so many 4th of Julys in Santa Fe, we've always gone to the Plaza to enjoy the pancake breakfast. It really is quite a tradition and a great thing to experience. However, this year none of us felt very inclined to eat pancakes after standing in a long line. Instead, we decided to go to The Plaza Cafe for breakfast tacos, Huevos Divorciados and pancakes for the girls. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, so Aunt Shirl and the girls and I headed into one of the gift shops next door. Of course, the girls found things they wanted. Sofia found these really cool bobble head dragons made in Mexico which were really pretty and only $4. She bought four of them, one of them for Liam which I thought was really sweet of her. Olivia found a butterfly one that she wanted and also bought a little necklace for Hannah. Soon it was time to sit down at The Plaza Cafe for breakfast. It just felt civilized to be able to sit down at a table, drink coffee and eat a warm breakfast that was what we each wanted instead of pancakes and strange sausages. As always, The Plaza Cafe was fantastic! After filling our bellies we set up Aunt and Uncle's folding chairs in our "usual spot" on the Plaza and just hung out. Of course, there was local bands playing patriotic music on the stage, people dressed up in patriotic clothes and vendors selling goods. There is a really cute stand that sells fairy wings, fans and all sorts of cool stuff our girls, especially Olivia, would do anything for. The girls had fun playing and trying out everything and Olivia bought a fan. Sofia bought something, but changed her mind and took it back. She later found a bracelet that she loved and bought that, which caused Olivia to fall in love with a bracelet too. So, they were soon outfitted with bracelets! I walked around, hoping to find a piece of art for our lake house. There was one artist selling really cool art that included mermaids and I saw one I liked, but not really enough to ask how much it was. It's mainly just fun to walk around and enjoy the scenery and people watching.

When I got back to our area, Sofia and Aunt Shirl were challenging each other to a cold water challenge. We happened to be sitting next to the big tub filled with ice and bottled waters for people to take and drink. Sofia decided to see how long she could keep her arm, up to her elbow in the freezing cold water and challenged Aunt Shirl to beat her. They went back and forth a few times before deciding it was super cold and sort of painful! We took turns hanging out in area little sitting area and exploring the different booths. CK took Sofia and Olivia to look at the car show while Aunt and Uncle and I hung out.

Soon we packed up and headed back toward Aunt and Uncle's place for a rest, to read, and then to start on dinner. The girls played on CK's iPad and took a few hikes up and around the arroyo, while CK read outside and I hung out with Aunt Shirl and started preparing for dinner. It was a gorgeous night and felt great to sit outside and enjoy the perfect weather while Uncle Steve grilled steak and chicken. Aunt Shirl made a delicious salad and asparagus and corn on the cob. Finally it was time to eat and we sat out on the patio and enjoyed the delicious dinner and talked. We enjoyed dinner and then talked and waited until it got dark to try to watch the fireworks. It was cloudy out and we weren't really sure we wanted to get in a car at 10pm to find a place to watch the fireworks. Instead, we waited until we heard the pops and buzz of fireworks and climbed to the top of the arroyo to see what we could see. Unfortunately, due to the cloudy weather, we couldn't see anything. Plus, it was "cold" for us Texans! Olivia was "freezing" and used her sweater and mine. It was 68 degrees out! There was a certain chill in the air, which felt great to me but was colder than either girl is used to. We headed back down to the hacienda and Uncle Steve started the fire in the gas fire pit. It was really perfect for the chill in the air. The girls went to bed and we hung out for a bit before we all headed off to bed too. What a fun and relaxing 4th of July!

CK welcoming the morning on the hacienda patio

Sofia and I ready for a little hike up the arroyo

At the top of the arroyo looking toward downtown Santa Fe

We are ready to celebrate the 4th of July!

Sofia and her dragons

Olivia and her fancy fan

The four of us

Aunt and Uncle and the girls

Olivia at one of the craft stands

Olivia and me!

Sofia!

Aunt Shirl and the "cold water challenge"

The dragon on one of the art studios!

Uncle Steve grilling steak and chicken

Getting ready for dinner!

Dinner almost looks too good to eat!

Enjoying the evening after a delicious dinner.

Rafting down the Rio Grande River!

After a great night's sleep, we woke up and had breakfast at 8am. The girls were super sleepy, but did get some scrambled eggs and bacon before we left at 8:30am. Before we left, Shirl and I made pb&j sandwiches for the ladies, and turkey sandwiches for the guys. I also brought along granola bars and pretzels since I knew the girls would get hungry at some point before lunch. After we'd packed our sandwiches and water bottles, we loaded up and drove to Santa Fe Rafting Co. which is only about 15 minutes away from the hacienda. About a week before we headed to Santa Fe, Aunt Shirl and I were talking about our upcoming trip and she suggested trying a rafting trip down the Rio Grande, which she'd heard about but had never been on before. She explained it and it sounded fantastic!! So, she said she would buy the tickets for 9am on Tuesday. I was really excited to go, and wondered what the girls would think about it. Once we were at the rafting company, it took a bit to fill out the paperwork and we met a few of the people who would be going rafting with us!

We all loaded into two vans and headed toward Taos, which would get us to the Rio Grande river, where we would start our adventure! The van ride took about 45 minutes to an hour through little pueblos and towns. Our van driver told us different facts of each of the pueblos we went through. Of course, after about 30 minutes both girls were hungry and ate a granola bar and a small bag of pretzels. I was glad I brought snacks, since no one wants hungry girls on an adventure.

We arrived at the drop off point, after driving along the Rio Grande River for the last 20 minutes of our drive. The rafting guides removed the rafts from the back trailers and we each were outfitted with helmets and life vests. Our driver, Elliot, told us he would be taking all of us in his raft. Apparently, each raft holds four people, but since there are six of us, Elliot said he could take us all. We were so excited to all stay together on our trip down the river! We soon realized that Elliot was the leader of the rafting guides and had years of experience on various rivers. He gave the entire group a safety briefing and said that we would be going down class 1 and 2 rapids with two sections of class 3 on our trip. Elliot said that since it was so dry, the Rio Grande river is pretty low so we would come across areas that we might get caught up and would need to work hard to free ourselves from rocks. Elliot packed our waters and sandwiches and we left our phones and cameras behind in the van. I really wish I had a waterproof camera so I could take photos throughout the trip. Aunt Shirl actually brought her camera and took some cute photos on our breaks. We broke up into four different rafts and we headed out in the lead! I sat on the front left with Sofia and Uncle Steve behind me. CK sat across from me on the right and Aunt Shirl sat behind him with Olivia sitting in the middle of them, but dropping into the center of the raft when we arrived at some rapids. Sofia was super excited, while Olivia was a little tentative. She often is nervous in new experiences, but usually warms up quickly once she realizes it's safe. Within 30 minutes she was loving it and soon wanted to sit at the very front of the raft as we headed down the river. The day couldn't have been more beautiful and perfect and the river was just perfect.

We gently floated down the river for part of our trip and soon found Elliot to be a great guide! Not only has he had a lot of experience and is very qualified, he clearly loves being a guide and was fun and easy to talk to as we headed down the river. He would tell us commands, like "Row two" or "Row hard" or "Two back" and told us what he meant by all of them. It was great to be the lead raft, since we had clear views of the upcoming rapids and a great view of the Rio Grande as we floated along. There were many flat, smooth parts and some minor rapids, which was really fun. It was shallow at points, but Elliot got us through those areas easily and he said we were the best group he'd had all week...I told him he really meant to say "all season!" We did actually work well as a team and navigated the river well by listening to Elliot's directions. It was really fun and an interesting way to see the land. We did end of stopping several times to wait for the three other rafts, since they were slower. The fourth raft was usually very far behind since their guide was deaf, so she would signal to another woman in her raft who would shout out the commands. Because of this delay, the rafters weren't doing their part in time which got them hung up a lot. Their poor guide ended up out of the raft and pushing or pulling several times. Of course, Sofia loved when we stopped because it meant a break to swim and splash. Uncle Steve was really the only one brave enough to join her. The water was COLD! It felt good on your legs and I would dip the arm of my long-sleeved sun shirt to get wet, but there was no way I was getting completely wet! At one of our stops, Sofia and Uncle Steve jumped in and CK had his legs hanging over the side deciding whether he wanted to go in, when Olivia stood up and Aunt Shirl asked "Olivia, are you going to swim?" to which she replied "No. I'm going to push Papa in!" and she did! It was so funny! CK was more than a little surprised and said the water was very cold!

We ended up eating our sandwiches whenever we had breaks on the flat areas of the river. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich never tasted so good! We went through our water pretty quickly and I was really wanting more water the last hour of our trip. In the last 30 minutes of our trip, we came across the two biggest rapid areas and it was super fun! Olivia sat at the very front and loved it and the rest of us worked hard to listen to Elliot and do what he told us. It was so much fun. Finally, the last 15 minutes or so were flat and pretty shallow so we had to work hard to get to the end. Plus, a headwind had come up and we really had to fight the wind even to move. By the end our behinds were sore, but just on one side from sitting so awkwardly in the raft. Aunt Shirl and I decided we should have switched places about halfway through to even everything out. We made it to the unloading area and it was 3pm already! It was such a fun trip and we all agreed we'd love to do it again. The guides set out water, lemonade, watermelon, ham cubes and cheese and it all tasted great after such a trip. Soon, it was time to load up and we thanked Elliot for all he did. He had to stay behind and help with the rafts. The guides were all great and it is hard to understand how hard they work on the raft. There were so many times it felt like we were floating effortlessly down the river, but Elliot was rowing and guiding us the entire time. The girls had a blast and they were both talking about what other river trip we could go on next time! Of course, Sofia wants bigger rapids next time!

We loaded up into the van and headed back toward Santa Fe. Sofia read while we drove and Olivia sucked her thumb and fell asleep, although she swore she never "actually" fell asleep! Once we were back at our cars, we decided to go to the craft beer place over by Meow Woof and followed Aunt and Uncle over there. We all ordered a beer, the girls had root beers and we got chicken wings and tater tots. Sofia was pretty bummed because her molar was very loose and bothering her. Finally, she went into the bathroom and pulled it! She came back super happy that it wouldn't be bothering her anymore!

After relaxing on the patio with our snacks, we returned to the hacienda for much-deserved showers. After showering the girls headed straight to the arroyo to climb and play. The rest of us sat out on the back patio and later ordered pizza and salad from our favorite place in Santa Fe, Il Vicino. Uncle Steve and I picked it up and we returned to the house to enjoy it. We sat outside and enjoyed the cooling evening until about 10pm and then headed to bed. We figured that we would all sleep well after our fun adventure!

The girls at the river, ready to go rafting!

All of us are ready!

Olivia is all set!

The professional photo of all of us!

Uncle Steve and Sofia fooling around in the COLD river.

The second raft behind us.

More fooling around.

Talking to our great guide, Elliot

A great photo of Aunt Shirl!

Group photo by CK

Olivia doesn't even want to get her feet wet because it's so cold

The rapids! So much fun!

A little snooze on the van ride home

Sofia reading and messing with her molar.

A girls after a fun day.

Success! Sofia with one less baby molar!