Adventure Walk in the Gorge

We started an adventure walk the other day with a beautiful sight--a flock of ibis flying overhead. These slightly-funny looking birds looked so graceful flying in a flock, all turning and swooping at the same moment.

They flew over our destination, a gorge just a few miles from our house. There are wonderful little canyons (or ravines, depending on your perspective) and badland-like formations. I had never really explored the gully, and it seemed like it would be a great time to do it while we had our adventurous company visiting.

We started off going down a steep path to get down into the gully. Then we found a way across the creek and started hiking with the steep, sandy walls rising above us.

Maria enjoyed the obstacles in the narrow ravines and got a little help now and then to surpass them.

She did the tunnel all by herself, though, in both directions. Sometimes it's really good to be small.

We enjoyed looking at a layer of sea shells in the ravine walls, indicating wetter times.

We also got a nature experience when we noticed Henry chasing tiny baby rabbits. Although he scared them, he fortunately didn't cause long-lasting damage. They were really cute and found places to hide from him relatively fast. The ravine was full of little burrows and hiding spots. It would be interesting to go at night and see what else was there.

My sister-in-law Sarah looking for more wildlife. I love her pose! She was truly awesome on this hike, squeezing through the tight side canyons, climbing up and over the stream, carrying Maria at times, and all this while she's seven months pregnant!

Maria was having a blast, and she even ventured fairly far from her parents to go see what else was in the canyon.

I missed seeing an owl fly from this hole, but the white droppings extending below it show that it's active.

After a while, my brother decided to climb out of the ravine, and he found a fun bone yard.

Desert Boy and Maria had fun checking out more "dinosaur" bones.

Some of them were heavy. They must have been big dinosaurs.

We found another fun-looking ravine to descend into the main gorge. It was tremendous fun going up and down, and the erosion patterns on the walls were fascinating. There were several small soil-pipe caves, where the water had eroded crawling-size holes through the softer sediments.

Once we got down into the main gorge and headed back to the van, we found that the bushes were too dense. So we found another ravine to head back up. Then we went across and found another place to go down, cross the side ravine, and then another gully to head back up. It was even more exciting than what "the map*" had told us.

*"The map" refers to Dora the Explorer, which has played a big role in many of our adventure hikes. This time we got out "the map" when we reached the dinosaur bones. It told us we had to go through the bushes, down a deep, dark gully, and then up a sandy hill to get to the van. What do you know, the map was right again!

My brother and Maria against a gorgeous background. We had such a good time and were never far from where we parked. This will definitely be a place to go back to for more adventures.

We made it back safely. Hurray, we did it! Lo hicimos! (Sorry, that's more Dora-speak. I've been indoctrinated.) And for a fitting end, we concluded the adventure walk with a snack. After all, we needed some energy for our next adventure, which was just around the corner (literally).

Fun Visitors

We are enjoying a visit with my brother, sister-in-law, and their cutie pie daughter Maria. Desert Boy and Maria started off the visit by playing in water. Clean water (for a change). I thought Maria took Desert Boy's welcoming gesture with quite a bit of grace. Desert Boy is learning a little about fairness. After he poured water on her head, he asked her to do the same to him. And she did.

The next day we went on an adventure walk. Maria is also familiar with Dora the Explorer, and it is amazing what you can get kids to do if they think they are exploring like Dora. We even got out the map (a stick drawing in the dirt) to learn that after we went through the willow tunnels, we had to jump over the cow pies, walk in the ditch, and cross the gate to get to the van. There was excitement in the air! We had a destination and obstacles to cross to get to it.

Maria and Desert Boy were a very good height for negotiating the willow tunnels. They could go many places the adults couldn't--or wouldn't go.

The willow tunnels also held surprises, like a cow skull. They had fun examining it. Then we had to look for other bones.

And we found the best surprise of all--a huge dinosaur bone. It came home with us and is waiting to be excavated in the sand box.

Like Desert Boy's irrigating boots? They are his favorite footwear for adventure hikes so that he can get wet. We didn't get wet on this particular adventure walk, but in an upcoming one you will see him drenched. Despite the irrigating boots.

Thinking Outside the Box

The other day Desert Boy declared he wanted his train tracks to go in the canyons. Apparently that meant under his train table. I helped him make a circuitous route and he brought down the accessories.

He arranged the accessories quite nicely. In the background, you can see Desert boy pushing the little train under the table.

This table is low, even for a preschooler. That didn't stop him. It stopped me, though, so I wasn't able to chase his train as much as he wanted me to. He's big into chasing, on the playground, on the train table, and through the canyons.

He did manage to take a break long enough to flash me a smile. What a charmer.

It was fun watching how entertained he was running his train in a slightly different way.

So I guess I should have titled this post under the table, but that didn't have quite the right ring to it. Now that Desert Boy saw me writing this post he wants to return his train tracks to the ground.

And here's a photo totally off the subject, but I figure a little bit of drool is a good way to help get through the day!

Desert Boy's Elmo Cupcakes

Desert Boy is turning three, and to celebrate with his preschool class the other day he wanted some Elmo cupcakes. I thought about it and told him okay. After all, last year he wanted a train cake and if I do say so myself, it came out pretty spectacular. We had an engine and three train cars, all decorated with bright colors and an assortment of trimmings. Never mind that the cake was literally held together was frosting, it still tasted and looked great!

Back to the Elmo cupcakes. I looked on the Internet and saw the photo above and thought how adorable those cupcakes were. Surely I could make something similar, especially since I had a new icing doohickey with different tips.

So I gave it my best try, and this is what I ended up with:

My husband didn't even know who the cupcakes were supposed to represent and said they looked scary.

This poor Elmo even had a runny nose.

Note to others aspiring to make Elmo cupcakes: if you don't know how to work icing doohickeys, take the shortcuts. For eyes cut large marshmallows in half or use little candy eyes. For the nose use an orange gumdrop so you don't have to mix food coloring for half an hour to try to get an orange color. For a mouth use some black licorice or half a wafer of an Oreo cookie.

Of course I didn't have any of those ingredients on hand, and I didn't have time to drive an hour to the grocery store to get them.

Fortunately, Desert Boy didn't care. He was so happy to have candles to blow out on his Elmo cupcakes.

And his friends were delighted to eat them. Mission accomplished. And those of you who have made picture perfect Elmo cupcakes, just keep it to yourself!

Preschool Party

It's my turn to carpool to preschool once a week, and I was fortunate to be there for Elizabeth's birthday party. All the kids were so excited. Anytime you mention party, they can hardly sit still. But if they know that there's something good coming, like cupcakes, they can sit for a short while.

So many happy faces! The kids really love preschool, and it's so good for them to start learning how to interact and have some structured activities.

While they were waiting for the cupcakes, Teacher Gwendy reviewed colors with them.

Then came the special moment: cupcake time! Elizabeth was even wearing a Birthday Girl shirt with three cupcakes, so she was having a great day.

Yudneli really enjoyed the cupcakes.

The funniest was Charley, who not only finished his cupcake but licked his plate and those of the kids around him. Those were definitely some good cupcakes!

The Best Part of the Playground

We went to the playground the other afternoon and were delighted when a couple of Desert Boy's friends also came. They started out swinging and playing on the slides. But then the real fun began.
It was time to take a drink! And what better way to get a drink than from a spigot.
Elizabeth went first.
Desert Boy managed to get wet quickly, imagine that!
Ava thought it was great.
It was amazing how a little bit of water was so amusing to everyone.
It was nice to have it warm enough that it didn't matter if they got splashed.
After the spigot had run a little while, there was a puddle, which meant even more fun, especially since all the kids were allowed to play in it.
Splash!
The kids sure worked up a good appetite for dinner.
I'm not sure what happened here--Desert Boy needed a hug for something or other. The kids are generally good at playing together.
But they are kids, so they tussle over things like who gets the ball.
I think this was Desert Boy's way of saying that he was really tired--but he didn't want to give up the ball!