Our second week with the Coopers began with a trip to the White Sands National Monument. It was amazing!
The further you go into the sands, the less vegetation there is. From a short distance, it looks almost like snow!
(For curious minds: The white sand is actually gypsum, which washes/ blows down from the nearby Organ Mountains and has accumulated here in these dunes. The pictures don't show the pitch of the slope very well at all, but it was steep. The dune we were sledding down was maybe 25' high.)
The first race to the top (and then to the bottom) of the dune. I don't think the responsible adults (Mamaw and Aunt GieGie) were out of the vans yet.)
"Whee!"
This looks like trouble brewing...
Yep! Caleb decided to go down too, a la anchor.
Savana was the most graceful and photogenic sledder (except maybe Olivia, who skimmed down that dune like a little bird and never ran out of energy.)
Sophia and LilyAnn decided it would be fun to bury each other in the sand, but Sophia forgot that it is difficult to run from having your picture taken when only your arms and head are free - but, as you can see, necessity is the mother of invention and I still didn't get a good picture of her.
So her dear brother came along to give her a taste of her own medicine.
People and their phones... *Shakes head dolorously*
Okay, here's the video they were watching... The above picture was taken only a few minutes after the video, and this was probably the tenth time they'd watched it.
Sophia flips me over - again!
And I gave her a - shall we call it a lecture? - on personal boundaries. (I promise, she not only survived the lecture (and rolling down the dune) but she profoundly ignored it and went on to flip me every chance she got.)
James giving me some advice on how to survive the trip to the bottom without rolling the last quarter of the way.
"Your turn, Mamaw!"
Mamaw and Aunt GieGie
This picture is incriminating evidence that Savana was testing the quality of the front-facing camera on my phone. I think James has some more evidence to that effect...
Samuel enjoyed himself thoroughly.
The rest of the week was filled with more painting and decorating - lots, and lots (and lots) of painting and decorating. It was fun, and very productive. :)
Savana took over decorating the girls' room.
One of many selfies taken by LA with Olivia and Samuel.
This is a form of entertainment in La Luz, NM: Waiting for the irrigation water to come!
(Water is precious when you live in the desert!)
We played a few games of Catan...
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| My kind of sign! |
...spent lots of time in WalMart and not quite as much in Hobby Lobby (but only because they were about to close)...
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| Mamaw designing the picture wall by laying all the frames out on the floor. |
... and hung many, many signs and picture frames.
(Mamaw was thrilled when she discovered that yours truly could hang a picture, and that meant that yours truly had a job for the rest of the visit.) :)
The picture frames and signs transferred from the floor to the wall.
Savana gave James and Olivia haircuts.
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| Bonita |
And Sophia and I slipped outside to take some pictures of their animals.
One of their goats.
On our last day, we went to Bluff Springs. It was gorgeous!
(Even though the spring was only about as big as a good-sized pillow.)
Our picnic spot on the meadow above the parking area and waterfall.
The stream which meandered through the meadow...
...over the rocks...
...and off the edge of the bluff.
Mamaw smelling the blue spruce.
(They have Christmas trees growing wild!)
On the way back to the house, we stopped to take some portraits to fill those frames we hung up in the kitchen.
Sophia
James
Caleb
Olivia
Samuel
We traveled home the next day (or, more correctly, two days.)
It was a great trip and we were blessed to be able to go and spend time with the Coopers!
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