Toe Nails

After Bradley got done with his school work today we decided to go crazy and we painted Meggie's toe nails pink... the boys thought this was so sweet and could not wait to show Ben.

This weekend in El Paso...

First of all... only 19 days until we're heading back to SC.  Secondly, this has been the best week ever... I went back to the Dr. and I have lost all of my "baby" weight (if only that meant your body looked the same!).  And, the best thing of all... when my computer's hard drive crashed back in April I lost all of my pictures that were saved on my computer.  I had not even printed any pictures since October, so I lost all my pictures from October to April completely.  (They did say they could probably recover everything on my hard drive for $2000.00!... yeah right)  So, I discovered this week that all of the pictures were saved on my ipod and after hours of work I figured out how to get them off and back onto my computer!!

Anyway, this weekend we went around El Paso and visited several museums, Chuck E Cheese, and the pool.  We rode a tram to the top of one of the mountains, visited some of the historical places around Fort Bliss, and did some jack rabbit hunting.

 

This is how I found the boys Friday night after we sent them to bed.

We took the boys to the Air Defense Artillery Museum at Fort Bliss.  They enjoyed seeing all the big guns, missiles, and tanks.

Kyler pretending to shoot the cannon.

And Bradley shooting the cannon.

Checking out the tanks outside the museum.

We also went to the Archeology Museum and the Border Patrol Museum.  The boys loved playing on the helicopter at the Border Patrol Museum.

They also enjoyed playing on the 4-wheelers.  Bradley found one that was his size and he has decided that he wants one so he can drive it by himself.

These are homemade motorbikes that were confiscated in 2002.  They were loaded down with people trying to cross the border illegally.

Meggie really enjoyed learning all about what the border patrol does.

Kyler walked up to this car and opened the door to get in and when he did the man sitting inside scared him because he wasn't expecting anything to be inside.

Meggie was so sweet all day... she didn't make a sound the whole time we were dragging her from place to place.

Bradley at the top of the mountain after our ride on the tram.

This is the view of the tram from the top of the mountain.

Kyler ran into Tina Turner at the top of the mountain and she was kind enough to take a picture with him.

Meggie and I looking down at the hospital where she was born.

Bradley got a nice shot of me and Ben at the top of the mountain.

And a family picture overlooking the wonderful city of El Paso.

Bradley holding Meggie while we waited for our tram to take us back down.

Bradley and Kyler riding on the tram and quizzing the girl who operates it.

Kyler doing a little rock climbing at the bottom of the mountain.

He got up so high Ben couldn't reach him and then he just sat there laughing while Ben was trying to talk him into climbing back down.

Meggie watching the boys acting crazy from her stroller.

Bradley climbing up the rock wall.

There is a "Japanese Garden" here that is a memorial for something the USA and Japan did together.  We decided to park and check it out.  This is Kyler posing in front of the giant birdhouse... I'm not sure what the salute is about but he wouldn't stop doing it.

Bradley letting Kyler in the sliding door.

Bradley thought the bridge was really neat and wanted to get a picture on it.

He also thought this was neat (not sure what it is) and wanted his picture made in front of it.

Ashley and Bradley posing in front of a pretty bush at the Old Fort Bliss Museum.

The boys checking out the old water pump.

Bradley getting readly to dive for his dive sticks at the pool.

Kyler is mad because Bradley won't give him the dive stick that he wants to play with.

Meggie doing what she always does at the pool... sleeping on a lounge chair.  She even came in her pajamas today.

Kyler got a soccer ball at Chuck E Cheese with his tickets so we had to stop at the soccer field on the way home from the pool so he could try it out.

Bradley didn't want to play soccer so he and Meggie played with the play dough he got at Chuck E Cheese.

Kyler with his "Chuck E Cheese soccer ball"... as he likes to call it.

Bradley has been wanting to get a picture of one of the huge jack rabbits that are everywhere around here to show Jeb so we went looking for them on the way home.  This is the biggest one we could find (but not nearly the biggest we have seen since we've been here).

Deming Duck Race

While searching the web for things to do around the area I came across a website for the Great American Duck Race.  It sounded like fun and according to mapquest it was a little less than an hour away so we decided to take the boys.  It turned out to be a little further away than we thought, but it ended up being a lot of fun.

There are a few short videos Ben took of the boys while we were at the Duck Race.  There is one of the boys riding the roller coaster, walking through the fun house, and one of the duck races.  It's not one of the duck races we were in, but Ben wanted to get a video of the whole race.

Roller Coaster

Fun House

Duck Race

Heading into the Duck Race... I couldn't see the camera strap in the way in the blinding sun!

Kyler hanging out with the "Elvis Duck!"

At the duck race you "rent" a duck and then you can either race them in the water or on land.  You hold onto the duck until they say go and then you splash it and try to get it to hurry to the other side.  Ben and Kyler went first... Kyler didn't want to let it go to race, he just wanted to hold the duck.  Their duck actually came in second, but the judges didn't agree so they didn't get to advance in the races.

Bradley and I went next.

We did a good job splashing our duck and he came in second... which meant we got to advance to the next race.

Bradley also won some money for placing second in the race... here he is in front of the tent where he claimed his winnings.

There was, of course, plenty of rides for the kids at the Duck Race.  Ben and Kyler went down the Fun Slide while Bradley was riding the swings and he had so much fun he had to go again... and Ben talked me into going the second time.

The boys rode the Alligator Roller Coaster. 

 They both kept raising their hand, but it was so jerky every time he did it Kyler almost smacked his face into something.

While we were waiting to race our duck in the quarter finals we had to get some drinks to help us survive the heat... Bradley and Kyler each got a blue snow cone.  Obviously Kyler enjoyed his!

Kyler also had some crazy hair from wearing his hat all day... and Bradley has some awesome blue teeth.

Kyler finishing off his snow cone.

Meggie was wonderful all day... she just came along for the ride and didn't complain at all. 

When Bradley and I went to race in our quarter final race Kyler decided to come with us to help.  He really enjoyed holding the duck.

The boys had fun splashing the duck... he started off strong, but got lazy at the end so we didn't get to advance to the semi-finals.  Kyler splashed so hard he lost his hat in the water!