The Grisswold Family Vacation

Several months ago, we were talking with the Flemings about how fun it would be to rent an RV and take a trip to Amy's parents' house in Ruidoso, NM. Flash forward a few months and I'm pregnant and we couldn't get an RV but we decided to go anyways. So we loaded up Lita's Armada and headed up to Dallas to pick up the Flemings and then made the 10+ hour drive up there. The drive up was fine but the drive home was BRUTAL. We left at 7:00 pm on Sunday night and rolled into the Woodlands at around 10 the next morning after a quick stop in Dallas to drop them off. Being 30 weeks pregnant and trying to sleep in a car is not a good mix but other than that, the trip was great!!! It was absolutely beautiful, the weather was great, we did a ton of fun stuff with the kids and as always it was great to hang out with the Flemings. Below are the highlights from the trip.

There are more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephhulshof/NewMexico02

All 3 kids at the 4th of July parade in the hometown of Smokey the Bear. They had a great time, especially when they figured out that people threw candy from the floats. It was like taking a step back into the past with the small town and all the locals but a really nice parade where the kids could sit right up front.


Owen and Emma after the parade. They hadn't seen in each other in a few months and really had fun together. By the end of the trip, they were back to being like brother and sister, lots of playing and LOTS of fighting :)


The kids put out peanuts for the blue jays on the balcony and feed for the deer down by the creek. We got to see SO many animals up close. We saw deer, wild turkeys, chipmunks, tons of different birds, and Bryan and Jeff allegedly saw a bear late one night on the way home from the casino.

Owen and his peanuts.


The kids hanging out on the front porch in the morning where it was cold!! The weather was gorgeous and in the 70s all day and cooled off at night. And the absence of humidity is a beautiful thing!!!

Flemings vs. Flemings on the go kart track.

Owen and Bryan on the go kart track.

My future Tiger Woods. Owen has played miniature golf a few times and loves it. The only problem is that he doesn't let the ball stop before hitting it again.

Luckily the bumper boats were saved for last because they were soaked by the end of it. The whole time Jeff kept yelling "Duck Owen!!!" so that he would stop getting beamed in the face. They had a great time but in the end, they were freezing cold and ready to go home.

Bryan and Owen before they were completely soaked.

We went fishing at a trout pond and ended up catching 10 fish between us all in less than an hour. Little did we know that all of those fish would end up being EXPENSIVE!!! Bryan and Jeff spent a LONG time grilling the fish which only they were brave enough to eat and reportedly ended up tasting not so good.

This is right before we left at the horse races. By this time the kids were fighting pretty much constantly :) I think everyone had a great time but was just ready to be back at home.