Lincoln County

Michael and I both enjoy history, so on our way home from Cloudcroft we decided to check out some historical sites in Lincoln County. First was the town of Lincoln where Billy the Kid became famous during the Lincoln County War. This picture is of the Murphy Store which later became a courthouse and jail that the Kid once escaped from.

Here Naomi is finishing off her juice box before we go inside to investigate.

We also say the Montano Store, Tunstall's Store, the old Church, the Wortley Hotel, and the site of the McSwine house.

Naomi has been asking to go to the Smokey Bear museum in Capitan, NM so this was a great opportunity to do that as well. Here, she and Michael are looking at a model showing the different fire density's and their destruction.

She's checking out a project all about Smokey.

We visited Smokey's grave while there and watched a short movie on Smokey's life and fire prevention (it was great for kids!).

We also visited the Ghost Town of White Oaks which was once a gold rush town from the 1880's until 1949. None of the building were open, but we did get to see the old School House, the Hoyle Castle, and the site of widow McSwine's house.

Poor Naomi wanted to take a nap, but every time she was falling asleep we only had about 10 minutes until we'd be stopping again. She made it to everything though and finally had her nap after our visit to White Oaks.

Cloudcroft

We spent this last weekend in Cloudcroft to celebrate out 7th anniversary.
Looking down into the Tularosa Basin, all that white stuff off to the left is White Sands National Monument.

A nice biker took this picture of the 3 of us. Naomi was scared of him, but he really was a sweet guy.

A poor baby cow who we scared on our way back from the Apache Point Observatory.

I love Thistles, I never see them here in RR, but they are abundant in the mountains!

Another pretty flower.

At the Sunspot observatory, this time I placed the camera on a trashcan and set the timer!

She was 'tired'...

This is one really neat building! I goes almost 200 ft up and over 200 ft underground. We got to go inside, but had to be quiet since they were working in there. Oh, yeah, see that third leg, Naomi didn't want to be in the picture!


She's either thinking or zoning off.

Naomi did pretty well considering that she's been sick most of the week. She was a little grumpy and took a nap everyday, but she was a trouper.

Holy Tomatoes Batman!

Our tomato plant is officially out of control! This is one nights harvest!

We were just eating them as they came off the plant, but I may need to start cooking with them.

A note to Mothers with girls

So what's the best gift to give your 3 1/2 year old girl for Christmas? Why an Easy Bake Oven! You remember those fond memories making those delicious cakes, all by yourself, that your family just adored, especially your Mom. Right? Right?!?

WRONG

As a Mother myself I now realize that my Mom must have dreaded when that Easy Bake Oven came out of the closet. It is messy, you have to be way more involved than you really want to be, and the cake is gross!

I have spent the last 9 months trying to hide the Oven, or at least put off the baking and decorating of the cakes (with minimal success, Naomi is persistent)! But today, Naomi won... She found the oven, we had nothing better to do, and she made the cake. I spent the whole time worrying that she was either going to spill the cake batter or frosting all over or that she would burn herself on that 40 watt heated oven. She added too much water to the frosting which created a goopy mess and of course I have no powdered sugar! And to complete the experience she naturally wants to share her creation with me. Not wanting to hurt her feelings or stifle that baking goddess that is blooming inside of her, I have to eat at least one slice of the 'cake'. *shudder* That will have to be considered my sugar intake for the rest of the day.

On the plus side, Naomi does remember to wash her hands, and she is pretty good at decorating the cakes, even with goopy icing. So at least there is no dirt added to the cake, and it does actually look like a cake, to an extent.

So, to all you Mommy's who have the 'brilliant' idea of gifting your child with an Easy Bake Oven (or the like) be warned!