Girls Trip

This past weekend, the weather forecast was reading more like Arizona than the Panhandle of Texas. Eric was playing golf in the midst of the sweltering temperatures and suggested that the girls and I drive to the cabin by ourselves to get a little relaxation and exploration out of the way. I came up with a million reasons not to go (I have a severe lack of spontaneity and an overdose of practicality and reason). I had decided that we were staying. Eric headed off to Dalhart early Friday morning, and the girls and I met one of Mali's good friends that had moved to Missouri and was back visiting to play for a few hours. When we were leaving, Mali started crying and telling how she wanted to go to the cabin. Within an hour we were packed and ready to go. During the 70 mile drive to Dalhart, I questioned my decision another million times but then decided that this was the decision I made and I was going to make it the "right" decision. In my haste, and my deep desire that the girls take long steady naps during our journey (as we all had been getting up at 6am for a week), I did not pack the DVD player. This made the trip even more fun. We tried playing the alphabet game and got to letter "D", made Eleri laugh, sang silly songs, and just enjoyed the scenery. At one point, Mali questioned our path, and I realized that she is usually staring at a movie and not the beautiful landscape we pass on the way to the cabin. We stopped to pick some wild iris before we meandered towards the cabin, even letting Mali steer with me as we drove on the dirt road. Friday, we enjoyed dinner on the porch and a little exploration. The girls and I hiked down by the resort and threw rocks. After bath and bed, I got to start my new Charles Martin book, "The Mountain Between Us". Being able to read this book at the cabin made it even more fun to read since the book was set in the mountains. Later that night, Brandon and Liza came up. Saturday morning, the girls and I and Liza took a little hike. I had not even thought to bring my sling and so I put Eleri in the jogging stroller. I'm thankful that it held its on and was a very good off- roading stroller. We had to cross a river, which was flowing pretty steady. Liza took Eleri and I carried the stroller. I also carried Mali over the river. The trail had fallen trees and more muddy water to cross through. It was an adventure, more than I had anticipated, but really fun anyway. We saw beaver dams and trees that beaver had gnawed through to carry to make their dams. At the very end of the hike, we came across some bones. I skull, jaw bone and two vertebrae. Mali was so excited. She did cry wanting to take them home and ended up with one vertebrae. Eric thinks that it probably came from an elk. Brandon and Liza had wedding stuff to take care of that afternoon, so the girls and I relaxed in the hammocks. While Eleri took a great nap, I read even more of my book and Mali played with Lincoln Logs and Legos outside. Then Mali and I built a fort out of fallen tree limbs and laid them up against a large pine tree that had room underneath for us to sit. We sat and played underneath there until Eleri woke. Liza made Mali a pretty flower necklace that she was so proud of. That night after dinner, the girls had their chocolate fix with s'mores. Uncle Brandon wasn't too thrilled at what the chocolate would do to their energy level, but I think they acted pretty good. Sunday morning we went on our last morning hike. It was beautiful, but my ankles were sore and I was tired of always walking back UP those hills! We headed home and had a great trip home. Both girls took pretty good naps and we sang and played again.