New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

So a couple of weeks ago we went off to the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum with Robin.  It is one of our favorite places here in El Paso, well actually in Las Cruces, but close enough :)

It is a museum plus a farm area.  As soon as we get there we ask about the next tour time.  When we went with Robin, they had one available right away and we got to be the only ones on it.  Both times we've taken it, it's an older gentleman, an old farmer.  They drive us around on a golf cart and tell us about all the different types of animals they have on the farm, mostly cattle.

This was Micah waiting patiently for the tour to start.  He loves it.
The beginning of the tour is a little boring for him..they show different ways people cooked and the old farm equipment, he just likes the animals right now.

But once we got to the animals, he loved it.

This is him yelling at the cows that we were passing...

They had a bunch of little ones there too, so sweet.

This almost makes me appreciate how people find it beautiful in the desert...almost.

Then it was time to say goodbye to our tour guide...

(Cutest waver ever)

And it was time to go see the GOATS!

Yup he was excited...the goats are the best.  They are in a barn though, so we have to leave the tour and just wander around at that point.

He cracks me up.  He just loves to sit there and yell at the goat, and then his goat friend yells back at him.  Micah thinks it's awesome that the goat yells the same thing back to him.

After a long time visiting the goats and sheep (they have a good variety of different types of each), we went off to visit the horses and ponies.

Micah really liked the pony too.  He kept making the kissing sound for the pony.  They also do pony rides in the morning on the weekends, but we are still a little young for that.

After we had visited all the animals, we made the walk back to the actual museum part again.

It's a pretty small museum, but it's cute.  They have a John Deere exhibit right now and then they also have a play area, so we had to go play of course.

I love this little tractor, it's so cute.  Wish we could have this at home.  Actually, it even had little parking spots for the tractors and trailors.  There was also a little playground with a slide.  It was really cute and well done.

Outside, there was a little fountain, so we decided to take a couple of pictures...

Finally a picture of Robin and me!

This is definitely one of the best hidden gems out here.  No one ever talks about it on post, but it's not like it's that far, it's probably about 40 minutes from our house.  Which I know sounds far in Venice, FL world, but in El Paso world, it can take that long to just go to Target!  Each time we have gone, it has always been pretty much empty and its definitely an older/retired crowd that runs it and they are so awesome.  Not this time, but the time before, we were walking around right during feed time and the guy feeding the animals stopped and talked to us for awhile and talked to Micah.  

So if you are ever in El Paso with small children, I really recommend this place!

My Little Artist

So yesterday was Brandon's birthday.  The day started with the weirdest thing..picked Micah up from his crib and somehow, his arms were still in his pajamas correctly but his legs had switched pant legs.  I don't even know how this is possible, he is a Houidini child.

Unfortunately, he had to work and actually ended up working late, so we didn't get to see him very much.  But Micah did send him a good morning/happy birthday picture

That was him waving happy birthday to Daddy.
We decided to draw Daddy a birthday card.  We had gotten Micah those Crayola baby crayons and he would try to draw with them but wouldn't ever draw that much.  However, he loves using pens and pencils.  So I decided to give him some Crayola twistables.  He loved them! They are hard plastic, so he can't break them in half and he loves holding onto them.  I think they actually fit him better.  This is his beautiful picture he drew.

So happy I thought to give him those, because he is all about coloring now! He's so artistic :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Husband!

Today is Brandon's 26th birthday.  I have now 11 days that I can tell him how incredibly old he is :).  I am so thankful for him.  Not only is he an incredible husband, but he's an absolutely amazing daddy.  Happy birthday to my darling husband!
Here are a few of my favorite pictures over the past 7 years that he has been in my life.

2 Weeks of El Paso Left

It is so crazy that at this time in 2 weeks, I'll be in Florida.  I will have said goodbye to El Paso, hopefully forever? I've kind of been ignoring the fact that I need to sort stuff and pack.  But I think my son is trying to give me hints..this is what he decided to do after nap time today.

He sorted through the old diaper boxes that had random stuff in them, took out all the swim diapers that he had outgrown and threw them out of the closet (hint for mom?)

Love the little bum...he was working hard in there.  Then he dragged an empty box out of the closet and into his room and started putting stuff in it.

So I am now taking the hint and going to start making list of things to pack and attack one of our storage closets...or perhaps eat dinner and watch tv and ignore it again for another night?  I was hoping that little fairies would come and do it all for me, but maybe Micah will do it all for me? :)

El Paso Zoo

So we were going to go to the zoo yesterday, but life happened and we weren't able to make it.  Today though, Micah slept in until after 9am (which is when Sunday School starts), so we decided to change up plans a little and go to the zoo today instead.  I'm starting to realize that weekend days are very limited now for Brandon and Micah to hang out before our trip.  So off to the zoo we went.  It was a WONDERFUL decision, the zoo was practically empty when we got there, we got a parking spot right in the front, the weather was great, it was nicely warm but a good wind as well to keep you cool but not too windy.  As soon as we walked in, we saw the zoo and decided to ride it.  Last time we had gone, the train was closed.  Micah loved the train!

Afterwards, we started walking towards the Sea Lion show, and on the way we found Prairie Dogs.

Aren't they just the cutest prairie dogs?

Micah really liked that.  He thought it was pretty funny.  Oh and in case you are noticing that the pictures aren't as good as they have been lately on our adventures, our "nanny"/photographer/friend Robin didn't come with us to the zoo today.  Since we decided last minute, she couldn't make it.
After the prairie dogs, we saw some other animals and then it was time for the sea lion show.

It was a lot of talking and not much excitement.  Not exactly Micah friendly, but hard to compete with the Sea World show we went to before..so we ended up leaving early.  It was hard to get him to sit there while a lady talked.  But we did walk down and say hi to the sea lion who's name was Sushi.

By the way, in the picture is a lady holding another little kid, thats our friends Jacqueline and Kallie.  They were randomly at the zoo today, so we saw them a couple of times as we explored.
After the sea lion visit, we realized we were getting kind of hungry so we went off to find food.  On the way, we found a carousel! Micah really liked it.

Then some lunch.  While we were eating, Micah started acting really tired and he was starting to get pink.  Mom and Dad were silly and forgot to bring his hat.  So we decided to call it a day.
It was a short, laid back visit to the zoo, but as Brandon and I were talking about..it's really all about Micah, so if he's had fun and is getting tired, why push on?  We don't want him miserable, we want him to have enjoyed himself.  And I think he did.
Now time to work on packing and going through the house.  Post is having a post wide garage sale the Saturday before I leave, so we are going to have a mini garage sale of the things we don't want to move.  So much to do, and only 15 days!

Shopping!

So yesterday I finally gave in...Brandon and Robin have been telling me that Micah needs bigger clothes (comments on belly shirts..short shorts..pants being capris..) but I've been fighting it.  Every other age, I had a stock pile of clothes waiting and I would just buy a few fillers.  This was the first time I really needed everything for him.  So off we went shopping yesterday.  First we checked out Once Upon A Child.  It's a resale shop, and they buy used clothes for cash, so I dropped off a bunch of Micah's clothes too.  We made out really well there.  Luckily my little man is such a good shopper.

Then off to the mall we went.  I'm still struggling finding Micah some good shoes here, but we found just about everything else, except pajamas.  I could still use a few more fillers, but at least he has a better looking wardrobe now.  Now suggestions on finding Stride Rite shoes without paying $40-50 a pair would be awesome.  We want to have him in good shoes because of Ehlers-Danlos.  Now that he is actually walking, it's time to actually pay for the good ones.  We are kind of thinking 2 pairs for each size..also suggestions on other really good brands would be nice too :)  We need good support and stability.
Today we are off to the outlet mall to look for pajamas.  Unfortunately, our outlet doesn't have any good shoe places for his age.  But I am going to look for summer clothes and shoes for me too! So hoping we are as successful today as we were yesterday!

19 Days and Counting

I can not believe that I'm in the teens now for moving away.  Absolute craziness.  We haven't really had a very exciting day, yesterday we went to the grocery store..today we are laying around and then later going to drop off some clothes at the consignment shop and then the mall.  Micah has had a growth spurt and I can't deny it any longer..my baby boy is in 18 month clothes now.  Unfortunately, this is where I had stopped stocking up in larger clothes because I didn't know when he would slow down growing and what season he would be wearing this size.  So it's off to the consignment store and mall today to clothes shop...and sometime later the outlet mall.
But here's a random picture I took shopping at Target last week.  I forgot to post it before.

Isn't he just the cutest little bunny ever?
I'm trying to decide what toys to pack, which ones to take on our trip and which ones he is outgrowing and will have outgrown by the time we get to NC.  I know we are way under our weight limit, but at the same time I don't want to get there and have tons of stuff that we really don't need anymore.  I hate clutter.  I do love his playroom though, and in our new house I'm going to have to figure something out that we can have a playroom again.  It's nice having all his toys together, and in our main living area yet separate from our family room.  I love that he will play over there by himself completely happy while I work around the house.

Daddy's old hat is one of his favorite things to put on while he's playing.  It cracks me up on how it almost fits him already.
I know today's post is really random..I'm feeling very scatterbrained today.  I have tons of schoolwork right now...saying goodbye to El Paso..packing up the house..making sure Brandon is set for while on groceries and everything..thinking about a 2nd car because we really want to have it when we get to NC so we are trying to decide do I look while in FL? I'll be in FL for 2 months..so do I buy a car while there and then just drive to NC and meet Brandon? Also house searching...and then waiting for my lab results to show up in the mail because my doctor can't call and tell me what my labs said, I have to get them in the mail and then try to figure out what they mean.  Ugh! Being a grown up is hard :)  But then everything is fine when I get up and have this lil man smiling at me..