Back to School week

There are things I LOVE about back to school. I love the smell of new school supplies, all the new socks and undies that fill the laundry basket, and the excitement of seeing old friends again.
BUT I DO NOT like back to school if it includes taking one of your children 4.5 hours away, and leaving them there. She had the shinny new school supplies, new undies (no new socks because it's far to hot in Las Cruses for socks), new bedding, new towels, and a new pet fish named Crimson (NMSU school color).

So this year, back to school was:
a new school for Savanna. Edgewood Middle School.
And a new school for Lauren. New Mexico State University.

So far Savanna is doing great (today's her 3rd day back at school) and seems to have adjusted well to all the freedoms that middle school has to offer. Her biggest worries have been, what to wear, and how does her hair look?...?....

Lauren's step was much larger. She has a roommate (she's never shared a room in her life), she has unlimited freedom, and she's far far far away from home.
Thankfully a TON of kids from Moriarty High School, AKA Mo Town are also going to NMSU, with a number of them living in the same dorm as Lauren. Her best friend Annamae is right next door, her other BFF Madeline is across the court yard, and one of her show choir peeps lives right below her.
She will start classes on Thursday, and until then she will be busy getting use to the heat, and making new friends.

As for me..... I'm just feeling old, tired and poor from all the back to school frenzy. I need a nap!


In this slide show you will see pictures of Lauren's last night home. We had a camp fire and made smores.

Bishops Castle

Around 11:00 this morning we headed out with the girls to Bishops Castle. It was really crowded, but we went up to the big room where Savanna and I waited while Lauren and Scott went up to the towers. Then as we were thinking about leaving we ran into our camping buddies. So we stayed and Lauren, Savanna & Scott climbed around some more, and went up even higher then they did before (peer pressure). I stayed with my feet on the ground with Tommy and Patty and looked up to watch everyone else risking their life's.

After the Castle we went to Westcliff to get ice cream. There is an ice cream shop there that my friend Helen and I loved to go to when we were at family camp at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp. But when we got there and I saw the closed sign in the window my heart sank. Thankfully Billie noticed a store up the street that had ice cream.... so all was good again.
MMMMMM ice cream!

Colorado City, CO

We are spending a long weekend in CO with our friends at the KOA. Scott, the girls and I traveled up here Friday morning. We met our friends from Fort Collins, Denver, CO Springs and TX. Also new friends Larry and Billie from KS.
Larry has been cooking for us all weekend. MMMMMMMM Thanks Larry!
Larry Godby set up this unofficial campout for us. The campground grouped us all together so it's almost like a mini Excel rally.
Last night some unexpected folks from OK pulled up in their Excel... so in true Excel family style we feed them the ton of food we had left over. (it was nice of the campground to park them near us)

This morning I'm sitting here at my table, drinking tea, blogging, and watching Mac, Tommy, and Larry (from KS) sitting in the sun (hope they have sunscreen on) drinking coffee and telling stories. I think Larry and Tommy were out walking their dogs and ended up at Mac's picnic table.

Today, Scott and I are going to take the girls to Bishops Castle. Pictures to come.