Camping in New Mexico

Recently we decided to get the Texas Wests and the Arizona Wests together for a camping trip. Paul's brother Michael and his sister Jessica both live in Texas with their families, we live in Phoenix, and his sister Nicole lives in Tucson, so we decided to try and find somewhere that would be about half way for all of us. We ended up in southern New Mexico. To make a long story short, we had some adverse conditions but a great time anyway. 

We started our journey from Tucson early Thursday morning and got to the campsite about 10 hours later. We had a few hours before sunset so I thought we would be good to set up camp but when we got outside we realized the wind was AWFUL!! It was blowing fast! It took us forever to get the tents set up and it required all hands available to keep things from blowing away. Michael and Trixie were traveling through tornado weather so we were all worried about them but they eventually got there around 1am and got their tent set up too. 

One night we had a scary thunderstorm strike about 11pm. It was loud. Lots of rain, lightning, and thunder. The three of us snuggled in our tent and tried to cover Susie's ears so she could sleep. She did really well. It was actually kind of fun and we didn't get too wet. 

Another thunderstorm we weren't so lucky. We waited this one out in our car because it was about 5pm. Our tent didn't keep the water out as well as the last time it had rained. Lots of our stuff got soaked, including my phone which is now ruined. Oh well! We dried things out and made it work. 

When it wasn't stormy or windy it was pretty hot. Most of the time we had a breeze to help with the temperatures so that was nice. 

We came up with some fun things to do to fill our days. We walked down to the lake and threw rocks, went swimming and played in rafts. The kids loved playing in the rocks and mud and water. Susie loves to jump in puddles. 

Susie and I got to go out on the lake together in Michael's raft and that was a lot of fun. We tried to find Nemo in the water, to no avail. Trixie just recently had a baby in February. She was brave enough to take a newborn camping and Evan did great! He slept most of the time. I even got to snuggle with him a little. Getting excited for a boy of my own!

One day we drove into Carlsbad together as a group and picked up some things from Walmart. We all enjoyed the AC in the store. Andrew bought a hose and sprinkler for the kids to use back at camp. Great idea! They loved it! Susie has two other two year old, girl cousins. They took a little while to warm up to each other but started having a lot of fun together towards the end of our trip. The last day while Michael and Andrew were getting their vans organized for the way home the 3 little girls spent at least an hour in a van just playing together. It was fun for me to see them play together. Susie had such a great time with all her cousins. She hasn't stopped talking about them. She doesn't know them all by name, she just calls most of them "cousin". 

So despite some not-so-fun weather we had a great time together. I'm really lucky to have these people as family. My favorite part of the trip was spending time with them. It is great to spend time with family, especially when they have similar age kids. We didn't have to worry about slowing anyone down or keeping anyone up at night or anyone getting annoyed at a 2 year old tantrum. We were all in the same boat which means going for a drive in an air conditioned car just so the kids could have a nap sounded like an awesome idea to everyone, not just me! I loved talking with Nicole and Trixie about being a mom and just life in general at this age. They are both inspiring women. I wish we could see them more but after this trip I'm hopeful we will try to make it a yearly thing. I'm so glad the Largeys live close. I want Susie to love her cousins. I'm so grateful I get to call all these people family. 

We didn't contribute very much to the camping supplies. We borrowed a tent, an air mattress, etc. Andrew and Nicole brought the stove we used and lots of food. Our clean up process wasn't half of what theirs was, I'm sure, but I still got a kick out of this pile of laundry. Camping is a lot of work!