Ahhhh, Cloudcroft...

It could have been a DISASTER.

With 10 adults (3 of which were pregnant) and 8 kids (6 of which were toddlers) in one cabin in the mountains for one week-- it could have been a serious, red-lights-flashing disaster. (...well, come to think of it, we did see our share of flashing lights when we had to call the paramedics for Julia one day, but we'll ignore that for now...)

We were warned, and everyone who we told about the trip (prior to going) asked us if we were sure we wanted to go on this trip. Despite all the raised-eyebrows and doubtful remarks, we headed to the mountains for the week and we are SO glad we did. It was a BLAST. Ok, truth be told, it had it's moments of stress... probably the most memorable stress moments were when Lydia made a midnight trip to the nearest hospital to find out that she was in pre-term labor (at 34 weeks) and when Julia threw a temper-tantrum and hit her head so hard that I had someone call 911 for us... OH! And did I mention that the dishwasher was broken the entire week? :) But drama & stress aside-- it was FUN!

The best part was getting to be with our good friends that week and hang out together. We lived for the "after-bedtime" hours when we could all shed the capes of "Mommy & Daddy" and just be adults together. Playing games. Drinking coffee. Laughing so hard my belly hurt during a very intense round of Catch Phrase. Singing praise & worship songs to acoustic guitar. ...Totally worth it. Treasured memories. A HUGE thank-you to Glen & Lydia for inviting us to go along, and to Dan & Linda for letting our crew invade their peaceful home-away-from-home!

Ice Cream at the "Sweet Shop" in downtown Cloudcroft:




White Sands National Monument:







Kids' Kingdom Community Playground in Alamagordo, NM:





Pistachio Farm: (We visited this place on our last trip when we were pregnant with "Pistachio Poage") :)




Cloudcroft Mayfair:




Movie Time!


On the golf course with Daddy:



Memorial Day... our last day on the trip...
Avery's bee sting on her finger & a night out in Ruidoso: (Wish you could have stayed another day, Mitchells! We missed you!)