Carlsbad Caverns

We were told that before we moved away, we had to see the Carlsbad Caverns. This past weekend was Aaron's last weekend here in Las Cruces with us, so we decided that Saturday was the day to go. It was a 3 hour drive. We went all the way to Carlsbad (a little past the actual caverns) due to some missing signage, but that was okay, we needed somewhere to eat lunch. We ended up at the Caverns at 2:00pm. There are two ways to enter the big main cave - take an elevator that descends the height of a 75 story building or go through the natural entrance. That way was a 1.25 mile hike down a very steep path. We figured if we did that with all the kids, they would be done at that point and wouldn't want to see the big room, which has the most famous and interesting features. After we took the elevator down - which went down 750 feet in less than one minute - I got out my nice big camera only to realize that the batteries were dead. I had brought along extra batteries, but they were in the car. Rachel had our old camera with her, so that's what I had to take pictures with. Some of the pictures turned out great, and others you can't see very much. They had lighting down in the cave, but it was still pretty dim. It was very interesting to see all of the formations.




Can you tell how thrilled they are about getting their picture taken?



Here's the slideshow. A lot of the pictures are dark and everything looked really amazing in person - the pictures don't really do it justice.


I'm still trying to decide if it was worth the long drive, but I'm glad that we went. Hmmmm, what else do we need to see before we leave?

Pinewood Derby

A few weeks ago, David was able to participate in the Pinewood Derby. It was fun for him to spend a few weeks planning and making his car. I had planned on taking pictures of the progress but I forgot! David wanted to make his car look like Speed Racer and they did a really great job. He painted it in Cub scout colors - blue & gold. Here is David before the racing began.

He's waiting in line to get his car registered and weighed.

When they put David's car up on the track for his first race, there was some discussion about his car. The front of the car had a v shape carved out of it. That was right where the pin rested that holds the cars at the top of the track. So, the tip of David's car was about 1/4 of an inch ahead of the other cars. We honestly weren't trying to cheat or anything - it was just how the car was designed. They decided to make things fair, David's car should be raced backwards - because the back of his car was a flat edge.

David ended up winning his first race!

Here is David's car - up on the track.

Each car got to race 3 times. In David's 2nd race, it jumped off the track and didn't finish (Dad says it was probably going too fast :))
David got first place in his 3rd race! Now he had to wait for the semi-final races. Here is his car on the table with some of the others (David's is on the far right).


In the semi-finals David's car got 2nd place. He had a lot of fun and got an award for the most futuristic looking car.


Maybe next year we will figure out the secret to having the fastest car!

Being Replanted

We've come to accept that the only thing that is really constant in life is change! As many of you know, we are moving to Colorado Springs. We recently moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico so I thought I would explain the circumstances surrounding our move. We really do like it here in Las Cruces, and expected to live here for a long time. We have met a lot of great people here and we love the weather (although we haven't lived here during the Spring - which is supposed to be pretty windy). We moved to Las Cruces when Aaron accepted a new job with Honeywell. They have a contract with NASA. He was told when he accepted the job that the contract renews every 5 years and that was coming up in October. Honeywell expected to get the contract again and told Aaron that even if they didn't, the new company usually hires all the people that are currently working on the contract. Well, when NASA announced the contracts in October, they awarded it to a new company. Honeywell protested the bid - so all of that has been up in the air for several months. In the meantime, an opportunity came up for a job in Colorado Springs with Honeywell. Right now the contract here with NASA is still up in the air. It will probably go to the new company, but Aaron has no guarantee of a job with them. We thought maybe the job in Colorado Springs would have to wait until the contract negotiations were finished but they really want Aaron now. It's a good opportunity, closer to my family (about the same distance as we are now from Aaron's family), and right now, it's the most sure thing in terms of a job. We've just been renting a house here, and with only a couple months left on our lease, we don't have much to lose. We will miss the friends that we have made here. It has never been our plan to move so much and we hope that we will stay put in Colorado for a while. So, hopefully that explains everything! Aaron is leaving right away! He has to start on March 2 and will be going up a little before that to find us a house. The kids and I will follow during Spring break (around March 23). We are excited and ready for our new adventure!