First Week of Summer Fun: Lubbock and New Mexico

Sunday we arrived in Lubbock to spend the week with my family. I wasn't feeling that well, so I went to bed early after loving on my baby nephew.

Monday we had a chill day. Mom and dad made breakfast burritos that were so delicious. After a late breakfast we piddled around the house for a bit before leaving to run around town. Mom and dad had an appointment, so Mr. B and I went into town to browse. I decided to drive him around my hometown. I didn't take him anywhere too fancy....didn't want to overwhelm him. Ha! We went to Target, Old Navy (he opted out of Old Navy and visited the Guitar Center that was next door), The South Plains Mall, Walmart (the non-ghetto one). I ran into my grandpa and grandma at the Walmart. What a fun coincidence. I also finally got my dogs groomed after 6 months. It costs a fortune to get them groomed in DFW, so I only get them groomed when I come back home since it's like half price. I wanted before/after pics, but my dogs are camera shy. After our errands, we came back for some pool time before having some BBQ on the grill. Then, another round of Frozen yogurt at Red Mango. I really think Mr. B and I will be partaking in froyo weekly this summer. It's healthier than ice cream...less guilt. We spent the day with Jude the Dude. We took a selfie....the first of many these next 2 weeks.

Tuesday we left for New Mexico. We weren't in a big hurry to get on the road, so we got to sleep in a little before heading out. We stopped to see my grandparents on the way. 

Here's some of our road trip views throughout the mountains of New Mexico!

We stopped at a KFC in Ruidoso for lunch before heading to our cabin for the next 2 days. Since we had been on the road, we opted to just make a trip to Walmart for food and stay in for the night before our day of exploring on Wednesday. We stayed in a ski lodge near Ski Apache. Here are some pics of our cabin and the night time view surrounding us.

We enjoyed the cool mountain air on the porch of our cabin and visited while dad whittled some wood. The smell of that mountain air brought back memories of my childhood when we would go to the mountains every summer for family reunions.

Wednesday we set out to explore New Mexico. We drove to Cloudcroft (where we used to camp out for our family reunions) and toured the shops in the tiny town. On our way, we decided to stop at our old hiking trail that we used to take when we camped. We didn't walk the whole thing, just about 1/2 mile or so. It's an easy walk down, but tortuous coming back uphill. We were definitely huffing and puffing coming back.

Mr. B and I before we embarked on our hike:

Here are some views from our hike:

After our hike, we went into Cloudcroft for some lunch at Mad Jack's BBQ. We grabbed a family meal and had some of the best chicken I've ever had. I don't usually eat chicken on the bone, but this was really good. We walked around a few stores in town. Mr. B decided he wanted to embrace his inner Davey Crockett....

We drove up to SunSpot to check out the space museum. We didn't want to pay for any attractions, so we just checked out the free stuff. #wearecheap

On our way back to the cabin, we drove to the lookout point we used to check out on our camping trips. These views are spectacular!

We stopped at a roadside booth where they sold wood carvings of bears and other items. Cooper thought of my friend at work and her love of Hello Kitty when he saw this life-sized wood carving of Hello Kitty:

We made another stop at Walmart before heading back to the cabin for the night.

Thursday morning we packed up and headed back to my parents' house. We got home in time for lunch (even though Mr. B and I indulged our Doritos addiction the whole trip....4 bags total!)

We spent the afternoon in the pool before ordering pizza for dinner. Dad and Mr. B finally got to dunk me and get my hair wet. They'd been waiting all week for that opportunity. 

Friday we ran a few errands and spent time with Jude the Dude!

Dad grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, and we spent the evening relaxing. No pool time since it decided to rain:(

Saturday was our family reunion. I haven't been since I moved to DFW almost 8 years ago. It was nice to see family that I haven't seen in several years. I also got to bring Mr. B and introduce him to everyone. 

My sister and I snagged this pic with our great-aunt Pat. I was able to visit and play games with my sister, hubby, and cousins. And of course, let's not forget the wonderful good that is at family reunions!

We stayed for the raffle, but left quickly since there was a big storm headed our way. We made it home amidst the flooded roadways and pouring rain. 

Sunday we woke up and went to church with everyone. We took mom and dad out to Logan's Steak House for their Mother's/Father's day lunch. We came back to the house to load up our tiny Civic with all our things and Jude the Dude's things. He's coming to spend the week with us!

*Stay tuned for Jude's blog about his experiences with his Aunt Lee Lee and Uncle Coop. He'll be my guest blogger these next few days. CAUTION: extreme cuteness may occur:)