Climbing Day Trips

Since we spent so much time climbing in New Mexico in the years before we had kids, we always imagined continuing to climb outdoors with our family after we had kids. Of course, we pictured having one baby at a time and slowly adding more children as years passed, in which case climbing with kids in tow would be a little easier, but even with triplets we have been determined to make a few family day trips happen each season. This fall we took the kids on four day climbing trips, and overall everything went very smoothly.

The first trip was to the Little River Wall in El Rito on Labor Day, and I wrote about that in an earlier blog post. We ended up stopping there on the drive home from Micah's parents' house in Colorado, so it didn't take a lot of extra effort.

The second trip actually took place while I was out of town visiting my friend Katie in Washington, at the end of September. Micah's parents were in town to help him for the weekend and they decided to drive a few hours south to the Enchanted Tower with our friends the Turners. Unfortunately the drive took a little longer than they hoped as the quicker way into the climbing area was closed and they had to drive a longer way in, so they ended up driving seven hours roundtrip that day. But from what I heard, the kids did great with the car ride and with playing at the climbing area, although they came home extremely dirty from literally rolling in the dirt. Unbelievably, there really aren't any photos from this trip as Micah doesn't snap pics of the kids every two seconds like I do!

The third trip was to the Cattle Call Wall in Los Conchas, NM mid-October. This is a very easy place to climb with a family as the climbing wall is so close to the main road that you practically park your car right next to it. In fact, the only thing separating your car from the wall is a nice grassy area for kids to play. One again we met the Turners there and the kids did great this day as well.

Dan climbing

Faith eating lunch

Lexi eating lunch

Jack was having more fun than he let on in this pic

The following weekend we went back to the Enchanted Tower, and I was able to go along this time. We were extremely fortunate that the front access was open so our drive was only about five hours roundtrip. At the Enchanted Tower you park below the main climbing area and then hike up to climb, so first Val and I stayed below with the kids while the guys climbed for a couple of hours, and then we switched so Val and I could climb while the guys watched the kids. This worked out great, and again the kids did amazingly well all day.

Our girls are not afraid of getting dirty!

Jack looking through the Turners toy bin while Griffin hangs out in a pack n play. One of the things our kids seem to enjoy about climbing trips is that they get to play with different toys since the Turners bring so many along.

Our kids and Auggie looking for Micah on the Tower

Micah is in the middle of the photo (blue shirt) working on Shipwrecked (5.12c), which he ended up getting the following weekend when he took a quick trip back to the Tower with Dan (the wives and kids sat that one out). Amazingly, Micah is climbing the hardest routes he's ever done even though he is balancing work, a busy family life, and climbing. 

Jack looking up at the Tower thinking about his future as a climber

Eland, being goofy, Jack, and Faith

Walking back down the road to our camp

Eland, Faith, Alexis, and Auggie eating some snacks while Val and I climbed

Jack, Faith, and Alexis

Although life with three two-year-olds is quite challenging, we are thankful that we were able to get out several times this fall to climb with the kids along. They know that Mommy and Daddy climb since we take turns going to the gym mid-week, but it is fun to have them outside with us so that they can see what we are doing and so that they can enjoy playing in the dirt all day as it's not something we normally do at home (our nap schedule and everything else goes out the window when we do these trips!). We are thankful for the Turners too, as this would truly have been impossible without them.

Halloween Activities

This year we decided to take the kids to the Galloping Grace Pumpkin Patch, which isn't actually a real pumpkin patch at all as it's set up in a parking lot near some office buildings. But luckily the kids don't care about whether or not they are at an actual farm, and they had a great time feeding the animals, walking through the "corn maze," going down the bumpy water pipe slide, climbing up hay bales, and playing in corn kernels. At the end of our visit, each kid picked out a small pumpkin which only cost $1 each, which is a good thing since we put them on top of our car when we were loading the kids in their carseats and then totally forgot about them until we were driving away! Fortunately, we were able to rescue the pumpkins and they only suffered minor cracks.

Alexis

Headed up to the slide

Alexis

Jack

Faith

When the kids picked out the small pumpkins at the pumpkin patch I knew we wouldn't be able to carve them, but that was fine with me since they don't know about pumpkin carving yet and I knew I would have to do all of the work. Instead I bought markers during one of our trips to Target, and I let the kids color their pumpkins. This was still a bit messy as marker tends to get everywhere when two-year-olds use them, but it was way less messy than pumpkin carving, and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Jack even put a few stickers on his pumpkin.

Faith

Jack

Alexis

On Halloween morning Micah went climbing with a friend, so Val and I met at the Botanic Garden. This was a great choice as the zoo was doing their annual Halloween event so everyone was there, and we basically had the Botanic Garden to ourselves! It was a great way to wear out the kids so that they napped well before a busy night of trick or treating.

The kids and I stopped in the aquarium before Val and her kids arrived, and there were only two other visitors in there with us. It was great!

Feeding the fish and ducks in the Japanese Garden.

For Halloween the whole family dressed up as a mountaineering team. We thought of this idea last Halloween when we imagined trick or treating with three two-year-olds. Since a mountaineering team usually walks roped together (so that if anyone falls down a crevasse they can be rescued by the other climbers), we thought it would be the perfect solution to three wandering toddlers. In reality, though, it is hard to for toddlers to walk and not get tangled in one another and they didn't like being restricted, so Micah ended up carrying the rope as part of his costume. I also wore a sign that said "Mount Everest 2035" so that people would have some idea as to what we were.

After the kids woke up from their nap, we put on our costumes and tried to take them outside for family photos. This was a bit of a flop as although Faith woke up from her nap completely happy, which is rare, she was not excited to be in her costume and tied into a rope with the rest of the family. Jack and Alexis were mostly compliant, though, so we got a couple of good photos.

Micah, Alexis, and Jack

Faith was not happy about this situation

Alexis, Jack, Faith, and myself. Another bonus of this costume idea was that we didn't spend a dime as we already had everything!

We then went to a church Community Group party for dinner and trick or treating. We did this last year as well, and I think both years our kids were a little more excited about being dressed up when they saw all of the other kids in their costumes.

Trying for a family photo, but the glow sticks were pretty interesting

Although there was a large group of kids and adults at the party, when the actual trick or treating started the group naturally split up as the older kids moved much faster than our two-year-olds. We ended up doing the majority of our trick or treating with some friends from church that have a 2-year-old son, and this worked really well as all of the kids moved at the same pace. We did end up carrying each of our kids quite a bit as we stopped at about 12 houses and it was a long way for the kids to walk, but I don't think it would have worked to try to pull them in a wagon with all of the other trick or treaters so overall it worked fine.

Faith, Alexis, Kyper, and Jack waiting for someone to answer the door while trick or treating

I'm sure next year Halloween will be even more exciting as the kids will understand it a lot better. Hopefully we will be able to think of another fun idea so that the entire family can dress up again.