My Facebook Break

I recently took a break from Facebook.  My original reason was somewhat two-fold.  First, I decided to take a break during Lent.  I had never gone without something during that time and thought now would be a good time to try it.  A food item would have been ok, but I really wanted something that would stretch me a bit and Facebook it was.  So, that leads me into my second reason.  I felt like I'd been using a lot of my time on Facebook - essentially not using that time wisely.  It was a good thing for me to do, but I will be back on Facebook.  Oh, just for the record, it was not a complete break.  I did have some "family business" such as social engagements and e-mail type things that I occasionally had to get on Facebook for.  However, over the course of the last 40 days, that was not very much.  What I discovered was that I missed one thing about Facebook.  I missed the interaction with those that God has deeply blessed us with.  Yes, I see those friends that are local to us, but we have been deeply blessed with friends all over the US and even some overseas.  I completely enjoy seeing their faces and typing a few words on occasion with just a touch of a few buttons.

So, this afternoon, I got back on for a short period of time.  It was a lot of fun seeing smiling Easter pictures and hearing what you all had to say.  Thanks for your friendship.  Hopefully, we will see each other again face-to-face, but in the meantime, I'm thankful that with a few clicks of the mouse I can see what's going on for at least today.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from the Robeys!

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Our final day of adventures took us to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  It was rather windy making our picnic lunch interesting and just the right amount of air for our hike.  We did see a snake sunning itself in the path, but it slowly slithered away when it realized it was not alone.  Our hike took us 2 1/2 miles back to a spring.  It blows my mind why anyone a hundred plus years ago would have stopped to build a home near the nearby spring.  It just would not have been obvious to me.  Maybe I'm not enough of a visionary.

Just a couple things to summarize our trip.  I would have to say the funniest moment of our trip occurred when Chris was folding our tent up at Palo Duro Canyon.  He found a squashed mouse (as flat as a pancake) under our tent and it was not there when we put our tent up.  It was under Luke's bed so we're thinking he made a run for it during a very, very brief rain storm and Luke sat on him.  Hannah said she felt it from her bed on the other side of the tent.  No matter what happened, we all got a good laugh from that one!

Luke's favorite place was Carlsbad Caverns.
Andrew's favorite place was White Sands.
Hannah's favorite place were the first three places we went.
I would have to second Hannah's favorites.
Chris enjoyed those as well.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

It was a bit of a drive from our campsite 150 miles away, but the drive through mountains, a national forest complete with pine trees and snow was a fun drive and well worth our trip.  Just as a side note, it was not cold the day we were there and it really wasn't hot.  We wore jackets simply to keep the sun from burning us even more than we already were.

 We still had an alien stowaway that we discovered at White Sands

 Just a bit of sledding happened while we were there.

 I even got in on the sledding action

 Just some of the beautiful scenery.  It was a bit windy they day we were there.  However, we were quite thankful to be there the day we went.  The forecast for the next day included winds blowing 40-50 mph!

 Just a few family poses

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

On our way to Carlsbad Caverns, we had to pass through Roswell, New Mexico where we played a rousing game of "I spy" of all the aliens that the businesses sported.  The light posts were even in on it.

 We also added an alien child while we were there...ok, just for a picture

All the kids ready to take on the Caves.  They've already been briefed on proper cave behavior and were to again be reminded by a ranger as we entered.  They did a wonderful job of staying within arms length of an adult and not touching.

The kids were excited about the caves, but at this point, right before we descended into the Caverns, they were really uncertain of what to expect.  Even though, the path was lit, Luke only relaxed after he knew his Daddy had a flashlight tucked away in his pocket.

 Thankfully, thankfully, we only had to descend into the caves and an elevator brought us out.  I'm not sure how we would have gotten ourselves up those switchbacks let alone our kiddoe entourage.

 Just a mid-tour pose

 Just a taste of the beauty God has for us underground

 Just a little relaxing at the campground along with the guys showing off their mustaches from "Mustache March".  I don't think I should say more ;)

The ladies also relaxing for the evening.

 A beautiful ending to a beautiful day!

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

We really enjoyed Palo Duro Canyon.  It is billed as the second longest canyon in the US behind the Grand Canyon.  However, it seems so much more doable because it is not as deep and you are able to be on the canyon floor.  We actually camped on the floor of the canyon.  The pictures here don't do it justice.  However, the kids were even able to grasp the beauty.  We heard "ooohs" and "aaahs" as we descended into the canyon and I think Hannah even said, "this is so much prettier than Oklahoma.". 

 The view from our campsite

 Scenery along a short walk

 We saw deer and turkey.  These walked through our campground one morning.  I also learned that turkeys roosted in trees at night.  Learn something all the time!

Mandy and I with our babies.  Let's just say 37 degrees was a bit colder than we anticipated waking up to our first morning of camping!

 All the kids

 Luke and Hannah

 The four oldest got to go on a hike with the Dads called "the big kids hike"  They weren't able to complete the 5 mile round trip hike, but they sure had fun all the same "climbing the walls" of the canyon.

 Scenery along the way during the family hike

Robey Family

Spring Break 2013

Chris and Mike built a bike rack for their pop-up camper.  The bikes are always a big hit at the camp grounds!

Last week, we loaded up our tent, joined some friends and hit the road for a week long trip through Texas to New Mexico.  For this part of the country, this is the time of the year you must go.  Otherwise, the heat will just be unbearable.  It's hard to believe we even threw in jackets and actually used them.

We joined our friends who have four little blessings seven and under joining our trio.  So, four adults had to keep track of seven kids all seven and under.  Thankfully, we did a pretty good job.  Later in the week, another family joined us for a couple of days to make the count ten kids seven and under.  We are all good friends so it was a delight to all be together.

As I was thinking of how to summarize our trip on my blog.  I decided to do it more in a picture journal.  Hope you enjoy the next several entries!

Chris making sure all the kids are fed first.  This night, ravioli was on the menu.

Chris was playing with his GoPro again for this video.  It's all taken at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas, our first stop of the trip.  Just for the record, they weren't really going that fast through the puddles...

Firefly Island - A Book Review

Firefly Island speaks to the growth and change as we travel along this journey we call life. It all begins as a city girl takes on a new phase of life in remote, central Texas.  I love that this book really shows the change that occurs in our lives as we encounter new experiences along the journey of life.  Preconceived ideas, notions and prejudices quickly fall away as we better understand how others live life.  The author of Firefly Island does a wonderful job of creating a story to explain how this occurs.  Along the way, the main characters also experience hardship, disappointment, joys, and love all wrapped in a mystery.  After the first few chapters, this book will have you not wanting to put the book down.  The one disappointing aspect of the book is that it doesn't really touch too much on the faith of the characters.  It's not even mentioned much.  I'm left with wondering where they stand in their faith and whether these life experiences have drawn them closer to God.

I received a complimentary copy of Firefly Island by Lisa Wingate from Bethany House Publishers.

Out With the Old and In With the New

This is what our living room looked like at the end of last week.  One of the kids asked a very logical question as to whether we were moving.  The answer was no, but it felt like half of our belongings were moved to another part of the house.  We were eagerly anticipating the arrival of new carpet.  Everyone was excited.  Luke was even a bit disappointed to miss all the happenings while he was at school.  Thankfully, they worked on his room about the time he got home from school so he didn't miss too much.  Chris and I were excited because well, it would make the house look much better...at least in our opinion.  So here are just a couple of before/after pics.  The old carpet was impossible to get clean.  It didn't show up in the pictures, but there were spots all over it.

 Old (above)/New (below)

 Old (above)/New (below).  The huge dirt spot here was from my paint spilling incident when we moved in.  There will be no open cans of paint on this new carpet!

Finally, here's another GoPro project that Chris put together of putting the boys' beds back together.  I was out socializing so Chris and the kids did it.

Another Reader in the House

Hannah is doing a great job reading.  I thought you might like a little excerpt of her reading Play, Play, Play Dear Dragon by Margaret Hillert.  It's a bit too easy for her, but you get the idea.

Great Wolf Lodge Revisited

Chris has a toy that he loves to try out.  Here is his GoPro in action for our time at Great Wolf Lodge with our friends.