Time to resume blogging!

     It has been years since I last blogged and I have truly missed it. It was a lovely way to journal our life adventures, tender mercies, joys, trials and lessons learned. I have resolved to update this simple blog of mine. There are five years worth of adventures that we enjoyed, but I failed to include here. I love looking back on the years when our children were little and all our darling adventures together. Those memories are so precious to me and as a family we treasure reading these blog posts. I have felt prompted to update and resume my blog journaling because it provides our relatives and close friends a view into our lives even though we live so far from them. It also provides our family memories of the past and lots of laughs. So here goes the first of many more posts to come. Hope it brings you the enjoyment it brings me and mine!

Fireflies Are Nature's Glitter

A major perk of living in NC are the fireflies in summer. Alyssa described fireflies perfectly as nature's glitter. As the sunsets each evening the fireflies start their little romantic light show most often in taller grass. Fireflies make driving through the countryside magical. It is tragically awesome when they splat their eerie green, yellow or orange color on our windshield. 

Here are some closeups of the fireflies in our yard.

They are really docile and according to my children really dumb.  It is super easy to catch them even after they take off from your hand.

Here's my favorite photo! Fireflies sure are pretty little beetles!

Here's a video just for my dad. He's never seen any fireflies in person.
Hope you like it dad! Love and miss you so much!

The kids love catching fireflies as the evenings start to cool a bit.
We sure are grateful for nature's glitter this summer.

Our kittens have finally discovered fireflies. It's adorable!
(We have four kittens. I am not a pet person at all, but the kids are totally attached. The kittens were born under our home and a post about them is coming later this week.)

Elton John Concert

On Saturday we went to an Elton John concert at the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, NC. It was such a blast and the perfect 1st concert experience for the kids. Back in March I was so thrilled to see that Elton was coming to NC. Once I bought the tickets the count down to the concert began. The kids have been rocking out to his songs for months now and trying to learn his biggest hits. It turned out to be one of the best nights of my life.

This beauty was ready to rock out!

I am so grateful for the kind woman sitting next to us who took these photos. I love them! I am almost never in any good photos with the family. 
It is so nice to have all of us in the photos together.

The little ones were so thrilled that we found guitar glasses, feather boas and beads to wear. They wanted to dress up fancy like Elton.

Hotch is such a great dad! He totally played along.

We had awesome seats on the lawn. It was so nice being able to bring lawn chairs, blankets and even food to munch on. They kids chowed down on chips, guacamole, tomatoes and popcorn.

The opening act 2CELLOS (Luka Silic & Stjepan Hauser) were amazing!
It was awesome when they played "Smooth Criminal". 

The kids were so thrilled when Elton John finally stepped out. They loved the fact that he was wearing a sequined jacket and pants.

Alyssa kept telling me that it was totally awesome!

The second song he sang was "Bennie and the Jets" which is our family favorite! It started the night off well. My kids were so excited to hear him sing it live and that they knew most of the words.

Alyssa only captured a small bit of the chorus. 

We were definitely entertained by who we fondly called "Drunk Hippie Girl" and her interesting outfit. Let's just say she left absolutely nothing up for the imagination. At the end of the night we were entertained by her further when she got into some drama in the parking lot.

We were grateful for the jumbotrons!

Delaney and I love the song "Tiny Dancer"! We were so happy that we got to dance and song along to it. Alyssa captured the whole song on video.

These girls were having a wonderful time!

The photos below aren't the best, but we cherish them. (It was bummer that we couldn't bring in my nice camera and had to settle for using the lame 35mm.) Elton John sure did make our night! He is such an incredible singer.

Braxton was so happy when he sang "I Guess That's Why They Call Them the Blues" because he had just learned the whole chorus. He was so sweet when he cuddled into me as we sang and danced to his song.

I absolutely love this next photo of Alyssa! Her favorite Elton John song is "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)". As the concert was coming to an end (the second to last song) Elton John finally sang her favorite song. She started screaming and jumping all around. The joy on her face in this photo is priceless! She danced, sang and hugged me tons. It was a perfect moment!

Elton John signed some autographs and then walked off stage. The kids were wondering why we weren't leaving until we explained encores. 
They LOVED that he came back out to sing "Your Song".

We had an outstanding, incredible night!

No idea what these tired babies are doing, but they crack me up.

I am so grateful for these four treasures! They make my life complete! 
Going to an Elton John concert was such a blast and a blessing!

World Cup Is Serious Business

In our home we don't usually follow sports religiously. (The exception is the University of Utah football. I love the Utes!) Hotch loves sports especially baseball and football and he always seems to know what is going on. To this day I have never watched the World Series or Super Bowl. Since I've made it this long I'm sure I can go the rest of my life without ever watching them. BUT...

Everything changes when it comes to the World Cup!

We live for World Cup! I watch every single game unless something really important comes up. Otherwise I am glued to the screen for about a month every four years. Hotch and I get so stoked to get our World Cup on. This is serious business in our home. We always make up brackets and root for our favorite teams.  Personally I believe I out did myself with our huge wall bracket. We are mapping out the entire World Cup outcomes! Wish my photos did it more justice. It's okay to be jealous you don't have a huge World Cup bracket on your wall. Not everyone can be so awesome!

Here's the bracket we used to map our World Cup predictions. We might make a second bracket after the Group Stage to better predict what the outcome may be. Who knows we might have great brackets right now.

In order to get my kids pumped up for all the World Cup games I have printed out flags from each nation and we will research all of their locations, cultures, etc. We also have some fun activity sheets on the history of the World Cup and on the countries competing this year. Braxton is really interested in the past World Cup winners  and has his own little system set up to record World Cup stats. We have been talking about the past host countries and will be spending quite some time learning about Brazil. 
Here is a great link to some amazing World Cup printables.

My kids are so into watching soccer (football) this year which makes this World Cup that much more exciting! I love hearing them cheer and the explosions of joy or anger when a goal is made. Makes it such a blast!

Braxton and Delaney created their own game of soccer using Brax's Super Mario Bros. chess pieces. It was adorable and very competitive.

 Not sure what the outcome of the World Cup will be this year, but here in the Hotchkiss home we are stoked to find out! If you want to find us over the next month just check the World Cup schedule. We'll be avoiding the world and glued to each match for the duration of the World Cup! 

If your interested in getting your World Cup on too then check out the official FIFA website or print this PDF World Cup Schedule to find out when your favorite countries compete. (NOTE: Brazil is one hour ahead of EST.)

You can watch every match live streaming for free on Univision. Look for the video link with the countries playing along with the word gratis (free) or find the match link that says ver partidos en vivo (watch matches live). 
(NOTE: Everything will be in Spanish. We don't mind hearing the announcers speak Spanish the entire time because we are here to watch the games. Hotch just pointed out that the only important word is GOALLLLL and that's the same in English and Spanish.)

Carlsbad Caverns National Park - Carlsbad, NM

One of our favorite adventures as we moved from NC to CA was exploring the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in Carlsbad, New Mexico. It was incredible getting to explore this natural wonder as a family. 

Hotch and Braxton spotted these baby birds snuggled up in their nest next the boy's restroom. They were such vocal, hungry babies. 

Carlsbad Caverns National Park was established in 1930 and it is an amazing experience for the whole family. We had a blast! Before descending 750 feet underground to investigate Carlsbad Caverns we made sure to pick up Junior Ranger book. (Here are the Junior Ranger Books: 6 and under & 7-12.) There are two different entrances into Carlsbad Caverns: an elevator and the natural entrance. We chose to take the elevator down and to go on the Big Room Route self-guided tour. If Hotch and I were in better shape we would have chosen the Natural Entrance Route self-guided tour since it is descends down into Carlsbad Caverns through the historic natural cave entrance. There are also many ranger-guided tours to choose from. 

When we got down into Carlsbad Caverns we bought the kids some really cool head lanterns. These head lanterns were serious business and they looked awesome in them! The little ones kept blinding us with their lanterns whenever we spoke to them. It was hilarious watching them completely oblivious to the fact that they were shining the light in people's eyes. 

   

I had to keep reminding them that they needed to turn their lights off when they turned to talk to us or to take pictures. Hotch and I had more than one moment of temporary blindness, but the head lanterns were so worth the money. They loved them so much and the extra light really helped since it is pretty dark inside Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park has more than 119 limestone caves, but the most famous cave is Carlsbad Caverns. It was formed when naturally occurring sulfuric acid seeped into the cracks of the limestone rock and created endless mazes underground. Then water drops soaked through the cracks in the limestone along with gasses and minerals it collected from the soil above. These water drops have created beautiful cave formations which are properly called speleothems. Carlsbad Caverns showcases many different speleothems. (Here is a PDF explaining cave geology.)

The Big Room Route is 1.2 miles long and took us about 2 hours to complete. We took our time stopping regularly to take photos and to really examine the cave formations. It was an incredible journey deep in the earth!

The Big Room is the largest known natural limestone chamber in the Western Hemisphere. In 1989 the estimated size was around 357,480 square feet which is about 6.2 football fields. The photos below do not do justice to the enormity of this cave chamber and the beauty that is within.

I love all of the smaller cave chambers with their own hidden treasures.

Behind Alyssa are some impressive cave formations called flowstone and coralloids. Flowstone is formed when water flows down walls or along the cave floor. Love how it looks like frozen waterfalls. Coralloids (cave popcorn) are small nodes of mineral deposits from splashing water distributed in the direction of airflow.

We viewed so many different types of cave formations. 

Wish my photos did the Big Room justice.

I am in awe of the slowly forming dripstone columns. Columns are formed when a stalactite (hanging from ceiling) and stalagmite (rising from floor) meet.

Not everyone was as in awe with this nearly developed column as I was. Brax and Lane look a bit bored, but they were actually annoyed I made them stop exploring to take a photo. They had to stop having fun to appease mom.

The lighting inside Carlsbad Caverns is really lovely in parts of the cave. I love this photo, but I wish my camera could capture all the details.

Lion's Tail is a stalactite with coralloids (cave popcorn) covering its end.
The kids thought it was a pretty cool, well-named stalacite.

The Hall of Giants contains the three largest speleothems in the cave. On the right is Giant Dome, a column, which stands 62 feet above the walking trail. Long ago Giant Dome was a slowly forming stalagmite. It became a column once it touched the ceiling of the cave. On the left are Twin Domes, two stalagmites, which both stand about 58 feet above the walking trail. One day they will also touch the ceiling and become columns.

In Fairyland there are many newer, much smaller stalagmites.

The Temple of the Sun is a large flowstone covered column. It is gorgeous!

Breast of Venus is a beautifully forming stalagmite. Rapidly dripping water created the wide base and now slow dripping water is creating the narrow tip.

Love the look of these stalactites. The lighting was impeccable!

Crystal Spring Dome, a massive flowstone-covered stalagmite, is believed to be the largest wet speleothem still growing inside Carlsbad Caverns. About 95% of the speleothems are now dry and will no longer continue to grow. There is also a drip pool surrounding Crystal Spring Dome's base.

Look at how delicate and beautiful these cave formations are!

By the time we got to this steep ascent back toward the elevators we took down into the cave we were getting tired. Walking up this trail was a serious workout. Boy oh boy am I out of shape! (Mind you I have known this for quite some time. No, I did not discover this fact while in Carlsbad Caverns.) It was embarrassing having to stop to catch my breath and move out of the way for much more fit cave explorers. When I got to the top I was painfully aware of how out of shape I really am. Next time we visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park I want to make this ascent with much more ease.

Rock of Ages is a large flowstone-covered column.

Draperies are beautiful, thin speleothems that form when water flows over steep inclines. They can be so thin that they are translucent.

I love the quiet beauty of the cavern pools! A unique type of speleothem called shelfstone is forming around the cavern pools pictured below. Shelfstone forms at or just below the waterline in cave pools if the water level stays the same for a long period of time. The water is so clear.

The Painted Grotto has hundreds of delicate stalactites called soda straws. Over time minerals other than calcite in water drops have stained these hollow stalactites with various hues of yellow, orange, red and brown. 

The Doll Theater has many soda straws and small columns.

Wonder where this part of the cave leads to.

It seemed like there were more cavern pools the closer we moved to the cave elevators. I love the cavern pools! They are amazing.

Carlsbad Caverns' Chinese Theater totally reminded me of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA.

By the time we reached the end of the Big Room Route we were tired, but we all had a blast. It was seriously worth the time we spent there. We all want to return here again and continue exploring Carlsbad Caverns.  

These photos totally crack me up! We are an odd bunch!

Braxton and Delaney earned their Junior Ranger bandages. They were totally stoked! I love that they still have their headlamps on.

The cave maintains a cool 56 degrees year-round which felt really nice compared to the sunny warm 85 degree weather outside.

We loved exploring Carlsbad Caverns National Park and we totally recommend it for the whole family! It was a wonderful, educational experience too. Here is a great PDF with information on Cave Geology and here is a PDF with the Caverns' Chronology. 

We left Carlsbad Caverns National Park looking forward to our next adventure of the day: Guadalupe Mountains National Park.