SF Vacation Day #5

We finally drove to Bandelier National Monument (in Bandelier, NM) yesterday. We hiked in the park and then we did something many adults were not doing - we climbed three 30 foot ladders up (and then down) 200 + feet into the "Alcove House" of Bandelier - a former adobe house carved into the mountain. Caitlin was the reason we did it - she would not let us sit at the bottom of the mountain. She was so brave - she didn't WANT Daddy's help but of course, she NEEDed it - and ended up doing the climb perfectly with his help. He held onto her and they climbed up and down all 3 ladders together (him behind her) - at each ladder the audience grew larger. People making the climb around us would stop and let us go first - no one had seen such a small child do that climb before. Chris told her that he was so proud of her and her bravery that he would tell everyone he knew that she was so brave and did that climb. We arrived back at the Ranger's Station and we told them that she had done it. They asked if she was in Kindergarten and we told them, "no (Pre-School)" and they told her that usually that age does not participate in those kind of climbs and then they presented her with a "Junior Ranger" patch. She was so proud! MeMe will have to sew that patch on something when we get home!

Here are some pics from our hike yesterday.