El Paso, Texas day 1

We are making a quick trip to El Paso for a family celebration!  I haven't been to El Paso in many years so I am a bit excited!  It will be a quick trip . . . exactly 48 hours . . . lots of family and lots of good food too!  Mrs. Sims (Sean's mom) is the oldest of fourteen . . . yes, 14 . . . kids.  We are in town for a wedding celebration of one of Sean's and Colin's cousins.  The Ivey family knows how to party so when we got the invitation, I knew we just had to attend!  I realized that I forgot my camera but thankfully my phone takes photos.  I am not a fan!  Before we headed to the family place we took in a bit of the local tourist attractions in El Paso.  First stop was to Fort Bliss and the Old Ironsides Museums.  I have zero connection to Fort Bliss but since Colin loves military history figured why not?

It was a good museum and the Kids Command Center was great!

Next stop was to Chamizal National Memorial . . . it is the 100th anniversary of our National Park System so always check to see if there is a stop when we travel.  Plus they had a Junior Ranger badge too.  It was small, and I sort of left scratching my head as to why this is a national memorial but it is.

It was a quick visit and we earned the Junior Ranger badge and patch and headed out to Mrs. Ivey's house . . . Colin's Great Grandmother . . . to visit with family!  It was a beautiful day outside so we walked the fields and the cotton fields near the big house were just beautiful . . . full bolls, super white!

The crew was hungry so headed out for dinner at one of our favorite places to eat, Cattleman's Steakhouse at Indian Cliffs Ranch . . . the views at sunset were beautiful and my steak was so tender and cooked perfectly too!

While we were eating dinner some of the family called to let us know of bad weather . . . golf ball sized hail.  We had nothing so continued to enjoy our meal.  We headed back to the house to get some rest for the big party tomorrow!