impromptu

One of my cousins has been in Ruidoso, visiting her parents. She brought her daughter and her grandchildren, and they had planned to go to White Sands this afternoon. I got a call from my uncle about 3:30 telling me they were going to go, and asking if we wanted to meet them there. He apologized for waiting until the last minute to let us know, but it would be great if we could manage it.

Well, what the heck. Neither Ron nor Carl were up for it, but Raine asks weekly if we can go to White Sands. It is one of her favorite places. So, Raine and I ate dinner, and took off for White Sands. We got there about the same time they did, and we went around the circle one way, and met them going around the other. We quickly parked and unloaded, setting out some chairs and some KFC (they usually like to picnic there, and if we hadn't already planned dinner, we would have too). The kids took off up the dune, making fast friends as they went. They slid down on the sleds. They dug and tumbled. They took pictures and we watched the sunset. We caught up on who was doing what, and generally enjoyed ourselves.

I love when I can do something at a moment's notice. Usually I enjoy myself at it - or I wouldn't be willing to take of in a moment. Sometimes I wish our family unit could be a little more spur of the moment, activity-wise, but even my planning for outings doesn't always work out. Still, you couldn't have asked for a nicer evening at White Sands than this was.