Philmont Day 4

Monday was our first day of Family Programs. It's when the Philmont Staff entertains the wives and children of the men while they're in training meetings :).

After breakfast we all went to Flag Ceremony. I then took Evan and Alex to the Small Fry Center because that's where their groups are. Alex is Nursery (2 weeks to 2 years) and Evan is Small Fry (3 years to 4 years). Evan and Alex were together 95% of the time the whole week but Evan was able to go out to do other activities.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to leave Alex since he's hasn't been wanting us to leave him in Nursery at church. It took me 30 minutes to find a way to distract him and it was the drinking fountain. The kid loves water. I got to slip away without him crying and I went to my Orientation Meeting.

They explained the different activities that were available to us and we were able to sign up for anything that we wanted to do. I was hesitant to sign up for anything that would take me away from the Center just in case I was called to get Alex. I thought I would just relax and do my project when I didn't have anything scheduled. I thought that was a great plan :).

After we signed up for activities we took group photo's that we got at the end of the week. We had the biggest group ever for LDS week so they had to split us into 3 groups. Matt and I were group C.

Matt and our Stake were in the bottom row.
From left to right: Pres. Jaramillo, Bro. Strain, Pres. Parry (sign) Pres. Sabin and Matt

Me and the other wives weren't all together but Sis. Strain was next me by the sign, Sis. Parry is behind her in the green, Sis. Sabin is behind her in the blue and white shirt and Sis. Jaramillo is on the right in the back and wearing a hot pink shirt. She has the lighter hair of the two.

Evan and Alex's group. Evan is behind the Staff Member that's sitting and Alex is in the back being held by a Staff Member.

After taking pictures I went to a Women's Meeting that was taught by Sis. Espiln (wonderful!) I got a better vision for our boys in what I want for them as they grow into Young Men. The meeting ended in time for me to pick up the boys. When I got there I saw that Evan was having a fun time rough housing with the men Staff Members. Alex was in the bathroom playing in the children sinks. He was wet but he at least was happy and having a great time. 
Matt was still in his meeting that went till lunch so we waited and played by the fountain and pond.
After lunch I took the boys back to the Small Fry Center for the afternoon's Family Program. Leaving Alex was easier this time because I put him back in the bathroom so he could play in the water :). I let the staff know of course.
For the afternoon I toured the Villa.
Just a little back history. Waite Phillips and his wife Genevieve owned around 300,000 acres of land in Cimarron. They built the Villa as a summer vacation home. Their main residence is in Tulsa Oklahoma which they also donated. There were wealthy with more money then they needed so they would donate big portions of money to different organizations a year.

Waite learned about the Boy Scouts of America and donated the smallest piece of land out of the two biggest pieces. After the donation he observed the BSA closely and saw what they were doing with the land so he donated the biggest portion where the Villa sat. The smallest piece was donated from another generous gentlemen with the last name of Norton. Sorry I don't remember his first name. The house is now a memorial of Waite and his family and only used for tours. 95% of the furniture inside is all original and used by the Phillips that they purchased in Europe.
I was able to fall back in the group and got some good pictures of the place.

Living Room

These rugs aren't original but replicas. They are beautiful! All hand woven.

 Originally this was their front entrance when it was built but the Phillip's changed it to their Breakfast Room.

 This is the Phillip's cattle brand. Waite wanted a W but it was already taken so he used the double U's. Clever...

 Stairwell

 Stained glass in the stairwell

 Their library that used to be the sewing room, but changed it because of the view of the mountains.

 Master Bedroom. The time of twin beds!

Other side of Master Bedroom

 Sun Room that was once open when it was built but was closed off because of the extreme weather.

 Genevieve's vanity....Spoiled!

 Her closets

Master Bathroom

Shower with 7 shower heads. Amazing for that time!

 Waite's dresser with some of his personal items still there.

 His closet

Their son Elliot's room. He is still alive and visits often.

Their daughter Helen's room

 Nannies room

The front door. It's next to the structure that houses their cars so it only makes sense that they changed it.

 This is where Waite entertains his guy friends.

Him and his friends put their initials on a table in there. Such a guy thing to do.

Game/Trophy Room

 Another view of the room

His collection of guns

 More guns and game

On their front porch

After the tour I talked with friends on the lawn till I needed to go pick up the boys and meet up with Matt and had family time. The boys seemed to have a really fun day. I learned that they got to play a lot, sang songs, stories, had snacks, watched a movie and Evan got to go hold chickens and see goats.
For Family Time we visited the Handicraft store to see what was available for us to make with the boys when we had more time. We also wanted to wait and see what they also had at the Trading Post but we went there on a different day.
At dinner Alex was showing signs of exhaustion. He could of fallen asleep but he hated being filmed so he left :). Earlier he would close his eyes for a little bit before I started filming. But it's still very funny and you get the general idea.

So after dinner was our Family Home Evening and our Family Banner Parade. On our way to the Program Bowl we saw a snake!

 We watched it for a little bit

It was pretty cool to watch because it would stop at every crack to examine it. He was looking for a way in. Kinda creepy to think that it could go by our tents (which weren't very far away) and easily get in. Luckily it's just a gofer snake!
During the Program we got to introduce our family and show off our flag that we worked hard on before coming up.

While we were watching other people go up we sat by the Pony enclosure to keep Alex entertained. He ended up touching the barbed wire fence and it scared him so he started to cry a little bit. Matt went to go comfort him and while he picked him up his water bottle ended up hitting his lower lip hard enough to let his tooth go completely through his bottom lip. There was blood everywhere and he started to scream louder. We hurried him off to get cleaned up and I went to go find a nurse with no luck. Luckily it stopped bleeding on its own so he didn't need any further medical attention (thank you!) I took Evan back to the program and Matt and Alex found the snake again to calm him more down. Matt filmed this funny but adorable video of Alex. If you look closely at his bottom lip you can see his cut.

Not sure if his cut had anything to do with him waking up in the middle of the night but it was probably the cold. It dropped down into the 40's every night.