Raton Friends

Here are some of precious Raton friends that we met with on the first Sunday of every month.

Betty Barnett, Bud and Rose Brown; Bill and Shirley McFetridge; Anna Brown; Jim and Marge Atwater. We will miss each and every one. Richard Soliz and Kenneth Oldham are not pictured.

BIG SNOW

The snow had to fall right before we moved! I'm glad the kids were able to have a few hours in it! They had such a great time with snow fights!

Tomorrow we move to Albuquerque from Raton. I can't believe we have been here since January. It's been nice to be settled this last year. We will miss our little meeting...Bill and Shirley McFetridge, Bettye Barnett, Kenneth Oldham, and Richard Soliz. It's been sweet to get to know so many others that we would of never had the opportunity of knowing.

Raton Homecoming Parade

Kaleb had never seen a parade so we walked up to downtown area and watched the festivities. I think the part they enjoyed the most was all the candy being thrown a them! =) Pretty good size parade for such a small town.

'Flying' Over Raton

Our town of Raton has about 6000 people with a Kmart and a small grocery store. Not many options but glad for the ones we do have!

What would we do without a Playground?

So thankful for parks and a school across the street that has this setup! Not much to do in Raton so when all else fails, we head to the playground...always can use the sunshine!

Raton Hail Storm

I've never been in a hail storm that lasted about 10 minutes! It looked like snow had fallen after it was all over! Nothing larger than a nickel size...some areas got golf-ball size hail. That would make a mark! Kaleb was standing at the door and as I heard the storm get louder, I happened to be watching his face! His eyes were huge, his mouth wide open...."mom, come look at all this 'stuff' on the ground!"

Touring Raton - A Very Old Town

Raton was founded as a stop on the Santa Fe Trail. In the late 1800's the town developed as a railroad, mining, and ranching center for NE New Mexico. It is a very poor town now due to no mining here. The population is about 6500 and almost at 7000 ft above sea level. Talk about a challenge for cooking. Nathan's grandparents ranched in this part of the country. In fact the Solano's boot shop pictured above is where Nathan got some of his cowboy boots as a young kid. Nathan went to kindergarten in Springer, 30 mins south, before his family moved to Arkansas. He remembers Raton as a child...pretty amazing how life can bring you full circle.

New Mexico Scenery

Great-Great-Great Aunt Ruby

It is hard to believe but this is great-great-great Aunt Ruby to these kids. This is Nathan's great grandmother's sister. His g-gma, Goldie is still living in AR and Aunt Ruby lives in Raton, NM. It has been really special to be in contact with family we had never met before. They only live a few miles from us here in Raton.