New Mexico, Part I

The day school let out, we pulled the kids out of school early to head for Albuquerque, New Mexico. A mere fourteen hour drive to meet Justin and Katie and their kids for a fabulous vacation. We had lots of adventures and enjoyed both the outings and the down time...Here's a glimpse of what we did.

We went to a nature center that is right along the Rio Grande River. There were trails to walk on and native plantlife to discover. The kids loved the little froggies and this room overlooking the river with all windows. They could look out over the river and see turtles and ducks in the water.

In the evenings, we let the kids do sparklers. Some kids were more into it than others. Ashley took a lot of convincing but enjoyed it once we finally got her to hold one...

This is Nate...a chubalicious almost 2-year-old. He was pure entertainment. He likes to pull things...almost anything. They call him the hobo. Here he is outside pulling around one of the kids' suitcases. He is also quite a ladies' man. He likes to strike a pose and check out his suroundings. I wouldn't be surprised if his first complete sentence is, "How you doing?" (said in the voice of Joey from Friends).

Poor Nana...I think we wore her out. She was a great sport, driving all the way home with us. She sat next to a puking Bella for 14 hours and handed her ziplocs and wipes to catch the next round of vomit...but I digress. Back to the trip...