Airplanes, Trams, and Fires...
For those of you eagerly awaiting an update, I made it to New Mexico safe and sound. Carly and I left on Tuesday morning, and we'll pretend like getting up at 4:30am was fun (clearly that would be fun for NO ONE). The first leg of the flight was short and sweet with lots of extra room and Carly was pretty good considering sitting in a seat for over an hour is really not her style. The flight from Chicago to NM however...let's just say I'm going to fork out the money to get her a set on the way home. She did very well, for a one year old. She slept for about 30 minutes in my lap, managed to fanagle into the lap of the nice lady next to us, kicked the seat of the poor kid in front of us no less than 100 times, and made a stinky diaper just as we boarded the plane....wooohooo!
It was wonderful to see Joshua again though, I missed his angel face so much. He has managed to drive me insane a couple times already, so everything is back to normal. Kadin and Alex, his cousins from Arizona, are staying at Grandma's for the summer also, and it is amazing to see how much they have grown. Kadin is quite tall and really a happy kid. Every now and then he tries take over and set the rules but for the most part is a good sport when he doesn't win his way. Alex is a different kid altogether from the last time I saw him and will actually speak to me and hold my hand and such now. He's also quite cute and loves to be praised for being helpful. He wasn't feeling good the day I got here but since then has made a recovery and is just as rough and tumble as the 2 older boys. Carly thinks its grand to have so many other kids to follow around. She is, however, quite scared of my Mom's dog. She calls the dog (and the cat) PITA, which was Annie's cat. She loves the yard and sunshine but still comes in to cling to my legs pretty regularly. She hasn't had any trouble warming up to the kids or Mom and Dad.
We took a tram ride up to Sandia Peak Thursday and that was quite fun. I have some amazing pictures, but alas I left my sync cord at home so I can't post them quite yet. I am trying to figure out a way though, so don't give up hope! The day was beautiful and clear and the weather up at the peak was 55 degrees....that sounds amazing for a mid July day but Sandia Peak is at 10,500 for elevation so it stays quite cool up there all through the summer. Josh, Kadin, and Alex took a Junior Ranger nature walk and a volunteer ranger offered to take us down the trail. He told us all about the flowers and trees and interesting facts about the Peak, my mom and I were fascinated but the kids were kind of "whatever" about the whole fact thing. The did enjoy asking fun questions like "Has anyone ever been attacked by an animal?" (Josh). The walk wasn't too hard but gave me a pretty good work out since I carried Carly on my shoulders for a good portion of it. The trail winds right along the edge of the peak and is very beautiful but I could also invision Josh or a similarly brave munchkin tumbling down the rocky side. But, other than a couple slips on rocks we made it out unscathed and all the boys got Jr. Ranger badges. If you are ever in Abq, be sure to take the tram ride. It was a little pricey but well worth it and the city is amazing to see from up top.
Today I had the boys help me build a fire pit in my parents back yard. Being out here in the sticks means we get to have raging fire pits without the neighbors calling the fire department to complain. The boys had a good time digging the hole and after we are done continued digging holes all through the back yard. We lined the rim with rocks stolen from Ben and Angie's yard and after it passed my dad's inspection and we made a trip to the store for marshmellows we had our inagural fire this evening. The kids really liked it, although their roasting skills could use some work!, and Carly was scared enough of the fire to stay away from it which put my nervous mind at ease. A rain storm rolled in as we were winding down the roast and the air smells fresh and clean. We had a nice lightening and thunder storm, which made Josh a little nervous.
"I'm afraid lightening will hit the fire pit and set is on fire."
Josh also saw a part of a Roseanne episode where they were trying to convince their daughter Darlene that smoking wasn't good. After I had changed the channel, Josh turned to me and said "That reminds me of Grandma" and then we had some talk about missing her and how we wished she had never started smoking in the first place. About 10 minutes after I sent Josh to bed, he came back out with glistening eyes and said he was missing Gramma too much to sleep. Naturally I let him snuggle on the couch with me until he zonked out. He is still sleeping there.
Where is there, you may want to know. Ben and Angie are away for the summer in Chile, (Angie left 3 weeks or so ago and Ben left this morning) and were kind enough to let me take over their house while they are gone. It's nice to have my "own" space while I am here. Josh is sleeping in Marion's bed, and Carly is sleepin in their spare bedroom with me despite my efforts to get her to sleep in Kiana's bed. (Marion and Kiana share a room.) I left all her bottles and pacifiers at home, purposely, and she hasn't had one since we left. I think that by the time we go home she'll be used to finding other ways to comfort herself. There have been a few times I wished I had a binky to give her but she has to give them up sometime...
That's it for the first edition of the vacation report. Tomorrow we are going to go see Mr Cha Cha Head, which is always exciting. I will try and get the pictures uploaded but this dial up connection is for the birds so pictures of the trip might have to wait until we get home...
It was wonderful to see Joshua again though, I missed his angel face so much. He has managed to drive me insane a couple times already, so everything is back to normal. Kadin and Alex, his cousins from Arizona, are staying at Grandma's for the summer also, and it is amazing to see how much they have grown. Kadin is quite tall and really a happy kid. Every now and then he tries take over and set the rules but for the most part is a good sport when he doesn't win his way. Alex is a different kid altogether from the last time I saw him and will actually speak to me and hold my hand and such now. He's also quite cute and loves to be praised for being helpful. He wasn't feeling good the day I got here but since then has made a recovery and is just as rough and tumble as the 2 older boys. Carly thinks its grand to have so many other kids to follow around. She is, however, quite scared of my Mom's dog. She calls the dog (and the cat) PITA, which was Annie's cat. She loves the yard and sunshine but still comes in to cling to my legs pretty regularly. She hasn't had any trouble warming up to the kids or Mom and Dad.
We took a tram ride up to Sandia Peak Thursday and that was quite fun. I have some amazing pictures, but alas I left my sync cord at home so I can't post them quite yet. I am trying to figure out a way though, so don't give up hope! The day was beautiful and clear and the weather up at the peak was 55 degrees....that sounds amazing for a mid July day but Sandia Peak is at 10,500 for elevation so it stays quite cool up there all through the summer. Josh, Kadin, and Alex took a Junior Ranger nature walk and a volunteer ranger offered to take us down the trail. He told us all about the flowers and trees and interesting facts about the Peak, my mom and I were fascinated but the kids were kind of "whatever" about the whole fact thing. The did enjoy asking fun questions like "Has anyone ever been attacked by an animal?" (Josh). The walk wasn't too hard but gave me a pretty good work out since I carried Carly on my shoulders for a good portion of it. The trail winds right along the edge of the peak and is very beautiful but I could also invision Josh or a similarly brave munchkin tumbling down the rocky side. But, other than a couple slips on rocks we made it out unscathed and all the boys got Jr. Ranger badges. If you are ever in Abq, be sure to take the tram ride. It was a little pricey but well worth it and the city is amazing to see from up top.
Today I had the boys help me build a fire pit in my parents back yard. Being out here in the sticks means we get to have raging fire pits without the neighbors calling the fire department to complain. The boys had a good time digging the hole and after we are done continued digging holes all through the back yard. We lined the rim with rocks stolen from Ben and Angie's yard and after it passed my dad's inspection and we made a trip to the store for marshmellows we had our inagural fire this evening. The kids really liked it, although their roasting skills could use some work!, and Carly was scared enough of the fire to stay away from it which put my nervous mind at ease. A rain storm rolled in as we were winding down the roast and the air smells fresh and clean. We had a nice lightening and thunder storm, which made Josh a little nervous.
"I'm afraid lightening will hit the fire pit and set is on fire."
Josh also saw a part of a Roseanne episode where they were trying to convince their daughter Darlene that smoking wasn't good. After I had changed the channel, Josh turned to me and said "That reminds me of Grandma" and then we had some talk about missing her and how we wished she had never started smoking in the first place. About 10 minutes after I sent Josh to bed, he came back out with glistening eyes and said he was missing Gramma too much to sleep. Naturally I let him snuggle on the couch with me until he zonked out. He is still sleeping there.
Where is there, you may want to know. Ben and Angie are away for the summer in Chile, (Angie left 3 weeks or so ago and Ben left this morning) and were kind enough to let me take over their house while they are gone. It's nice to have my "own" space while I am here. Josh is sleeping in Marion's bed, and Carly is sleepin in their spare bedroom with me despite my efforts to get her to sleep in Kiana's bed. (Marion and Kiana share a room.) I left all her bottles and pacifiers at home, purposely, and she hasn't had one since we left. I think that by the time we go home she'll be used to finding other ways to comfort herself. There have been a few times I wished I had a binky to give her but she has to give them up sometime...
That's it for the first edition of the vacation report. Tomorrow we are going to go see Mr Cha Cha Head, which is always exciting. I will try and get the pictures uploaded but this dial up connection is for the birds so pictures of the trip might have to wait until we get home...
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