Labor Day Weekend

We had a busy Labor Day weekend. We went to the lake with Ryan's family on Saturday, had #1's best friend from pre-school over on Sunday and went to the lake with my brother & sister-in-law on Monday! #1 also had a birthday party to attended late Monday afternoon. After the party, she came home and fell asleep. When I woke her up, she was really, really hot. I took her temperature, and it was around 101. She had a low temp through the weekend, but by Monday night, it was obvious she had a bug. After a trip to the doctor on Tuesday, we learned that she had strep throat! At least she was able to have a lot of fun before the illness got her down!

After a eating lunch on the boat, we went for a swim in the lake. Ryan tried to fish while we swam, but for some reason the fish just weren't biting....I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with us being in the water...we were really quiet! ha!

Grandpa went for a swim with us...

then we got to ride on the tube! I don't know which kid is in the tube with me in this picture, but both of them got to ride. They really enjoyed it! #1 even enjoyed swimming from the tube to the boat when we stopped out in the middle of the lake! I was proud of her for swimming so far, and in such deep water!

When #1 was 9 months old, she started going to a Mother's Day Out program at a local church. There was a girl in her class that was one week younger than her. The next year, they were in the same class, and the next year, and the next year! They became best friends, and since we moved their last year of preschool, they have missed each other so much! We have scheduled a few play dates and they have seen each other at birthday parties. We got to have Ryleigh come swim and play on Sunday afternoon. It is so neat that the girls are still such good friends. I will have to be sure and continue to make a point to have Ryleigh over so that they can stay friends for many years to come!

Here are some pictures of the bathing beauties....

We don't have any pictures from our day at the lake on Monday. We went to my sister-in-law's grandfather's house and I forgot my camera. My SIL took pictures, but I haven't gotten copies yet. My SIL's parents and my mom came, too. My little brother stopped by, but didn't have time to swim and tube with us. We swam off of the dock, and then took the houseboat out for lunch. After we got back from our cruise on the houseboat, we took the ski boat out and did some tubing. The girls didn't like the tube as much that day. My brother goes a little bit faster than Grandpa! And there was more activity on the lake, so the water was choppier. At one point, we hit a wake so big that it bounced #2 right out of her seat, up into the air, turned her upside down, and she landed on her side on the tube inbetween our seats. Luckily, I saw the boat cutting through the wake and anticpated what was coming. I had a tight hold on her life jacket. I did not think it would throw her out of the tube like it did though. That scared me so much that I decided I was finished tubing for the day!

First day of Kindergarten

Wow....the first day of school seems like so long ago! #1's first report card should come home on Monday, so I guess it has been about 9 weeks.

She was excited to go to school and was not nervous or sad at all. No tears or clinging to us....

Here are some pictures...I just couldn't resist including the one of the two girls together!!

On our way in, we ran in to our neighbors. Their youngest son started kindergarten this year, too. When they stopped to talk to #1, you could tell that she felt so big and important!
Here she is outside her classroom and sitting at her desk. She had a great first day and has loved every bit of school since....well, except for P.E. It's not her favorite! She doesn't like getting sweaty! :) her words, not mine!

2nd Bi-annual (?) Girl's Trip

Two years ago I went with 2 of my friends on a girl's cruise. We had a blast and decided that we had to go on a trip again sometime. We didn't think our husbands would be too happy if we went on a trip every year, so we decided that we should go every other year. Our wonderful husbands said YES, so this year we went to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2006 Andrea, Felicite & I went. We asked Mary Anne to go, but she wasn't able to go. This year she was ready for it, even though she was leaving behind her 6 month old baby! (I've decided that 2nd kids get left behind more often than 1st kids. #2 was 4 months old when I went on the cruise 2 years ago!)

We called Felicite to see if she was on board this year, but she had also had another baby, and had several trips planned for this summer, so she wasn't able to come.

We woke up early on Saturday morning and headed to XNA.

We flew into Albuquerque and drove to "Old Town" to eat lunch. It was a lot like the Plaza in Santa Fe....just a little down town area that forms a square and has a park in the middle. We found a little mexican restaurant and thought we were having the first of many mexican meals. It ended up being the ONLY Mexican food we ate the entire trip! The salsa was nice and spicy and the food was yummy. Andrea got a great picture of MA and the guy serenading her!

When we were leaving we found this statue and thought it would be a good group picture. There was a lady sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, so we asked her to take our picture. She took the picture and sat back down, but it didn't really take. We asked her again...and again...and the 3rd time finally worked! She just wasn't holding down on the button long enough. Since she went to so much trouble taking our picture, I think it deserves a spot on the blog!

As we left Albuquerque and headed to Santa Fe, we saw mountains! We had to record the first glimpse of mountains...even though it is from the window of the car as we drove down the interstate!

We made it to Santa Fe and stayed at a great condo! Funny story about the gated condo. We had a garage door opener that opened the gate. It worked great every time we entered the parking area, but we always seemed to have problems with it when we left. The parking area was a circle drive, so there was one entrance and one exit. There was a condo unit in between the entrance and exit, so it was very clear that you had to go in one and out the other. Every time we would drive over to the exit gate, we would have problems with our opener. We would pull up really close to the gate, and then it would swing towards our car as it opened, so we had to hurry and put the car in reverse so that the gate didn't hit the front of it. One day when we were leaving, we could not get the exit gate to open. We went back into the condo to swap openers (there was a spare in the condo). The other opener worked just fine, so we left. Then that opener started giving us problems. We were leaving for dinner our LAST night there and could not get the stupid gate to open so we could leave! MA got out of the car and walked up closer to the gate, pushing the buttons on the opener, trying to get it to open and couldn't. I ran back into the condo and got the 1st opener and tried it. It wouldn't work. Then I got both openers and started walking back and forth pushing them both and pointing them at anything that I thought might possibly be a sensor. In desperation, I turned back to the girls in the car to see if they had any ideas on how to open the gate. An older couple that lived in the condo between the 2 gates had come out of their condo and were informing MA and Andrea that the exit gate had a motion sensor and did not require the openers. Apparently, the entire time we had been staying at the condo, we were opening the entrance gate on our way out! I had noticed a couple of times that the entrance gate was open as we drove by, but I just thought someone happened to get to the condos at the same time we were leaving! It would have been nice to know that we didn't need the openers a little bit earlier in the trip, but the next day (when we were leaving for good) we were able to leave without even TRYING the openers! :)

Anyway - here is a picture of us in front of the condo.

After we got to the condo and unloaded, MA and I wanted to sit and rest for awhile. Andrea was able to sit and do nothing for about 10 minutes before she was begging us to get up so we could go explore Santa Fe! She does not slow down well....always has to be going and doing! Guess that is part of what we love about her! We went down by the plaza and saw this beautiful church...we knew that the oldest church in the US was in Santa Fe, and this church was right in the middle of town and a lot of people were visiting it, so we thought it must be THE church. On our next to last day in Santa Fe, Andrea found the oldest church, and it wasn't this one! We do have a lot of pictures of this church though! When Andrea found THE church, it was after dinner and too dark to take pictures, so we drove by it on our way out of town. MA and I stayed in the car while Andrea took some pictures. She even discovered the oldest house in the US was right next door. Apparently the house was built for the priest to live in, while everyone else lived in tents.

Above - the 3 of us in front of the church we thought was the oldest church.

Below - the actual oldest church....(yes, I know, it makes sense now that the oldest church wouldn't be as elaborate as the one above!)

Below - Andrea in front of the oldest house. She was really excited about getting to see the oldest church AND house, so I thought I should post the picture that has her in it! Some other tourist lady offered to take her picture...

Back to the really pretty church that was not the oldest....even the door was detailed and elaborate. Here is a picture of the door....and all of those little rectangles are metal sculpture type plates. The other picture is of one of the individual plates.

Below - the garden in front of the church had different statues. This one had some beautiful turquoise on it. Of the statues and art in that garden, this one was probably my favorite.

The most frustrating thing about Santa Fe is that everything closes so early! At 5pm all of the street vendors packed up and went home...restaurants closed around 9. Nothing opened until 9am or 10am. When the 3 of us do something in AR, we usually meet at a restaurant around 7:30 or so and stay for a good two or three hours! Sometimes we meet even later and stay until 11pm! Our first night, we went to the La Cantina Sena (I think that was the name) and were able to have 8pm reservations, but little did we know that would be the latest we would get the whole trip! La Cantina Sena was like a broadway dinner theater. The wait staff sang broadway hits in between courses. It was entertaining and something different that you don't find around here.

When we were out exploring, we ran across the tax collector's office. We couldn't resist getting a picture of me by it...even though I'm not a tax collector, I "get" to be the bearer of bad news often enough...one of those "don't shoot the messenger" sort of things!

We took a picture of the Palace of the Governors, not knowing that it would look totally different the next time we saw it! The Native American artisans bring their goods and sell them on the sidewalk, but since it was 5:05 when we took this picture, they were already gone for the day! We took a picture a couple of days later when the sidewalk was full...I'll post that picture on another post.

Andrea thought of a great game that we could play at night at the condo. She thought of personal questions that we had to answer about ourselves, and then try to guess the answers of the other girls. She decided the game could be called Fun University (which MA and I quickly nicknamed FU) and we had freshman and graduate level "courses." The graduate level had harder questions....she surprised us with gifts for playing the game! We all had matching PJs! She liked the shirts because the had '08 on them (the year of the trip) and since they said Univeristy, she named the game after the shirts. You can't tell in the picture, but Andrea's PJ bottoms don't match mine and MA's. Our pants were pink and purple plaid....Andrea claims that they didn't have her size in that color, so she had to get blue and purple plaid....yeah, right! She'll make up anything to get out of wearing pink! :) The other 2 nights MA & I had to come up with questions...it was really quite fun b/c there were some random facts that we learned about each other that we probably wouldn't have found out otherwise. Who knew that we all preferred cinnamon gum to mint or fruity gum!?

Day 2 - Santa Fe - Rafting

We started our second day with the BEST BREAKFAST!!! Since we would be rafting through lunch time, we were advised to eat a big breakfast. And did we ever! We went to a French bakery/cafe and had yummy food! MA and I split a piece of quiche and then ordered something sweet to top it off. MA & Andrea had blueberry crepes with Nutella. I got to sample a bite and it was delicious!

I couldn't resist a strawberry tart...

Just to prove how much we LOVED this place....we went there every day for the rest of our visit! We decided that we would not want to be disappointed if we went anywhere else and did not receive such yummy food! And we were SO excited about our food, we took PICTURES of ourselves with it. We had no makeup and hadn't showered! We were on our way to go rafting, so we were grungy, but we sure didn't want to pass up an opportunity to have pictures so we could reminisce!

Side note - I borrowed 2 of my little brothers triathlon shirts because they were quick drying and would be good to wear on the rafting trip. The waitress asked us if we were in town for the Santa Fe triathlon that had taken place the day before...we had to be truthful and confess that we had never been in a triathlon...we were just wearing borrowed shirts. Then when we got to the rafting place, another girl had a triathlon shirt. She started asking us detailed questions about what kinds of triathlons we do, so we had to repeat our story again! I'm not going to borrow those shirts anymore. I feel like such a poser!

Here we are getting ready to go white water rafting on the Rio Grande! Don't you love our helmets!?

Here is a picture of some of the rapids we were on. They were Class 2....I think the guy said that there were a couple of places that were Class 3....but that was maybe only if the water was a little higher. There was one time that we had to paddle straight towards a rock, then back paddle to stop, then our side of the boat (just the 3 of us) had to jump to the other side of the boat because the guide had to flip the boat up on its side so that we could sqeeze between two boulders. It was really cool and really fun!

We stopped at his big boulder so we could climb up on it and jump off. Here are MA & I making our way to the top. Andrea didn't jump because she was afraid snakes might be there!

Our guide took this picture from the water for me....I thought it turned out pretty cool.

Here is a picture of Andrea from her picture taking spot. I took this one from the water as I was swimming back to the boat.

Apparently the rafting guides enjoy shooting each other with water guns. We got to a wide, calm spot on the river and our guide whipped out this water gun and started spraying another guide. The other guide pulled out his gun and sprayed our guide. It was funny for a little bit, but all of the rafters got soaked in the process, and they did it for a long time!

Here we are on the river!

We went to Il Piato for dinner that night. It was a nice Italian type restaurant. We kept laughing because the portions seemed really small. They were actually quite normal size, but we are so used to HUGE portions at chains (such as Olive Garden, Carinos, etc), that "normal size" seems small. Andrea ordered a glass of wine....which I think cost her $7-$9, and when they brought it, we just started laughing (after the waitress left)! **Below - I had to toast her with my water glass, just so we would have proof that the portion sizes really were small!

Santa Fe - Days 3 & 4 - Art Musems & Coming Home

I have been really behind on my posts...the first 2 posts for Santa Fe were completed back in July & August, but I was waiting to post them until I could show them to MA & Andrea to get their approval. I was able to show them to Andrea and she approved....I've given up on waiting to show them to MA, so I just posted them! Now I've got to try and remember about our last two days in Santa Fe!




Of course, we started our day at our favorite French bakery! Andrea & I had strawberry & nutella crepes, while MA branched out and had Croque Monsieur. I had no clue what it was, but it sure looked good! During the trip we discovered that MA knows a lot about different foods and how to pronounce the "weird" names....(she even knew that "gnocchi" was pronounced "no-chee") During this breakfast when she not only knew how to pronounce "Croque Monsieur" but she knew what she was ordering! We learned about her foreign exchange experience while she was in high school. She got to go to France for about a month (I think 6 weeks) and live with a French family that had a daughter her age. That girl also got to come to the USA and live with MA's family. So MA was really familiar with the french pastries and foods. About a month after we got back home, MA even had us over and prepared crepes for us! We'll have to make strawberry/blueberry/nutella crepes a friendship tradition!




After our breakfast, we went to the Palace of the Governors and shopped. We were all able to find some goodies to bring home to remind us of our trip, as well as some gifts for our families. Andrea wanted to find a special piece of art, which she did! On her trip to Italy, she took several pictures of doors. She found an artist that digitally edits his grandfather's photography. Some of his work included doors of Santa Fe and the surrounding areas. When Andrea asked to take a picture with him and his art, he also invited his friend Robert to join them in the picture. I was successful in zooming in close enough to leave most of Robert out of the picture...but if you notice Andrea's arm is missing and there is a little bit someone's head showing....it's just Robert! :)

Here are a couple of pictures showing the Palace of the Governors during the day....it's a lot busier than the first time we saw it (on the evening of Day 1)!



MA & I made some purchases from the same artist. MA purchased a piece that now hangs in her kitchen. Andrea laughed when she saw my art because, according to her, it fit me perfectly....it was "practical art!" I really liked some of the prints that the artist had, but they didn't really fit my decor....I noticed some mousepads in a rubbermaid container behind her table and asked if they were for sale. They were! So now I have a mouse pad in my office that is pretty and functional!


After our shopping, we walked to the Georgia O'Keefe gallery. On our way, we passed an older house that had a sign in the window advertising their Ansel Adams exhibit. Andrea got really excited and started begging to go in. We went in and saw some famous pictures. MA knew who Ansel Adams was and knew some of his work....I recognized his pictures....but Andrea had studied him and his photography, so that was why she was so excited. The guy in the gallery said we could take pictures, so we all took pictures next to this famous photograph. I'm only posting Andrea's picture with it because she was the most excited!


Here's a picture of Ansel Adams and a picture he took of Georgia O'Keefe.


After we left the Ansel Adams exhibit, we went to the Georgia O'Keefe gallery. MA and I started talking to a couple of the security guards. They were so nice and helpful and knowledgable! They really made the gallery visit enjoyable! We asked them if they had an interest in Georgia O'Keefe before they started working there, and they said that they really didn't. They now compete with each other to learn the most interesting facts about O'Keefe and her works on display there. One of the guards showed us some damage on one of the canvases. Apparently a young child pointed to the picture and touched it. That pressure damaged the art and it cost about $200,000 to repair it! He had to shine his light at a certain angle for us to even be able to see the 1 inch line/tear in the canvas. It's hard to imagine that the repair cost that much!


From there, we headed to Canyon Road....a whole road of nothing but shops and galleries! On our way, we found a small garden of statues. Andrea and I decided to imitate art! I think we did a pretty good job!

We were getting pretty tired when we got to Canyon Road, so we stopped at the Tea House to rest our feet and get something to drink. Unfortunately, they didn't have sweet tea. Their tea of the day was honey bee tea, so we all tried it. It was pretty good....not quite sweet enough, but it was refreshing!

While walking down Canyon Road, we found some art for MA to imitate. I must say she did an excellent job! You can tell that she's been doing yoga!

By this time of the day (around 5pm), MA and I were getting pretty worn out, so Andrea started taking some "good sport" pictures.







Here's MA enjoying her last little bit of honey bee tea. This is the gallery that I enjoyed the most. Had I had an extra $1,500 with me, there was a painting of poppies that I would have purchased. Andrea found a painting there that she would have liked, too. I think the painting she liked was around $4,000 - $5,000.













Just waitin' on Andrea....







If we each had an extra $50,000 lying around, we could have purchased some bronze statues that we liked. The first one is of 2 girls and 3 boys, so we decided that it was Andrea's boys and my girls playing together.


































Here is Andrea leading her 3 boys off to a new adventure and MA sharing her love of reading with her daughter and son!







We ate dinner at the Pink Adobe on our last night. We assumed it would be Mexican food, but it wasn't. I had steak and MA & Andrea shared some seafood enchiladas. The food was just okay, and MA got sick, so that put a damper on things. We're glad we went to the famous "Pink Adobe," but we probably should have held out for authentic New Mexican food.













Since I'm the "numbers" person of the group, I was always in charge of calculating each person's bill when the bill arrived. The nerd in me enjoys it!

On our very last day we savored every bite of our delicious breakfast. I think MA & Andrea had crepes, and I tried the Croque Monsieur. It was delicious!














On our drive back to Albuquerque, we saw gorgeous clouds! The whole trip home had these white, puffy clouds. MA decided that Andrea should do photography of cloud formations....we aren't aware of any artists that have ever done that.






Picture taken from the car....













The next two pictures were taken from the plane...





The next picture needs some explanation. MA purchased some framed art that needed to be carried on the plane. It was wrapped in bubble wrap. Out of habit, she kept popping the bubbles....walking through the airport..*pop, pop*....eating lunch..*pop, pop*...reading a book...*pop, pop*...so, we decided she couldn't pop the bubbles unless she was "popping" a song. During our trip, we kept hearing the song "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, so MA decided to "pop" that song. We decided to make it a duo. She instructed me when to "pop"as she sang. This is when Andrea decided she needed a picture of us singing and popping bubble wrap. Apparently just as Andrea took the picture, I didn't pop at the right time and MA called me on it. The look on MA's face is priceless!

Here we are on the plane getting ready to head back to our families....coming home rejuvenated and missing our families....but not really missing all of the work that we do as moms! We had such a good time and are so thankful that we have such wonderful husbands that allow us to get away for a while! We'll have to start planning our trip for 2010!