Off to Virginny

I was scheduled to attend a conference in Virginia during our time here in New Mexico. So Chris and Ligaya graciously invited Katie and the kids to come visit them while I was at the conference. We planned to go out the weekend before the conference to spend some time with them as a family and got an extra special surprise to find that Nini would also be there that weekend!

Needless to say that getting out the door to go to Virginia went smoother than getting to New Mexico. I dropped Katie and the kids off at the airport and went to park the car in long term parking. Apparently the airport decided that not enough people were using long term parking because it was completely shut down and short term was $20/day. I found a commercial airport parking lot and made it through security without finding Katie and the kids. They didn't get far however... even though Katie is an accomplished multi-tasker the limit to her abilities is somewhere around getting three kids, a double stroller, an infant car seat, and 5 carry-ons through a revolving door on her own. To be honest I was surprised she got through security!

We landed about 10 pm in Baltimore with a little over an hour drive ahead of us, so we figured it was a smart idea to have Katie and the kids scan the baggage claim for our suitcases while I ran to get the rental car. Unfortunately, we're never as smart as we think we are. As soon as the rental car shuttle takes off a recording informs me that the rental car facility is 10 minutes down the freeway. That wasn't too bad. What really made me regret that decision was the fact that the only company there that had a line was the one we rented from.... and once again everybody ahead of me in line either was a complete idiot or had some kind of special need. By the time I got my car and made it back to the airport a kind couple had become convinced that I had abandoned the family and they were waiting to help Katie out with whatever action she wanted to take next (I'm not exaggerating, they actually brought the subject up with her).

After a stop at McDonald's and a gas station we finally made it to Purcellville where we promptly blew a few breakers in Chris's basement so that he would get up and say hi to us.

The next day we got to go see Ethan's baseball game. It was awesome, Ethan had a big hit and not only did his team win, but he got the game ball! We even got some rain on the back end of the game.

That night Katie and I let Nini and Chris beat us at hand and foot as part of an elaborate scheme to get Nini to push her flight back the next day. Fortunately, it worked and we even let them beat us a second time the next day just so Nini could go home with a warm fuzzy feeling. We also celebrated Chris's birthday before Nini left.

The Balloon Museum

In case you didn't know, Albuquerque has a very rich history of hot air ballooning. Apparently there really was nothing to do in Albuquerque for a LONG time. Well it turns out to be a good place to hot air balloon because the air currents circulate across the valley meaning that one can land almost exactly where he took off simply by controlling altitude. And that place would be the Balloon Park, which also houses a museum.

Not surprisingly, you don't need a very large space in order to detail the history of hot air balloons and still have a couple of exhibits that are only remotely related. However, they did have some really cool and fun things set up for the kids. The first hot air balloon carried a sheep, a chicken, and something else that isn't a natural enemy of the other two.

Making paper helicopters...

One of the coolest things was a hot air balloon simulator. On an unrelated note, NEVER let Katie borrow your hot air balloon.

One of the more scientific exhibits was set up to let you experiment with different temperatures inside a miniature hot air balloon that ran along a wire. They had a good 40 feet of head room to play with, which really gave you a feel for how sensitive bouyancy is to temperature even in an enclosed room.

Among the pictures of burning and mangled zepplins they had a cut open solid metal NASA weather pod that was pretty cool.

The Faker

Andrew is turning out to be quite the little actor... or maybe we should say manipulator. Exhibit A: a sequence of photos taken while Katie was out. Andrew noticed that the door to the master bedroom was closed and decided that Mommy must have been hiding out. So what does he do? He goes up and starts pounding on it, crying for momma.

Come out, come out!
You're making me cry!

Ooh, CAMERA! I could be happy if you give me a camera...!

Dad won't give me the camera and now I'm REALLY upset!

Self pity is the last resort. Self pity ALWAYS works.

The New Digs

Okay, so as of this posting the "new" digs are close to being the "old" digs, but hey, you still get to see them! We got to Albuquerque about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and unloaded the minivan into our apartment. It was immediately obvious that we scored a much better place than last time.

Like most apartment kitchens you can almost fit 2 people in here! Guess who's bed isn't made...

The odd thing about this room is that the child who sleeps here doesn't use either bed... and it isn't Andrew.

The balcony even has room for a splash pool.

Bet you didn't think there was any grass here... we didn't.

We even scored an overlook of the playground and pool!

Driving to Albuquerque

Once again this year we took off to spend some time in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We predict that in the future everybody will be spending a month and a half of the year in Albuquerque and we have some attractive real estate options for those of you who want to get in on the action early.

Needless to say, we learned a lot about packing from our trip last year (mostly that Dad was right about how much stuff we needed... ;) ) and the trip this year was much simpler. No Uhaul, got packed the day before we left, took off during nap time. It seemed like our exit would be seemless...

Luckily for us, Ana had arranged to receive her endowments the morning of the day we were leaving so that we could be there. When we went to bed the night before the car was packed, everything was set out, the house was clean, you name it. Not that any of that helped get us out the door.... Katie and I got up and were ready to go to the temple with plenty of time. However, Kallie who NEVER has a potty accident or wets the bed wakes up 30 minutes before we have to leave having wet all over her bed, Andrew wakes up 15 minutes before we have to leave with a fever and congestion and diarhea, Ben wet the bed and never woke up but managed to sleepwalk to our commands, and the newly repaired roof started leaking. On top of that the neighbor that agreed to watch the kids for us that morning forgot to tell her husband, whom we awoke when we brought the kids over and they were also sick at their house.

When we got back from lunch instead of hopping right in the car as we had planned a good portion of our early afternoon was spent doing a last minute favor for someone in need. Luckily, we only planned to drive to Cortez, Colorado that day, which meant we could arrive with time to go swimming before the hotel closed the pool.

So we get to the hotel, request a crib and hit the pool. Since, the kids were going to have to bathe before bedtime now, we decided to do it in shifts. I took Andrew up to shower with me and Katie and the other two were supposed to follow in 10 minutes. Well.... I'm standing in the room in my birthday suit while Andrew finishes playing in the tub after the shower and there's a knock on the door. Now, the first thought that should have crossed my mind is my "hotel-door-card-monging" children and their mother would surely never have need to knock on the door. Nope, the thought that crossed my mind was, "hey, that's Katie and the kids: I had better open the door." Luckily, as I opened the door I was able to process the fact that it was Andrew's crib before the female desk clerk got a full ray of sunshine. Needless to say she was a little surprised later when we asked for directions to the church for the next day.

Not that we are particularly able to process clear direction even with a gps unit sitting in the car. It didn't help that Katie was waffling between the 9 and 11 o'clock services right up until 8:48 when she decided on 9. We passed the turn off to the chapel, but luckily a couple miles down the road in the middle of some farms magically appeared another LDS chapel. Given the much longer than prepared for route to church we missed the beginning of the service, and were relegated to sitting in the foyer with three very tired children who didn't appreciate getting stuffed into their church clothes in the space of 1.3 minutes. After church we were on the road again.

In the course of our travels we came across some pretty uninteresting things that some people thought were pretty interesting. You, know things that really help you appreciate the level of education that you possess. For example we found "Hole N the Rock". I don't know about anybody else, but where I come from we call that a cave dab gummit. And we ain't so stupid as to need a great big sign and an arrow to tell us where it is. The pointer-outer-of-rock-holes must have run out of paint however, because as we drove along we saw lots of holes in rocks that they had forgot to mark... Aside from that we caught some wildlife when a couple of monkeys took our order at a McDonald's in Cuba, NM. Let's just say that you would be surprised to learn that it is possible to be too incompetant to work at McyD's. All in all we had a very safe and very fun drive to Albuquerque.