Dame Girls in Albuquerque

A few months ago, one of my sisters started to plan a sisters weekend. We hadn't done one in about 5 years, and we were well overdue. As we tried to pick a weekend between our 6 busy schedules, the one that worked best for everyone else was a weekend that Paul was on call (therefore, he couldn't be depended upon to watch the kids since he might have to go into work in the middle of the night). My sister suggested that maybe they all come to Albuquerque, so that it would be easier on Paul and I to work out child care. Plus, they figured, I am only living in ABQ for a year, so if they ever wanted to visit, now would be the time.

So, on Thursday the 8th, my sisters started flying in. My parents had driven over from Phoenix earlier in the week, and my dad was going to hold down the fort with my kids so Paul could work and Mom could be with the girls. That way, if the kids got too crazy for him, my mom or I could come over and help out. 

I found a little airbnb in Nob Hill, and it was perfect. We mostly talked all weekend, and in the evenings watched Lisa and Val do their stretches, which looked terribly uncomfortable at times. We also read the book We Were the Lucky Ones, and had a really great, and long, book discussion.

While at lunch at Crepe Michel in Old Town Albuquerque, I had been telling them how Paul's brother had introduced flavored oils and vinegars, particularly ones that you put on ice cream. They couldn't believe that I really put oil and vinegar on my ice cream, so I promised to stop by my house to pick some up. And then, while on our way to the car, we walked past an oil and vinegar store! We were able to taste a few and they all got excited to buy some fancy vinegars when they got home :)

We were so lucky to have sweet baby Emma with us on the trip! Keeley (my sister in law) has such an adorable little baby. I'm glad Keeley was willing to brave traveling with her so she could join us!

We road the Sandia Peak Tram to catch the sunset, great views, and hike around a bit. Sadly, my mom got the stomach flu (from my kids!) so she stayed home and rested all of the first day. I felt so terrible that we had passed it on to her! She would have loved the tram.

On Saturday, after lazing around all morning, we hiked up to some of the petroglphys near the city. It's always fun being with Val on hikes like this since she somehow remembers the geology she learned in college!

We had wonderful Mexican, Thai, French, and Indian food all weekend. I was sad to see them all go, and so grateful they were happy to come to New Mexico for a few days together. Hopefully it won't be 5 years before we an get together without our kids again!

The Holidays

Every year, as a homeschooling mom, I have every intention of doing at least some school over the Christmas break. But pretty much every year, I fail. 2017 was no different. I even ended up taking an entire extra week of vacation, knowing that all our Albuquerque friends were out of school on December 18th, we ended up starting our vacation then too, spending the week making candies and cookies, wrapping presents, watching holiday movies, Christmas caroling, and just having fun together. Paul's sister, Christina, arrived on Friday night, after finishing her last final of her college career. My kids were thrilled, and we felt spoiled, to have "Aunt Stina" with us for a week.

I ordered a 4 lb wheel of our favorite cheese, Saint Andre, as well as a 10-year Hook's aged cheddar, which I think I need to buy on a monthly basis, cranberry crusted goat cheese, and a triple cream bleu. We were almost transported home to Wisconsin.

Being married to Paul, Christmas is always a big deal. As scientifically minded and practical as he is with some matters, when it comes to gifts, it's all about feeling. "I don't feel like Niels has enough...Anna needs more books to equal Hattie...I don't feel like we've found the perfect gift for Anders yet," are statements always heard throughout November and December. I have learned after 12 years of marriage that there is no reasoning with him when it comes to gifts. He is going to give what he wants to until it feels sufficient. As much as I have tried to set a budget in the past, or tried to plan a strategy for what to buy, he always does his own thing anyway. I've learned to be okay with it, and actually love him all the more for it.

This year was no exception. It was magical, as the kids loved all of his thoughtful gifts (it should be added that they certainly didn't mind my gifts....books and clothes....but they obviously weren't the highlight of the day). Karaoke machine, 3DS, tanks, fighter jets, Nintendo Switch, dune buggy to name a few.

Paul was on call starting Christmas day through New Year's so the rest of Christmas week was spent exploring our new toys with Christina. A few times we went to the park to enjoy the dune buggy, drone, and laser guns given to us by the Eastons. We also snagged a movie or two. It was a perfectly lazy week, in all honesty.

Saturday morning the kids and I loaded up in the van to drive to Spanish Fork to visit Michael, Julia, and co. Christina flew off to Texas and Paul was stuck with a few more call shifts before he could join us Monday night. I spent my first 3 days in Utah alone visiting old friends...the Calders, Sara Garay and co, and Jenny Transtrum. We spent a very quiet New Years Eve alone in Michael and Julia's home, going to bed at 9:30.

Once Paul joined us, we did a few more fun Utah things...visiting BYU, seeing the lights on Temple Square, swimming, doing burger Saturday with the family, perler beads, board games, and just being together. The hopeful skiing didn't happen, since the mountains were literally bare. And we spent one evening at the Petersons who lived in Lubbock before. Always fun to rekindle friendships.

And Erik turned 1...what? My final baby just started cutting his first tooth around his birthday. He's such a good baby. Ever since we move to ABQ, he has been sleeping like a dream and is perpetually happy.

Then back to ABQ...to work, to homeschool, to a house full of Christmas decorations needing to be taken down.

Camping at last

A year ago, I was VERY pregnant with Anders, so although spring and summer were arriving (albeit very late in Wisconsin) I wasn't really keen on the idea of going camping with a newborn. By the time Anders was 5 months old and I was more willing to go camping, it was fall, and our weekends were consumed by Saturday soccer game. We even scheduled two camping trips, but had to cancel at the last minute due to rainy weather...not something we wanted to endure with 4 kids under the age of 6. So it was that 2014 passed with no camping trips.

So last week, when the forecast was actually projecting nice spring weather, we figured we should start the season out right (hopefully starting spring with some camping will help us go more all year). We found a state park about an hour away and had a quick little camping trip. I honestly don't know if I could camp much longer than 1 or 2 nights with little kids, especially a baby who crawls around in the dirt and doesn't know what is/isn't edible/dangerous yet. We had a great time and the kids are already asking when we are going again. 

Niels loved his new sleeping bag...and Anders actually slept in a pack n play in the van, with the windows cracked, giving us so much more flexibility.

Doesn't he have the most beautiful eyes?

Someone else had been climbing this tree just a few moments before them, and she fell out...needless to say, the girls weren't too anxious to climb very high.

This was probably the kids favorite part of the trip. Paul would slooooowly slide down by tucking his knees in close to him, while singing, "Slow-mo sliding, almost in reverse," sung to the tune of Star Trekking Across the Universe for you Dr. Demento fans out there. It became the theme song for the entire weekend...the kids are still singing it days later. Heck, I've still got it stuck in my head! They loved to get stuck behind him, all going slow-mo.

 And this is all Niels ever did with his s'more...just look at it, and think about eating it. He really doesn't like being messy....he's missing out on a lot!

And one final trip to the slow-mo slide as we drove out of camp, still in our PJs.

California vacation!

Ever since Paul started residency, we have been saving up vacation. He has 15 days vacation during the year, and in the first 6 months, he only took 4 days off. Then we learned that he would also get paternity leave when the baby come...which in the end, meant that in January, February, and March we needed to take 9 days vacation or else he would lose it. 

So one night while tossing and turning in my uncomfortable, pregnant state, I got the idea to surprise Paul with a trip - by ourselves. I knew I couldn't completely surprise him...he would have to know we were going somewhere since I would be asking him to take 5 days off in a row. But I could surprise him with where we were going. At 3 am I planned out a good chunk of the trip, and almost even got out of bed to impulsively buy the plane tickets. But then I remembered that it was 3 am, and, although my idea was good, I had better wait til morning, and make sure that Paul really could get 5 days off in January. 

I picked to go to L.A. This was a little risky - Paul does NOT like huge cities and REALLY hates driving in huge cities. I knew that in order for it to work, I would have to plan things pretty well, and steer clear of bad traffic and super crazy parts of town.

It ended up the perfect vacation...if I do say so myself. We drove to Iowa to drop the kids off at Laura's house, flew out of Des Moines, and off to LA. I kept the destination a secret from him for months - and he only found out while we were were in Iowa when my brother-in-law spilled the beans. At least that gave him time to adjust to the idea of being in Southern California.

We stayed near the 3rd St. Promenade. We tried to get a nice picture, but it was too bright. With jet lag, we woke up really early (even though we slept in according to Wisconsin standards) so we wandered around lots of mornings looking for places to see. We found a shop with hundreds of old Singers as decoration.

And we stayed at a funky art deco hotel right across from the Santa Monica Pier. Yes, we were loving the 55 degree weather and wearing shorts.

We at a lot of good food...we ate way too much on this trip and I'm sure you'll get tired of looking at food pictures. But it really was amazing. This was the best Italian meal of my life.

We went to the Getty Museum, something that has been on my bucket list ever since I was at BYU. It was such an amazing museum. We went one afternoon and spent two hours in one building, and realized we'd have to come back the next day to see the rest. I'm glad my husband loves art too! He was usually moving at a slower pace than me!

View of LA

After our first day at the Getty, we drove through Hollywood (just to say we had been there) and Beverly Hills, to arrive at the Griffith Observatory. It was cool...but Paul being an astronomy undergrad, I think we had higher expectations. The didn't have any of the big telescopes open, so frankly it wasn't that interesting for us, since we had seen a lot of that stuff at BYU. The view of the city was great, we saw Saturn, and could make out the outline of the Hollywood sign - the dang lights were broken so we couldn't really see it.

The next morning, again we woke up before anything was open, so we wandered down the Santa Monica Pier. Too bad I was 6 months pregnant...I would have loved a roller coaster ride or something more exciting than a lot of walking. But we were still happy to be out of the cold Wisconsin winter...we loved checking that the temps were always below 20 degrees while we were gone.

And then back to the Getty...

From there, we left LA, and took the scenic route along the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara.

Again, amazing Mexican food.

Again, waking up early, so we walked out on the wharf. We loved Santa Barbara. Paul was convinced that we should move there someday, and immediately started looking online at real estate...and immediately got discouraged. So Cal is an expensive place!

We were limited as to what we could do because of my belly, and because SB is pretty laid back, so we took a drive farther up the coast, and then looped around to drive through the hills around SB. We stopped in Solvang...the quirkiest town I've ever seen. It's a little slice of Denmark nestled in the hills. There is even a fountain to the Little Mermaid.

But the Danishes were amazing.

The clouds finally lifted when we got back to Santa Barbara...we checked out the mission...

...and then the courthouse. Awesome views of the city, ocean, and hills. We really were just thinking about Shawn and Gus the whole time, and how none of the show was actually shot in SB. But it was still fun.

On our last morning we went on a very leisurely bike ride up the Cabrillo Bike path. Weird being on a bike that brakes by pedaling backwards...it's been years and it took a while adapting.

And we stopped for a burger, just to say we did. All in all, a relaxing, delicious, much needed trip, which would only have been better if we had another week, and if I weren't pregnant. It's always refreshing to spend so much time with Paul one-on-one. I really believe getaways are the best for marriages!

The girls, meanwhile, had a party with their cousins, which was topped off by Hattie losing her first tooth. We missed it by about 10 hours. There are plenty of more teeth to come!