Vacation of a Lifetime

This last week I got to go on vacation. Real vacation. In fact every member of my family, except perhaps baby girl, got the vacation they dream of. How was this accomplished, you might ask? Don't worry, I will tell you.

Well, first of all Daniel is a homebody who loves his personal time. Me and the kids being gone is a wonderful vacation as long as I leave enough Ritz crackers and cheese in the house. He had guy time with one of his friends, he worked on his comic strip, he played some banjo, he read some Peanuts, watched Darkwing Duck and Doctor Who. Who could ask for more? Not Daniel! After a week he said he was very ready to see all of us, but I think he really had just gotten tired of his own cooking though he got a friend of ours to take him out to lunch on Sunday. I think she felt sorry for him. He played it up and said it was due to his amazing bow tie. Can't argue with that.

"You can't deny the tie!"- Daniel

I took my sweet kiddos and headed toward the big city where Daniel's parents live. The kids were going to be staying there for 5 days (!) while I headed out. This is the vacation that Nathan has always dreamed of. They went to the zoo, saw great grandparents, got to hang out with awesome older second cousins that he thinks hung the moon, all that with a dab of grandparent spoiling through out. He loved it!

The zoo!

This was the first time that I had left baby girl and I wasn't as sure how she would do. I suspected that as long as big brother (bra-bra as she puts it) was there she would do all right and she did. She got to skip naps, pick out a toy in the zoo gift shop and sit in grand-mom's lap for every meal. As long as brother was with her she was good to go.

 I spent the night there, at my in-laws, and had plans with my childhood best friend, who I haven't caught up with for almost 15 years (I can't believe I can say that!), to head out for New Mexico the next afternoon. Well the adventures of the next day took their own post to explain so to make a long story short car trouble ate Wednesday and I had to try to head out again on Thursday morning. Thursday was uneventful, thank the Lord!

Hello Sangre de Christo! I love these mountains.

Falisha and I got up to the camp near our cabin just in time for closing campfire for the session that we always attended.

"not for passenger vehicles"

Since Falisha wasn't up for hiking, being pregnant is a very valid excuse, we went on some driving tours. We drove up to Johnson Mesa with no trouble since we weren't in my little red car. The view was amazing. There are no words to describe it so it is a good thing I took pictures.

Looking out from the mesa one way

Looking out from the mesa the other way

Roughing it, no table.

We even took a trip to Porvenir Canyon and "camped out" by the creek to eat lunch for old time sake. It was so peaceful to just sit by the creek, listening to it running over a little fall just up stream. Beautiful!

The weather there was beautiful. It may be hard to read but according to this the temperature at the time of this picture was 55 degrees! It was glorious! I had to buy a coat... in August! It was lovely to just sit on the porch, curled up with a good book, enjoying the sights and smells of afternoon. We spent a lot of time on the porch just taking all the beauty in, and maybe a tiny bit of napping.

We took a small walk along the creek. There is a path there that is very aptly named Rippling Falls Trail. It meanders next to the creek, crossing it now and then, typically with a quaint bridge or a series of stepping stones.

We even managed to experience some of the wild life. Squirrels, humming birds, deer to mention a few, and, thankfully no bears or cougars.

It was designed to look like
Thomas Jefferson's home.

We stepped into the nearest town and took a bit of a tour. This picture is of a Carnegie library. It is situated in a beautiful park and offered free wifi. I took a barefoot walk in the grass!









On the way back we got to watch this amazing storm blow in across the mountains. Just moments after we took this picture the storm blew over us.

It is so cool it almost looks fake.

I missed my family very much and there were times that my heart ached for my beautiful children's faces but I may not get a moment to recharge like this for a long time. I feel like the peace of these moments will last me a long time. And if Momma is happy everyone is a little happier, its just true.