Gobble Gobble, 2017!

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."
—Jim Davis

We had some extra time in Albuquerque before the flight and decided to use it at the Natural History Museum.  Just like the day before, James took off and ran through every exhibit.  Also, just like the day before, Isla managed to find the sand and spent most of her time there.  Ashlyn’s favorite section was the music area, where she got to play a lot of different instruments from various time periods.  After that, it was time to get back home.

Isla learned how to swing this week and now she’s constantly going out to the swing set to show off her newly learned skill.  It hasn’t completely stopped the “Mommy/Daddy, will you push me?” yet, and part of me is completely fine with that.

One of our neighbors bought a new hot water heater and thought our kids would enjoy playing with it.  They were right.  James liked to use it as a fort, Ashlyn cut holes in it and used it as a climbing wall, and Isla tried unsuccessfully to move it around the house so she could play with it without her older siblings getting in the way.

Thanksgiving was a blur this year, and we didn’t take as many pictures due to chasing three kids around.  Still, going to from place to place eating and playing with family was a lot of fun.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the ramp up to Christmas has officially begun.  The lights were put up, decorations spread throughout the house, and the Christmas tree was adorned with ornaments.  This year Isla got to complete the tree, and the look on her face should give you an idea of how happy she was about it.

Cheerleading, plays, and New Mexico…

"Are those mountains?  Those are so cool!"
-Ashlyn

To say this was a busy weekend is to put it mildly.  It started with Ashlyn’s last football game of the year, a quick jaunt to the field in cold weather for the two teams who didn’t make it to the championship.  Ashlyn had fun, but she’s glad she doesn’t have to stand in the cold any more this year.

Later that evening Ashlyn went to see Annie, where one of Ashlyn’s friends from school played the part of Annie’s best friend.  Ashlyn was excited to see her friend in the program, and there were a few other friends from school there as well so they could get a group picture afterwards.

Then the real adventure began.  Bags were packed, tablets charged, and we were off to the airport.  A two hours flight later and we landed in sunny Albuquerque to see how many things we could do in a day and a night.  The flight was fun for the kids, and Isla did great on her first plane ride.  The suckers helped I think.

Since we landed in time for a late breakfast, we stopped at a local favorite called the Frontier for cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and huevos rancheros.  It was at the Frontier that we learned the red sauce in New Mexico is much spicier than the red sauce in Texas.  We would learn this lesson again in the evening when we had cheese enchilada that we could barely eat.

It was good that we had a filling breakfast because the next part of our trip was going to require some extra energy.  We drove about 10 minutes away to a tram that took us to the top of the Sandia Mountains.  The views were of the desert and surrounding mountains were incredible, and the kids has a blast hiking through the woods and exploring a quiet piece of nature.  They didn’t even ask for their tablets once, which is saying something.

We had some in the afternoon to visit an interactive science museum for kids call Explora.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but it ended up being an amazing place.  James went nuts through two floors of activities, we could barely keep track of him and when it was time for the place to close down James asked if we could return in the morning.  Isla, who loves sand, barely wanted to move away from a sand topology experiment.  Ashlyn enjoyed everything a bit more calmly than her brother and helped both of her siblings with some of the activities.

That ended our Sunday adventure, turn in next week for Albuquerque part 2 and Thanksgiving!

Messes and a birthday…

Isla:  "I don't like trees."
Mommy:  "Why?"
Isla:  "Trees don't talk."

This was a short week for pictures.  Fall sports are coming to a close, and so we’re beginning to replace them with messes inside this house.  This week it was various ways to make slime, which is about as clean as you might expect.

PePa celebrated a birthday week and the kids wanted him to come over for breakfast.  We made french toast and cheesy grits, and afterwards everyone went outside to check out the garden and play some catch.  All in all, a nice Texas November afternoon.

Ashlyn’s football team lost this weekend so they won’t be going to the championship.  Instead they’ll be going to a consolidation game next Saturday.  Depending on whether or not we’re able to find flights, we may end up missing it.

Happy birthday PePa!