Santa Fe

  Two weeks ago was our trip out to Santa Fe. We stopped and grabbed lunch first at a local restaurant called Cowgirl. The food was yummy but a bit pricey, especially for lunch. My favorite thing about Cowgirl was that they had an outdoor playground in the middle of the restaurant that was designated for families. It made eating with kids SO much more enjoyable. The kids could play and then come eat and we could watch them while we ate and not have to chase them around everywhere. It was wonderful. 

Andrew's burger was HUGE.

   After we finished lunch we drove over to what we thought was just one Indian museum. It turned out to be a museum complex with 3 or 4 different buildings and a little restaurant. The courtyard had quite a few statues and monuments that interested the girls along with a 2D labyrinth to walk on.

  We only went through one museum and enjoyed what we saw. The girls were well behaved as we walked through and were happy to smile a dozen times for pictures.

 Rugs made from skins of small animals.

 Ellie was interested by what she saw as long as she was moving at a quick enough pace.  We didn't want her running around the museum so she stayed in her stroller for the vast majority of the museum. 

 A bunch of the artifacts were from a few hundred years ago.  A couple were older.  We went through at a fairly quick pace because of Ellie, and the other kiddos.  Maybe in a few years we'll be able to read the info posted in museums.  Until then we'll look at the cool things and keep on walking.

 The girls all liked the jewelry a lot.

 Once we were almost done walking through the museum, we came across the family room and had to stop in. There were drums, books, puzzles, and puppets. We all had fun playing with everything.

 Abby loved the drums and musical instruments.  Ellie's favorite was the puppets.  She totally thought they were real.  When Andrew made the puppet get close to Ellie, she would squeal with delight and maybe a little apprehension. 

 The cougar would roar at Ellie and she would roar back.

 The wolf howled just like Duke

 Sticking out her tongue and being silly.  

 Oh no!  Not a bear!

 Pow pow!

 We were able to convince the girls to pack up and head to the car, but then Andrew found the labyrinth and got distracted with the kids.  I was cold and headed down to the parking lot with Becca but had to stop to capture the beautiful view.

 Kate and Becca stopped to pose at this big statue right before hopping in the car.

  Because there is just so much to see in Santa Fe we will go back in a few weeks.  Still lots of places to go and see and eat at.

Sandia Crest

  The longest aerial tram in the US is here in Albuquerque.  We had plans to go up on it a couple weeks ago but it was closed due to maintenance. We decided to go up the mountain anyways and drove up Friday afternoon. The drive was very pretty and very high up. Whenever we would come around the bend and see how much higher up we were Andrew would remark on how he doesn't like heights.
  The view from the top was so beautiful and reminded me of the Wasatch Mountains. We walked around for a short while and then drove back down. This late in the year everything is closed during the week so we missed out on a few things that we hope to be able to experience when we go up on the tram.

Poor Becca Boo cried the entire drive up.  The elevation bothered her ears and that plus her hating car rides in general made for a long drive up.  Here she is getting ready for the long ride, right before she started to freak out.

 Ellie was excited to get out of the car and hang over the edge of the wall. Living on the edge is what this girl is about.

 On to running down the steep hill and playing on the icy stairs. 

 Mandatory picture with the sign.

Our walk around the top.

 Thank goodness for fences.

Becca was happy all warm next to me.

 She eventually fell asleep.

 There was a little bit of snow at the top, mostly in the shade.  Abby saw it and said, "Yay, it's Christmas!"

 We saw two white tails on the way down.  Can you spot where one is?

 Kate and Abby fell asleep on the drive, the two that don't need a nap.  

 And the two that need a nap stayed awake the whole drive.  Ellie tried shushing Becca because Kate and Abby were sleeping.  It didn't work.

  We're hoping for more snow the next time we go up and that the shops are open.  We did enjoy the beautiful drive, even if a crying baby was constantly going the whole way up and back down.  #familylife

Albuquerque Zoo with new friends

  We were invited to go to the zoo with our new friends from church a couple weeks ago. The girls had been asking to go for quite a while and it was fun to go with new friends for the girls to play with.

  The elephants were my favorite.  When we first came to their exhibit, most of them were in the back.  Right as we were about to move on, a momma and baby came out to say hi.  The baby was adorably huge.  So cute.

Abby and Kate liked the giraffes. Or maybe it was the big boulders they enjoyed climbing on next to the giraffes.

 And Ellie's favorite were the "oo-ah-ahhs".  

  After we were done looking at the animals, we went to the outdoor restaurant to have lunch and let the kids run a little wild.  The kids had fun chasing the peacocks around and getting dirty looks from some animal lovers.  A couple older ladies tried to tell Kate and Abby to stop chasing the birds, probably because they were the biggest and fastest of the kids.  Good luck to that.  They don't listen while they're having fun until you yell at them five times, using their full name, in a "you'd-better-effing-stop-NOW" tone.  It didn't bother me.  Peacocks are pretty rats to me.  AND they have wings!! If they really didn't want to be chased, they'd fly away.  Instead the birds didn't want to give up the chance to scavenge. Chase away, my children.  And see you next time peacocks.