Ok, I have to admit saying “Albuquerque Trip” sounds extremely odd. This was my first trip back “home” since we moved 3+ months ago. I couldn’t figure out if it was too soon to go back but I decided I better make a road trip home before winter hits and the roads become too iffy to travel. I really had no agenda upon going back other than spending some good quality time with my family & friends who I miss dearly and that is exactly what we did. The initial plan was to leave Thurs after Owen got out of school and come home on Monday so Owen could go to school on Tues. Well, after lots of convincing from friends I decided to extend our trip and to leave Wed and let Owen miss a day of school. The plan started off great, we said our goodbyes to Brandon Thurs morning and then I took Owen to school. I picked him up at noon and the kids and I hit the road. This was my 1st road trip solo with 2 kids. Much to my surprise, it was great and went flawlessly. Both kids were fantastic on the drive up, never made a peep other than the usual “are we there yet” and “how much longer” but I can deal with that. We arrived to my parents about 6:15pm. Well, plans changed on Tuesday. As my mom and the kids were driving my “check engine” light came on in my van. Didn’t think much of it until my car started slowing down and wouldn’t go faster than 30mph with the gas pedal pushed all the way down?!?! I pulled over, turned the car off, turned it back on and it was acting fine but the “check engine” light was still on. I figured I better take it to the dealership (as we are still under warranty) to have it checked out before I get on the road the next morning with the kiddos. Took the van in at 4pm on Tuesday to find out that their was a Throttle Pedal Malfunction. Apparently this is a big problem and extremely rare. Any who, since it is not a common problem they didn’t have the part anywhere in the state. Go figure?! They had to overnight the part but since it was past 3pm the part wouldn’t arrive until Thursday. Needless to say plans had to change and we ended up having to stay a couple extra days. Would not have been a big deal except that we have a wedding to attend this weekend (that Brandon is doing a reading in) and I was starting to worry I wouldn’t make it back in time. Also, the 3 of us were really missing Brandon. Even though the situation was not ideal, all I can say is Praise God we found out about the van prior to me and the kids 450 mile road trip home. Can you imagine? So to make this long story short we had a WONDERFUL trip back to NM and finally were able to hit the road on Thurs at 4pm. All in all I am so grateful for the wonderful time the kids and I were able to spend with our NM family & friends since I really have no clue when our next trip back will be. As you can imagine, since I am me and I LOVE pictures, I have a TON from our trip (320 to be exact). And since we all know how bad I am about trying to chose which pictures to post because quite frankly I think all of them are “blog worthy” I will split our trip into 2 separate posts. So this posts pictures will be from Friday-Monday. Enjoy!
Friday:
Lets just say the kids were beyond excited waking up at Nana & Pampo’s house….
We spent most of the morning being lazy in our PJ’s and spending time with Nana & Pampo. Once we FINALLY got around to getting dressed we decided to walk to the park. This was the kids favorite park to visit when we lived in NM so it was fun to watch them play and reminisce.
Olivia & Kaitlyn met us there too. The kids had a great time!
After naps that day, the kids and I went over to the Millea’s house. The Millea’s are some of our very good friends who also were our next door neighbors for 6 years. We miss them dearly. It was a bit odd being right next to our old house but it not being ours anymore. Strange feeling. We had a wonderful visit with them and the kids played their little hearts out.
Linkin & Owen, Best Buds.
Nerf Gun Wars are so much fun!
Don’t these two look like sisters? Finnley & Autumn had a blast together and spent almost the entire time out back in the play house.
After the Millea’s house we headed back to my parents. The kids played and played and my mom made us a delicious dinner. It was a great day!
Computer time at Nana & Pampo’s house is a must!
This girl & her rocks. She could play with them for hours on end. She piled them all in the trunk of her car. Lol
Owen had a blast getting “Tickets” from Officer Pampo on his trike!
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Saturday:
Saturday we had another slow start to our day watching Saturday morning cartoons. Once we all got dressed we headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with the Lucio’s. The Lucio’s are also our old neighbors and some of our very best friends. We were SO SO SO excited to see them. The kids had a great time playing in the play area and my Mom, Melissa & I had a wonderful time chit chatting about life.
Nothing better than being reunited with Best Friends :)
Gotta love Chick-Fil-A balloons!
Before the kids laid down for their naps, they had a ton of fun playing with Auntie Kiki’s 70’s wigs. Hysterical!
After naps, My Mom, the Kids and I all got ready and headed to Church. Our old church Sagebrush that we miss SO much to be exact. It was SO awesome seeing all our old friends and listening to a great sermon on the Ten Commandments. After we said our goodbyes to our church peeps, we headed over to Lumpy’s for Dinner. Lumpy’s is a local burger place that makes the absolute BEST burgers I have ever had with fresh fries anyway you want them. As in you pick your potato and hand it to the cook fresh. YUM YUM YUM! O how I miss that place!
Waiting for our burgers :)
After dinner we headed back to my parents where my Dad & Niece Abi were waiting for us. My parents have Abi every Saturday night & all day Sunday while my Sister & Bro-In-Law work. It was really fun having all the cousins together at Nana & Pampo’s house and kept us all VERY busy and always on our toes. We ended the night by playing in the backyard, a bath, and then it was bed time for the kids. Once we got them all down my parents and I stayed up, watched a movie, and stayed up chit chatting until about midnight. It was another GREAT day!
Abi & I had a blast running around in the grass pretending to be different animals.
Love these girls!
The girls took a bath & Owen took a shower. Perfect way to end the night :)
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Sunday:
Sunday we woke up to Nana cooking up her famous biscuit's & gravy for breakfast. My favorite breakfast of all time! My Mom makes the BEST white gravy ever! After we all ate breakfast we basically hung out all day and let the cousins play. We walked to the park, played in the backyard, played dress up, etc. The cousins had a blast together.
We had planned to go to the Balloon Fiesta Saturday morning, but because of the winds it was very iffy if the Balloons would even go up. We canceled the trip since it was so iffy and glad we did bc they did have to cancel it. So while Nana was cooking breakfast Sunday morning, the kids watched the Balloon Fiesta on TV with Pampo.
Sunday morning Biscuits & Gravy. Feel like I’m from the South saying that, haha.
This is Abi pretending to be a horse. Its seriously one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
The girls doing the Mambo.
After a day of Cousin Fun, it was time for some Mommy Fun. My sister and I headed out for Girls Night Out at about 6pm while Nana & Pampo babysat. We met some of our friends (Cammy, Kaitlyn, Brittany, Kelly, and Liz) at St. Clair Winery for some dinner and then headed across the street to Scalo for a night cap before heading home. It was a great time catching up with such great friends. So much so that I completely forgot to take any pics. O well.
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Monday:
Monday morning my Mom had to work so the kids and I spent the morning at the Lucio’s. Melissa’s 2 older kids were at school so Autumn & Aubryn got to play together and Owen was in heaven playing in Aiden’s room all by himself. Aiden has some seriously cool toys.
So precious. Autumn & Aubryn play so well together!
Went home and the kids took their naps. My Mom got sent home from work early bc they didn’t have much work. Yay! After naps we met some great friends, the Cooks, at Jason’s deli for a late lunch. It was so great catching up and Owen & Autumn had a blast with the older girls Cami (9) and Hannah (13). After lunch we met my sister and Abi at the mall for some more cousin fun. They got to ride the Merry Go Round, play in the new and improved play area, and then ended our trip with a train ride. It was a blast.
Owen had so much fun in the Tea Cup all by himself.
Owen got the caboose all to himself. He thought he was super cool!
At then end of the train ride, the conductor was so sweet and let Owen “drive” the train. He was SO stoked and even got to blow the horn on the train. How fun!
After the mall fun we headed back to my parents, ordered pizza, and hung out until it was the kiddos bedtimes. After the kids were all tucked in, my sister and I headed out to do some late night fall wardrobe shopping. It was a great time. Honestly, what’s better than shopping with your big sister????
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That concludes the first 4 days of our ABQ Trip. We have a wedding tonight so I am off to get dressed so I will be back in a couple days with the remained of our trip. Have a great weekend.
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