Summer Trip to ABQ :)

FINALLY I am getting to blog about mine & the kids summer trip to ABQ (Albuquerque to all my CO peeps). As you know from my previous post, Owen went home with my parents after they came to CO for Autumn’s 3rd Birthday. So this trip was to pick him up after his 6 day long trip at Nana & Pampo’s and to spend a week visiting my amazing Family & Friends in New Mexico. As Owen & Autumn will both be in school this year (which starts next week, yikes) we know our trips back to visit are going to be few & far between. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed our time there making sure to visit everyone we possibly could. Due to time & the amount of pictures I have I will do my typical day by day blog of our time in NM, here we go….

Monday-July 29th: 

That morning was stared with Brandon, Autumn, and I going to finish registering Autumn for her first year of Preschool. She is a total Mama’s girl so I honestly can’t tell if she is excited or terrified about being away from me so long. I think she’ll do great and I truly believe hidden under her nerves is joy & excitement. Once we got all her paperwork/records taken care of we dropped Brandon off at home and Autumn and I hit the road to New Mexico at about 10:30am.

I honestly could not have asked for a better behaved child to road trip with. Her, Blankie, & Grumpy the Giraffe slept a bit (which is really unusual since my kids have never been car sleepers), snacked a bit, & watched 2 movies (Tangled and Beauty & The Beast). I honestly hardly heard a peep from her.

We arrived to my parents house at about 5pm. We were greeted by Owen, My Parents, My Sister & My niece who were all very anxiously awaiting our arrival. The cousins were super excited and immediately got to playing and being super silly. My sister made us a wonderful dinner and we basically spent the evening relaxing and enjoying one another's company. Such a perfect 1st night.

These girls are too cute for words and REALLY miss each other.

Tuesday-July 30th:

Tuesday’s goal was to spend every second with my Sister and Niece since she had to work 4 of the 7 days we were going to be there. My sis and I started the day at Gravity Park with the kiddos. Gravity Park is new to ABQ since we moved and we’ve heard such great things about it we decided we had to check it out. Gravity Park is basically a giant room filled with trampolines & foam pits. It was a blast for all of us, not just the kids. My camera battery was dead so all I had was my phone so the pics aren’t the best.

 

After all our fun jumping around, we headed to my sisters where she made us all a delicious lunch and the kiddos played until they were all ready for naps.

 

After all the kids were all rested & refreshed we headed over our friend Melissa’s house (my old neighbor & very good family friends) to let the kids play and swim. Our other friend Leanne (another old neighbor) and her kids were over too. All the kids had a BLAST!

Linkin (6), Aiden (8), Owen (5) & Averie (6.5) swimming :) Owen sure misses these sweet friends. Owen has known them all since the day he was born.

Aubryn, Abigail, & Owen AND Autumn & Finnley

After the kids swam & played my sister and I dropped the kiddos off to my parents and headed to dinner at Vintage 423 for a girls night out. I completely forgot to take pictures, guess us girls were having way too much fun eating and catching up. It was Me, My Sister, Cammy, Piper, Alison, and Kristin and it was SO much fun and the food/drinks were delish!

Wednesday-July 31st:

My sister, Niece, the kids and I started the day bright and early. We met our dear friend Candice (who is my Sister’s old High School BFF/College Roomate, she is basically like another sister to us) and her 3 kiddos at her house at 8am. Once we were all situated we caravanned up to the Sandia Mountains to go to Tinker Town. Tinker Town is a Museum that is made up of a whole bunch of Folk Art that started as some man’s hobby that later turned into a museum. We used to go there growing up so we thought it would be fun to take the kids there. It was a really fun time watching the kids play and reminiscing about our childhood. 

Writing a message in a bottle :)

 

After the Tinker Town fun we headed back to ABQ and took the kids to the park because they all still wanted to play together.

Owen (5), Abigail (2.5), Autumn (3), Pearl (1.5), Fenn (4), & Seth (7). Such an awesome group of kids.

What Beauty’s!

After the park it was time for naps, kids & mommies! My sister had to go sleep since she worked that night, so we kidnapped Abi for the remainder of the day :)

And the rest of the day we chilled and spent some quality time with Pampo & Nana.

Thursday-August 1st:

Thursday morning the kids and I met our dear friends The Beistline’s & The Altman’s at ABQ Uptown. Us Mommies sat and Chit Chatted while the kids ran around playing and spending some time running through the fountains. Then we headed to McAlister’s Deli for Lunch and then a bit more playtime for the kids. It was a perfect morning spent with some more amazing friends that we miss very much.

Owen, Abby, Olivia & Autumn. Another group of amazing friends that have known each other since the day they were born. All us mommies (Jess, Kaitlyn and I) were pregnant together so their friendship started since before they were even born.

Isaac wanted in on the picture action too but wanted his Mommy (my dear friend Jess. We were pregnant and due within a month of each other with both Owen & Abby and Autumn & Isaac) and baby brother Bennett in the picture also.

Walking to lunch & me getting some sweet Hannah snuggles. Hannah is my dear friend Kaitlyn’s newest addition (Olivia’s baby sister) who is 3 months old. She is the sweetest baby, I just love her!

After lunch we headed back to my parents casa. Let the kids nap/rest and then we headed to Melissa’s again for some more play time for the kids while us mommies visit over tea.

Aubryn & Autumn playing Lalaloopsy’s

We headed back to my parents since my Mom was making us some of her Famous Spaghetti for dinner. It was as always absolutely AMAZING! After dinner we hung out with my Dad for a bit before he had to go to work and then my Mom & I took the kids to Burger King for an Ice Cream for dessert & some play time.

Friday-August 2nd:

Friday was our day to rest. I was honestly pooped from a busy 4 days that it felt amazing to just hang out around my parents taking the day low key. My mom and I got some grocery shopping done and ran to a few stores we needed to go to. That afternoon around 3 we headed over to my friend Leanne’s House (our old neighbor that lived across the street from us) for an afternoon of play. It was so great catching up, we sure miss them a ton.

Linkin (6), Owen (5), Finnley (4), and Autumn (3) playing dress-up.

Too cute for words!!!!

Headed back to my parents for yet again another amazing dinner. After dinner we walked to the kids favorite park by my parents casa.

 

We ended up having to leave the park running…literally, it started raining on us. We got so lucky because the second we got in the door it started down pouring. It was actually really fun running home in the rain hysterically laughing, a memory we’ll never forget.

The monsoon season in New Mexico is in full swing and the best it’s been in over a decade. It was the greenest I have seen it in so long which is fantastic since NM needs the moisture SO bad.

Saturday-August 3rd:

Saturday morning we met my friends Kaitlyn & Melissa and the crew of kiddos at Chick-fil-a for Breakfast & Play. The kids had a great time and so did us Mommies. So very thankful for these amazing ladies/kids and long lasting friendships despite the distance between us.

Autumn, Aubryn, Olivia, Averie, Aiden & Owen.

More Hannah Lovin’

After breakfast and play we went back to my parents, dropped Owen off with Pampo and picked up Nana and us girls went to get a Pedicure.

 

After Pedi’s the kids went down for naps while my parents and I got things packed up for the super fun filled family night we had ahead of us.

CUTESTEST cousins I have ever seen <3

Once my sister and Abi got to my parents we got all ready and headed off for our first stop dinner at Lumpy’s Burgers & Fries (Owen’s only food request that we HAD to go to while in NM) SOOOOOO DELICIOUS!!!!!! Good call Owen.

After dinner it was off to ABQ’s Annual Summer Fest Downtown in Civic Plaza for a family fun night. My Dad’s favorite band Ozomatli was playing and anyone who knows my Dad knows how much he absolutely LOVES music. This night was honestly a dream of his. Not only did he get to go to an Ozomatli concert with his wife & daughters, BUT he also got all three of his Grandkids to come too! Such a special and VERY fun night.

 

 

The only really bad part of the night was waiting over an HOUR, yes an HOUR, for the kids to get their faces painted. But when the kids had cheek to cheek smiles after getting them done it was almost worth it :)

Owen & Abi have a special bond, they love each other so much. Here they are loving on each other while waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

Hello Kitty Autumn, Batman Owen & Butterfly Abigail!

My Sister, Mom and I stayed to the back of the crowd so the girls could dance their little hearts off while my Dad and Owen made their way to the front of the crowd where it was crazy and loud. Owen and my dad share their love for music so they had a BLAST!

Precious!

Autumn & Abi honestly danced until they basically collapsed. Autumn got fascinated with a group of Break-dancers that were battling and spent most of her time mimicking them or running in circles with her cousin. It was SO fun watching them.

 

Break-Dancing

Best. Picture. Ever!

Seriously an amazing night and perfect way to celebrate my Dad’s Bday a bit early!

Sunday-August 4th:

Sunday morning we were all dragging from a late night on all parts. We didn’t get to bed until after midnight (kids about 11pm)! With that said it was a chill low key kind of morning. After we finally got dressed and moving, we had lunch and then hit the park before naps.

 

Later that evening I made a special dinner in honor of my Parent’s 33rd Anniversary & My Dad’s Birthday. My sister and Abigail came over to help celebrate too. It was a great last night in NM with my fabulous family!

Maple Brown Sugar Pork Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Squash and Zucchini and Rolls. Yum!

Happy Birthday Dad!

The saddest ‘Goodbye’ Hugs ever :”(

Monday-August 5th:

Monday morning we packed up the van and said Goodbye to my parents at about 8:45am. It was a sad goodbye, but we had an absolute wonderful fun filled week long trip so that made it bearable. We met our good friends the Cook Family for Breakfast at the Flying Star Café before hitting the road home. They were out of town the whole week we were there so we had to squeeze in a couple hours with them before leaving. Such an amazing family. We had a great breakfast with them but were really sad that we didn’t get to see Miss Cami since she was at gymnastics.

My kids just absolutely love these girls. Hannah, Autumn, McKenzie, and Owen.

After breakfast, we met my Sis and Abi at the park for another quick goodbye and to burn off some energy before the drive home.

And at about Noon, we were off…

Another fantastic road trip with two amazing kiddos. They were great on the way home and even slept a bit for me which almost never happens.

 

We miss you dearly New Mexico. A HUGE thank you to all my amazing friends who fit us into your busy schedules. We loved seeing each and every one of you and really cherish the memories and forever friendships we have. And a REALLY HUGE GIGANTIC thank you to my amazing parents for opening their home to us and for the generous hospitality. We are so thankful for the amazing people you are and for the tons of love you shower us with. We miss you more than we could ever express and are beyond grateful for the time we got to spend together.

Until next time ABQ……