First Stop: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Our first stop on our road trip was Albuquerque, to visit some friends from our Indiana days. They relocated to NM the summer before. It was so good to see our friends. Brock and Paige are the same age and have been friends since he was born. When we all lived in IN, they were together all the time. The best of friends. It didn't seem long for them to get reacquainted from the years of living in separate states.

Our families had a great time. We went to the park, visited Old Town Albuquerque and journeyed up to Sandia Peak. Here are some pictures from our adventures:

Jathan enjoying some B-ball with the kids.

The kids had fun at some of the shops in Old Town.

A very old church in Old Town that we visited.

When we got back from Old Town, this little thing was on their driveway. Thankfully Jill saw it before she ran over it. It happens that it was a runaway from the neighbors. But the kids enjoyed playing with it for a short time.

Around lunch time we headed up to Sandia Peak for a picnic and a hike. It was a bit foggy at first, but soon it cleared to where we could see the view.

I am not sure if Brock got quite the view he was hoping for :)

On to the hike.

We hiked to a shelter that was built for rock climbers to have as shelter. Boy did it have a view (see picture above.)

As all good things do, our time had to come to an end. After just two nights, we headed to our next stop.

I'm Still Here

I know that it has been a while since my last post. But there is a good reason. We've been gone, on a really long trip. 4500 miles of traveling in our minivan. So there really wasn't time to blog and several times I didn't have internet access anyways. The trip was great, though. Jathan named it our "Meet 'M' Tour". And boy did she meet a lot of people. We stopped in New Mexico to see friends that had relocated there from Indiana, stopped in Kansas to see Jathan's sister, Sullivan, IN to see my extended family including grandmas, cousins and aunts and uncles, then to Indy to see Jathan's parents and several of our Indiana friends. It was so nice! I will post more about the trip later along with some pictures.

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous before the drive. I loved traveling by car when I was growing up, and my dad and I drove across the country when he helped us move here, so I was so excited to take the kids on the trip and really see some of the country. Then I started thinking or rather realizing, traveling just me and Dad in a minivan is way different than Jathan and I with 4 kids. So the nerves got a little tight. But it went beautifully! Seriously, I really can't wait for another road trip. I have to share the beginning of our trip with you. We were just getting the final things packed in the minivan and the kids were dying to get in. I told them we would leave soon enough, to just get some more wiggles out, by the time it was time to go, they were already in their seats very excited. So then we were off. We hadn't even made it to the freeway, which is about a mile away, when Clay says from the back seat "I am really enjoying this trip" Jathan says, "Yes, the first two minutes have been great" then he turns to me and says "They have no idea what they are in for".

But seriously the best part of the trip is that after the start of the traveling "M" started calling us Mommy and Daddy all the time. I haven't heard Melissa from her since our first day of the trip when she called me that once in Albuquerque. That is such a praise. It may not sound like a big deal, but it helps the bonding so much!!! It wasn't always easy thinking of her as my daughter when she called me Melissa. So we are Mommy and Daddy all the time! She really did well. She didn't seem to get overwhelmed and as my grandma said, she seems to have been in the family forever. We are truly grateful.