Vacation

To the mountains:

When we decided to send the boys to camp this year, I had the brilliant idea of sending my younger two children to see their grandparents for a couple of days, so that Allister and I could take a trip of our own. We haven't done this before. The last vacation trip we took together was our honeymoon. We went on a retreat for home group leaders when I was pregnant with Z, but the kids were with us on the drive. My older sister lived near the retreat and we dropped the boys off there. We also went on mission trips before we had kids, but those were not vacations. He decided that he wanted to go to Santa Fe, NM. Camp was only 2 nights, so we couldn't go too far.

There was a little complication. My sister, who lives in the same town as my parents, planned to move to a bigger house the same weekend. They let us come anyway. . . and put us to work. We left on a Tuesday to take a trip to Granny's house. Wednesday, I painted Wendy's house. She has a very nice brown living room, now. I noticed that she publicly thanked her friend for packing her kitchen, but didn't acknowledge me for painting an entire day, so I will acknowledge myself! haha

Wednesday night, I got very sick. I am almost sure that I got a bad mocha frapp at Starbucks. Thursday, I was pretty weak and laid on the couch until it was time to head back home. We left Z and Iz there, as planned. Wendy had some friends lined up to help her move on Friday. She had renters moving into her "old" house on Saturday. (The new house is older than her old house.)

Aren't we cute?:

Random picture of me and Z at her rehearsal for hair color comparison. It fades so much!

Friday morning, I sent the boys off to camp and we headed for Santa Fe. I am glad that Allister is accommodating enough to drive. I don't like to drive and that was a long trip. Longer than I expected, anyway. I knitted and slept while he drove. We stopped in Santa Rosa, NM to eat. It was the first meal I had had since Wednesday night. I was glad I could eat again. :) We saw a picture on the wall there of a Lubbock musician who passed away a few months ago. I didn't know him, but I know some of his friends. When we got to Santa Fe, we went downtown and looked around and shopped. That's pretty much all we did on Friday. This is kinda funny to me. I like to shop, but I really think Allister likes it more than me. Vacations when I was a kid. . .mostly involved hiking and taking pictures. We ate dinner and ended up at the mall. I know. I'm almost embarrassed to say it. At first, we were just checking out the town, but in the end, we were looking for new sandals for me. He found new tennis shoes at the first place we went to look for sandals. I finally got some at the mall. They were on major sale. I never really found exactly what I was looking for.

The sandals (and my cute feet):

Notice the floor? This was in one of the shops in the plaza. Allister and I were discussing doing this to our floors in the house. I guess it's an acid wash stained cement. I don't know, but it looks pretty cool. I wonder how much it would cost.

The plaza:

Saturday, we went back to the plaza (after an awesome breakfast) and met up with a tour guide. This tour guide was amazing. It was a 2.5 hour walking tour of the city. . . and the most amazing history lesson I've ever had. He was a wonderful teacher and it was just us and 2 other people. There was plenty of opportunity for questions, but he didn't slow down much for pictures! I would LOVE it if we could home school this way. . . tour the country and take tours with history lessons. We could do our other subjects while Allister is travel nursing. This is actually not that unrealistic. Travel nurses make mad money. I would have to sell my house (which I love) and I would really miss my friends (whom I adore). We have talked about doing this when Isaac is a little older. If Allister starts grad school, it won't be happening before M graduates. He would have to finish grad school, then work for the paying hospital for 2 more years.

The cathedral:

After that, we bought museum passes, ate lunch and went to two museums. We had a private tour of the art museum because no one else showed up for the scheduled tour.

Saturday night, we went to a concert at a restaurant. You can guess whose idea this was. ha! Folk music. Yeah. The food was good and different. The music was interesting. I would have liked to fast forward the second act. We stepped outside to watch the sunset. (I didn't have the camera and it wasn't that great anyway.) When we came back in, we had the most amazing ice cream. Don't ever pass up Toas Cow ice cream. It's worth every bite.

Sunday, it rained. We found a place to eat an authentic NM breakfast. Yum. Then, we went to two more museums. My favorite was the Museum of International Folk Art. It might be the best museum I've ever been to. . . not that I've been to a lot. It wasn't what I expected at all. Then, it was time to go back home. Not long enough! LOL. I would have really liked to stay longer. I enjoyed having all that freedom, no children, and Allister all to myself. I'd like to qualify the "no children" remark. I am glad that I have children. I would probably be very depressed if I had never had them. I enjoyed the break from the work they bring. I enjoyed the break from the noise they bring. I enjoyed the break from the stress I feel when they are making work and noise for me. I would like breaks from these things more often. Two or three hours once a month is not enough!

The boys had a wonderful time at camp and came back pinker for it. The little kids had fun at Granny's. Iz wanted to go back home with her. He also told me he wants to buy Granny's house and Wendy's house. I think he just wants to be with them. Granny said that both Z and Iz were very well behaved, which makes me happy. Maybe Granny will take them longer next Summer so we can go on a mission trip. :)

This week, I had planned to do some school. Not happening. Monday I used to reset back to normal life. Tuesday, we blew up the kiddie pool and played all day (I did the work of a normal SAHM, as opposed to a SAHM w/4 home school kids.) Wednesday, I caught up on shopping (not fun shopping--Sam's, Big Lots, bread store and Walmart) and I worked out at the gym. Today, I catch up on some chores. Tomorrow we have a group field trip.

In other news, I broke my coffee addiction. I have been wanting to quit. It makes me feel bad. It wakes me up and I love the taste, but overall it makes me feel bad. It's not just caffeine. It's specifically coffee. I don't know why and I know it's just me. But, I used the stomach sickness on Wednesday night as an opportunity to detox and stop the madness. We'll see how long I last. My bet is that I lose 10 lbs without trying, if I can stay off coffee and not start soft drinks. The milk I put in the coffee has 5 grams of fat and plenty of calories. . .2-4 of those a day adds up. Plus, the coffee makes me feel nervous, which makes me eat more.