Sunday was Leslie's birthday. That morning we took the Hatch pictures. We did them at 7am, just like we had the Brady pictures, only the temperatures had warmed up in that last week and it was about 10 degrees hotter. It was not super pleasant and there were lots of ants about which are apparently terrifying for kids but we got all the pictures done quickly so it wasn't too terrible.
Also during the pictures Tyler and I had a conference call with a member of the stake high council and they called him to be the Ward Executive Secretary. I was not super happy with this calling because they didn't release him as Scout Master so now he is doing double duty. A busy Sunday calling and a busy Wednesday calling. They did release him as Gospel Doctrine teacher but that calling required very little from him and I enjoyed his lessons. Pretty much I have a crummy attitude about it all and it's all probably happening to prepare me for him having a much higher calling sometime in the future.
After pictures and the phone call, we went to the Hatch's church (where I struggled to find out where my kids go for primary classes because no one was around to help) and then that evening we celebrated Leslie's birthday. Tyler's dad always insists on a theme so the theme was Circus this time around (apparently he originally wanted to do a jail theme but Keshia convinced him to change it). Tyler's mom is a good sport and goes with it. 2 of my kiddos also had some fun with her costume.
On Monday Tyler flew back to Michigan and abandoned us and not much happened that day besides moving back into my parents home. Then Tuesday was spent getting the boys ready to go camping with the Hatch family and getting the girls ready to go to New Mexico with my family. Tuesday night we dropped the boys off with the Hatch's and my mom, Rebecca and me went to the Cheesecake Factory for a really late Mother's Day dinner.
Wednesday began our trip to New Mexico. My brother Mike brought his 2 oldest kids (Oliver and Lillian) and was our most excellent chauffeur. Then of course, there was me and my girls and then my mom. The trip went fairly smoothly -except for the first hour that I tried to keep the girls off electronics- once they got plugged in to their tablet/phone all was well. There was also our traditional stop in Holbrook at the amazing rock shop with the dinosaurs.
We arrived at my Aunt Irene and Uncle Charlie's house around dinner time and she was so nice and had dinner all ready for us. Unfortunately it was something that my picky eater Penny really protested eating which was pretty embarrassing. Despite that embarrassment they were still nice to us and Uncle Charlie took my girls out to see and help care for all his animals. Lucy was the only kid brave enough to go collect the eggs from the chickens and to throw corn to the sheep, llamas and alpaca. I was real excited by the alpaca, he was super cute. But it took the girls a couple days to warm up the animals and try and pet them. There were also some real cute rabbits.
Thursday we spent the day in Aztec. In the morning we went to see the Aztec Ruins. My girls had never seen any sort of Indian ruins so they seemed to enjoy them. I think there favorite part was walking from room to room because the doors were kid sized. We also got to go in the rooms below ground and the kids were a little wary because they had been warned of possible bats but luckily we didn't run into any.
Below is a picture of them in the Great Kiva, a place for religious ceremonies
At the end we filled out a worksheet about the ruins so they could earn a Junior Ranger badge and get sworn in.
After we saw the ruins we walked down to a nearby river and had some fun on the bridge above it. The rivers here seem bigger with stronger currents than the ones in Michigan.
Our next stop was my Aunt Charlotte's house for a visit. We brought McDonald's for the kids to eat there and Penny ended up trying to trick me into thinking she ate her food but instead she had hid her nuggets in the garbage bag because she just wanted to go drink her chocolate milk. Of course I discovered the nuggets and then she threw a giant fit when I made her eat them. It was super embarrassing and my Aunt did not look impressed. She didn't seem to be much of a fan of my girls but she does really like Mike's kiddo, Oliver. She kept calling him Toliver because he's tall (he's as tall as Ben and they're about 2 years apart).
Anyways after Penny's drama, my aunt decided that Mike should watch the kids (maybe because he was already outside with them?) and that us women folk should go out to lunch. She took us to the same place that she had taken me ages ago when I was in town before. It just so happened that her daughter and granddaughter were there too so we all sat down together. Honestly it was a little awkward and I felt kind of like I didn't belong- I still feel like the kid at the grown up table. After that we all went back and hung out some more at her house- Mike and I spending time outside with the kids while the sisters chatted. On our way out I got a nice picture of my girls with my mom and Aunt.
That evening we celebrated Lillian's birthday. Mike was going to avoid making a big deal of her birthday since they were doing a party for her when she got back but my Aunt Irene had other plans and went out and bought her a Princess birthday cake. She loved it and was real excited at the fact that she was going to get another cake back in Arizona. Lucky duck!
After Lillian's birthday celebration, my cousin Breezy and her partner, Lucas, took us over to their mobile home to show us all his projects he had done. They have a pretty neat chicken coop that also had a pond with fish in it- Lucy really enjoyed trying to catch these fish was a net. Then they showed us the table he had finished and the bassinet he had made for their baby using a wine barrel. They were very proud of their things and you could tell they make a good effort to keep everything tidy and clean. I still struggle with their relationship (the fact that they are first cousins removed) and that he doesn't seem to be able to take care of her and the baby she is having financially but I will always have a soft spot for Breezy. We were such good buddies growing up.
On Friday we drove to Durango, Colorado. It's a bit of a drive so we listened to the story Freckle Juice on our way there. This was a fun one that I remember from when I was a kid.
Our first stop in Durango was at Honeyville. This is a traditional stop with my family because my mom loves their honey. I am not a fan of honey really but they do have these yummy caramels. They also have this bear that has been outside their store since I was little- it's pretty grimy so I'm pretty sure it's the same one. I always took pictures with it and my boys have too so we had to get a picture of the girls with it. If only my girls could've kept their eyes open in the picture- so many of the pictures from this trip were with squinty eyes. They also had some other fun bear things outside to take pictures with.
After Honeyville we grabbed some lunch and then went to the Durango Wildlife Museum and Fish Hatchery. This was a very small museum but the kids still enjoyed it. They had a video about the fish hatchery which talked about how they dump the fish out of a plane into the lakes- the kids thought that was pretty cool. Then they had a fun kids room with some coloring and various things to touch and feel. The rest of the museum had various pelts and stuffed animals that are native to Durango. My mom really liked this part because it reminded her of her youth. The kids liked feeling all the different pelts and learning about the animals. There was also a fun station where they could listen to animal sounds and guess which animal it belonged to- Penny was pretty good at this one.
When we were done at the museum we walked over to the fish hatchery and saw the millions of fish. I got all the kids some fish food and they were able to throw it in and watch the swarm of fish rush for it. We wondered what it must be like for these spoiled fish when they are dropped into the lakes and taken out of this easy life.
After the fish hatchery we walked down the nearby river and the kids had fun throwing rocks in it and very cautiously dipping fingers in it- I was nervous they'd fall in and get taken by the current.
Our next destination was in town- Grams wanted to buy some chocolate for my Aunt and Uncle as a thank you and Mike wanted to take the kids to the Railroad Museum. We had a bit of trouble trying to find parking so we had Mike drop us off at the chocolate shop while he looked for a spot. The chocolate shop was extra fancy and our 4 kids did not belong in there but Grams got what she needed. Then we walked down town to get to the museum. There were some fun photo ops and also a fun store that had sidewalk chalk and bubbles outside for the kids to play with. We also discovered this really cool puzzle shop that sold super fancy (and expensive) wooden puzzles. The pieces were shaped like things (animals and objects) and were actually extremely challenging. I sort of wanted to buy one but also did not have a spare $100 laying around to do so. As we were leaving the lady gave each of our kids a puzzle piece to take with- pretty sure those did not make it back to Michigan.
We also discovered a more child friend chocolate shop and each of the kids got spoiled with something sweet to eat.
Outside the Railroad Station/Museum there were these cool horse statues and a lawn maintenance worker insisted that we should put our kids on them and take a picture...so we did.
The Railroad Museum was pretty fun for the kids- it had railroad cars to go in, some neat old cars, a model train and misc things.
When we finished up at the museum we bought some souvenirs and then headed back to my Aunt and Uncle's home. This time we listened to a story about a cat named Socks. On our way back, I finally got smart and bought the girls sunglasses so they would stop squinting every time they were outside. I also bought some food for the girls because I knew they were having baked potatoes for dinner and my girls would complain- I was not in the mood for a fight. My Aunt was always so good to us cooking dinner. I wish my girls were not so ridiculously picky.
That evening after dinner, the weather was beautiful so the kids ran in circles in the backyard and I did some admiring of my Aunt and Uncle's gardens. They are so big and they are flourishing. The one in the picture below is actually their "smallest" garden.
Saturday morning we said goodbye to all the animals and of course to my Aunt Irene and Uncle Charlie. We were headed to Albuquerque to see my Aunt Ragena. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a bit ago and was told it is in her bones- they are still waiting to see the samples from her bones come up benign. Knowing she's not doing well and not knowing when we will be this direction again I really wanted to see her.
The drive to Albuquerque was another long one for the kids. This time we listened to "Alice in Wonderland" but none of us were impressed. It was so weird (what we heard of it) and I can definitely see why people would say it was written by somebody experiencing a drug trip. On the way to my Aunt's house we stopped for some food, stopped to get her a little gift (a Cheer Care Bear for her to hug when she's feeling down) and we stopped at the Albuquerque temple for some pics.
Once at my Aunt's house I had a nice time visiting with her- I feel much more comfortable around her than some of my other Aunts.
Mike and I also took our kids to a nearby park for a bit so they could get there wiggles out and the sisters could have a good chat. It was a little warm outside and the park was up a hill so I maybe didn't have the greatest time- but the kids did.
After the park we said our goodbyes and headed to our hotel in town. I am so grateful we were able to go visit my Aunt Ragena and my mom said she called and told her how glad she was that we were able to come. It was a win win all around.
That night we ordered some pizza (which was hard to find because Google Maps took us to some sketchy corner where there were definitely no open stores) and the kids went crazy (locking themselves into one of our hotel rooms). I eventually just let them watch a show and then called it a night.
We spent the next day, Sunday, driving back to Arizona. This time I happily let them be on their electronics the whole time while I listened to a grown up story. The trip went smoothly, with yet another stop in Holbrook at the rock shop and at McDonald's, and even though I didn't have to drive I was completely pooped when we finally got back into town and picked the boys up from their fun Hatch family camp out.
And here are some pictures from the boys camp out. For once they didn't get any rain and they seemed to have a really good time. The group did a big game of Survivor and there was lots of quad riding.
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