Taos, NM

I had some work in Taos so I brought the family along. We visited the gorge bridge and the Pueblos. The gorge bridge is 565 feet up and is the 7th highest bridge in the US. The pueblos have been inhabited for 1000 years and participated in the Pueblo revolt. The pueblo is also considered the main influence for south-western architecture.

Lizard Mania/Wiki Stix

 The kids' favorite thing to do in the mornings is run outside and catch lizards.

 We went to a restaurant that gave the kids Wiki Stix to play with instead of crayons...let's just say that is their favorite restaurant now.

Alpaca Farm

I found an Alpaca Farm that is about 5 miles from our house, so one day the kids and I popped over there. The man who runs the farm is retired and he and his wife just started raising Alpaca 8 years ago. He was so kind to the kids and let us feed the Alpaca and they gave each of the kids a finger puppet made from Alpaca fleece.

UNM

One day I took the kids to the University of New Mexico to check out their museums and play at the duck pond...which should really be called a turtle pond.

Local Fauna

Spring time is here and the animals are coming back out. The kids have caught many lizards and seen some snakes.

Ruth also found a rabbit nest. Inside were four tiny little rabbits. We tried to repair the nest and cover them so the mother would come back and move them to a safer place. Unfortunately, the mother never returned and the kits perished in the cold.  It was sad.

We also took some time to visit the aquarium and botanical garden here in ABQ. The Bugarium is awesome.

 

Kate's Birthday

 After spending the day in Albuquerque we drove to Santa Fe for a birthday dinner with the family. We spent the night at Paula and Asa's house and Claire and I played dress-up. Saturday morning I woke up early, hopped in the car and picked up Tia and we drove to Pecos for my first 5k!

 My goals were to jog the entire thing and finish within 45 minutes. Up until that day I had never been able to jog the whole thing, but the race adrenaline must have really helped because I jogged everything but 2 minutes and finished in 43 minutes and 15 seconds. I'm really glad Tia got me to sign up for this race and am excited to continue training.

Pagosa Springs, CO

For conference weekend, Brian, Tia, and Fam invited us along for a trip to Pagosa Springs CO. We rented a home and spent a couple nights. We made yummy food, played games and listened to conference. We also spent some time hiking to a waterfall and hanging out at the park on the river. 

The Kids Return

Paula took the kids for two days to play with Asa for his birthday. It was super fun to be alone at home for this time...but we were really happy when the kids came home.

Durango

I had some business up in Durango, CO so we took the family along and made a trip of it. We tried some Yak and other amazing food at a Himalayan restaurant, got some ice cream and walked down the main street.

The next day we drove out to Mesa Verde. A very fascinating Native American National Park.

On our way home, we stopped for some Easter Pizza!