The Time of Our Lives!

Christopher Creek Arizona

The last leg of our Fall Break Trip we stopped in Heber Arizona and spent the night. We got up in the morning and stopped at Christopher Creek for a short hike. Talk about beautiful! The kids got into a pine cone war with Jon. I just sat on a big rock and watched and listened to my family having the time of their lives. This is a trip we will never forget. I hated to see it come to an end. We had so many great moments with our kids. This is what life is all about!

The Painted Desert

It's called "The Painted Desert" but this day it was the painted sky too.
Nice hair Jon! It must be the new gel.

We stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park on our way home from New Mexico.

We went on a few short hikes hunting for petroglyphs, and petrified logs. It's hard to believe that all of these rocks are 250 million years old. Riley had a blast taking all of our pictures. He had us in all different poses. We spent a good chunk of our time saying "Cheese".

Getting Our Kicks on Route 66!

Most of the way home we traveled along Route 66.

Bree was always reminding us to stop for food. Cole watched movies. Riley spent most of His traveling time playing on and listening to His new PSP. Kade folded "Cootie Catchers" and read every ones fortunes.

The Best Mexican Food Ever!

We asked around and found out that the best Mexican Food in Albuquerque was a restaurant called Sadie's. We went there and put our name in. As we were waiting Cole got a stomach ache and through up all over me. Luckily we both had a change of clothes in the van. We debated whether or not to go back to the hotel or stick it out. At this point we said our good byes to Jon, Jeanna and their cute boys. They had duty calling them back to Ruidoso. We had such a great time hanging out with them.

Luckily Sadie's got us in fast. However, Cole missed the whole experience. As soon as we sat down he was out. That day consisted of Balloon Fiesta in the morning. Then we went to a movie called "Game Plan". And then the kids went swimming at the hotel. Cole's sickness was a combination of swallowing to much pool water and pure fatigue. The next day He was fine. Sadie's rocked. The green chili sauce was amazing. Brianna colored a balloon for a contest they had there. And Jon said "Yummmmm" after every bite. We couldn't get enough of the New Mexican green chili. On way home we stopped in Grants New Mexico at Lotoburger any got green chili on our burgers.




Cole was out for the count. He slept all through dinner, all the way back to the hotel, then all night long. Poor tired guy.

Up, Up and Away

After we went to Ruidoso We all traveled to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque! We got up really early and rode a school bus to Fiesta Park. Cole thought that was awesome. It was cold. But I wasn't complaining it felt so good to be cold for once. Wow!!! It was so amazing. Thousands of balloons in special shapes were inflating and rising all around us. My favorite part was when the first balloon went up carrying the American Flag and the National Antheam was playing.

We all warmed up with Hot Chocolate. What a sight.
All the cool kids sit in the back of the school bus! Wake up Uncle Jon!

We all had Our favorite balloons. Kade's was the Cow. It was stink'n huge.

Riley was our photographer and took the most pictures of the Shuttle and the American Eagle. Bree's favorite was the Giant Panda. And Cole's of course was the Darth Vader balloon! There were so many balloons that every where we looked we would see one we hadn't seen before. Noah's Ark was really cool.

This is something we will never forget!!!

Ruidoso

Our fall break started with a trip to Ruidoso New Mexico to see Jon, Jeanna, Mac and Issac. We love where they live. It is an incredible beautiful pine tree filled little town in the New Mexico mountains. Cole had so much fun with his cousins. We went to the park for a picnic lunch. We also had fun shopping in the tourists shops and boutiques.