last day on the farm

We are off to Denver as soon as our friends come back and Andy eats some lunch. They went to church but we did not. I had an awful night last night, waking every couple hours to run to the bathroom. All the while praying that I would feel better for our drive home today.

I got some extra rest this morning and now am feeling a tad better. Just ate some chicken broth and crackers. Trying to make sure I get in enough water too. Thankfully we are not completely in the middle of nowhere like some of the stretches in Montana where there are no services for a hundred miles or so. And I’m not going to eat lunch, no matter how tasty it looks. I think that was my issue yesterday. I ate nothing for breakfast but the grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch sounded, and tasted, so delicious! Then for dinner there was ham and smashed potatoes and sweet corn and apple sauce. I even ate a little key lime pie. Probably why I was up all night in spite of taking some drugs.

We finally have a pretty nice day. The weather isn’t too cold and the wind isn’t blowing hard. Stephan’s out back playing with Andy some and we already went out to see the goats again and wandered down by the llamas, though they won’t come close enough so you can touch them, not even the baby. At least they wandered close enough to get some good pictures. When Stephan says llama it sounds like mama. So cute! In between bouts of yuck yesterday I got out to see the goats and also drove the tractor. Well, I steered it down the road at least. Stephan got to ride and we also rode on the ATV, all firsts for me. Andy did some shooting, a little target practice. He did well, maybe thanks to Duck Hunt, and it’s equivalent on Wii Play?

I hope we can make it back in the spring. Think that would be fun, maybe come for a little longer weekend … and NOT bring the sickies with us.

The weekend in pictures (sorry they all link first to my other blog, it’s easier than uploading them all twice):

Our FABULOUS hosts!

While I started this post before we left, I just got the pictures all uploaded. We made it home. Took about five hours and some drama was involved when it was time for dinner. Stephan decided he wanted nuggets and then refused to eat them. We ended up having to have the light on while Andy drove so Stephan would eat. Interesting. Now we are home and I am exhausted. Thankfully, I’m also feeling loads better! All ready for a fun Monday washing clothes and stuff and getting settled in for the week ahead.

toddler times

We like to have fun, who doesn’t. This post is dedicated to some recent fun … with pictures!

First off, silly hair time. Stephan often rubs his food covered hands in his hair and on his face. Every once in a while we end up with this:

Crazy hair due to ranch dressing (I think). This is much more funner than when he gets food in his eyes.

Next up, we’ve gone though several changes with his bed and the setup of his room. He’s finally sleeping pretty regularly in the big bed, so we’ve put up the crib mattress and remade his bed like this:

Now that he can tuck himself in he’s been going to bed much easier. Well, that and the fact that he now wants us to put up both gates. Silly boy. We take one gate down so he can come get us if he needs to in the middle of the night. I’m just SO THANKFUL he’s going to bed easier again.

Somebody likes hats. Not his so much, but mine or Andy’s he will steal and put on his head. He is getting a bit better with wearing his own hats, but alas …

Lastly, new shoes. We’ve been looking and looking for sneakers for him. His current shoes, that he’s had for about 5 months are getting a bit snug. Nothing seems to fit quite right or be what we want. I despise having to tie and untie his shoes so no ties are a must. I’m also not a huge fan of Velcro so if there’s none of that all the better. Yesterday at Kohl’s we found the perfect shoes and then had a hard time deciding if we should get the size 9 or search for a 10. We decided to try and find a 10 but when that was unsuccessful I went back for the 9 which is definitely the right choice. Here they are in their new shoe glory:

These shoes rock, and were worth driving all over town to get the right size, because as you can see, there are NO laces and NO Velcro. Magic stretchy “laces” keep the shoes on his feet and make it easy for him to eventually learn to pull on his shoes all by himself!

Thinking about what to do in his new shoes:

Trying to steal mommie’s camera:

Hope you enjoyed my little photo essay!

Weekend in Santa Fe

First the pictures … then the details.

We had a wonderful time in Santa Fe. I enjoyed wandering around the old town and window shopping, eating some tasty food and meandering through a couple museums.

What I didn’t enjoy so much was the long drives. I think my Vue is pretty comfy, but not after several hours! Another strange thing is how time seems to be sucked away when driving in NM. No idea why, if it’s my perception or what, but every mile seemed to take longer there. Like twice as long. Driving through Colorado seemed to go much faster. I drove through Colorado and let Andy drive the rest of the way on our way out and thought NM took longer since I wasn’t driving. Then on the way back I drove till just south of Colorado Springs and NM still took forever. I’m sure the length of time on the road was not helped by our stops at McDonald’s … that are supposed to be quick and easy. Instead, the McD’s in both Trinidad and Raton were completely full and took forever! Thankfully Stephan does relatively well in the car. He may not love it but he tolerates it, often better than I do. At least we saw some beautiful scenery now and then.

Enough about the road.

Our first night consisted of the welcome reception for Andy’s estate planning retreat. We had some tasty appetizers and a couple drinks and met a nice couple with a 17-month-old boy. Enjoyable to have someone to chat with and some good food to tide us over till we figured out what to do for dinner. We found a wood fired pizza place and figured we’d get plenty to eat if we just split a pizza and got two house salads. We were right and the pesto pizza was yummy. Then back to the hotel to crash. Or so we thought. Stephan wasn’t quite ready and took a while to relax and fall asleep.

The next morning we ate our breakfast at the hotel since it was included in our room and what a spread! Often hotel breakfasts can be a little on the sad side … not this one! There was an omelet station, several fruits, breads, cereals, meats, French toast, hash browns, scrambled eggs, bagels and lox, oatmeal, granola and I’m sure I’m forgetting something else. Needless to say we were stuffed! Andy was grateful as well since the “breakfast” included in his conference at that hotel was pretty lame and mostly gone by the time he arrived.

While he learned and filled his brain Stephan and I went down to check out the pool and then got ourselves cleaned up and walked around Santa Fe a bit before heading back to get some food in the little tyke. I found some neat shops to revisit later with Andy. Shortly after Stephan finished his lunch Andy was back for the afternoon and we went to Tia Sophia’s. BEST MEXICAN FOOD EVER! I loved this place. For lunch I got tostadas and a sopapilla and it was delicious. The beef was wonderfully seasoned and everything was perfect. I would have gone back but they are only open for breakfast and lunch and we didn’t need breakfast and Stephan didn’t wake up from his nap till after they were closed on Saturday.

After lunch we went to a store I wanted to show Andy and got some gifts for the peeps back home. The shop owner was totally adoring Stephan and he got a couple suckers, which he really liked. We then took Stephan back to the hotel for naptime where I discovered that the Georgia O’Keefe museum was just down the street and FREE on Friday evenings. I was excited! I love her flower paintings and have always wanted to go to her museum. So when Stephan woke up we got him some dinner and then walked over to the museum. Since we got there a bit before the free hours started I got to look through the museum shop and found two prints. Since we didn’t have to pay to get in, I was able to get a great souvenir! And, with the museum being so small we were done in time to head to the wine tasting Andy’s conference put on and get some more free appetizers. This time sushi and other tasty seafood treats. Once Stephan decided he was done with that, we wandered back out into Santa Fe and started looking for somewhere to eat a light dinner since we’d eaten a lot of appetizers. While we didn’t find anything Andy got to go through the Palace of the Governors which is a NM history museum, also free on Friday nights, and got a history book to read and a little wooden plane for Stephan.

We never did find anything that looked just right for dinner and were not super hungry so we just got some ice cream and coffee. Well, I got some ice cream and Andy got some coffee. And that was it for Friday, I was very tired and so ready for bed. Stephan did a little better going to sleep, but not much.

We went for breakfast together again on Saturday morning and then sent Andy across the street to his conference while we went up to the room to hang out. I was still pretty tired and really just wanted to sit by the pool and read. Since I cannot do that with Stephan I read while he played and then he went down for an early nap and I read some more. He had a fabulous nap, but as I mentioned before, slept too long for us to be able to go back to Tia Sophia’s. Instead we went to the Ore House after he woke up and ate some pretty good food. Spicy hot though, I’m a spicy hot wuss though. I don’t mind the flavor of the spices but don’t like the heat so this place was just ok in my book. My margarita, while VERY strong, wasn’t the greatest either. The salsa trio appetizer was pretty good though, best part of my meal.

After our late lunch we wandered around the art festival in the plaza and went back to the hotel room to get ready for the pool. Stephan thoroughly enjoyed himself in spite of a few teary moments. He sure does love the water! We got cleaned up and went back to the pizza place for a light dinner. Split a salad with some tuna and other tasty toppings as well as a pepperoni pizza. Both were delicious and the waitress even brought out some pizza dough for Stephan to play with. Of course he ate some of it and couldn’t quite figure out what to do with it really. He did enjoy mackin’ with the other people eating at the restaurant and walking around a little while we ate. We then wandered a bit more and stopped for ice cream again since it was so delicious the night before.

I shouldn’t have, but I stayed up late reading the rest of Healing Stones and last night I stayed up listening to the end of Shopaholic Ties the Knot which I also shouldn’t have done but I digress … we woke up when Stephan, our alarm for the day, “went off”. The three of us cuddled some and then went down to breakfast. After that the packing frenzy began and after getting everything in the car we stopped at a Starbucks on the way out of town and were headed home!

While I certainly love the destination better than the actual traveling there and back, the longs drives were worth it and I had a great time with my boys. Just wish my in-laws had joined us since they both would have had a blast as well!