Santa Fe in pictures

What an amazing vacation!  It's hard to believe all of the things that we crammed into 3 full and 2 partial days.  

The kids were oh so very excited to fly on an airplane.  I captured Azalea's excitement below.  When I asked her what her favorite part of flying was, she said, "The cookies!"  We flew on Frontier and they served up warm chocolate chip cookies on each leg.  This presented an interesting parenting condundrum:  at 9pm, after feeding your child sugary fruit snacks on the ascent to help their ears to pop, how do you deny them the gooey goodness that they have come to associate with flying?  It was hard, but we found a way.

My nephew Kael and his family accompanied us on the trip.  He is a lovely child.  Well-mannered, silly, and adorable.

I love Kael!

On the first morning, we escaped the back yard and went hiking on the adjacent acreage.  Azalea was overcome with excitement.

She takes after her mother.

Eleanor found a cactus walking stick and was our protector, looking out for the kind but oversized neighbor dog, ready to sound the alert (i.e. scream).

Back at the house, the girls painted in our host's painting studio.  He is a professional artist.  His space made me feel as though I could paint, too.  It was a lovely space.

 After nap we explored downtown Santa Fe.  We stopped to get the kids some Haagen Daas ice cream (it was vacation, after all).  They all demonstrated their "chilly face".

Oh my I have a pointy nose.

And that was just day 1!  On day two my mom took Azalea skiing while my sister and I took the little kids sledding, all of us somewhere up in the Santa Fe mountains.  It was an exhausting morning, so it was a low-key afternoon at the house.  Low-key afternoons after an exhausting morning are arguably my favorite part of a vacation.

We were somewhere up in the whitest part, in the middle.

On day 3 we went to Pecos National Historical park to visit the ruins of the old Pecos Pueblo.  Pecos became the central city for the merger of several Native American tribes before the arrival of the Spaniards. They successfully warded off the Spaniards for awhile, but eventually succumbed.  The ruins are fantastic, the centerpiece of which is the mission.  The walls of the first story are still standing.  

Azalea dancing upon our entrance to the mission ("castle")

The girls in one of the archways.  They were only as tall as my shoulders, if that.

 After Pecos we hit up the Santa Fe children's museum.  This was not an optimal juxtaposition (past civilization to modern sensory overload), but we wanted to do both activities and this was the way the chips fell.  I felt that the children's museum overshadowed Pecos, but next time I'll be more sensitive to that type of thing when planning the activities.  For what it's worth, although we spent several hours at Pecos, all four of us tired of the children's museum after a mere hour, having spent most of our time at the bubble table.

On day 4 my sister and I got some time away from the families and went on a brief date downtown.  Then it was time to pack up and move out.  When boarding our first flight, the co-pilot was standing next to the stewardess and invited Azalea into the cockpit.  !  At first she was a little bit shy, but then she met pilot Tony who invited her to grab onto the...wheel?  I can't think of what the steering thingy is called in an airplane.  Regardless, I got the camera out just in time for Ian to snag a pic.  Lucky kid.   

Our flight got in at 10:30pm, and it wasn't until 11 that we had our luggage.  My kids have never been up that late in their lives, but they were holding up very well.  In fact, Eleanor insisted on dragging her own suitcase AND pushing the elevator buttons.  It was thoughtful of her to give her parents a break.

Per usual, a good time was had by all.  Now it's back to the grind, but with a refreshed spirit it doesn't seem so bad.  Although I'm already looking forward to the next vacation...