spring break 2016: albuquerque

This year, Tyler's finals came during my one week break between winter and spring semester.  We knew there was a chance we would be taking off for the summer, so I wanted to go visit my family in case we didn't get another chance.  I got the idea when I realized my brother was going down too, so I figured the two of us could drive down together.  

We left crazy early (4 am!) and the kids were great.  They slept alot, but even when they were awake they were really good.  We got there by like, 2 in the afternoon.

All week my kids were spoiled.  They had so much fun playing with their grandparents and aunt and uncles.  It was total heaven - during the day, there was always someone who would play with them or take them outside.  The nights were a little rough, but the one night it was really bad my sweet mama came and held Eli so I could sleep.

Eli took a little while to warm up to everyone but after a day or so he was totally sold.  When my Dad would come home from work, both the boys would come running to the kitchen and TJ would yell "Grapa!  Grapa!  Come on Grapa!" and try to get Grandpa to take him outside.  

Both the kids LOVED having a yard.  Since it is fenced in, I would just let TJ go out by himself.  It took him a few days to figure out that it was O.K, but he loved it and spend hours and hours outside.  Can you find him in this picture?

In the mean time, Tyler's Dad came to Provo from Spokane and took Tyler to Moab for a biking trip.  They went early in the week, since Tyler's finals were on Friday.

Me and the kiddos outside the Albuquerque Acquarium

TJ spent the entire time at the aquarium running around between exhibits while one of my siblings chased him.  I mostly walked around with Eli.  Both the boys love love love fish.

We went to the Zoo one day and had a pic-nic lunch.  Eli was hilarious.  We took the stroller but of course the kids wanted to be out.  We'd stop to look at an animal and I'd pick up Eli, but he would just climb from person to person until he got to whoever had the best view.  Usually it was my super-tall brother, Logan.  It was super funny.

We went during TJ's usual nap hour so he was pretty crabby, but still went crazy for all the animals.

I love the little tamarin monkeys.  I want one for a pet!  They are so tiny!  This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip.

It was a super crazy trip.  I felt so brave for going by myself, but it really wasn't that hard with all my wonderful family there to help me out.  We drove back with a couple of our friends who go to school with Logan.  We left early again but hit a crazy bad snowstorm on our way to Farmington.  We still got home pretty early but the kids had a really hard time on that drive.

It was such a fun trip and I'm so glad I went!  TJ asked about Hawey, Hunter, Wogan, Gramma, and Grapa every night at bedtime for several weeks afterward.  He still asks about them often and this week, he asked if he could call them on my phone.  So we did.  He called and talked to everyone and it made him so happy!  I love to see my kids getting to know our families.  I really hope we find a way to travel to Spokane this year so they can see their cousins and grandparents on Tyler's side of the family.