We traveled to spend the holidays in New Mexico with Burke's family. This was a new locale for us to visit, since his parents relocated to Santa Fe last year. We hadn't spent Christmas with the Lokeys since 2014, so it was overdue.
Ready for takeoff! Leaving the snow behind in Chicago.
Landed safely in Albuquerque, NM.
At Nana & Lolo's new house - Seems like the first order of business for the boys, when arriving at a new location, is to find something to climb.
We arrived on Christmas Eve. That evening we went to church to hear Lolo sing. Evan fell asleep during the service. It was adorable. Later, the boys opened their traditional Lokey Christmas Eve gifts matching pajamas (given by Josie, their dog - Ryan & Evan got a kick out of that).
On Christmas morning, they excitedly opened their big gift from Nana & Lolo.
Inside the big box was a smaller box.
Nintendo Switch! Just what they were hoping for.
Generous Nana & Lolo
Lucky boys!
Playing the game Link, a gift from Keith & Karissa.
We spent some time in the park with Josie!
She's adorable when she runs so fast!
We took a walk in/on what is the Santa Fe River, when there is water!
Ryan & Evan on the river wall.
river bed
As a Michigan resident, it's shocking to observe water absent from where it's meant to be.
Nana & Lolo's new house
view of Santa Fe from their neighborhood
I wanted to check out the State Capitol Building, of course. First we found this one, which turned out to be the "old" capitol.
A nice lady pointed us in the direction of the current building. It's unique shape pays tribute to the kiva structure from the Pueblo tradition.
Super pretty skylight in capitol, resembling the Zia sun symbol
The art inside the capitol was "amazing, spectacular, cool" (Ryan's words). We really liked this buffalo made of all sorts of medium including "paint brushes, newspapers, lanterns," etc. (Ryan's words, again).
other interior capitol shots
The "oldest church" - dating back to the 1300's
Loretta Chapel - this staircase is a mysterious architectural feat considering when it was built
gingerbread house fun
Bandelier National Monument
exploring cliff dwellings of the Puebloans dating between 1150 - 1600
Burke wins the prize for best pictures of the day with these two joyous/adventurous pics of our two joyous/adventurous boys. 💙
Santa Fe sunshine! The weather in Santa Fe felt like a cool Michigan early spring day with lots of sunshine. It was lovely, and we were thankful to be missing the 17-inches of snow that was falling back home. It was an excellent weather trade.
inside a cliff dwelling
From the cliff dwelling, looking down. You can see Burke, Nana, and Aunt Sue in the foreground if you look closely. In the back ground, you'll see the round Pueblo village area.
steep, narrow path
first family shot of 2018
BBRE + Nana & Lolo
(I love this candid one.)
Nana & Lolo with the monkeys
We stopped at the Tesuque Village Market for lunch.
Georgia O'Keeffe spent a lot of her career in Santa Fe, and has a museum there. We really enjoyed the museum. It was the perfect size, not too overwhelming. It was organized well by different periods of her life. They gave the boys sketch pads and they both got way into drawing their interpretations of O'Keeffe's work.
The museum's learning annex had a family day, hands-on creativity event.
Their cute, unique box creations.
We were all excited to go to the infamous Meow Wolf museum with Uncle Keith. There was a line to enter, so the boys and I explored the statues around the parking lot, including this giant robot.
Meow Wolf is an immersive art collective, meant for each person to interact with the space and have a unique art experience. There is a narrative to tie the creativity together - a family living in a house with portals to other dimensions. It was wild and awesome. We all enjoyed exploring and appreciating the whole experience. Thank goodness we had Keith as a tour guide - he's been there multiple times so he knew his way around the maze of experiences.
the boys playing musical bones
entering another dimension through a refrigerator and dryer
giant fish tank
birch tree with eyeballs & cool detailed drawing
Ryan liked this travel agency to other dimensions.
video games from the another dimension
The pink one is called Pretty Pretty Castles, which I found hilarious.
in this old-timey cartoon room
other fun, interesting Meow Wolf pictures
The teacher/reader in me loved this commentary.
What?? Haha!
climbing through the fireplace
What a fun time!
me and my boy on a hike
New Year's Eve Dinner
Keith is studying bass performance and education, so we got a concert.
New Year's Eve in The Plaza
Welcome 2018!
Soon it was time for us to say goodbye to family, sunshine, and mountains. Before heading to the airport for our evening flight, we took an unofficial Breaking Bad tour around Albuquerque, tracking down notable locations from the hit TV show. Breaking Bad is one of our favorite shows, so this was a cool experience for me and Burke. We were thankful Lolo was willing to drive us around town, and for Ryan and Evan's patience driving around.
This actual home served as Walter White's home on the show. The owners of the home seem to struggle with fans visiting the location, to the extent that they recently put a tall fence around their home. They sit outside, which makes it uncomfortable to gawk at the exterior of their famous home. There is a memorable scene in the show where frustrated Walt throws a pizza on the roof of the garage. I guess fans were throwing pizzas on their roof from time to time, which I understand would be very annoying. They also painted it to change the exterior, making it a bit less familiar from how it looked on the show. I found this whole situation fascinating.
This is the carwash Walter and his wife, Skyler, bought to launder money.
This is Walter's partner, Jesse's, house.
The red awning section of this strip mall served as lawyer Saul Goodman's office.
We stopped at the Candy Lady shop. To conclude our Breaking Bad tour, we bought legit candy, and also some rock candy that resembled the illicit substance that was essentially a main character in Breaking Bad.
Soon enough it was time to head to the airport.
Bye, Lolo! Until next time...
It was a late night flight. We arrived in Chicago around 11:45 pm. Uncle Steve was nice enough to pick us up, and drive us back to Joey's to get our car. Joey was nice enough to babysit our car while we were in New Mexico. He even loaded it up with our gifts from Ponka Christmas. We headed downtown Chicago, and finally checked into a hotel for the night. The boys heads hit their pillows at 2am. Whew! Long day! We spent that next day in Chicago. Before heading home, I got a massage at a favorite spa (a present from Burke and boys), while the boys had lunch with Steve.
When we finally got home, the boys were surprised that Santa had visited our house and left gifts while we were traveling. They instantly noticed the giant pillow, and immediately lay down.
This is the weather/winter scene we came home to! Yikes!
We are all thankful for safe travel, and special time with family. Nana & Lolo were generous hosts. We are also grateful for the gifts we received throughout the holiday season from friends and family. We are a lucky bunch! Looking forward to adventures, quiet moments, and memories in 2018.
