The Land of Enchantment

We are back from our first family trip of the summer. We actually got back late Sunday night, but I have been running crazy with girl's camp preparations (which is next week) and this is the first chance that I have had to sit down at the computer.

We started our fun off with the Barney Family Reunion in Pleasant Grove, UT. It was so much fun seeing all of Matt's cousins. Most of them are my fellow blogging buddies so it was nice to actually see them in person. Have I ever mentioned what a GREAT family I married into? Not just Matt's wonderful parents, but his siblings, cousins, and Aunt and Uncles. They are amazing. I wish we could find the time to hang out more with them. I was lucky to join the family when it was small enough that we actually did a lot with the extended family. So, I know a lot of Matt's cousins on both sides of his family. The kids and I left straight from the reunion and headed to Albuquerque. Crazy...we still had two drivers. This was the first trip Jacob helped drive. However since I needed to be just as alert when he was driving as when I was driving, we did stop for the night in Monticello, UT . We got to ABQ just in time to help celebrate my nephew JJ's tenth birthday. The kids had a lot of fun with that. We spent Sunday-Wednesday going swimming, going to the movies, eating good food, hangin' out with friends and just relaxing in general. I was ablt to spend an evening catching up with high school friends too. The kids were able to have some good extended family time. My camera for this trip was my cell phone, so the photos are not that great--oh well.

Matt flew in on Wednesday night to join in on the fun. Then on Thursday morning we got up and drove to a cabin in Eagle's Nest, NM (in the NE corner of the state). We were all sad that Grammy couldn't join us. The elevation was just to high for her oxygen intake. But Grammy bought all the kids some art supplies to help entertain them while we were there. Grammy, they really did have fun with all of their activities. Thanks. We stayed one night in the cabin--we got to fish and just hang out on the boat. Next, we stopped in at the Phillmont Scout Ranch on our way to Raton, NM where we stayed the next two nights. Ballooning, swimming, fishing, and fireworks were the order of the day(s) in Raton. Sadly, we were suppose to do most of our ballooning in the morning on the 4th of July, but it was too windy for the balloons to fly. So, Matt still hasn't made it up in a hot air balloon. We still had a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed all the cousin time they got. They also enjoyed fishing with Papa......even if they never caught a fish.

The hardest part of the trip was saying goodbye and having a thirteen hour drive home. No, it shouldn't have taken that long, but due to a road closure we had to take an hour long detour over a mountain on a windy dirt road...not too much of a problem, except that it made Nathan throw up:( Ahhhh fun times.