New Mexico Vacation 2013

I haven't done as thorough a job as I would have liked documenting our summer but LB started preschool this week so I'm feeling the need to move on. However, I can't move on without posting about the absolute highlight of our summer. At the end of July, we boarded a plane for New Mexico and LB had the time of his life. We met my parents and my sister there and we all stayed in a rented house together. This was our first real vacation with LB. We have a traveled a ton with him but mostly for visits to my parents, which is like a vacation but not officially, and he's been to Pennsylvania for my cousin's wedding and St. Louis for my sister's graduation and we went to Florida when he was 11 months old but none of that really counts. This was a true vacation. LB experienced so many firsts and he still talks about them. I think it helped for it to feel like a vacation for D and me since we had three other adults, who happen to love LB and he loves them, with us. I highly recommend the 5 to 1 adult to child ratio when going on vacation, especially since some of his favorite people were with us. I was usually number 5 on the adults he came to for something. I was able to read a whole book. I read, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, which I highly recommend. It was one of those books that I didn't want to end.

LB did great with all the traveling it took to get to Taos. We decided to take a direct flight to Denver and then drive 5 hours to Taos rather than take a connecting flight into Albuquerque and drive for 3 hours. We're still not sure if that was the way to go since the Denver airport was such a pain but that's what we did. LB had a moment during the drive that was unpleasant because he had to go to the bathroom and there was no exit in sight but other than that he handled it all like a trooper. Air travel isn't so bad when you have a child obsessed with airplanes. There was even a time on the plane where I got a glimpse into the future. I hadn't brought anything to entertain myself on the 3 hour flight to Denver because I assumed I would be keeping LB happy and occupied. Well, at one point I looked over at him and he had the Ipad in his lap and some pretzels in his hand and he was perfectly content. I thought to myself, "I should have brought a book!" and "I could have bought a trashy magazine!" It was a crazy thought. But one I welcome. Oh trashy magazines, I have missed you.

The house my parents rented was gorgeous and ended up working out perfectly. LB called it "New Mexico." He is still a little unclear on the whole concept of geography. We we would be out and about somewhere and he would say, " I want to go back to New Mexico." And when we'd pull in the driveway he would say, "There's New Mexico." It was so cute that I hesitated to correct him. 

LB woke up the first morning at 4:30am. That was not fun but we expected it would take some time to adjust to the 2 hour time difference. The second morning he was up at 5:30am and by the third morning he was up at his normal time of 6:30am. So it wasn't too bad. That first morning he made himself right at home and set up his planes on the table on the patio outside. His New Mexico runway had much better views than his Ohio runway.

That first morning he was also very eager to check out the hot tub. I think he convinced my dad to get in with him before 8am. He loved it and I'm not gonna lie some days the hot tub served as his bath.

The hot tub was one of several firsts for LB and he responded to all of them with such joy and excitement. He saw a rainbow in the sky, a glider and a hot air balloon. The below picture is right after the rainbow. You can't see the rainbow but you can see the happiness in his smile.

He went on his first hike, saw a waterfall, got to sit in a helicopter and saw all sorts of new bugs. The rest of us had been to Taos several times so I think we all enjoyed viewing it from his first time perspective. He also forced us to notice little things that normally we would walk on pass, like butterflies along the trail or a "really big rock." Some days we would be driving and he would shout "Look at that really big mountain." I loved being there with him.

The food in Taos is amazing and D and I were talking about it before we even got there. Since Taos is such a relaxed place most of the restaurants are very chill and kid friendly. Several of them even have these big outdoor areas where kids can run around and play while the adults finish their beers. And, of course, they all have amazing views.

LB really had a blast. He wasn't perfect. He is three. There were some bedtimes that were challenging and a few times he wanted things he couldn't have but those aren't the moments that I think of when I look back on our trip. I remember the good stuff because there was so much of it. My mom and my sister both came armed with bags of tricks for downtime at the house, which helped tremendously. I was really happy that he was so happy. I guess that's how it works.

On our last night there we went into town to the plaza and there was a bluegrass band playing. LB didn't hesitate and went straight to the area where people were dancing. My mom danced with him for a while but mostly we just watched him.

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the week.

Hopefully, we'll go again next year.

Moments Come. Moments Go.

Later in the summer we are headed to New Mexico for a week. I've started talking to LB about it. My parents have been going over the summer for several years and D and I joined them for the three summers prior to bringing LB home. We haven't been since the summer of 2009, which was the year we started the adoption process. We decided this was the year to head back and that LB would be old enough to enjoy it. In an effort to get LB pumped about going I've started talking up how fun it is to go on a hike. LB loves the outdoors so I think he'll love it but it doesn't hurt to prepare him for all the greatness awaiting him. Yesterday it was overcast and cool and I decided to take him to a park where we could walk on a trail and practice "hiking." He was excited and wanted to wear his boots so I didn't argue. I told him we could collect rocks and jump in rain puddles and look for bugs.

We got there and he ran straight to the ducks and started quacking at them. I love that he thinks they understand him. We chatted with the ducks for a while and then started walking the trail to find rocks.

We found rocks, sticks and pinecones and they all got tossed in the lake. He's got a strong arm and ever since he was teeny tiny has loved to throw things. He doesn't tire of it. It's nice when things get thrown in a lake instead of at my walls.

A lot of runners frequent this trail so every now and then we would step aside to let a runner pass and LB had to wave and say hi to all of them. One girl didn't wave back and LB determined "she was shy." He was truly being too cute for words. As he was walking ahead of me looking for more things to throw in the lake, I realized I was having a moment. Everything just felt peaceful and right. He would throw something and then stop and gaze out over the lake. I just wanted to soak it all in.

Then he squatted down to look at something and called me over. "Mommy, what's this?" I thought to myself, "He's so inquisitive and smart." I walked over to him and he had his hand in dog poop. DOG POOP!! And my moment was over.

Odds and Ends

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! D and I are still here in New Mexico and I really don’t want it to end. We’ve gone on some hikes, had fabulous food and just relaxed with my family. I am going to really try to savor these last couple of days of vacation. I’ll post some pics next week.

Before we left for vacation I stumbled across a blog post that I wanted to share. From what I can tell this family adopted a son from Ethiopia and then the mom went back when her sister adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia. She takes AMAZING photos and I just couldn’t stop looking at them. When you get to the middle of the post there is a photo of a boy running with all his might to meet her and get some crackers she was giving to the other children. It breaks my heart and I just sat there and sobbed. The photo is so powerful and in many ways speaks larger than any words could. Click HERE for the link to that particular post. She has posted other entries since then about her trip back to Ethiopia and those are also powerful.

I was in a Starbucks yesterday and noticed they have brought their RED products back for a while. If you buy coffee from Starbucks then please consider checking out the RED products. For every 1lb bag of coffee that is purchased they donate a $1 to the Global Fund, which helps people in Africa living with AIDS. They also have RED gift cards so if you go there frequently then you can just load the card and each time you use it money is donated as well.

I heard from our social worker last night that Gladney is done reviewing our home study and they are sending it back to our home study agency. That means we are VERY close to being able to send it to CIS for approval. We are so ready to be done with this first phase of the process. I am hopeful we will be able to send it to CIS soon.

Before I sign off I wanted to say Congrats to my new blogging friend, Sam. She recently got her court date for later this month and I am super excited for her. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Ethiopian adoption process, the courts there close in August for 2 months or so for the rainy season so it is great news she got a date for before the closure. I am hoping she passes the first time and can travel this summer to pick up her little girl. Congrats Sam!

A week from today…

We will be in Taos, New Mexico. I CANNOT wait! My parents have spent many vacations exploring the west over the past several years and Taos is a favorite spot. This will be our third year heading out to join them for a week and we have fallen in love with Taos as well. D and I have been working hard the past couple of months on all the adoption paper work so we are looking forward to some time away. In many ways my mind is already there and I can envision myself finishing a hike to Williams Lake, getting some ice cream from the Taos Cow and watching the gorgeous sunsets from the porch. I think we all need that time every now and then to re-focus and relax and spend time with those people that are most important to us. I’m ready.

Here are some of my favorite photos from last year.

I LOVE that D is wearing his Gap Red shirt in this photo. We hadn’t made the final decision to adopt but it was on our hearts already and was something we were feeling drawn to.

Just one of the many gorgeous views

Abby is our pace setter on the hikes. She always leads the way.

I can't wait to take our little Buster to Taos someday. Our FBI clearances came in the mail last Friday! The FBI must have heard my plea in the last blog post. AND our home study is in the hands of Gladney. This is a huge step. They are reviewing it before it can be finalized. I was hoping we would have the home study sent to CIS before we left for vacation and that may not happen. But the ball is rolling and that is always a good thing. Have a great week!