This past weekend we were suppose to go away with the army for a family retreat before the unit deploys next month. Once again the army let us down and there was not enough room for us to go. Bags were all packed and the kids so excited about getting away (and missing a day of school), so Greg and I decided we would do our own little family retreat. We went away on Friday for the weekend to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were hoping to see some snow, but the city was warm and all the snow was at high elevations.
On Friday evening we just got there in time to get some dinner and enjoy a few hours in the hotel pool. We went to a local Mexican restaurant and it was very good, but a little on the warm side. New Mexico does a red or green chile sauce and the red that night was very warm, not to mention my food was swimming in it. Besides drinking a lot of water with my meal, the flavors were great! Swimming was fun, although Greg and I mostly watched from a distance as we enjoyed the hot tub together. 
Saturday morning, we got up and headed straight out for the Sandia Peak tram after eating breakfast. We enjoyed looking out at God’s beautiful scenery while going up the world’s longest tram. We ended up at an elevation of 10,387 feet and there was snow. The snow was slippery and very packed down, but Lauren still managed to find some to eat. We found some loose snow that wasn’t packed down, even though it would not make very good snow balls, a few of us still ended up with very cold snow down our backs. After coming back down, we went around the other side of the mountain to drive up and go to the crest at over 10,600 feet in elevation. On the way up the girls had seen spots they were dying to go back to and sled. We stopped on the way back down and did some fun, but painful sledding. All we had was those little disk, so we flew down the small hills on some very slippery snow. A few of us even took to the air as we hit bumps in the snow and landed back very roughly on a small plastic disk. We had fun and were very wet and cold. We left there and went to Old Town to walk around and do some shopping, but we also went to this small rattlesnake museum. They were all in cages, so I was fine seeing them so up close. We asked the owner where to get a good bite to eat for dinner around there and he recommended Church Street Café, so off we went. It was awesome food and another great local place to eat. Kalani and I shared food with each other to try 2 different things. She had the Indian Taco, which is pretty much a taco in Indian Fry Bread and it was awesome. I had a Hot Spanish Chili Dip sandwich which was also great! Greg had a hamburger that was on the Fry Bread for his buns, which was huge and delicious. We let our massive meal digest and went back to enjoy the pool again that night.
On Sunday, we got up and headed off to the zoo and aquarium after breakfast and checking out of the hotel. The zoo was bigger than we expected and the girls were filled with such excitement at each animal we saw. Kalani said she saw animals she had never seen before at another zoo and even one she thought was extinct. The Mexican wolf is extinct in the wild, but we saw at least 3 and they are trying to breed them and reintroduce them into the wild. There were at least 5-6 zoo babies mostly born last October, but there was one from September and one in July. They have an elephant pregnant right now and said she would give birth and about another 12 months, so I asked how long they are pregnant. They are pregnant 22 months, so I guess we have nothing to complain about our nine months ladies. 
A storm was coming in and right as we were leaving the zoo on our train ride to the aquarium, the clouds started rolling in. Against what I had told them, the 3 younger went off with out a jacket and in flip flops. Let’s just say the train ride back was very miserable and cold for them and they will learn to listen to mom next time. We saw some neat, but weird fish at the museum and enjoyed it as well. It was not a very big one, but we had a great day. We even had some sleet coming down as we waited for the train. I told Greg we needed to get out of there before the roads turned bad. We decided to head to a Rudy’s we had seen while out driving because we were all starving and have learned to love Rudy’s BBQ since coming out to El Paso. Some of us even think it beats Sonny’s out in Georgia.
We got on the road about 4 and were home by 8 that night to get the girls in bed for school the next day and so Greg could do some homework before going to bed. On the way home, I asked the girls what was each of theirs favorite part of the trip. Lauren, of course, said the food. She is a girl after my own heart. Shelby and Hannah both said the sledding, which was ironic because Shelby was crying after the first time down with how fast and hard we zoomed down the hills. Hannah is a thrill seeker, so I am not surprised. Kalani said she couldn’t pick between the tram and the zoo. She loved the day at the zoo, seeing how they are helping to try and breed animals that are in danger of extinction and really saw how what she wants to do can even be done at a zoo. She was even more excited about her choice for her path in life to get a conservation degree and to be able to work with animals that way. Mine and Greg’s favorite time was when they were sleeping!!!!! No, I am just joking! It was just all being together as a family, experiencing somewhere new, and the enjoyment we saw in all their eyes! Corny, I know, but so very true!! The new slide show of pictures at the top is from our trip!
