A Family Trip Home

We took a family trip to New Mexico.
For me at least, this is like going home.
We went to celebrate this young man's birthday.
My father-in-law turned 79 years old.
He was thrilled to see us and treated us to filling breakfasts and the most delicious gumbo (he even let me help make it so that I could carry on the tradition)!

We got to meet new cousins and get caught up with old ones.

Keegan and I spent a day making a carrot cake (Grandpa's favorite cake) for him for his birthday.

(It is hard baking in someone else's kitchen but we did it).

We spent a day checking out some museums in Albuquerque.

We went to the Natural History Museum...

...and the Albuquerque Museum, that had this amazing exhibition showing, ...

...and, while Maceo and Bishop stayed at the Albuquerque Museum to finish checking out all the exhibits, Christian, Keegan, Anthony and I walked through Old Town to get to the Rattlesnake Museum, where we earned a certificate of bravery.

On our way back to the Albuquerque Museum we ran into the Breaking Bad RV (if we'd known about it we could have taken a tour on it :)

We returned to the Albuquerque Museum to get Maceo and Bishop...

...and to check out the amazing gift shop...

...and outdoor sculpture.

The following day we went to Santa Fe to pay tribute to my mother-in-law...

...and to see what Santa Fe had to offer, like this amazing Day of the Dead sgraffito pottery by Mata Ortiz.  We also say amazing jewelry, including some by Buddy Lee.

We went to the Loretto Chapel with the miraculous stairway.

We also had amazing pizza.  My pizza had a blue corn crust with chicken, green chile and pine nuts.

We saw the movie Tortured for Christ with my mom and sister.

We paid tribute to my first husband.

Then we made our way to the ranch.  It was the first time that I had stayed at the ranch since my grandfather's death four years ago.  My mom has been working hard to restore it, in a sense, and it felt like home.

I didn't get any pictures but the kids made a nice (safe) bonfire and did some stargazing.

There was some relaxing...

...and some game playing.

Then it was time to hit the road and return home.
It was a special time.  Keegan and Anthony came in from California; I had all my kids together and loved it.  We spent good time with family and had some green chile.
Life is good!