I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things.

Well, we took our first family vacation to New Mexico. Illianna did great on the airplane. Here she is checking out the view from the overhead.

We did a lot of hiking.

See that hole on the right. I climbed through there with Missy Moo along for the ride. That was darn difficult. I couldn’t just get down on my hands and knees because just the day before we were hiking around in the snow and I fell and bruised my knees.. bad.

We didn’t do any intense hikes this time because it was the first time I’ve worn a pack since I was a teenager at summer camp . I’m glad we stuck to the easy stuff because that’s all Illianna could do anyway. She is at the age now where she’s too interested in everything to fall asleep anywhere other than her bed. Towards the end of the trip she was doing better to sleep in the car, but that was out of total exhaustion and desperation. I’m not sure how long it will take her to catch up on missed sleep. Nor am I sure how long it will take us to catch up. She woke us up everyday at 5AM, which is 6AM her regular time. Usually when she wakes up early at home, I let her hang out in her crib until time to wake up, 7AM, but you can’t really do that when you’re in a hotel room.

Maybe if I have a little more time or energy I’ll blog a bit further about the whole thing, but right now I’m not that into it. more pics

I don’t know if I can even count the number of times we’ve been to New Mexico in the past two years, but I think we’re averaging once every 4 months or so. There is a spirit to the land. It is beyond relaxing. It feels like home.
We had a convertible this time and found some wonderful chocolate in Santa Fe. Those of you who know me.. understand when I say “chocolate” is “good” then it’s good. Golf lessons were fun, but my belly got in the way, and I had to sit down. Here’s a photo from our last trip kid free, 7-15-07.

We just got back from another trip to New Mexico. I would say where we stayed, but it’s such an oasis for us, I don’t want others to find out. I will say it was as beautiful as ever, and I can’t wait to return.

We ran into so many odd people on this trip. The whole town of Roswell is really into the whole UFO thing. I personally am open to the idea, but what we saw of the town was all hokey. We experienced the one and only spacewalk! A guy spent 6 years of his life creating a maze with black lights that included a little story of Roswell and the aliens. It was a well spent two bucks for the experience. He was actually very talented. I think if I were a retired actor, Roswell would be a fun place to live. You can just be a character and fit right in. While that is to be expected in Roswell, NM, I didn’t expect it in another little town we visited.

While visiting another town we saw a sign that said, “Rare Books”. Of course with Ryan’s hobby of collecting books, we had to stop. The “store” was run out of a motel, a strip motel. I don’t know if the guy owned the motel or what, but he’d knocked out the walls between three rooms to create one larger area. I was going to say the odd thing was he still lived there despite the musky paper/dust aroma lingering in the air, but I’m not sure I can confidently make that statement. There were so many odd things. Like when we walked in and I saw him lifting the mattress to reach under it. Then there was the fact that he was wearing penny loafers, cargo pants, a tweed jacket with the arm patches and all, or how he was rambling about how he just got back from Africa, or how he excused himself because he needed another libation. Not to mention the creepy mannequins dressed in various military outfits. It was a very interesting experience. He was a very nice man, just a little off. I think that’s what happens when a woman isn’t around. For Ryan’s sake I hope I live longer, but if I don’t I want to be able to come back and see how eccentric he’s become in my absence. Anyhoooo.. Ryan found a first edition he’d needed to complete a collection of his, so it was a worthwhile excursion.