The past two weeks we have been blessed with visits from family members on both sides. First, my parents and my sister Monica came out for a visit, and we got to spend the 4th of July with them. Then, my sister-in-law Megan and her husband Matt flew in to visit us for a few days. Though I think we all enjoyed it, I'm pretty sure Eli loved it the most. He wasn't ready for anyone to leave and certainly shed some tears.
Most of our time spent with my parents and Monica was up in Red River, NM. My parents invited us to share their timeshare with them, so we drove the 3 1/2 hours up to Red River. Though it's in New Mexico, it's a tourist attraction for Texans, so we felt right at home. It was nice to get out of the heat of Albuquerque and see trees and greenery instead of desert and dirt. In fact, I had to put a jacket on a couple of times. That's not to say it didn't get hot though. Because of the higher elevation, I still got burned a little--right on the hairline where it's oh-so-attractive when it starts to peel. :-)
Unfortunately, we didn't get to do any hiking since they closed off the trails due to the many fires here in New Mexico. We still did lots of fun activities though. Eli had fun playing in the stream and at the playground. The water was incredibly cold though.
We rented bicycles and rode around town for an hour. Eli was very upset that he couldn't steer, but because of his age, he had to ride in the basket in front. He still had fun ringing the bell, but he hated it when he thought we were pedaling too fast.
On the 4th, the town had a fun parade in which Eli got quite a stash of candy, thanks to Grandma Grant. ;-) I think she was more eager to get the candy for Eli than he was to get it himself.
Eli and Josh drove a race car (a.k.a. go-kart). Eli was so excited to drive one, but then he discovered it was kind of scary and wanted Josh to hold his hand the whole time, which was kind of hard to do given that Josh had to steer. After it was over, Eli kept saying, "That was scary."
We went horseback riding up the mountain, which was a lot of fun. Eli rode with Josh and loved it. The only downside was the bruise I got afterward--either because I rode my horse the wrong way or because I'm a little on the bony side. :-)
We also rode the ski lift up the mountain, which I thought was going to be scary, but it didn't end up being too bad. Grandma Grant had no desire to ride, so she napped with Eli while the rest of us went. It was a LONG ride up there, mostly because it was going in super slow motion. Monica dropped her cell phone on the way up. Luckily, Josh saw when it dropped, and it wasn't too far from the beginning. Any farther and she would have had to say good-bye to her phone or had quite the hike up the mountain. I also got stung by a bee right before coming down, so we had quite the adventure.
Josh had to go back to Albuquerque for work, but Eli and I stayed the rest of the week. Eli was so excited to go fishing with Grandpa Grant, but then he discovered that fishing requires a lot of patience. Holding still and waiting are two things that Eli does not do very well, so he wasn't as in to the fishing as he wanted to be. Both Grandpa Grant and Aunt Monica caught some fish though.
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| Eli took this picture of me all by himself. |
We went to Taos on one of our days there. It's about 30-40 minutes from Red River. On our way, we stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It's the 5th highest bridge in the U.S., and it felt like it. I didn't get very good pictures because I was scared to death walking across it and standing anywhere close to the railing.
Matt and Megan flew into Albuquerque the day we drove back from Red River. They didn't get to stay very long with us, but we went to Petroglyph National Monument with them. We hiked a different hike than what we did with Nana and Bampa Pratt. If it looks like a hot and Sahara Desert-like hike, then you would be correct. However, Eli enjoyed riding on Uncle Matt's shoulders, and it was fun to be together.
We said good-bye to my parents and Monica on Sunday, and Matt and Megan left on Monday morning. We had a great time with everyone!
