Happy birthday, Uncle/Author Jack!

We were flying home on Jack's birthday, so the girls surprised him with a birthday candle in his pancakes.







As a sort of pre-birthday gift, Jack's book was officially published! He received some author copies the day before we left.

Balloon Fiesta!

The annual Balloon Fiesta kicked off the day we were leaving. We went down the street to watch one take off.







There it goes.











You can't see from these pix, but you can see Albuquerque from my brother's house and the valley is filled with close to 50 hot air balloons--they all take off around the same time early in the morning.






Up, up and away-ay, in my beautiful, my beautiful baaaa-loooooon!











After we watched one take off down the street, another one landed just two houses down! The girls got to get in the basket and they revved the hot air up for them.





Then they deflated the balloon and packed it up, ready for the next day's flight. The girls got to help roll it up.

Purple mountain tram!

We took the world's longest aerial tramway up to the top of Sandia Peak (10,378 ft.) You can see the mountain in one of the earlier posts taken from the back porch of my brother's house.






Here's a shot of my mom, Isabella, Josie and I at the top. Behind us is the restaurant at the top of the mountain.







We thought it might be very cold at the top...here I have on my brother's Air Force jacket and Josie has on her bunny/lamb coat and her Amelia Earhart hat.






It wasn't as cold as we thought. Here's Daddy and daughter enjoying the sun at the top.







You can hike down from the top (we didn't). We just took a walk down one of the trails. We sang songs to keep away the bears.

In Santa Fe

We took an overnight trip to Santa Fe and got a last-minute deal on a fancy hotel room...it was so fancy that when we pulled up, the valet said "What can I help you find today?" implying that we couldn't possibly be in the right place and must be looking for directions. You can see in this pic that the snack basket included a can of ($60!!!) "personal oxygen."



Josie says, "Take that, Loretto Inn & Spa Bear!"








Relaxing in the room.








I like fancy hotels!









Look out behind you, Josie!

In Old Town, ABQ

Josie likes Albuquerque.








This is a pic from the center of the Old Town area.








Go ahead...make her day!

Good times in ABQ

Introducing Josie to her Uncle Bob and new cousin, Katherine.








Baby love!








A view of the back of the house...the girls have a nice play area, including a trampoline. You can't quite see the patch of grass that my brother installed, irrigation system and all.





Nice light in the morning, hanging out on the back patio. Isabella relaxes with Josie.








Nice light in the evening, too. This is a view from the upper back deck with the Sandia range turning purple in the distance.

Weeeeeee'rrrrrrrre baaaaaack!

Sorry for the radio silence over the last week or so, all you Josie fans out there. We just returned from a trip to Albuquerque to visit my brother, sister-in-law and their three daughters. My mom joined us, too, so it was a regular Ross-o-rama there for awhile. Pix from the trip to follow. Here's one from this morning--we just got back from the Bucktown 5K and from the farmer's market where we got a gourd for Josie. Yay, Autumn!