Adventurers

Last week Hawk, Cole, and I set out on an adventure and visited my parents. It was a lot of fun! Traveling with two kids by myself was a little daunting, but we did it! They were pretty good, and Old-Soul-Cole was an excellent helper, which made life so much easier.



It's weird seeing myself in photos because usually I'm the one behind the camera! My mom had hers in tow at ALL times (as usual), so I didn't even bother bringing mine.

Our first stop after landing was Old Town Albuquerque where we explored every quaint shop. I figured there's no better way to spend money than traveling, so when we discovered an entire store dedicated to Minnetonka Moccasins, I had to splurge and buy myself two pairs.



Over the next few days we had a delightful time exploring all of the sites. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting El Paso's Saddle Blanket Showroom where Cole obtained his very first pair of real cowboy boots and cowboy hat. He is pretty darn proud of them too. When I say real, I mean REAL- like you could probably mistake him for a 3 year old cattle rancher if you saw him. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Of course he wanted to sport his getup on the way home in the airport. It was probably one of the smartest moves I've ever done by letting him wear it all because you would not believe the positive attention and special treatment we got. It was a beautiful thing.

Moving on.

We headed to El Paso to check out their awesome little Mexican market. It was like Tijuana, but way better. Better, because you didn't have to cross the boarder. Better because this was where all the locals shopped. Better because it wasn't scary. Better because I didn't have to bargain down prices because they were already low. I needed two guns and a holster to top off Cole's cowboy outfit. We found a set and asked the price. $1. Yes, you heard me. $1. I instantly thought, "I need to but 20 more for birthday presents!", but was then reminded that guns probably aren't an appropriate gift to give to young children who's parents might have different rules on toy guns. Sorry guys. You'll just have to come over to our house if you want to play with the guns. I also fulfilled my lifelong dream of owning a hot water bottle. Why have they always been so enchanting to me? I can't tell you. But later tonight I will be able to tell you if my $2 purchase was worth it. Oh, and my 1/2 pound bag of rubber bands. I can't forget that. I bought a giant bag of assorted rubber bands. Why? To make a rubber band ball, of course. I started it yesterday and it's coming along way better than expected.



We visited an amazing missile range where the military builds and tests missiles. They displayed practically every missile they've ever used in the history of war and it was like we were at Disneyland for Cole. He wouldn't let us move on to the next display until I had read to him every word on the plaque with the according missile. Looks like he inherited something from good old Grandpa Mildenstein. Apparently this missile range where George Lucas got all of his sounds for Star Wars, from recording the launching missiles.

We also visited White Sands National Monument. It was CA-RAZY! In the middle of NOWHERE, you just come across acres and acres of bright stark white sand. Apparently it is some sort of gypsum deposit. You can sled down the sand dunes, hike around, it was so beautiful! I honestly can't even start to describe it's amazement, so I wont.

Thanks for the good time, Mom & Dad! And thanks for the pictures!

xoxo