Santa Fe

On Monday the 10th, my wonderful husband called me from work and told me that if we wanted to do the little 4 day vacation we had been thinking about, this was the weekend! Leaving on Friday around 1 was the plan. 'Where are we going?' was the question until Wednesday afternoon :) We finally decided on Santa Fe, which is about 7 hours from us, and I booked a hotel.

On the road: We hoped that Riley would nap a couple times, or at least for an hour or so. Not to be. He napped for about 20 minutes, and was so tired for the rest of the day that he laughed hysterically at almost everything. :) *Only one mini-meltdown in the car!!!


Our hotel ended up being pretty bad. We had an outside door (that didn't close all the way) facing a major street in town. It was loud and annoying. We also had a huge dried booger on the inside of our shower curtain....lovely. The next morning, my hero husband went and got us a room elsewhere :) We still ate our "delux" breakfast at the origional hotel. (Waffles, toast, OJ, cereal.....not really deulx!) While waiting for our room to be cleaned, we headed to the Plaza area of Santa Fe. First, we went to the Loretto chapel, where they have a "miracle" staircase that was built with no supports and no nails. It is a beautiful staircase (miracle, I don't know about, but it is pretty cool) and a beautiful little chapel....which Riley decided to have a major meltdown in when he couldn't push his stroller into the pews or the people visiting....sigh.

Needless to say, he was rushed outside, where Matt watched him while I looked around, then I took over and fed him a snack while Matt looked around. (Notice his blotchy face from all the screaming and carrying on...)

Tantrum aside, we went to the main part of the Plaza where Riley was completely happy to push his stroller around and meet all the dogs! Matt was nice enough to watch him the whole time so I could shop around. I didn't get anything, but the Native American jewlery there is beautiful!

We later visited a park, so Riley could burn off more energy! That kid can go FOREVER!


At dinner that night, Riley got crayons in a cup! This was very exciting, and became the game for most of the evening...pour crayons out of cup (loudly exclaim ,'UH OH!!', when they went on the ground), put crayons back into cup one-by-one, and repeat :)

Family picture in the Plaza.

The next morning after breakfast, we headed to Bandelier National Monument to see the ruins of the Ancestral Pueblo People (FYI: All former names of this people, including 'Anasazi', are outdated and no longer used). It was HOT!!!! This was Riley's first time in the backpack, and he handled it well! However, we cut the trip short because Matt wore black and was frying! Poor Matt!





Mommy's turn! :)

At lunch we snapped a family picture :)

After a nap, the boys hit the pool.


Then it was time for dinner. For dinner we went to THE BEST MEXICAN PLACE EVER (Maria's)! Seriously. It was far beyond anything Matt or I have ever had. Blew every place out of the water. Hole in the wall where the locals go....that is how you know you hit a jackpot! They are also known for their (strong and good) margs!!! Matt had one and said it was strong and awesome. We decided that we would go there at least once a week if we lived in town :)





Since we were heading back early the next morning, we all showered up that night. I slept on wet hair (which doesn't mix well with short hair) :)

Headed home: Riley took 2 20 minute naps this time...sigh. *Huge meltdown on the trip...but only one huge one. A number of small ones, but you can't really blame the kid. He was tired and didn't want to sit! :) We did get to stop in the Springs for lunch and saw Nana for a little bit! That was fun for all of us :) (No pictures though.)


All in all, it was a great trip! We will definately go again....after all, how else will we tame our Maria's cravings?!