After the fun day in Oklahoma, we headed to Albuquerque. This was our first time to that part of the country.
The kids did great during the long car ride. The giant lollipops helped to keep them busy and quiet for awhile. I gave them a small gift every few hours. Things like pipe cleaners, activity books, little figurine toys. But the best little gift was their own tape dispenser. Luke folded and taped paper for hours.
We did many different and fun things. Here we are at the Concert at the Zoo. Sandy brought a lot of snacks and the kids played on the mat while we listened to music.
When it got dark the glo sticks were fun.
When the Lees lived a couple blocks from us Luke was never all that excited to go to their house. During this trip he was Mrs. Lee's little buddy. Now he adores her.
Maybe Luke likes Mrs. Lee so much now because she let him throw water balloons at her! He had a really great time. Luke also loved playing with Andrew and Matt and sleeping with them in their room.
Brooke conked out after the hike. Sleeping little girls are so cute.
They did a dance for us everyday.
As we were leaving the Standerwicks were arriving. It was great to be together.
On the way home we stayed at a hotel in Liberal. When we pulled up to the hotel Luke saw a van that looked like the Lee's and said, "LOOK! THE LEES ARE HERE!" He was so excited. Then he was disappointed that they weren't there.
Brooke loved staying in a hotel. She thought everything about it was fun. Brooke did a really great job sleeping in the playpen beside us the entire trip. She never woke us up. The first morning when she woke up and realized we were beside her she just kept repeating, "Hi...hi...hi." In a sweet little baby voice. Then she would sit and play quietly until we were ready to get up. She is amazing! I think she is the best baby ever.
Luke has his mouth taped shut in this picture. See I told you tape was the best gift for riding in the car! On the way back we slowed down to go throught many many tiny towns. They were all mainly a grain elevator with a few houses around it. It was like the same thing over and over. When we started getting into some bigger towns that had some restaurants like Emporia has Luke started asking, "Do we just have to find our house?" I guess as things started looking more familiar he thought we could be home because up until then nothing looked familiar.
We even got to make a quick stop in Pratt to visit our friends the Monhollons. I forgot to take pictures. Darn. It was good to catch up with them. They have two adorable little girls now and it was fun to meet their youngest for the first time.
As much as I loved visiting our friends and loved the sight of the Albuquerque mountain, I was glad to get home. Those Flint Hills were a beautiful sight. It was neat to see how the beautiful mountains turned into flat, dry land with cactii and rocks then turned into flat green farmland (they irrigate in Western KS) then turned into beautiful rolling hills. God really is AWESOME!
Great pictures!I didn't realize you were video taping the "waterballooning". That was funny! What's also funny is that we have sat in that exact same jacuzzi! haha! Did they have those chlorine tablets at the bottom when you were there too? That was a little disturbing but at least we knew the pool was clean. :)
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