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Anyone who has ever visited Duke City knows that a major attraction for tourists (because of the views) and the locals (because they do unspeakably physical things–like run up it) is Sandia Peak.
It boasts the World’s Longest Aerial Tram, a great draw for the kids, and some trails on top. My parents live close enough to Sandia that their homeowners’ association offers free tickets to the tram. In limited numbers, so we were only able to snag one–for Sunday. Fortunately, it wasn’t pouring like it was on Saturday. But the top of the mountain was shrouded in cloud.
On a clear day, the view of Sandia from my parents’ house is this:
- Sandia Mountain
From the top on Sunday morning, though, this is what you got–10,300+ feet up:
- Heights don’t normally scare me, but that’s when I can see the bottom.
Luckily, the kids aren’t much for the landscape. They are all about DOING. Not so much about SEEING.
- Miss M, ascending.
- Taxman and AM scouting for deer in the foothills.
- The bottom of the mountain. Uh, yeah, that. No idea.
- Blue sky to the north, though.
- Time to smell the flowers, weather be damned.
- Our chariot
- Best “no trespassing” sign ever!
After lunch my parents took the kids to the aquarium. Taxman and I hiked from their house back to the base of Sandia Peak, through Cibola National Forest. It was very nice, although hiking at 7,000 feet, even on a pretty flat trail, is a whole different ballgame from ambling around at sea level. But for the first time in years we got to move at a reasonable pace without hauling anyone with us/on us–Taxman graciously volunteered to carry the water, so I was carrying….nothing. Rather freeing.
- Cactus flower, Foothills Trail, Cibola National Forest
Then we went here. And here. And my mom gave the kids a bath.* Good day all around.
* In fact, either Taxman or my mom bathed the kids every day of our vacation. That was the most vacation-y aspect of the whole week for me, and I reveled in it. Funny how your standards change.
I can’t wait to get into it.
We had a great vacation in the Land of Enchantment; going in the summer was far, far better with kids than going in November/December/January, as we had since the kids were born. Eating on the deck! Blowing bubbles on the deck! Swimming! More swimming! An ass-kicking hike with Taxman!
But, as usual, the plane trips have taxed my sanity. I told Taxman we should arrive on the plane with $10 gift cards to Starbucks/Barnes & Noble/Dunkin’ Donuts and just hand one to the person sitting in front of AM, apologizing in advance for his shenanigans. Because holding his feet the entire time he’s awake? Stresses. Me. Out.
Today’s excitement was Miss M’s refusal to sit on the toilet on the plane. Both legs of the trip were on an S80, which is smaller than others (737, 747, 767, 777). So it’s quite noisy, particularly towards the rear of the plane, and in the bathrooms most of all. So Miss M’s freakishness about loud noises, combined with her fear of unknown toilets, made for quite the spectacle. I heard the screams 10 rows up. Pee everywhere but in the toilet, apparently; Taxman had the misfortune to be in the lavatory already, so when he opened the door I shoved her in his direction. And, well, our apologies to the cleaning crew.
We were up before daybreak, Miss M threw tantrums all day, and nobody has been sleeping all that well. The kids refused to sleep (together or apart) in a different room at my parents’, so woke each other up several times over the week. Taxman and I discovered we are too damn old to spend a week sleeping on air mattresses. We have the backaches to prove it.
Must clean up and unpack and get to bed. Pictures forthcoming.
My mom insisted that I join her at her yoga class. It’s a little weird to me that she’s such a devotee–a phenomenon of only a year or two–but she bought us one-week passes to her gym, which includes five sites worth of cardio equipment, weight rooms, swimming pools, and group classes. (Nice mommy!)
So yesterday evening, after a night during which I didn’t sleep and a day during which the kids didn’t sleep, I went with her. If for no other reason that Taxman had to deal with bedtime with the crazy children.
And wow, was it nice! The instructor was really good. The poses–well, some were hard, some were fine, and some were much easier for me this time than the last time I did yoga…when I was pregnant with Miss M. (Always a little more graceful without the bowling ball in front, throwing off your center of gravity.)
But the nicest part of all was just being still. Holding the warrior pose without having to break up a fight. Lying on the floor with my eyes closed, breathing in and out, without having to fetch anyone…anything. I had forgotten what it was like; I have a hard time even being still in bed at night.
I was asleep by 10 and really could have faced the day when AM woke up at 3:30 (but I got another hour–no objections).
I really need to look into this at home.
Yes, we’re getting up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to make a 7:00 flight. Yes, Dunkin’ Donuts opens at 4:30 am. Synchronicity, how I love thee; thy name is iced coffee and chocolate glazed donuts.
My 21-year-old brother is coming home from a year in Madagascar in two days, a day after we arrive with our entourage. I hope my parents know what they’re getting into! I guess they’ll be ok. The bird and the dog, however, will probably need some tranquilizers.
Hope the heat breaks for you all!
Does this really need elaboration?
My in-laws would probably die on the spot to know that not only did I allow this, but encouraged it.
- They were playing so nicely!
- Miss M offered him the headband from her very own head!
- With absolutely no prompting!
- No way I was going to say no to that!
Really, imaginative play is just that. My children are facing a lifetime of gender expectations and stereotypes. I’m happy to push it off for just a little bit, subverting and re-educating when appropriate.
At least he was wearing his manly “little hero” firefighter onesie underneath. Right?
- Still borrowing Taxman’s computer before 8 am and after 8 pm.
- My decent blogging usually happens when AM is napping. At night I am too tired. In the morning I have too much to do.
- Wondering if it is worth it to by a cheap laptop.
- Because we are probably moving abroad in a year and might get a new one then instead.
- AM’s speech is suddenly really fantastic. I mean, he’s dropping consontants right and left, but he’s trying new words every day. Even though his speech is probably still 9 months behind where it “should” be, what he sometimes comes out with is beyond what I think an 18 month old would muster.
- Cutest sentence ever? “Bus, ah you?” (“Bus, where are you?”)
- Unfortunately he’s developing the Will of Steel that he sees in his sister and basically acts like a little shit (to me, to her, to the world at large) between 3pm and whenever she goes to bed.
- I tried to be the cool mom this afternoon and made a fort in the living room with blankets, pillows, and chairs. It lasted for maybe 40 minutes before they got too wild and crazy and were about to knock the chairs on to each other. That left 2 hours until dinner. Sigh.
- Camp is still amazing. People who actually want to be around preschoolers all day every day make excellent preschool teachers.
- You’ve heard of the French Paradox? Here’s the One Tired Ema paradox: Exercising 3-4 times a week is making my thighs big and not taking off the five extra pounds I have acquired. And making me hungry.
- Another paradox: The worse my insomnia, the earlier I wake up. Like if I fall asleep at 3 in the morning, I am up by 5:30.
- I am still tired.
- Except with extra cranky.
- I don’t want to cook for Shabbat. We’re going away early next week and I don’t want leftovers.
- But I don’t want to go away either. I like my bed, even if it doesn’t like me. And packing? Feh.
- Anyone who wants to invite us for lunch wins a homemade blueberry peach cobbler.
- But apparently nobody likes us because we rarely get invited out.
- I should go to bed.
- Or wash dishes.
- At a minimum give Taxman his computer back.
- Bonne nuit.
Skyfari stalls at the Bronx Zoo.
We’ve been on this probably a half dozen times in the past two years. Now I’d hesitate without extra snacks, extra water, changes of clothes, and a chamber pot.
Lifted from RevDrMom:
Good things:
Speech therapy.
Carpooling. (Good for the planet…and my sanity!)
Community Supported Agriculture. Organic baby lettuces every week!
Low cholesterol!
Donuts! (And the kindly young Dunkin’ Donuts employee who probably risked getting yelled at by giving AM one for free.)
Shaded benches in the backyard.
Seeing a movie with a friend. On a Thursday evening! (Five kids between us. It was like playing hooky.)
Breastfeeding! And also weaning!
Happy kids.
Wake up time this morning, a major legal holiday?
AM: 6:24. That was after some middle of the night negotiation (read: temper tantrum) about where he was going to sleep and whether or not he was going to nurse at that time.
Miss M: 6:45.
I mean, it’s like every other day of our lives,* but STILL. One of these days I am going to teach Miss M how to use the TV remote, just for times like this.
I hope everyone with little ones gets to grab a nap this weekend.
* Taxman goes to a 7:00 minyan on Shabbat morning. We used to go together, on time; now he goes by himself, 20 minutes late. But he still has to be vertical at approximately 7:00 am. So American holidays are truly the only chance to “sleep in.”
Our four year old computer is having problems connecting to the Internet. Taxman is at the dentist so I am using his computer. I should be working on a freelance assignment I meant to finish last weekend, but see aforementioned computer problem. This is my excuse if I have not been around as usual.
But this week has been fabulous, mostly because Miss M is having a super fantastic time at camp. From last year’s camp disaster to lots of rough emotional stuff at school this year, it is such a relief to drop her off in the morning and have her immediately engaged and sending me off with a casual wave as she starts coloring or playing with blocks. It’s not fancy, but there is such love in this place.
Love is the one thing–everything!–that was missing at school. So much so that when I picked her up from camp the first day, the teacher in charge of her “bunk” handed her over and said, “She had an amazing first day. She’s such a pleasure,” I almost started to cry. The counselors took pictures that day and made an Internet album–there is one of Miss M that, I promise you, could be a Kodak ad because she looks so joyful, her hands over her mouth in a gesture of happy surprise.
Every day since has been a good report. I wish it were summer all year long.
