July Miscellaneous

It was a hot July in Albuquerque, but we found lots of ways to stay cool, enjoy the outdoors and wait for the rain (and watch out when it comes!).

Through my Mom's group, I discovered a spray park about 20 minutes from our house. It was perfect for Nathan, he loved crawling around, getting wet, and trying to figure out the rhyme and reason to the ever changing fountains of water. I took him back a few days later with Grandma Malenfant, and can't wait to go with Michael one of these weekends.

Nathan and Grandma making friends.

Surprised by the water! (He is laughing, not crying!)

One Saturday, we went to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Every weekend, they have different groups that perform traditional dances/music. It was fascinating to watch, and Nathan loved the bright colors and music.

Watching the father/son team dancing in full costume under the hot New Mexico sun.

Watching with Grandma.

The theme of the next two photos is "lunch". By the middle of the day, it is time to mix up locations a little, and lunch is the perfect excuse.

Picnic lunch at the nearby park. Nathan works up quite an appetite on the swings!

One day we went downtown to meet Daddy for lunch. Nathan was very happy to see him :-)

And this is just a cute photo of Daddy showing Nathan how to use his guitar tuner.

The theme of the last few photos are "monsoon season". We can see the storms coming all afternoon, but somehow are still surprised when the rain starts falling and the flashes of lightning streak across the sky.

I took this video, trying to capture the torrential downpour that is typical.

Nathan is ready for the rain!

Daddy and Nathan venture out to see if they can spot a rainbow.

My first attempt at lightning photography. I got a bolt, but I also got rain all over my lens. Oh well, that is why it is called learning!

Chaco Canyon

Up next on our roadtrip adventures was Chaco Canyon, about 3 hours from Albuquerque. Wanting to get an early start, we packed up the car before the sun rose and transferred Nathan from his crib to his carseat, where he fell back to sleep. Somehow this pre-dawn start to our trip made me feel like a parent more than anything. Maybe it was all the trips with my family that started in the dark, loading coolers and sleepy kids into the car...

Below is a map of our route. Notice that once we left Route 550, there is no marked road. That is because the road to Chaco Canyon ends in 20 miles of dirt road across a barren expanse of tribal land. How New Mexican.


The how and the why of Chaco Canyon is very much a mystery. All that can be said for sure is 1) People lived here and 2) They left at some point. Construction of the buildings started around 800 and lasted more than 300 years. It is an area with little water, frigid winters, short growing seasons and desert landscape, so it is amazing that this was a highly complex center of civilization with buildings of monumental scale.

Two different shots of Fajada Butte as you enter the park. We mostly drove around the loop road with side excursions to look at the ruins.

Waiting for the Ranger led tour, Nathan spent some time standing (FINALLY! got it on camera :-)

Shot of some of the ruins from up the hill.

One of the remaining walls. Many of the buildings were as high as 5 stories.

Photo down one of the walls, Nathan and Michael way in the distance.

Very cool rock, the soft sandstone weathered away.

Nathan getting a little sleepy...

Checking out the big rocks with Daddy.

Nathan got antsy as the ranger told us all about the ruins, so we put him down and he climbed the stairs, over, and over, and over....

Cacti and ruins...

Another shot down at the ruins, you can see liiiiittle tiny people down there.

At the last set of ruins, checking out the kiva. Well, Michael and I were checking it out, Nathan was fast asleep in the backpack!

We really wore him out!

I wish my photos could do Chaco Canyon justice, we are talking about going camping up there, and then I can get the coveted dawn and dusk "magic light" photos. And maybe even some photos of the stars out there. I hear they are amazing. I also finally dove in and bought a wide angle lens after this trip, because there are SO many times I would have loved to have one to try and capture the expanse of this land.

Videos!

Grandma and Grandpa Savage asked for some videos of Nathan, and I am happy to oblige. Nathan's crawl has recently begin to evolve, again. His first version of crawling looked like the butterfly stroke on the ground.
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Then he moved on to a more standard crawl. Lately, he has decided crawling on his knees is overrated, and has moved on to his feet and hands.



Apparently my warnings that something was hot and then blowing on it stuck in Nathan's head:



That is all I have for now. Nathan has started standing lately, but as per Baby Code, he will not do it for the camera. I will keep trying!

El Malpais Road Trip

While we are spending lots of time getting to know Albuquerque, there is a whole world of amazing destinations within a relatively short drive, and we decided to test out a road trip with Nathan. 340 miles later, we had an amazing day! Our route is below, click on the image for a link to Google Maps if you want the interactive version. We went to El Malpais first (point B), then passed through Pie Town (point C), on through Magdalena and to Socorro (point D). Then we jumped on 25 north and went home (point E).

El Malpais National Monument is a 114,000 acre monument, featuring the remnants of 3,000 year old lava flows through 200 million year old sand stone. The lava is textbook examples of pahoehoe and aa, which most people associate with Hawaii (and much of the land reminded us of our honeymoon on the Big Island!).

At the ranger station, checking in before venturing into the park.

Hiking around in the sandstone at the overlook.

Nathan taking a break in the shade, you can see the amazing views in the background.

Family photo, the sandstone glowing against the blue, blue New Mexicain sky (aided a bit by a polarzing lens on my camera :-)

Small photo here of the amazing panorama, but click on the photo for the full size. The silence was deafening. The black smudges amongst the green in the valley are the 3,000 year old lava flows.

We loaded back into the car and drove to the next vista, La Ventana, a sandstone arch. It was a short hike in, and we saw some pretty flora along the way.

Flower on a cactus...

Indian Paintbrush along the trail...

Finally made it! The light wasn't great, so it was hard to capture the depth of the arch, but hopefully this gives an idea... Practice for when we roadtrip to Arches National Monument in Utah!

After that we made a pitstop for lunch. Nathan enjoyed his yogurt and PB&J as we watched a thunderstorm slowly roll in...

Nathan was exhausted at this point, so we hit the road while he napped, headed for Pie Town (because Michael had heard about Pie Town on Ripley's Believe it or Not as a child, and always wanted to go!)

On our way, we crossed the continental divide...

Dramatic vistas of mountains, grass, clouds and sky...

Pie Town! Sadly, we did not stop for pie, since Nathan was napping and so we ventured on...

Nathan finally woke up (3 hours later!) just shy of Socorro. So we stopped for a snack, and ate it on the campus of New Mexico Tech, where Michael once spent a week in high school. Gorgeous campus...

And then we zipped home! Successful roadtrip, and we are already planning our next. Arches, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forrest, Monument Valley, what will come next? Stay tuned to find out!

4th of July

We had a busy 4th of July weekend, with lots of grilling, including some at our own place, since we finally got a grill! We didn't venture out for fireworks, because we had a great view from our patio of almost every display in Albuquerque. No crowds, no fuss and no porta-potties :-)

We started out by going to a neat pool in Corrales on Friday that had a good shallow end for Nathan. We went with friends and their two little girls, who had a great time showing Nathan around the pool. He was insistent on showing off his bubble blowing skills. Guess all that time in the bath means he isn't afraid of putting his face in the water!

Relaxing after swimming hard!

Friday night we had dinner at our friends Kris and Mike's house. Their 5 month old, Stewart, was kind enough to let Nathan explore his house and chase the cats.

Saturday we hosted Grandma and Grandpa Malenfant for our first cook out! Nathan was very excited to help Daddy set up the new grill and then feast on the result.

Checking out the big box the grill came in, someone is very happy!!

Testing out the tools for Daddy.

Mommy never got her bratwurst back, must be the German in him!

Sunday we went over to the Malenfant's for some great 4th of July steaks! Darlene decorated very festively, and Nathan entertained us with his table antics, as always (some video just for Mimi and Papa!)

Festive table by Darlene.

Mommy and Nathan all dressed for the 4th!

Trying to get Daddy's attention.

Monday we rounded out the weekend with a fun day at our friend's Ray and Jania, and their two little girls. They have a cat and two dogs, so Nathan was in heaven chasing them around. He loved the awesome smoked ribs Ray made, and ate a whole pile of cherries, watermelon and strawberries. Perfect summer food!


Nathan rocked the 4th of July weekend with a little slide guitar.

We closed out the weekend with yet another amazing sunset. Can't help but post these photos from time to time :-)