The ABQ

We spent the last four nights in Albuquerque visiting the McGuirk cousins (and the McGuirk brother and sister-in-law).  We had a lovely time.  The weather was perfect, or as Dana calls it, "too f*cking hot."  To each their own I guess :-)  Ashley and I wanted to take Bode for a hike, as he really enjoyed this when we were in Breckenridge.  We convinced Devin to go with us, and we were off.  Before starting, we snapped a quick photo.

Right off the bat, we encountered some wild-life--a caterpillar (or maybe it's a centipede).  Ashley was brave enough to let it crawl on her finger.  Bode was worried the thing would poop on her.

We then headed out in search of petroglyphs.  The terrain was rather forbidding.  I packed my camel-back and six bottles of water.  Bode enjoyed pouring the water on the dirt and making puddles.  I tried to convince him we ought not waste our water supply.  He wasn't buying that we'd run out of water, and he pointed out my full back pack.  Next time, I won't be as prepared.  We were a bit surprised by the incline of the trail...but we managed.

After about 30 minutes hiking a circuitous route, we made it to the top plateau.  I thought the view was great.  Bode was not in the mood to be photographed.  He was too hot--evidently he shared his aunt's sentiment re the heat.

On our decent, Devin spotted some petroglyphs, so we had to stop for pictures.

The hike lasted close to 90 minutes.  As a treat, we took the kids to lunch, and then because it was so hot, we wanted to get a shake at Sonic.  Unfortunately, on way to Sonic, we were involved in a minor fender-bender.  We were starting to pull out onto the road, but then we had to stop (there was blind curve, and a car came round the bend).  The guy behind us likely thought we were going and simply wasn't looking ahead.  His car was in far worse shape, and we really couldn't have asked to be in an accident with a nicer guy.  We pulled over, exchanged information, called insurance companies, and we were good to go.  His company called us today and said they were covering all our damages, so that's good :-)  Here's a shot of the Xterra's bumper--very minor and cosmetic, but still needs to be fixed.

Bode loves playing with his cousins.  They went swimming, and every night, watched movies or something on their electronic devices.  We also spent some time on the back patio.  Pat, Sean, and Brenna are very good at juggling a soccer ball.  Bode tried to get involved.  They were kind enough to let him start off each attempt.

I did take one movie, and it happened to be a great rally.  It's amazing Sean can keep things going with Bode shoving him.

There's also the obligatory tether ball game...

a nerf gun battle...

and some quality time playing video games.

On Friday night, Sean wanted to do smores over the fire.  It was rather windy, so we (Ashley) thought the smores weren't going to happen.  This being the case, she ate a candy bar.  The winds died down a little after nine, which was late, and I don't think the adults wanted to start smores at this ungodly hour.  Sean was raring to go, so we told him we couldn't do smores because Ashley had already eaten her chocolate.  Talk about a disappointed kid :-)  (not to mention he was probably upset after losing eight games to his uncle in Ping-Pong).  Fortunately, we did smores Saturday night.  It's probably best we delayed because my Dad and his wife, Janet, arrived on Saturday evening (they have a "business" golf event...yes, golfing for work.  What, does he think he's still in the military?)  Sean prepared the fire pit, and we were ready for smores.

Maybe too much wood in the fire?

We managed to not burn down the house, and everyone had at least one chocolatety treat.

The kids stayed up late last night and built a rather elaborate fort.  I took this picture this morning before waking them up.

Before leaving, we took a bunch of family photographs.  Here's a cute one of Bode and Devin.

Sean tried to get into the picture, but you can't get Bode and Sean together without a little shoving.

After many hours, Brenna finished getting ready, so we could take the large-group shots.  First, all the McGuirk cousins.

Next, the McGuirk grandchildren with Grandpa and Janet (this was the best picture I got--I'm hoping Pat got a better one).

Finally, one big picture of the family (Janet was kind enough to operate the camera...if I had more skills, I'm sure I could photoshop her into the shot :-)

We had a wonderful time in Albuquerque.  We safely made it home.  The dogs were fine, the garden was fine, the house was fine.  All was well...until a neighbor informed us (and he was very nice about it) that Joey barked all night for most of the nights we were gone.  Any one want a boxer? :-(  It's actually kind of funny, because we were wondering why Joey seemed so tired (he's zonked out right now, and it's only 7:50).  Oh well--we'll figure out the fix for this problem next time.  Back to work for both Ashley and me this week.  School starts next week (for me), so the quiet time at work has come to an end.  Why am I not retired? :-)  Pleasant week to all!