Hi.

Well, I had grand plans to blog the trip. But that would take internet access, something which I haven't had since we left. Oops.

We are in The Land of Enchantment, busily procuring all manner of chile-induced intestinal distress, performing pigmentation experiments on all the children (it doesn't look like EmBaby has any pigmentation at all and Smidge is just about coffee-bean brown), and riding the adventure of trying to see every. cousin. we. have. in just a few short days. It's wonderful!! And we shall soon see if that "unlimited mileage" feature on the rental car is true.

A brief synopsis is probably in order.

Thursday: flew to New Mexico. Did not get flagged for any "special" searches, yay. Didn't get flack from the TSA about flying with a firearm. Yay. Eldest child did not make C-4/string cheese jokes going through security. (Triple yay.) Missed connecting flight (boo - hiss), but if you've got to be stuck for three hours in an airport with four children and a cranky husband, DFW is the one to do it in (yay!)

Friday: arrived in New Mexico WAY too late at night/early morning. Within minutes of arriving, Emily fell off bed (thus producing the first bruise of the trip. She has since obtained one bruise per stop the entire trip. We may get stopped by security on the way home if she keeps this up). Ate green chile products. Slept late. Loaded up, and headed to the City of Rocks.

Fri-Sun: camped out. (I use the term loosely - it was more like having a portable four-star suite at our disposal than actual camping.) Did not see much of the children as they and their cousins hit the ground running and returned to camp only for food, water, and maps. No internet. No cell phone service. Great company, grilled foods and good wine. Fantastic time had by all.

Sunday PM: returned to civilization, spent the entire time sitting and visiting. Kids kept busy. Good stuff. Got to spend time with Gram, and meet Aunt B's Wonderful Neighbors.

Monday: Trekked to Lincoln County to see Great-Granny (Zorak's Granny). More cousins. More running amok for the children. Emily became possessed by what we thought initially was a demon, but turned out to be only a one-two attack of teething and allergies. Cancelled exorcist.

Tuesday: Drove way-way-way-the-he...ck to the farthest, most remote corner of New Mexico to see Willy & Shell's house (that sounds like the name of a band from the 70's - one of the pitfalls of coming up w/ nicknames in the middle of the night). Lovely house. Wonderful time. Again with the cousins and the running. Dinosaur tracks. Basset hounds. Brisket.

Wednesday: Stayed at Willy & Shell's until bedtime. (This was my brilliant idea.) Drove way-way-way... yeah, well, we're back down south-ish now, at Granny's. (You may remember her from the Favorite Mom poll of '07.) The children are wallowing in the joy that is SuperGranny. We're having a wonderful time, but I really miss my front porch. And my bed. And the dog. Not throwing away the number for that exorcist, either.

We'll head out for Cruces tomorrow afternoon. The boys want to go w/ Granny on her bus route in the morning. (That's one way to address the "but they'll never be able to ride the school bus" argument. There are definite perks to having a Granny who owns her own bus.) And horseback riding. I think. We fly home on Saturday. The housesitters said the house is fine and doesn't really miss us at all. Nor does the dog, which is probably just what you want when you're on the road. It's nice to know things are well cared-for.

So, that's it, in a nutshell. We'll soon be home, rehydrating and wishing we'd finished that second bathroom by now. See ya soon!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy