Girls/Guys Day

Today Remi got to go on his first Guy's outing with his Dad for a little dude time.

Addy and I stayed in while the boys got breakfast burritos, watched the ducks and geese and played at the play place.

Now to me, a girls day at home involves mani/pedis and crafts that we don't usually get to do with a toddler around. For Addy, it's making a tower out of stamps...

Or lining them up to make sure they all get a turn on the ink.

She's always preferred to organize her crayons or markers or whatever over actually using them to draw something. I wonder what this means about what she'll grow up to be? 

After attempting to stamp some things, she made a necklace for a friend and asked if we could mail it her. I thought that sounded like fun, so we put it on an envelope and walked down to the mail box to send it to her friend. On the way back we collected pine cones, which I thought we'd put in a bowl and use for a fun fall decoration. Addy suggested putting them in a jar, which turned out to be great idea.

Just when I was thinking she might not be the creative type, she comes up with a cute decorative idea and then paints smiley faces. You can't put these kids in a box, they'll always surprise you.

Mommy/Addy Date

Sometimes, It's hard to be content. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in busyness, in projects and schedules that I forget how great my life really is and how much I have been blessed. 

The week before last, we were super busy, it seemed like we had something going everyday, which was fun but Addy and I were both tired at the end of it. So, this last week, I decided we would take things slow, no play dates and no huge projects that required a million errands. Play group was cancelled that week so on Friday, since I didn't have a huge list of things to get done, I decided to take Addy to the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens.

We had a great time and it ended up being one of those days where I just felt content and happy; so happy to be spending the day outside with my little lady.

After a quick tour of the aquarium, Addy wasn't that into the fish, we headed over to the Gardens where Addy ate her sandwich in front of the ducks.

I forgot to pack some bread to feed to the ducks so we sacrificed Addy's Cheerios. She didn't seem to mind though. 

I'm pretty sure I heard her say: "Hey duck duck!"

Addy's favorite part was the miniature train where she's just tall enough to reach the button that made the Thomas train go.

Here she is, trying to get a glimpse of Thomas through the fence.

There was a bench in the shade were I was able to sit and watch her. She'd turn around and smile and point at something, come get a snack and then she was back to pushing the button.

She pressed that thing over and over again, until Thomas ran off the track! Seriously, he didn't turn once and he was done. Addy turned around with this worried look on face, through her hands up in the air and ran over to me and climbed on my lap. Kids would walk by and say "Oh no! Thomas is broken!" or "What happened to Thomas," and the whole time I was hoping it wasn't Addy's fault for pushing the button so much. 

She's such a sweetie.

Even though I spend everyday with her, little outings like this where it's just the two of us, are some of my favorites. 

The Bosque del Apache

On Sunday we celebrated my Dad's Birthday with lunch in Socorro and a drive through the Bosque del Apache. 

The Bosque del Apache is a wildlife refugee about an hour and a half south of Albuquerque. According to the website, during the Fall and Winter seasons, there  are thousands of birds including Sandhill Cranes, Arctic Geese and a variety of ducks. We went a little early in the season, but we were still able to see a lot of wildlife surrounded by beautiful fall colors.

Sandhill Cranes in a field of Alfapha

Geese!

Addy and the Birthday Boy!

It's funny how you can live somewhere you're whole life and never even know that something like this exists. It's definitely a New Mexican treasure.

Linking up with the Paper Mama and Wordlessish Wednesday.

If You Don't Have An iPhone.....

.......You can't take pictures of the silly things you see and the funny places you go.

Really the only reason I want an iPhone is so that I can take pictures of anything, anywhere and anytime ( and so I can play Words with Friends). 

If I had an iPhone, I would have taken a picture of the fireplace tables we saw while furniture shopping last night. Picture a buffet with an electric fireplace in the bottom. The weird thing was that it didn't put off any heat and was really only for ambiance. The salesman said they were so popular he couldn't keep them on the floor. Weird!

But the real story in our furniture shopping adventure was in Matt's awesome negotiating skills. We went in looking for a table to go under our TV and walked out with a couch and a table for less 1000 bucks! Way to go Matt! (and Addy, I think she smiled at the salesman).

After our furniture shopping, we picked up some din din at Mac's Steak in the rough.

I stole this picture from Google.

Mac's is a drive in restaurant, much like Sonic. When you push the button to order, you hear: "Hi I'm Mac and this is Mac's Steak in the Rough." He goes on to say something about how he always has one of his homemade limeades or lemonades with his meal. Matt and I both chose the limeade and it was pretty tasty!

So there you have it, a recap of our funny little outing last night, without the use of modern technology :)

Fall in the 505

Fall has definitely come to our neck of the woods and we're loving it!

This season is different in New Mexico. While most of the country is admiring the changing leaves, we're roasting green Chile and spotting hot-air balloons.

I've said it several times this week, but Fall is really great here in the 505.

It's that wonderful time of year in between the brutally hot summer and the drab of winter. 

Katie, Matt and Baby Danner - Balloon Fiesta 2010

It's a time for layering, because it's cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon.

The Danner's - Halloween 2009

It's a time of anticipation and planning for the holidays to come.

My favorite tree outside of our condo

And in the past, for my hard-working hubby, it's been a season spent in the law library, studying for tests and counting down the days till graduation. This year is different though, this year we're spending weekends as a family. 

We're enjoying lazy Saturdays working on the house and watching football. We're taking adventures to the Balloon Fiesta and experiencing our first Fall as a family of three.

Balloon Fiesta 2011

What is Fall like where you're from?

Addy and Cousin Carter's First Balloon Fiesta!

We woke up at 5:30 am yesterday morning and for once, we were the ones waking Addy up. After feeding Addy and making sure she was snug as a bug in her stroller we headed out to the Balloon Fiesta.

Up and ready to go before the sun!

We live about three miles from the Balloon Park so instead of sitting in traffic for what would probably be close to an hour, we decided to get there on foot. It only took us 40 minutes and it was actually really enjoyable. I had thought Addy would sleep on the way there but she was wide awake the whole time.

We got to the park just in time for the Mass Assention.

Addy was THRILLED to get out of her stroller and wouldn't stay still. She talked and giggled the entire time. I think she liked all the people more than the balloons.

I'm not too sure Cousin Carter was as excited to be up that early, but he sure did look cute! Have you ever seen a cuter raccoon?

"Carter, there's a raccoon on your head!"

With so many things to look at, Addy didn't stop moving. It made taking a family photo a little challenging.

The Danner's, Balloon Fiesta 2011

All that energy Addy had only lasted about half and hour and then both her Carter crashed.

Those sleepin' babies missed all the special shape balloons. That's OK though, we really only went for the fun pictures. They'll enjoy it more next year and some day, we'll tell them how much fun us adults had at their first Balloon Fiesta.