New Mexico

Hudson got to experience his first plane ride this weekend when our family made the trip out to Las Cruces, New Mexico to see some of our good friends, Chris and Candace. Caleb and Chris lived together (with 2 other guys) during their years in chiropractic school. Chris and Candace have to come to visit us several times, but we had not been out to see them since their wedding {in April 2008}. Chris is always keeping us all laughing and Candace is just as sweet as can be!

We left on Thursday morning and both kids did great on the 1.5 hour flight. Savannah has flown before and I honestly wasn't worried about how she would do on the plane. She is old enough to watch movies or play while sitting for that long pretty easily. On the other hand, I wasn't so sure about Hudson. He isn't a fan of sitting still for long and being crammed into the tiny space on the plane didn't leave room for him to roam. 

Our flight time was also near his nap time and I had hoped Hudson would sleep. He didn't. But he did fantastic! He really liked looking out the window before we were too high and then after that he stayed entertained by Savannah and the bag of books/toys we had packed. I feared he would want to get past Caleb and I and be able to go in the isle of the plane, but he never attempted it and he didn't cry once. 

He was getting tired towards the end of the flight and Savannah was being a good big sister by helping take care of him.

We landed in El Paso because Chris and Candace only live bout 30 minutes from there. As soon as we loaded Hudson into the car seat {which we bought an attachment for so we could wheel him around as if it were a stroller}, he fell asleep almost instantly. Chris was waiting for us by the time we got our bags and Hudson even slept through being loaded into the truck. He was tired!

Once we were at the house, we just spent some time hanging out, visiting and letting the kids play. Then we all went out to eat dinner. 

The first night, we stayed at a guest house that Candace's parents have just a few miles down the road. It was a really nice place, complete with a mini-kitchen and bathroom, but aside from the bathroom being separate, the rest of the 'house' was one big room. And we quickly realized that that wasn't going to work out so well. In order to put Hudson to bed at a decent time, Caleb and/or I would have to stay at the one-room guest house and miss out on visiting Chris and Candace. So, for the remainder of our visit, we stayed at the house with Chris and Candace. 

On Friday, Caleb went to work with Chris while Candace and I enjoyed breakfast with the kids and a little shopping trip for the cookout that would happen that night. Candace was so sweet playing games with Savannah and reading books. 

While looking through pictures to add to this post, I realize I did a pretty terrible job at taking pictures while we were there. I have very few and they do not include the guest house we stayed at, the cookout, the pigs that the have or the grape vines that Savannah loved picking and eating fresh grapes from... oh well, I can't do anything about it now.

Saturday morning, we all went to a little Farmer's Market. It's kinds like what we call 'Trades Day' with lots of individual booths selling different things for the home or outside things and FOOD. Savannah was told there would be sno-cones and that was the first stop we made.

That afternoon, while the men stayed home with the kiddos {and Hudson napped}, Candace and I went to the mall. She had a hair appointment and then we got pedicures and did a little shopping.

After dinner that night, Chris drove us to a little ice cream shop called Caliche's. You order your ice cream {actually, frozen custard} by drive-thru or by walking up to the store-front window, but there is no dine-in option. We decided to get out to order ours and then just took it home to eat. It sure was good!! I got the "mount brownie" - a yummy brownie with frozen custard, marshmellow, hot fudge, pecans and a cherry on top. So good!

 

On Sunday, our flight wasn't until two in the afternoon, so we went over to Candace's parents house to swim. Savannah had been dying to show off her swimming skills to Chris and Candace. Then we had to pack up our stuff, head to the airport and say our good-byes.

The flight home went just as well as the first flight. Poor Hudson sure was tired though. Once we got into the truck and on the road to home, he passed out.

 

Both kids were exceptionally well during the entire trip! Savannah went 3 days without napping and stayed up way past her bedtime {as late as 10 p.m., 11 p.m. our time!} and still stayed happy. Hudson went to bed a little later than normal, but still at decent times and slept all night without a peep. You never know how well the kids will sleep in a new environment, so I was very thankful for how well they adjust.

We had such a good time visiting our friends and wish they didn't live so far. Hopefully we'll be seeing them again sooner rather than later!