Uncle Cliff's

You can tell how long someone has lived in Albuquerque by what they call our local amusement park.  Long timers like me remember when it was Uncle Cliff's, where newcomers know it as it's new,  less creepy name - plain old "Cliff's".  Every year my company hosts a picnic at Cliff's for all employees and our families.  Sometimes they even spring for t-shirts.  This year was exciting for us because we knew Connor would like some of the rides.  As usual, we were surprised and amused by his reactions to things.

We started with the little train or "choo-choo".  It took Connor a while to warm up but he was soon delighted.

Jaimee and Lily rode with us and also had a good time. 

It was really warm so we took a break from rides to enjoy the mist fans.  Almost as fun as a ride!

Connor seemed skeptical of the Merry Go Round at first but asked for "more" as soon as it stopped.  

After two spins around on the horsey, we went to wait for the big kids to ride the log ride.  It was a perfect opportunity for Connor and Lily to be adorable. 

On our way to dinner, we stopped to chat with some coworkers.  Connor insisted on fist bumping (knuckles) each person we spoke with...twice.   Then came the highlight of the evening.  A barbecue dinner. Or, if you're Connor, a watermelon feast with a side of hot dog bun.

He ate three or four of these watermelon slices. I  lost count.  He would have also eaten the rind, but Lily told him "you no eat the green part". The upswing of this feast was the sugar from the fruit reenergized him.   The first after dinner activity was walking with the boys. 

Then as JJ rode the most terrifying ride ever, Connor showed off his "splits" and Lily followed suit. I'm pretty sure I was told to "Mama splits" and was doing my splits while taking this shot. 

We headed back to the merry-go-round for three more rides.  Connor was such a pro by this point, we let him ride solo.  I love Lily watching with interest in the background. 

The last ride of the evening was the helicopter.  Connor was too short to go alone so Thomas crammed himself in there rode along with Connor. 

On our way out of the park, the kids burned off what was left of their energy by chasing each other around this tree.  

It was a fun night and we're all looking forward to going back soon. In the meantime, do you know where I can get a good deal on some watermelon?

New Toy!

Grandpa Erik came to visit this week and brought Connor a new toy - a toy vacuum.  It was a big hit.  

This Christmas

This Christmas we found out that Christmas is really more fun with kids. Especially this kid.

Santa brought Connor his own chair and a toy airplane.  He also received many gifts from friends, family, and Mommy and Daddy.  But none of those could top the wonders of the Swiffer.  That's right.  Dozens of special presents, and Connor just wanted to play with the Swiffer.  I had taken it out to sweep before the grandparents arrived.  He played with it for a good 30 minutes.  That's like a year and a half in toddler time.

We had a fun brunch with Grandma and Grandpa Gaffney.  Connor slept through most of it but woke up ready to open more gifts.  They spoiled him as grandparents do, but he kept playing with that Swiffer.  After the grandparents headed off to work, we loaded up for Christmas Part 2 with Grammie and Grampy Gutheinz.  Connor had more presents to open from Grammie and Grampy but again he went for that tissue paper.

 You may be wondering why we buy him toys at all when cleaning supplies and tissue are so cheap and abundant.  He did get around to playing with his toys eventually. After dinner and a nap, he opened his presents from our friends Don and Mary (is anyone else overwhelmed by the amount of presents this kid got?) Rebecca had selected this Fridge Farm for Connor.  He loved it.  Finally, a toy to trump tissue paper.  

He also enjoyed playing with his other gifts but we were too busy trying to make sure that he didn't eat tissue paper to take pictures of those.  You can also see that by day four of the Christmas Extravaganza, our cute holiday-themed outfits had been depleted. 

Connor's cousin Elliott brought his family over later in the evening to visit.  Last Christmas, Connor slept in his sling while Elliott explored the house.  This year they were able to play together (or next to each other).  They were both thrilled by Grammie and Grampy's Star Wars tree and bobble heads.  Connor was playing too hard to wear pants.  

By the end of the night, we were all pooped. We headed home to get some rest.  Even though it was exhausting, we all agreed it was the best Christmas ever.  We are truly blessed in so many ways.  

The first days of Christmas

We had a great Christmas filled with friends, family, and late nights (which means 9:30 these days).  The celebration lasted for four days. It was exhausting but lots of fun.  Last Christmas we were exhausted with our one month old baby.  It's all sort of a blur.  This year, Connor didn't quite understand what the fuss was about but he loved all the activity.  There was so much going on that I'm going to have to break it in to two posts.

On the 22nd, we spent the evening with Jaimee's family and our friend Nancy.  Connor and Lily had a great time.  It was Connor's first time opening gifts since he was so sick on his birthday.  He didn't really figure out how to open the gifts, but man did he love the wrapping.  He loved the tissue paper: rolling in it, throwing it, carrying it around.

This was also the first time Connor and Lily really played together.  It was so fun to watch them rolling around in the dogs' bed and playing on Lily's ice cream truck.  You can read all about it on Jaimee's blog.  The pictures are great!

Our friends Lucas and Michelle were in town for their biannual holiday trip to NM.  We spent the evening of the 23rd with Lucas' family and some friends.  Connor really wanted to play with Lucas and Michelle's boys, Robert and Thomas.  Sadly, he can only toddle where these boys can flat out run.  He only got knocked over once before he found a corner full of baby toys and some pretty ladies to flirt with.

By Christmas Eve, we were surprised that Connor wasn't cranky as we headed out for night three of festivities.  We spend most Christmas Eves in the Ridgecrest area at our friend Elaissa's party and then with the Romeros for New Mexican food.  Connor seemed to be wary of the party guests at Elaissa's but that lasted about five minutes.  He was soon running around and grinning at everyone he could see.  He took a few minutes off to chug some water and enjoy some Elaissa's famous perogies.  I tried to get a picture of the perogie but he stuffed it in his mouth too fast for me.

Before we left we took our annual picture in front of the tree.

At Carol and Vince's place the fun continued...and so did the eating.  Connor got to see his cousin Kai.  He loves being with big kids.  Connor also had a mess of presents to open from all his aunts and cousins.  After posole and gifts, we decided to brave the cold weather and walk through the luminarias.  Kai helped push Connor's stroller.

We got home very late on Christmas Eve and put Connor right to bed in his Christmas jammies.  Thomas and I stayed up to make last minute preparations for Christmas day and open one gift.  It was a great night!