Joey's Party

Birthday Party Time!

We are suckers for themed parties. This year, we decided to have a campout-themed party for Joey. He loves the outdoors, finding "walking sticks," and playing with fire. He is truly a kid after my own heart. We, Kiley and I (and by "Kiley and I," I mean "Kiley") put together this fun party for Joey and a few cousins around his age. Ready for the photo dump? Here we go!

See that brown gunk in the center? It was a delicious 'smores dip Kiley created. Yum!

We went on a hike and had to find these things outside.

The boys wanted to watch The Magic School Bus, so we put an episode on where they explore a rotting log.

 Present Time!!

Maybe whistles weren't the best idea for party favors... Sorry parents!

Look at this fabulous campfire cake Kiley baked! Wow, how did I luck out to marry such a talented woman?

Happy Birthday, Joey! We still can't believe you are four-years-old. It seems like just yesterday we were a nervous wreck, putting you in the carseat for the first time and driving more carefully than ever before, not knowing how much our life was about to change. Thank you for being such a loving, happy, compassionate child and for being patient with us as we learn how to be better parents. You are loved!

Things to Do in New Mexico

As you probably know, I have had a long break since mid-November since our schedule during the fourth year of medical school is rather flexible. As we will be leaving for San Antonio in just a couple short weeks, we have been trying to fit in as many New Mexicany things as possible for our family to do. We have gone to the zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens numerous times, spent time at the NM Museum of Natural History and at Explora, and gone trekking at the top of the mountain. We also went to Meow Wolf (an immersive art experience) in Santa Fe and to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Here are some photos!

MEOW WOLF

The lines to get into Meow Wolf were a little ridiculous.

I guess everyone wanted to be a green spikey-headed creature being threatened by his giant, sadistic, cybertronic rat-friend.

Playing music on the ribs of a glowing pink dinosaur:

Meow Wolf was pretty amazing. If we didn't have kids with us, we could have spent all day there trying to solve the mystery of The House of Eternal Return. There are portals throughout the house where you can easily get lost. In fact, Joey did get lost for a few frightening minutes. Neither me nor Kiley saw him leave the room where we were at, and we only found him when I finally got scared and started crying for us. Oops.

Look at this strange giraffe-necked, flat-faced, llama-looking creature. 

Me and my boys sitting on a couch in a cave.

Here are some other photos that I borrowed from online (since I was too busy chasing my kids to take them myself). If you like art and interactive museums, I would definitely recommend this place. It's a bit pricey but worth it if you have a few hours to look around:

KASHA-KATUWE TENT ROCKS

This gem of a hiking spot is about an hour outside of Albuquerque, between here and Santa Fe. There is some amazing hiking, and it is very interesting to see history through the rock formations left behind. You can see all the different layers of the rock, including intense ash layers from massive volcanic eruptions.

I'm very proud of Joey, who hike over 2-miles all by himself!

What is it about boys and rocks?

This little cave used to be the home of an ancient caveman. You can still see the black scorch marks on the ceiling of the cave from fires lit in the center of the cave. 

Look at this cool tree! Awesome photo-shoot opportunity.

Too bad we didn't have some to take a photo of our entire family in front of these roots...

Joey's a great hiker! Can't wait to go on outings with him once he's a Boy Scout.

And of course, to emphasize the point that boys love rocks, here is a video of these amazing kids. Why do they have to grow up so fast??

Well, hope you enjoyed seeing a snapshot of our outings. More blog posts to come!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hi Everyone!

I want to wish you a Happy Mother's Day, but especially to my amazing wife Kiley. She always goes above and beyond, and I am grateful for her companionship and love. Plus, she always takes the time to blog about our family for keepsake purposes! For Mother's Day, I'll be trying to add some posts about our recent adventures (so Kiley can have a break). Here are some fun photos of the boys to give you a smile on this lovely day:

And, of course, we can't forget about the video of the kiddos pretending to be puppies. Joey used to do this funny like bark all the time. He's grown out of it since, but it's still fun to watch his pure joy as he plays make believe with his brother.