Manzanos Champagnes

I'm way behind on blogs so here's one a week old. Last monday Joaquin and I drove out to Dixon's apple farm to get some of the famed Champagne apples. (At least the news talks about them like they're famed, I had never heard of them before but most other people I talked to had.) Apparently this is where the Champagne apple grows and when it's ripe people come to the farm and buy them - you can't get them shipped. So Joaquin and I drove out and got some. They also have a little food stand which serves such delicacies as apple fritters and caramel apple rings. The caramel apple rings are an apple, cored and sliced into rings and then drenched in a watery caramel sauce. Joaquin loved it (pictoral evidence above) and while it made me sick afterwards it was probably worth it. (You all know how I feel about a caramel apple) We also got to admire some tractors they have on display, although sadly we couldn't climb on them. However Joaquin was fairly content to look at the engines and ask me where certain parts were. As you can imagine, those answers consisted mainly of, "I don't know, let's ask Daddy when we get home." Joaquin's energy started to flag fairly quickly due in part to the fact that we were in direct sun for most of our time there. While there were several picnic tables in the shade, both of the old gentlemen I approached to ask if we could sit next to them said "no", so we were stuck on a bench in the sun. Seriously, a woman with a two year old, juggling a bag, a caramel apple ring, a hot dog, two drinks, napkins and her sanity and they just said, no. Chivalry is soooooooo dead my friends! We ended our morning with a trip to the porta-potty which made quite an impression on Joaquin. When Daddy asked about our day, Joaquin told him all about the porta-potty and the blue inside the potty and how it didn't flush, etc. We bought a bag of apples and as Joaquin wanted to imitate the rest of the folks buying pounds and pounds of apples, we placed our little bag in a wheelbarrow to bring it to our car. I don't know if it's the kind of thing I would do again if I weren't a stay-at-home mommy looking for activities, but the Champagne's are quite good and the drive up was pretty so we had a good time overall.

Otoño en Albuquerque

There are three major clues that it's fall in Albuquerque, lots of rain, the smell of roasting chiles and balloons popping up in the morning sky. By all signs fall is just around the corner. Joaquin and I went to Pro's last week and saw a ginormous chile roaster going. Joaquin was entranced by the flames and the noise and we stood for a good five minutes watching the spectacle. We even got to see them finish a batch and put in new ones. Joaquin was definitely intrigued by how the roaster opened and then closed enough to be turned around and around through the flames. I showed him how the chiles got all blackened and told him that made them taste good. Sounds like fun right? Well he definitely remembered it. Friday night we went out to eat at Indian Kitchen and saw some folks we knew celebrating a birthday. They had brought several balloons and kindly gave Joaquin a green one (green for Joaquin! That's for you Kara). Joaquin said thank you but seemed underwhelmed until we got home. Then he spent 30 minutes or so 'making chiles'. He would pretend to pour chiles in, close it up and then spin the balloon around and around talking about the chiles getting black and yummy. Then he would give us chiles. He actually was quite resistant to going to bed since he needed to make more chiles. This is a video I got the next morning.

He pretends more and more every day and they totally crack me up. Last night during the missions banquet at church he spent the evening in the nursery with his buddy Lindi. I didn't go get him so I didn't see it, but apparently they were in the cribs (there for little babies who need naps) pretending to sleep b/c they were 'tired'. He also acts out episodes of Max & Ruby (it's amazing how much of it he can quote, he's totally turning into Kara's son) or pretends he's playing with Max. Love it!

Castillo de Arena

Albuquerque had a few days of torrential downpour (woo-hoo! Seriously!) so Joaquin's sandbox was full of wet sand perfect for molding into sandcastles. Joaquin has become quite proficient with his molding technique. He carefully shovels sand into the molds (he's relatively neat about it too) and pats it very seriously. Then we flip it over (I do it quickly and Joaquin does it very slowly but magically the sand doesn't fall out. Don't know how he manages it.) and voila, there's a segment of sand castle. It's very endearing to watch and we made this cute little sandcastle. Joaquin also likes to tear grape leaves off our grape vine and make "flags" for all the castle towers a la a Max & Ruby episode. Unfortunately, we can only make so much before he decides that making things isn't near as fun as smooshing them. After that it's all down hill.

Pelo loco

Joaquin's hair (now that he has some) grows rather quickly. I'm constantly on Daniel to trim it since the back gets matted and frizzy and out of control once it's longer than about an inch, inch and a half. However we've been busy lately and neglected some of the finger points of Joaquin hygiene, so we had fun playing with it the other night after bath. While Joaquin thought it was funny, he did quickly comb it out.

Santa Fe

Joaquin and I took advantage of Mommy being away at a church organized women's retreat last weekend. We took the train to Santa Fe, something we had preparing Joaquin for several days prior to our departure. Joaquin still doesn't understand the concept of time when measured in days so every morning Mommy was questioned about the impending trip with Daddy on the train and the visit to the train store because that must be where you get a train. Right? Friday finally came and we headed off to the train station right after work! The train was a complete hit! We looked at both levels and even crossed between cars! The train also has a bathroom that Joaquin needed to see. All this moving was easier for him than for me since I had the 25 lb backpack and his little backpack and his hand to contend with in very small aisles. It was a blast!

The train dropped us off near the plaza and only a bit over a mile from our hotel. I carried a very happy little boy on my shoulders, each of us wearing our own backpacks, all the way to the hotel and then back into town the Cowgirl restaurant. Crosswalk buttons, by the way, are one of the man's most fascinating inventions. I had been informed that this was the most kid-friendly restaurant in the area. It is a BBQ restaurant with a full service bar and kids play area in the back! Interesting combo huh? He loved it and I ate a MARVELOUS buffalo burger. Medium rare and I don't want to hear about the dangers of medium rare ground meat.

We walked back to the hotel and hit the pool for a late night swim! Joaquin was beside himself as he did froggy jumps off the side of the pool and into my arms till way past his bedtime.

After breakfast at the hotel we hit the sidewalk and went the park (I love how the smallest things are a kick for Joaquin). There was a very avant garde playground (this is Santa Fe) near the hotel that he thoroughly enjoyed. It was hard work but I finally convinced him that we needed to go see the Farmer's Market and would you believe we found the most INTERESTING fountain! (Again, it is amazing that a child can be so easily pleased) I had to drag him away from that only to discover a banjo player who also played, can you guess, a HARMONICA. Mommy had remembered to pack Jaoquin's harmonica into his backpack in what must have been a moment of divine inspiration. We yanked that baby out and Joaquin had his first JAM SESSION! It rocked.

We had a snack at the Flying Star and, went back to the hotel to check out, and then back out on the streets (with our backpacks) to visit the Cowgirl one last time. After fully conquering the slide we realized it was time to take the train back home. We got to the train station and would you believe they had a TRAIN STORE! WOW! We bought a toy train. We made it to my pickup after another fun train ride and Joaquin stayed awake for almost a mile. Naptime was great.

Ayudando

I feel like I'm really behind on blogging. To play a little catch up, here's some pictures of Joaquin from not last weekend, but the weekend before. Daniel helped my Dad put a wood floor down in their dining room and my mother and I played with Joaquin. However, Joaquin was very intrigued by the whole process and kept trying to 'help'. Here he is scraping up little bits of undercarpet with Daddy. He was definitely at his best when Daddy and Grandpa-pa put the underfloor down. This consists of some red plastic with little white styrofoam balls inside of it. You unroll it and then cut it and tape the strips together by removing the backing from the side with the tape on it. Woo-hoo she said sarcastically. But Joaquin was very interested. When my father and Daniel stopped to go get another roll, he lined a scrap piece up to the roll and asked for tape. Then he carefully taped the pieces together. He did a good job too. He kept asking for tape until it was fairly well secure.

When we wanted to put the next piece in place we had a bit of a fit until we convinced him that the big piece would be better. How dare we destroy his handiwork? Then he got excited about helping unroll the underfloor in long strips and helping that way. Fortunately by this point he was getting hungry and lunch distracted him until naptime. Otherwise I don't think the floor would have been finished. However, they did finish and it looks fabulous! Even with Joaquin's expert help. However this is just another symptom of Joaquin's new desire for independence. In general he's not usually very independent, but lately he's been enjoying feeling competent. He goes in the fridge himself (oh joy!) and tries to put clothes and shoes on and off. He also will go to the potty by himself - fabulous! Suddenly being a big boy seems very eminent.

Esta mañana

To follow our crazy weekend/beginning of week, Joaquin and I had a relaxing morning. We woke up late, played, got a few chores done and then went hiking with Johanna. Joaquin responded to a less hectic pace by being exceedingly charming so I kept taking pictures the whole day. We started by playing a game that Joaquin invented awhile ago but still remembers occasionally and wants to play. You place a blanket over your and Joaquin's head and this is called a 'blanket house'. Once inside the blanket house Joaquin hisses like a snake and then the other person playing has to yelp "Help I'm trapped in a blanket house with a snake!" and throw the blanket off him/herself. Then Joaquin thrashes about wildly for a few seconds, takes the blanket off and snuggles with you to 'help you' stop being scared by the snake. Repeat. I swear to you I am not making this up, nor did I initiate this game. That was all Joaquin. So this picture is Joaquin inside a blanket house.

Once the snake game paled, I decided to get some laundry done. Taking the sheets off reminded Joaquin of the wrapping paper supplies I keep under my bed. He pulled them out to 'wrap his tractor'. Fortunately he didn't actually use any wrapping paper since all mine is safely encased in plastic. But he was very cute bundling up his tractor in tissue paper. I folded up a box for him and he kept putting the tractor, the trailer and tissue paper inside. Then when it was arranged to his satisfaction, Joaquin would open the present and exclaim "It's a tractor!" (The following videos are of this event.)

Then we pulled out the backpack in preparation for our hike. Joaquin was very interested in the backpack since he hasn't seen it in awhile and we filled up all the pockets with necessary items like fruit snacks and wallets and extra pull-ups. Johanna went with us and we strolled around the bosque for 45 minutes. Technically this was supposed to be an attempt at cardiovascular exercise, but once Joaquin got bored in the backpack and wanted to walk we were moving a pretty slow pace. Still I think I made up for it with the time I had to carry him. Joaquin is not a lightweight and now he's so tall that carrying him is difficult! But we had a great time. We actually went out onto a sandbank that jutted into the river and Joaquin kept running to the edge saying, "it's a beautiful day for the beach", which I think is a quote from Max & Ruby. Then we played with sticks and fallen logs which Joaquin kept telling us came from puppy wood, which is apparently what he heard when we told him they were fallen cottonwoods.

I'll end this post with a few funny Joaquin speeches. 1) He likes to twirl and get dizzy and then try to describe the effect. The other day at the mall he tells me, "Mama, I twirl and twirl and the mall falled down!". 2) He was telling me the other day about seeing a whale and shooting it, a game he got from his friend Gabriel. But I don't this he really understood what Gabriel meant, because he showed me how he shot with his thumb and then he told me that whales came shooting out, and then they grew bigger and were food. Hmmmm.... 3) Yesterday was our first day of Wow biblestudy for the fall and apparently they had a biblestory in the children's class. See if you can guess it from what Joaquin first told me, "We had a story and it was dark, your eyes shut, and then the light came (whooosh!)." I said, okay and then what happened, and he said something about light again and then ground. I finally clicked that it was the creation story and said, "oh, did God make light when it was dark?" So he tells me, all excited, "Yes! And he made ground and there were lots of animals" all this with much waving of hands. I'm so impressed with Chelsea's storytelling ability b/c he really remembered so much of it.