Mama's Holiday AKA... I Got Away!!

The last time I visited my folks I read one of my childhood books to the children.  I think it was More Tales of Oliver Pig, written by Jean Van Leeuwen.  In this book was a story where Oliver and Amanda Pigs mama goes away for a short "holiday".  Something about this story struck a chord within me.

For me, getting away from all of the children is a serious rarity.  Honestly, it was long overdue for me to get away.  Last November, I was starting to feel weary...not much to give anyone.  I really needed a recharge!  It's not easy though for me to ask for the money for such a luxury as a plane ticket, when we need to buy grocieries, pay bills, etc.

At Christmas, I was given a little money from parents, and in-laws.  I had thought to myself...I could either buy myself something fun....or go somewhere!  After some honest discussion with my husband, and a call to a wonderful friend.  I decided to purchase a plane ticket.

I will be honest...I had a bit of anxiety when purchasing my ticket.  It had been so long since doing something so exciting.

Needless to say, the first Thursday on February, C-Dawg, and I boarded an airplane for Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Thankfully C-dawg still counts as a lap baby. He did really great for a super busy toddler.  We were able to have a whole row to ourselves on our last leg of the trip. Yes, I didn't totally get away by myself, but it is amazing how easy it seems with just one, when you are used to three.

I lived in New Mexico for a short but very happy time in my life.  It was good to go back.  We hadn't returned since we moved from ABQ in 2006.  I had several places I really wanted to go to, eat at, and see..for old times sake.  My friend Ann was so willing to do whatever I wanted!  I know, she herself was needing a bit of a "holiday" too.

Happy Hour at El Pinto

The beautiful Sandias

Post walk refreshments from Kaktus Brewing Company - Nut Brown Ale

Sand Hill Cranes

We headed to Santa Fe via the New Mexico Rail Runner.  This was new since we lived in ABQ.  What a great mode of transportation.  The Saturday market in Santa Fe was so fun.  This time of year it is mostly indoors.  It must be amazing during the Summer.  So many good New Mexican foods!  I could see myself riding the train up to Santa Fe just to buy my vegetables.

New Mexico Rail Runner - this is a super fun ride to Santa Fe!  

A short walk to the Santa Fe indoor/outdoor Saturday market.

The smell of this chile was intoxicating!  The color so vibrant.

The waiting area was filled locals
We knew it had to be good.  It was!

Chile relleno, enchilada, taco, posole, and a tamale.
So good, but I couldn't eat it all.  Plus lots of green chile!

Sopapillas the size of your head!  Yummm!

We wandered the streets of old Santa Fe.  It is a fun place to just wander in and out of shops.  I loved all the art work and architecture as well.  The plaza was a great place to see folks selling their wares, and jewelry and listen to a man playing his accordian.

C-dawg and Ann in the Plaza of Santa Fe

 I used to do some prescribed fire work in the Jemez Mountains.  A truly gorgeous place!  2011, and 2013 brought large wildfires to the area.  I wanted to see for myself how much of the area had been changed.  The Valles Caldera for a long time has been maintained as a preserve, and kept at minimal visitation levels.  I felt very lucky to have spent time in the caldera.  It will be interesting to see what happens now that the management has been changed from the US Forest Service to National Park Service.

The meadows of the Valles Caldera

The Valles Caldera - recently transferred to
the National Park Service.

Fun rock climbing area!

 We went for a short hike along the East Fork of the Jemez River.  If you get a chance to check out the Las Conchas trail, do it!  The trail was a bit snowy and icy when we were hiking, so we did not go as far as I would have liked.  I guess I'll have to go back!

East Fork of the Jemez River

As you can see, C-dawg was completely ignored the whole time.  He looks miserable...just kidding!  I think he enjoyed having his mama all to himself.  I do know he missed his Dad and siblings a lot.  They missed him too!

I came home with numerous jars of green chile, and green chile sauce, several bags of different chile powders, and some chicos ( a type of smoked and dried corn).  We've been eating green chile with every meal for the past week!

I was very glad to have gotten away for a long weekend.  It was what I really needed.  I laughed, drank good drinks, ate amazing food, soaked up much needed sun, went on adventures, and spent time with a special friend and her beautiful family.

My friend Ann's daughter used to be our babysitter, and so we have a very close bond with her too.  It was really neat to see how much she and her brother have grown into really special people.  I got a glimpse of my world in the realm of homeschooling and teenage life.  It made me excited to see what is ahead for us, but I also realized that I need to hold on to how special my world is right now.

I greatly appreciate my husband taking leave time for me, so that I could go away, and have some fun.  It sounded like the children had some fun while we were away.  We came home to lots of hugs, and stories of all the cool things they did and places that they went with Dad.

I am definitely missing Ann and New Mexico, but also glad to be back with my own peeps.

While my world here hasn't changed, I definitely have come home with a new perspective.

Yay for a mama's holiday!

Cheers!
~Forestry Mama

Breakfast at Barbie's

Lexi with chocolate sprinkle donuts, and powdered donuts..mmmmm

My wonderful friend Ann sent us a box of books that she and her family were done using.  Inside were lots of interesting stories about historical characters...Daniel Boone, King Tut etc.  But, also included were all sorts of fun American Girl activity books.  My daughter immediately started perusing them the moment they came out of the box.  I love it when books override t.v.!  She especially liked one that was how to make fun little "food" treats for your dolls.

Not to my surprise this morning, she came down exclaiming that she was making donuts for Lexi...her Barbie doll.  Making these donuts are far easier than the real thing.  Less messy, I'm not sure.  Powdered sugar does get everywhere!

A few Cheerio type cereal, some powdered sugar, melted chocolate chips, and some sprinkles is all you need.  Miss M was so intent to have them look all fancy in a box.

So along with our scrambled eggs, and toast, we had micro donuts with Lexi, the Barbie doll.  A fun way to start off the morning!

Cheers!
~ Forestry Mama

Simple Sweetness

Valentines day was a bit of a bust in our house on Saturday.  My husband had plans to make awesome breakfast burritos with the green chile, and green chile sauce that I had brought back from my recent mama's holiday( I'll blog about that here soon...it's a fun story to share).  We even had plans for an afternoon babysitter.  Sounds like a pretty great day planned...right!

505Chile is amazing stuff!!  Thank you New Mexico!

Unfortunately, two of three kiddos were sick...so we cancelled the babysitter.  My husband had purchased some organic corn/wheat tortillas from Trader Joes.  When he went to pull them out of the package, they all stuck and tore.  Then when he tried to assemble the burritos, they cracked open.  I haven't seen him that frustrated, and disappointed in a long time!  Everything tasted great.  He makes a mean breakfast burrito!

He was so mad with Trader Joes and their lack of good tortillas that he asked if I would return all the tortillas including the partly used bag we had opened for breakfast.  Taking the littlest one with me, I returned to TJ's and explained what happened, and also how I had to listen to an extremely frustrated husband due to their lack of "good tortillas".  As usual TJ's gave me no problems and refunded us in full.  The manager also asked me to pick out any boquet of flowers for my troubles.  Thanks Trader Joes!

Orange...one my favorite colors these days!

What does a mama do on Valentines day when children are sick?  She cleans house like a mad woman!  We have been in downsizing mode, and more needed to be done.  Seriously, how have we collected all this stuff?  It turned into a cleaning weekend.  With more things picked up, gone through, put away, taken to resale shops, and donations made, I definitely feel better about our house.  I actually might like to invite some friends over.

Today was a little less busy, and with children being healthier, I made a good Valentines meal for all my sweethearts.  Flat iron steak (I love that cut of meat), roasted cauliflower, roasted asparagus, and a rice medley.  To end the meal with a sweet treat, we had chocolate dipped strawberries.  

On  a recent trip to Costco, the boys and I stood for a long time watching some employees dipping strawberries in chocolate.  Our middle boy was rather fascinated with this all, and wanted to get some.  I told him that we could make some at home that would be even better!

Chocolate dipped strawberries are truly so simple to make, but so elegant and delicious!  I was surprised at how sweet and large they were for early season berries.  My children were very smitten with them, and even had some fun dipping as well.  For my yellow food lover (our middle boy), I dipped bananas in chocolate.  

Strawberries dipped in semisweet chocolate

Watching them all enjoy this simple treat was truly pure sweetness.  

I hope you all had a lovely Valentines Day!

Cheers,

Forestry Mama