the land of enchantment

I'm tempted to throw this down in installments but no, no! I won't make you wait. After getting a taste of our other vacation recap a couple weeks ago -- I know the crowd is roaring for more more MORE.

I know it's not feasible but if the rest of America started rolling with adobe homes here and there (and everywhere) ... I would be a pretty happy camper. 

This was a quicker trip - just four nights down in New Mexico but we packed a lot in and had the best time. One day Sebastian told Simon, "this is the best day of my life" and he genuinely meant it. He also requested that we never leave ... ever. 

We went down for the baptism of our sweet goddaughter and also spent some quality time with my immediate family which felt like such a total bonus so close after our reunion in Illinois. 

Only three Patton kids melted down during the baptism -- success in my book.

Theo/flying nun in his sunny element ...

Sebastian asked my brothers to, "throw me up to all the planets -- and I'm not joking" ...

...
my brother Andrew so, so generously took photos of the baptism and some of our family back in Illinois AND after I practically begged him to do so he launched a photography website of his own. If you're in the Kansas City area and need family photos, even photos, blog photos, any photos - he's your affordable guy. Super shameless plus but -- baby bro's got talent.

I love this pic he snapped of Julia at my parents' ...

... and now onto my cellular snaps. Yay.

So I know Rudy's made a blog appearance before but he begged to be on again ...

Rudy is my mom's dog and Rudy loves my mom. And only my mom. You can imagine how thrilled he was when five little humans came marching onto the scene -- one of which (Phoebe) was petrified of him and made sure he knew if he dared to look anywhere in the vicinity of her screams.

I think they were both equally surprised when he showed this rare display of affection.

The first night we got in we were able to secure some sitters for our kids (well, my parents kindly watched Phoebe and Bosco who had been up for way too many hours in a row with the time change and our 6am flight -- more on that later! cackle) and got to go out to dinner with our friends ...

fine ... and maybe a little enthusiastic brewery stop afterwards.

In a stroke of the most amazing luck - my family and our goddaughter's family happened to live within walking distance of each other (which really is crazy if you know how spread out Albuquerque is) so we blazed lots of fun trails back and forth between the two houses. Julia got a special afternoon with just Nana and I think she'll be talking about it for years to come ...

Julia and Mom - not Nana.

The post-baptism party was a blast and one of Jessica's twins even let me hold her for a quick photo shoot ...

... highlight of the trip? Perhaps, perhaps.

So here we have Fran (mother to our goddaughter who is 3 months old and she also has a two year old and just turned four year old twins - we stayed with them for a few days and she needs to write a book on easy breezy hosting because she's an expert), Jessica who has twins just a month younger than Phoebe and I wish we could see them a lot more than we do because I know the girls would eventually become to best of friends and glorified triplets ...

Phoebe echoes that sentiment.

It was bittersweet (emphasis on bitter) saying goodbye which you always know is a sign of a great trip. Why do friends and family have to live so far away? Why are we not all living in little friends and family communes already?

Anyway, it's back to reality around here and every time we pull in the driveway Phoebe furrows her brow and tells the whole van that she wants to go back to , "Nana and Papa's house!!!" ...

Me too, Phoebe, me TOO.


/// end of vacation recaps ... for now.

happy beginning of the school year if that applied to you today :)