This IS Vacation After All. . .

Thursday July 24, 2008

Ahhh...this was the last day in Taos. A sad idea, because I felt like we had barely scratched the surface of things to be done. That being said, Andrew and I were both pretty wiped after the week's activities. We decided to sleep in and stay out of the way while everyone else got ready. Mom & Dad were headed to Red River Ski Valley to pick up the family photos we'd taken, Matt & Brandy & the Hughes family to the ski valley. We played the Wii and enjoyed our coffee. Jennifer came back and we decided to head into Arroyo Secco. They had some cute shops there we wanted to check out. We headed to the Mercantile first and spotted some pretty bead necklaces. They had a lot of interesting things in a wide variety. Soaps, jewelry, t-shirts, antiques, books, you name it...they probably had it. Jennifer bought me the brown beaded necklace for me as my birthday present. (Here I am wearing it on Friday) She also got one for her in blue, white, and amber beads.

After the Mercantile we headed to the Taos Cow. Andrew was waiting for us, and he's already sampled some of the ice cream - blueberry. He really enjoyed it. Jen and I got there and I ordered some raspberry dark chocolate ice cream; Jennifer just got a grapefruit soda. I thought it was pretty good. The flavors were yummy, but the consistency of the ice cream wasn't the best I'd had. We wandered around a few more shops. There was a really cool photography shop that was way out of price range, but I really enjoyed seeing some local artwork.

We headed back and had turkey sandwhiches at home. Mom was a bit concerned that we had all the groceries purchased on Sunday still at the house. After lunch and a bit more Wii, many people headed for naps. Seems a bit lazy, but we were tired and it IS vacation after all, right? :o)

I felt bad because we had talked about going to the Taos square, and ended up sleeping through our opportunity to go. Sorry, Jen!

Matt & Brandy and Jennifer & Jeff decided to head to dinner in town for date night. Andrew and I talked about it, but decided to save a few bucks and eat with Mom & Dad and the kids. It was left over pork steak and hash browns. Very yummy! After dinner we loaded up the kids and headed back to the pool. Similar to the night before. Again, an enjoyable evening. This day felt most like "vacation"....No schedule, naps, and some quality pool time.

After everyone got back and we got the kids to bed we headed out to the porch. We noticed a glorious sunset in the works...As the sun continue to set, we had a sliver of light from the west and storms all around us. We got quite the picture show; lightning but no thunder. It was a wonderful way to spend our last night. Together on the porch talking and watching a beautiful sky show.

But then, it was time for another competition!This one pitted each couple against the others. Time for the newlywed game. Let's just say many memories were taken from this game. You can't play the newlywed game (especially with your parents) without having everyone blush at some point. And did we! :o) It was fun...mom & dad won, but I guess they have just a few years advantage on all of us, huh? Early to bed, because we'd be up early in the morning packing up and heading to Santa Fe. Goodbye Taos...sure will miss this view in the morning...