Albuquerque--final stop of our big trip

The Residence Inn was nice, and the kids were happy with the breakfast and the pool (no surprise).  I liked it because it was like a small apartment, with a separate master bedroom!  Most of the kids were upstairs in a loft-like room, with their own bathroom, and a few slept downstairs on the sleeper sofa in the "living room."

After packing up, we drove to the Albuquerque Balloon Museum for one last field trip before catching our flight home.

not my photo

We were there one week before the big Balloon Festival, so there weren't many people (yet) but we could still feel the excitement.

Unfortunately...as we were walking in, Sedric decided to play with the ants he saw marching on the sidewalk.  The reddish color of these plump ants was too hard to resist--he picked one up to smoosh it, and the ant bit (stung?) him instead!  We found out right away that he was playing with fire ants, not the cute little black ants we have at home.  He CRIED and CRIED and then CRIED some more.  It was horrible.

Trying to calm him down

I like how Baby is peeking around the stroller.

If you know Sedric...you know that he can get worked up pretty easily.  He is also very stubborn.  So he stubbornly decided to stay worked up about this ant bite.  I know, I know, I should have more sympathy.  Fire ant stings are apparently horrible!!  But he would NOT stop crying (screaming).  It was awful for all of us.

I stayed back with Sedric in the stroller
while the rest of the group got a little tour.

This was the observation deck for the festival.  Notice Sedric
is still crying.

not my photo, but is shows what would be going on the next week

again, not my photo

This trip was special for Mariposa, since her
AG doll Saige is from Albuquerque!

Sedric is still in the stroller and probably still crying.

Happy family (except Sedric)

And that was the end of our adventure.  We drove straight to the airport to return our van and catch our flight back home.  Sedric was STILL CRYING and miserable and we were dreading how bad the flight might be with a screaming pre-schooler.

Hustling to catch our flight--I had Baby in the sling and Sedric
in the stroller

But we made it!  It wasn't that bad, we just had to keep being really nice to him.  Which was hard, but we made it through.

Home at last

This big adventure was fantastic, with the best part being the wedding of course! and the second best aspect just being time spent together in new places.  I'm happy with all the education that we snuck in ;o) and I'm hoping we can plan another big trip sometime soon!