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Grandpa and Grandma Driscoll Visit

My parents drove down last week and got here Wednesday afternoon. We were sure excited to see them! We had a whole weekend of plans and couldn't wait for Olivia to spend some time with her Grandparents. As usual-she was extremely spoiled. Grandma started it off with a sack of new clothes for her-and then it kept going! (thank you!) Between my mom and I we took over 700 pictures of everything so I tried narrowing them down the best that I could. I did 2 different entries on here. For some reason it wouldn't let me save all the pix on one. And to see the 2nd half of the pictures, you may have to click on the "older posts" on the bottom. Mom and Dad left Monday afternoon and was hard to see them go-we had such a great time. Yesterday I showed Olivia they're picture on the wall and she smiled and waved at them. It was so cute!

Grandma and Grandpa with Olivia at the Balloon Fiesta. This is Thursday evening at the special shapes glodeo. There were about a hundred different balloons, including Uncle Sam from Mitchell, SD!

Pat and I just had to do it (actually it was Pat's idea!) I don't think I need to go on with a caption!

Olivia was a trooper! It was a little cold, but she did pretty good. She was more interested in trying to walk everywhere than she was in the balloons.



We finally did it! Round 3 at the Petroglyphs. We hiked the whole thing (only 2.5 miles on this trail).

We stopped to take a break. Olivia did wake up after this but surprisingly slept through some of it!

Mom and I went off the trails to explore a little. Luckily we didn't run into any rattlers!

The next few pictures are of the Balloon Fiesta on Saturday morning. We were on the field by 5:45AM. This is the first set of balloons going up-called the Dawn Patrol.

Mom and Dad in front of a just a few of the 500 balloons that went up this morning.

Pat, Olivia, and I. Olivia made it until about 8AM and then started to get too cool for her. I think she was getting us back for waking her up at 5AM and loading her in her car seat. Pat ended up taking her back to the vehicle. He is so wonderful and sat & played with her there for a couple hours so my parents and I could finish watching all the balloons and some of the wood carvings they had going on.

On Sunday we went to the McCalls Pumpkin Patch. Olivia was a little too young for most of the things, but she loved this haystack! There was so much to do here!

Olivia, Pat, and Grandpa

You had to be 2 years of age to ride on the cow train, so I rode with Olivia. (I won't post the pix of the flat tire on the other side that Pat took and found so funny!) Olivia loved ringing the cow bell!

My Dad and I in the corn maze. The bottom pix is the map we had to follow. It was quite the trip through! We took a couple few wrong turns but made our way out in about 30-40 minutes.

Grandpa and Grandma Driscoll Visit

The 5 of us before going on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. Olivia being Miss Independent, wasn't too happy that she actually had to sit still on the ride, but we managed. She loved the pumpkins but it made her more frustrated that she couldn't lift some of them!

Going back to the car with our findings. Olivia loved the wheelbarrow ride and I think caught alot of attention too!

Olivia's first time reaching in a gooey pumpkin and then Grandpa and Pat carved them.

My Dad and I went on a hot air balloon ride on Monday-the first time for both of us! We were supposed to have done it Sunday morning but it was cancelled due to winds. Our pilot Monday told us we had the best day of riding than any other day of the Fiesta. It was worth the wait then! Here Pat and Dad are helping with 'inflating' the balloon.

My Dad and I right before take off. It was a beautiful morning!

Off the ground!

My Dad brought with him a piece of my Grandpa Driscoll's parachute from the 101st Airborne in WW2. It was very touching to have it and wave in the air as we lifted off.

The view of some of the city and Santa Fe Mts to the North. We reached elevations of about 1500 feet. It was so peaceful and recommend the ride to everyone!

Folding up the balloon after we landed out in the mesa. We had the perfect landing!

The company Sweet Escape Balloning that we went through does a champagne/mimosa toast at the end of the ride. Cheers Pops! Next time we'll (try to) get Mom up there!

Our pilot Mark and wife Robin after the ride. It was just the four of us in the basket, which was just right. The other balloon that went up just before us had 10 passengers.

Round 2 at the Petroglyphs

Yesterday we went back to the Petroglyph National Monument again to hike the trails. We decided to go in the afternoon. I guess it would have been nice to know when we got there at 4:00 that the gates close at 5. Just our luck. We're thinking third time's a charm when my parents get here this week that maybe we'll try it again and be able to finish the whole loop. We did have a great time though in the 45 minutes we hiked. Olivia just loves the outdoors and really seems to like her backpack. I carried her for a little while-it was so cute to feel her little fingers either picking at the mole on my back (I know-gross), try to pull my sunglasses off, or pull my ponytail out.

A few of the Petroglyphs we saw carved into the rocks. There are believed to be about 25,000 of them along the 17 mile stretch and date back from 1300 to the late 1680s.