Albuquerque!

First, a flashback. This is Abbey and her friend Sophia, when they were 2 years old.


We lived next door to Sophia's family when we first moved to Japan in 2005. Here I am with Abbey on the left; Sophia and her mom, Jordan, are in the middle. I know this is a terrible picture but look how little and cute the girls were!



Less than a year after we moved in next door to them, Jordan and Sophia moved to New Mexico. I hated to say good-bye to Jordan and I was sad for Abbey. For weeks she would ask "Where Fia go?" every time we walked out the front door. Of course Abbey and Sophia mostly forgot about each other, and Jordan and I kept in touch through e-mail, so we all survived. ;0)

Fast forward four years. Since we live "only" 800 miles apart, we have been saying we need to get together. Now that Jordan's family is about to move again, it was time. It worked out that Chad's band would be playing in Albuquerque when Abbey had a four day weekend from school, so off we went! I had not been on a plane with the girls since arriving in Texas two years ago, but they were good travelers.

Eating snacks by the big window so we could watch the planes before boarding.

When we got to Albuquerque (ABQ) the girls were all excited to see each other and immediately start working together to make huge toy messes. Since we last saw each other, Jordan and I have each had another baby- Tessa is one month younger than Elliott.

The next day we took the girls to the ABQ Balloon Fiesta to see the hot air balloons and hear Chad's band perform.

Elliott and Tessa hang out on the stroller. I wonder if anyone thought they were twins.


Future astronauts Abbey and Sophia.

Chad waves 'hello' from the stage.

Everything is more fun with Daddy/Mr. Chad around!

I will share pictures of the hot air balloons in a different post. It was really cool! But on to the rest of our time with our friends. We gave the girls lots of time to just play at the house and playground together, but also had to get out of the house some! We visited the local Botanic Garden. It was a beautiful day and in between driving each other and their mothers crazy, the girls had fun.

It's hard to get a good picture of all of them, but they really are cute!

Soon it was time to say good-bye. The girls did well on the trip home too. Abbey was so proud to wheel around our carry-on bag, and Elliott, well, Elliott did not get lost. We had a layover this time so I made use of the portable DVD player. Even with headphones, Elliott felt the need to "interact" with Dora. I think all of the passengers waiting in terminal A of the El Paso airport now know about The Map and Swiper-no-swiping.

It was a great trip. I am thankful to have a friend like Jordan who experiences so many of the same things with having two little girls, and who keeps in touch! I was kicking myself for not going to visit them sooner, since they will now be living on another continent. But judging from this trip, the next time we see them, we will pick up right where we left off. Thanks again Jordan, Chuck, Sophia and Tessa for having us.