Nonna and Grandpa Visit - Part 2

Frank's folks came by train from Chicago to visit for the week. It was great to see them! Nonna, the girls, and I kept busy while FJ was at work making all kinds of Halloween treats. We made a Halloween gingerbread house and some candy corn cookies as well. A highlight was nonna and grandpa joining Zoe for her ballet class on Friday. She loved to have them there and grandpa especially loved seeing his little ballerina in action. We also celebrated FJ's birthday, Frank and his dad got to the Corrales winery, and we took a short trip to Santa Fe. They were also here for Jenna's big move into a toddler bed. She did great, and to our relief never once climbed out during naptime or bedtime! We were happy to visit with some of Frank's cousins the last weekend his folks were in town. Frank's cousins were in town for the Balloon Fiesta, but unfortunately Albuquerque had some strangle weather that weekend and the entire Balloon Fiesta got cancelled for the weekend. I felt so bad for them! But we did get a wonderful visit in Saturday night. It was a great week, and the girls just loved having nonna and grandpa here! They were very sad to see them go (they keep reminding me how much they miss nonna and grandpa), but we are hoping that we can all get together again for Christmas this year.

Frank and his dad wine tasting * Nonna and Jenna at park


Storytime! * Frank's cousin Linda and the girls


Us and the cousins


Bye grandpa!

Nonna and Grandpa Visit - Part 1, the Balloon Fiesta

Every October Albuquerque hosts the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Ballooners come from all over the world to take part in the huge event. We were lucky to share this year's balloon fiesta with Frank's folks who came to visit for the week. On Saturday morning we got up super early to see the mass ascension. About 700 balloons took off as the sun rose. It was amazing! On Thursday night, we all went to what they call the Glowdeo. As the sun sets, the balloons fill up and light up the night sky. Thursday was the special shapes night, so we saw all kinds of crazy shapes including a strawberry, scarecrow, chicken, pig, and a bumblebee to name a few. After that the fireworks went off. It was quite a night! The biggest ballooning surprise turned out to be that our house was the landing site for a balloon on Thursday morning! Nonna saw it come right by the house, turn around, and then land in the street right in front of our house! FJ even got a picture with the ballooning crew! They deflated and wrapped up the balloon right there on our street. It was quite the sight for nonna, grandpa, FJ, and the dogs. However, the girls and I missed it since they landed about 5 minutes after I left to take the girls to school and then they left the house about 5 minutes before I got home. Bummer!

The mass ascension:

The Glowdeo:


The balloon landing at our house: