Springtime in New Mexico

It's been awhile since we updated this, so I'll try to fill everyone in on what's been going on in our lives for the past several months. We left NM in early January to attend the birth of Isabella in Virginia Beach. Although the due date was late January, Jenny was feeling contractions and that the birth might come sooner. We had a great road trip from NM to VA... three nights on the road through Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South and North Carolina... a part of the country neither Annie or I had seen before. A cold front chased us east, but the only weather we encountered was a little ice on the road near Atlanta which slowed traffic to a crawl for several hours.

We got to VA and waited for Isabella's arrival. She finally came on January 31, following a snow storm that had us all worried about the drive to the hospital. We made the drive at 6 in the morning with very little traffic. Isabella had some breathing problems early on. She couldn't quite figure out how to swallow when she had a little reflux and stopped breathing a couple of times. That all straightened out in a couple of days and she's fine now. A beautiful addition to our family.

After welcoming Bella, we waited for the storms to abate in Maryland and snuck up the coast between two major blizzards. Had a great visit with Lucas and his family. Tristan and Brooke both had the entire week off due to the snow. There was a total of almost 4 feet of snow within a week. The roads in Maryland were not too bad, however. Because of the weird winter weather throughout the central part of the country, we decided to take the most southerly route possible on our way back to New Mexico. We stopped for another couple of days in Virginia, then headed south to Florida, where we stopped to see our friends Perry and Cynthia. Perry was in Maine, working on a house he's building in Bridgton, so we decided to kidnap Cynthia and bring her to New Mexico with us. While in Florida, I spent one afternoon kayaking on the inland waterway watching a fellow named Lars try to catch redfish. I didn't even take a pole and caught just as many as he did.

We had a great drive back across the swamps of Florida and along the Redneck Riviera, then along route 10 and home. The crappy weather followed us. We had snow, sleet and freezing rain from San Antonio almost all the way to El Paso. Had a great time showing Cynthia around Truth or Consequences. We had some great drives, including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2hWLpaQss

Just one more picture, before I sign off for now. Brooke painted this visor for her Grannie while we were visiting. It's quite stylish and she wears it everywhere.