Fall Break!

The Gallup McKinley Schools hasn't had a Fall Break for the past many years, but we had one this year!  We had Thursday and Friday off from school, and it really was a welcome break!  Susan's break was at the same time, and Dad took those days off to clean out his system for his colonoscopy, and to get his colonoscopy.  On Thursday, we had a fairly quiet day at home, and we all tinkered around on our own projects.  I needed a day like that.  We all did.  On Friday, Dad got his colonoscopy first thing in the morning, and then after he'd recovered a bit from the anesthesia, we took off for Albuquerque.  We took Grandpa out to dinner that night, and then spent the rest of the evening in and around our hotel.

On Saturday, we went to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  I realized the week before when we watched the Mass Ascension on television before General Conference, that Susan had never been to that before.  She's been to the Gallup Balloon Rally, but not a world-known event that is practically on her own doorstep.  It was definitely time.

We made the Halloween Window.  I was outside in the dark on the front porch taking pictures of it when Dad stuck his face in the picture.  I didn't see him sneak in because it was dark in the green room, so when the flash went off, I screamed.  It took me totally by surprise.

Susan did the same thing.  Again, I screamed when I saw her there when the flash went off.

We had an abundant crop of jalapenos this year, so we made a couple of batches of jalapeno jelly, which we discovered we really enjoy.

Susan is an avid sewing hater, but we found some cute fabric with the Avengers on it, so she decided to make herself a pair of Avengers pajama bottoms.  Hawkeye is her favorite Avenger, so she chose this particular fabric, even though there were others she thought were cuter, because it was the only one that had Hawkeye on it. 

Our Kabocha harvest.  They aren't very big this year, but they sure are tasty!

Susan in her Avenger jammies.  (The sad irony to this whole story is that after she finished her pajama bottoms, she found that she didn't get any whole pictures of Hawkeye on them anywhere.)

Dad waiting to get his colonoscopy.  The doctor found a polyp, so he removed it, and it will get biopsied.

We went to Albuquerque and took Grandpa out to dinner.  I forgot to take a picture of him.  We went to our hotel, and decided to walk over to the cemetery to visit Grandma's grave.  Her headstone was all covered with dirt from a gopher hole, so we cleaned it the best we could without rags or cleaners.

 

On the way back to the hotel, we found some prickly pears that had huge fruit on them compared to the fruit on Gallup prickly pears, so we hunted around, found a box, and harvested a few fruit to make jelly.

Prickly pear fruit has lots and lots of little teeny pokey spines in it, so we had to use cardboard to pluck the fruit off.

 

We got arepas and breakfast burritos for breakfast at the Balloon Park.

There was a little surface wind that morning, so not all of the balloons went up.

Even though not all the balloons went up, there were still hundreds that did.

This one was my personal favorite.  You cant see it, but there is a Zia Sun symbol on the sides.

I finally finished this quilt I have been working on for quite awhile...  Just in time.  Quilt Club is tonight!