Beautiful little momma Jenny with our precious miracle baby. Look how much Mario has grown since he was a tiny preemie four months ago!
Grandpa Mike holding baby Mario. Wish we had his gorgeous olive brown skin!
March 11, 2008: Cathy Lemmon and her family during their spring break visit to Albuquerque! Here we're eating at Seferino's New Mexican Restaurant.
The Lemmon family (including Chris, Jennifer, and Abraham Loch, plus Racquel, Cathy, Howard, and Evan) and Jacqueline Babbitt with son, Jack. Here we're at the Albuquerque Aquarium downtown. The boys LOVED running around the Aquarium and checking out all the colorful fish!
Evan and Racquel Lemmon goofing around at the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens across from the Aquarium. This is at one of the children's areas.
Howard, Racquel, Jennifer, and Abraham soaking up some sun and feeding the ducks at the Botanical Gardens. The boys LOVED the ducks, and the rest of us were just tired from staying up late and walking all day.
My little sister, Jacqueline Babbitt, with son Jack at the Botanical Gardens duck pond. Jack just wanted to run into the water and play with the duckies!
Racquel Lemmon and Jack Babbitt feed the ducks together. Racquel was everyone's favorite babysitter during the Lemmon's visit! She will be an awesome mommy one day.
Jacqueline and Jack near the pond. Check out Jacqueline's growing waistline--she's expecting baby boy #2 in August! She's also the "most fit" mommy I've ever known--you're an inspiration Jacquie :-).
March 17, 2008: The day after our company left, Mike, Sam, and I headed for Arizona and the Grand Canyon after staying up late packing, cleaning, and doing laundry! Look at the photos, and you know where they came up with the name : The GRAND CANYON!
March 18, 2008: In this photo, Mike and I are hiking down Bright Angel Trail from the top of the rim without backpacks. We had set up camp at the top the night before. This morning, the three of us enjoyed a hot breakfast at a cafe before starting our hike down. Notice how excited and refreshed we look in the beginning...
March 19, 2008: We finally got our permits to camp down in the canyon, so we packed up our tent and began the long hike into the canyon with our backpacks on. Notice the mules behind Sam. I certainly felt like a pack mule after my first backpacking experience! We spent 9-10 hours hiking down and across the canyon to reach the Cottonwood Campground. Sam was the toughest one of all, and he and Mike were true Eagle Scouts all the way.
Here, Sam attempts to scale a dangerous rock wall--just kidding! This is a small opening on one of the trails, which gave us a little relief/shade from the hot sun.
Sam rests for a pose for his camera. We were glad he brought it! He took over 500 photos before the battery died.
A nice tourist stopped to take our picture for us. Can you see PAIN written all over my face yet? I didn't realize how unbalanced I would feel wearing a backpack, nor the pain I would soon endure in my feet and legs!
Our Grand Canyon experience was grueling but gorgeous at the same time. Just look at the colors and varied heights of the canyon!
We also saw some beautiful flowers here and there along the trails:
March 20, 2008: Mike filters water from a stream near our camp to prepare us for more hiking.
Some of the wildlife we saw while down in the canyon were : Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (pictured here), deer, squirrels, a condor perched on a cliff, and hawks soaring above the canyon.
Check out some of the trails and the Colorado River seen from above.
We crossed a few suspension bridges over the river too. Mike called them "monkey bridges."
This is Mike at Lower Ribbon Falls. The falls are covered with moss, but the water was a refreshing sight after a scorching day in the sun.
This is Upper Ribbon Falls. Mike and Sam hiked up to the upper part while I rested at the lower end.
Why, there's my monkey on another bridge!
We found another source of water coming out of the mountainside. This one is called Roaring Springs.
On our final day in the canyon, we arose early in the morning to begin our long and arduous hike back to civilization above the rim. Look how tiny the moon looks behind Mike He looks thrilled to be heading back home this morning!
Good-bye beautiful Grand Canyon! It's been a wonderful and unforgettable experience for all of us.
March 27, 2008: Mike and Celestine celebrate their 27th Wedding Anniversary one day early. We just finished eating tasty fish dinners at Red Lobster. We got the gift card from Sherry Carver, my step-sister in Tennessee for Christmas. Thanks Sherry!
March 28, 2008: Mario Michael Hobbs at 5 months old, sitting in his little Bumbo chair (the Bumbo was one of the baby gifts given to Mario by Nancy Upshaw, Celestine's boss and friend).
My close and special friend, Marie Sorensen, puts Mario to sleep with her magical grandmothering skills. We love you Marie!
6 comments:
Wow, I think you broke the record with an amazing 4 months between posts! ;) Nice work with your first blog posting, mom! Keep it up!
I love the updates! Little Mario is getting so big.
Whoa! That was alot of pictures at once and fun to look at too. Looks like things are fine your way. The family looks great. Say "hi" to the Sorensens and the the kids.
Great posting, and thanks for catching us up.
Can you believe this was Celestine's first backpack ever! She failed to mention that we hiked over 50 miles in four days. The cottonwood campground is about 17 miles from the rim, which we hiked to in one day! We also had to hike out in one day, that is why we left at 4 am Albuquerque time (3 am Arizona time)!
Oh my goodness--I am in LOVE with Mario! I need one of those! He is getting so big :)
Are you baby hungry?
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