We woke up but somehow I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I felt grumpy and hormonal. Everything and everyone was irritating me. We got ready and headed as a family to start our laundry. On Thomas’ search for beer the night before, he discovered a laundromat about a stones throw away from us. We exchanged our quarters and started our load. Then we all headed back to breakfast. We walked into the room and there was a cloud of smoke in the dining room. Thomas complained, but the lady working at breakfast had no idea where the smoke was coming from. We are outside. There was fresh baked bread, egg muffins, sausage, yogurt, fresh oj, cheese and she made us our own pot of decaf coffee. The sun was shining down on us in the beautiful courtyard and Charlie was busy peeling eggs. We had a nice brekkie then headed back to the laundromat to figure out which clothes would be dried and which ones we needed to hang up. We started the dryer. I stayed at the laundromat and filled out a quiz we needed to do to reduce the payment on one of our medical bills. It made me sad because I was already feeling sad and then it made me think of Calypsa and by the time Thomas and Charlie came back to the laundromat, I was in tears. Charlie had no idea how to react to mama crying. He seemed worried, bless his heart. I just told him mama needs a hug baby. Thomas had the job of Macgyver-ing a way to hang up all our clothes in the room. He cleverly took the belt of a bathrobe and strung it up between two chairs to create a cord to hang clothes. I was impressed. Then we headed out to Taos ski valley. It was about a 30 minute drive from town. The drive was beautiful along a river going higher up in altitude. We arrived at the top and started slowly walking through the town when we saw a wedding procession happening. We tried to sit on a bench and watch it but Charlie made too much noise and we were literally asked to leave. That didn’t add to my great mood. After the wedding we found a small playground with a soccer ball that Thomas played with Charlie while I picked up coffees for us. Thomas and Charlie were playing with rings and with the ball and Charlie was giggling and laughing. I sat in a chair nearby and just watched. Eventually we slowly wandered down a gravel path by the river and walked back to our car. It’s a cute little ski town up there with fresh mountain air. Obviously it made me think of Switzerland.
We headed back to town and decided to go check out a furniture sale and some wedding rings. (We still don’t have rings). We found a beautiful set and I took a picture so we could possibly duplicate someday. After looking at rings, we drove to the burger spot we were planning on meeting our friends. Thomas had met this guy in Wichita last year at the office and they played frisbee golf together and they also had a son around Charlie’s age. Her name was Lauren and the son’s name was Hayden and Thomas’ friend’s name was Derrick. They showed up and we chatted and chatted about our sons, their big move here to Taos. It was interesting to have the insider’s insight to really living here: the lack of medical services and any services in general. Everything seemed so back country and old school when they were telling us about the reality of living here. It was a beautifully preserved town but somehow lacked the modern day conveniences. We ordered sweet potato fries and burgers/chicken sandwiches with lots of tasty sauces. Corn dogs for the boys who after “eating” started to play together which was really sweet. We chatted about everything. It was really interesting to hear their stories and exchange tips etc raising two boys. Then we decided to go hit the playground until the “monsoon” came. We drove their and the two had so much fun playing on the equipment and swings. I think Charlie’s highlight is if we go to the playground, doesn’t matter what town or where he just loves the playground. Suddenly the sky darkened and the raindrops started. We had to run to the car to avoid getting soaked. They had invited us over to see their house. I followed them in the pouring rain. When we arrived, I saw their house backed up to a fast moving creek/river. Their house was enormous. It immediately opened up into a huge kitchen/dining room. Through a curved doorway, there was the den with a big tv and extra guest room. They actually had 6 bedrooms. Crazy! She had some maternity clothes and clothes for the baby and Charlie to give me. We continued to chat til it was close to the boys bedtimes and then we headed out. We didn’t live too far away from them so it was a super short drive home. We got Charlie showered with me and put him into bed.
