Santa Fe for Michael's Birthday

On Friday afternoon, I picked up the kids early from their respective schools, drove to the Denver airport, picked up Michael (he'd worked all week in South Carolina) and drove straight down I25 to Santa Fe. We did the trip in six hours which was amazing.
We got to the Hotel la Fonda around 7:30pm, and checked out our amazing suite. (a birthday present for Michael from mom!) The kids settled in and Michael and I went downstairs to meet mom and Paul at the bar. We had food and margaritas and even danced a round to a band from Tennessee before heading up to bed.
Saturday was Michael's birthday. We gave him a present (Rivals of Catan card game for 2) and gifts and then went down to the restaurant for a lovely breakfast with Mom and Paul. Then we drove out to Meow Wolf! Meow Wolf was absolutely incredible and even more fun than I thought it would be. Michael and the boys explored the space and I took my time, investigating clues. After about two hours, we left to go meet Marcie and Amelia for lunch. This was the right amount of time for the kids at Meow Wolf, but the rest of us agreed we could have spent much more time exploring. We have to go back!
We ate lunch at Jinja with Marcie and enjoyed catching up and all sang to Michael with his birthday cake. We drove back to the hotel and grabbed the kids' backpacks and then Marcie took them away back to Espanola for a sleepover with their cousins. Woohoo!
Michael and I strolled around the plaza with Mom and Paul, stopping in our favorite olive oil/vinegar store to buy some lovely white vinegars to flavor my soda stream waters. Then we went back to the hotel rooftop bar for wine and the view. The weather was perfect and the wine was cold and the company was good.
After libations, we scurried down to our rooms for quick showers and gussying before dinner and the opera! We ate an early dinner at Maize, which was divine. Delicious food and elegant New Mexican decor. Then we drove out to the Santa Fe Opera to see Candide, which was Paul's birthday present for Michael. We enjoyed the views and had more wine and then settled down under the protective roof (which was good as it was raining) to watch the opera. It was an incredible setting and the talent was amazing. It was a very special evening and we felt so blessed and lucky to be there.
We got home around midnight and went right to sleep. We woke up the next morning and packed and said good-bye before driving up to Espanola to grab the kids and have a short visit with Marcie and Ann and the kids. Then we got back on the road to drive home to Denver so Michael could do his laundry, re-pack and sleep in his bed before heading back out to the airport on Monday morning.
It was such a fun birthday weekend. We had such a good time!