The Trunk That Bought Us 5 Extra New Mexican Hours

On the final day of our trip, we planned to take the kids swimming (hadn't the night before, but it's what they live for), throw them in the car, grab Subway breakfast sandwiches, and drive on to our homestead. Swimming, check, in car, check, shut the trunk . . . um, no can do. We'd been having a hard time opening the thing for a long time now, and I've done all sorts of things to avoid using it. On a trip, though, it has to be done. And suddenly, right there in Farmington, New Mexico, the trunk refused to work one more second. So . . . plan B suddenly hatched. Luggage back into the hotel, Em with kids to Village Inn (right next door), and Gare figuring out how to get it repaired. After finding many places all full ("We can get you in July 16," one said. Which was two weeks from then.), Midas definitely had the touch. Gary drove there slowly with the trunk open while I walked with the kids to a park.

As any good stroll should have, there was a wall to walk on.

Splash pad! Yeah, they were wearing their clothes. But it was darn hot, and  we were stuck. So, why not?

My kids are the less-diverse ones.

Look what Andrew found in his shoes!

From my view sitting with Lissy under a tree, I saw Andrew making friends . . .

. . . Josh and Noah sifting through the sand endlessly . . .

 . . . and Lissy getting excited.

 They had a sand-creation pow-wow . . .

 . . . and they all got pretty sun-soaked.

When Gary showed up at the park with our newly-fixed trunk, the kids were little sand-sculptures, but ready travel. Man, that trunk opens like a dream come true now. So, at the early hour of 4 p.m. we pulled out of Farmington. Didn't expect to spend so much time there, but it was relaxing, and did I mention the ease of use on the trunk? So, with only one stop in Moab for dinner, we pulled into our driveway late that night. Big road trip 2012 was over. Oh, I didn't mention Texico, New Mexico. My kids love, love saying that. What a life. The End.

Birthday Bash and the Unknown Tradition

Update from July 30:

We are watching the Olympics, of course (cuz I've been obsessed with it since I was 4 and wanted to be Mary Lou). Andrew was very excited to see the "diving board kids." I am inspired to get my kids started in Olympic sports so that I get get a trip there. Either that, or I will be the one Visa card user to win trips for life. Options. Andrew is showing some amazing copycat tumbling skills right now . . . Every night during the Olympics Andrew would try to show Gary and me how he could do whatever the Olympians were doing, too. Impressive boy.

The name of the game is recovery now, since I may actually get a shot at unpacking from all of our great adventures. This last one was going to St. George for Gary's mom's big birthday bash. We got there just before midnight on Friday, and of course stayed up until 2 catching up with people. On Saturday Gary and siblings cleaned the garage and did yard work as part of the gift while the baby-mamas (and Ted) took the kids swimming at the neighbors' pool. You should have seen those boys, holy cow. Ethan, Christian, Michael, Scott, and Josh played for hours, jumping off the side of the pool over and over and over again. All of the kids had a blast splashing around, even Lissy. 

That night we had a birthday dinner and dessert, then kids to bed and present time. For the other part of the present we are having someone do some family history for Gary's mom. She's excited, and so are we. After that each kid had their shot at telling memories about their mom. Some were touching tear-jerkers, and many others were hysterical. Plus, everyone had to make comments and feed off of everyone else, and we were all busting a major gut. It was a happy time. I think we got to bed at 3 that night. Whew. We got home late last night, and today I fell asleep with my face down on the table after eating lunch. Also, I took a million pictures of the weekend, but not with my camera, so those are on the "someday" list.

Did anyone do anything fun for pioneer day? We did some cleaning, Gary in the garage and me chipping away (literally) at the hard water stuff in the bathtub. We wanted to do something fun after that, and Gary said his family's tradition was to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. Okay. 8th Pioneer Day with Gary, and I did not know this. So, we ate KFC (and KGC) at the park. We followed that up with base/tee ball. We have some sluggers around here. We talked about how the pioneers also may have had chicken and corn, so that was a definite connection. The boys had questions about it, at least.

And that's the week. Well, except that Cindy and I were pretty sure we had West Nile. Except maybe it's a freaky problem my mom has had. I woke up on Thursday with the world spinning round and round. I really could not even walk, and had to have Noah feed Lissy. Throwing up was involved. Bleh. So, Thursday was good. Ah, I need a high note - we planted pumpkins and made mint brownies and both are fantastic!

Adios, Tejas

Sadly, we did have to end our Texas vacation, no matter how much fun we were having. I even woke up early enough to go running before it was deathly hot, and it was amazing - I ran twice as far in the same amount of time. A good note to depart on. But not before we did a few things . . .

Katie fed Lissy peaches. Yes, with an s at the end. She devoured them.

These boys' dreams of going to the drive-in came true. We have one near our house, are  never able to go. Something about being at Grandma's house . . . We saw Madagascar 3. It was ok, but they loved it. Kept singing, "Apple, circus, apple, circus," all day long. (If you've seen the movie, you know it's afro, not apple. They cannot grasp this, it's cute.)

Lily and Katie came, too.

As did we all . . .

So, we kissed and hugged everyone and stayed up late playing games, and headed out. On our first night driving in the homeward direction, we stopped in Lubbock. It's on the way, but mostly we stopped there because Hannah lives there!!! She prepared us a lovely pizza meal, and the boys all sat on a bench and giggled in delight of Hannah's presence as they ate. She even took them out back to see her alley, which is a magical-mysterious thing we do not have. Gary took these pictures of that adventure.

They found feathers, and had to examine them closely.

Lest they forget how awesome it was to seriate them . . .

What, Hannah and Lissy in a swimming pool? Yeah, that's right, she came swimming with us at the hotel!

We stayed until we got kicked out . . . sounds extreme, but it was less than an hour. But we are extreme.

On the way out of Lubbock, we had to stop by the house we lived in when I was little. Good, good memories. The trim was a different color, and there was a garage, but here it is. My parents (and all of the neighbors) kept the lawn a lot nicer and had a cute little flower bed out front, but such is the way with neighborhoods, they tend to get a little more rundown as time goes on. It was so fun to see it, and the things I remembered - Target nearby and 7 Eleven on the corner, are still there.

The kids had a grand time at every hotel we stayed at jumping on the beds, and back and forth between them. They would comment on which beds were the best for jumping (bouncier, but less comfy, I was told at one place). I remember doing that as a kid - no sense taking away one of the amazing joys of travel-life. The kids also loved the continental breakfasts. Um, hello, as much juice as they wanted . . . The one in Lubbock had waffles shaped like Texas, which added much to our enjoyment.Here's a little snippet of the bed-jumping party in Farmington, New Mexico.

Many (Air Conditioned) Adventures

The plan was the zoo, and I am not one to want to over-ride fun sounding plans. However, my wise husband said he wouldn't go to the zoo in that Texas summer heat and humidity. Despite my dad "reading on Tripadvisor" that only curmudgeons don't want to go to the zoo, Gary chuckled his soft chuckle, and we discovered the Dr Pepper museum and the Baylor Science Museum, which has a HUGE section for kids. As my sis Kayla and I were walking from the parking lot to the museum with beads of sweat rolling down our backs from that small exertion, we were very glad to have chosen the museum path. And when we saw how fun it was for the kids and for us big people, we were super glad. This place was huge, we didn't get through the whole thing at all in the over 2 hours we were there. I had a grand time, and also the kids apparently enjoyed themselves. Take a look . . .

Air conditioning here we come . . . look at Josh all tiny in the doorway.

The thing about children's museums, is I always want to take a picture of everything. Their dreams are coming true every minute, so . . .I mean, driving a convertible in a police shirt? Go Noah.

Lily mentioned driving as a highlight of hers.

All drivers were excited . . . he was definitely saving the day.

When I saw this I said, "Are you kidding me? Illegal cuteness."

Kayla was having fun, trust me.

Josh's lounge position is what gets me here. 

Oh, yeah, Kayla and I are going for a convertible ride in space, driven by Noah!

The proud driver thing never stops. Love it.

The Native American room was very cool.

Noah was saying, "I killed that and that and that . . ." I guess since he wore the costume, it made him The Man.

We got our native grooves on.

There was actually corn in there to grind with the stone. So  much work!

Exposed as a Teepee Texter!

The best was when the kids got to experiment with the various science concepts. Here Josh was excited to see that two balls could go up.

I want one of these. You can move the slats around to make the water change its course. So cool.

I want one of these, too. Hooray for being inside of a bubble!

Grandma and Josh made some cool discoveries with the bubble wall.

These two did not want to move on.

This picture wins. Such an awesome thing to do.

Yep, she was there, and was a pro the whole time. 

Kayla was surprised to be able to hear . . .

 . . . Noah, who was whispering into this metal thing on the other side of the room.

DJ's  . . .

 . . . and a Maestro. Maestra?

Andrew was pretty good at these pulleys.

This was very cool. This was a big pendulum with a pen on top to capture the way the pendulum was swinging. Josh got the thing swaying the way he wanted, then stared in rapt attention as each pattern was drawn.

It's the old time Texas ranch room. More cuteness I enjoy.

We ended our visit with a trip to the traveling exhibit about the Mayans. It was very, very, cool, but we didn't have a lot of time since it was closing. We had no idea there would be so many great things. These kiddos enjoyed the vine covered cave.

When you put your hand in here there was a blast of air. Freaky!

We were supposed to complete a scavenger hunt that would reveal the clues to the pattern that would reveal the treasure. We didn't have time for the hunt, but Josh wanted to see it. So, he sat in front trying combos until he got it. Don't know how that happened. There are a lot of combos of 4 things out of this large set. When there's a will, there's a way . . .