Day 10

Today promised to be a better day and it was. We set a Joachim record by being fed, showered, dressed, lunches made and out the door by 10:30am. Our plan was to take advantage of the cool front (only 80 degrees...and for one minute it reaches 79 degrees) and visit Hermann Park. We had good information that there was a train circled the park and we thought the kids might enjoy it.

We boarded the train at the main station and rode it about half way around the park to the play ground. Like most parks in Houston, it put everything to shame in Humboldt. There was a toddler playground, preschooler playground and a older kid/handicap playground. Oh...and the water playground. We explored them all except the water one (remember the cool front...) and the kids really got expend some energy.

We decided to not ride the train back and instead walk back past the lake with the ducks. We sat on a bench overlooking the lake and ate PB&J. Before we knew it the ducks started approaching us...and before Olivia knew it a big black duck walked up and snatched her sandwich out of her hands!
We then used up half a loaf of bread that was just for them. The kids had lots of fun, but I think Nathan had the best time. Nathan is our lover of all things living. I can't tell you how many dried up worms have gone threw washing machine. Today he was the duck whisperer. They gathered around him more than the other two and he evenly divided up his bread between all the birds.

The entire time at the duck pond it was raining and slightly breezy, and after about 30 minutes we walked back to the car to go for a drive around old neighborhoods of Houston.

After a few more errands we head home and cousin Rachel came over with Bentley the dog. The kids immediately pounced on her to play the game Sorry. Eli was her partner, while she played against Olivia and Nathan.
Later, Uncle Ira and Aunt Sharon joined us for a yummy Chinese dinner. After such a long day and good meal the kids were exhausted...

Day 9

Today was our lazy day. By 1:30 we managed to leave the house. We didn't have a plan, but we needed to go somewhere. As we drove by the neighborhood park and pool, I thought it was closed. But as we drove around the corner, I realized there was no one there. So we drove back to the house and I ran in to grab our suits.

The pool was free which was a nice surprise. We changed and headed over to the water fountains for the kids to get wet...



Next we headed over to the main pool. The main pool had a double water slide that Olivia and Nathan were both eyeing. We found out that in order to ride the slide you needed to pass a swimming test. So we explained to Nathan that he could try again next year and Grandma took Olivia to swim her test. All you had to do we swim across the 9ft deep part of the pool. Apparently Olivia hasn't mastered swimming in a straight line, since she swam the pool diagonally and ended up swimming almost twice the distance.
She was definitely nervous about going down the slide, but after one trip down she was hooked!

After about 15 times down the slide, Olivia came and joined the boys and I in the shallow end. Nathan had spent a lot of time perfecting his back float and decided to show me how well he could swim on his stomach. He pushed off from my legs and swam to the edge of the pool. He did great, but swallowed too much pool water. When he came up he was choking and spitting water. That led to throwing up..in the pool. Olivia ran and got a lifeguard who blew his whistle and yelled "everyone out...pool is closed". Then after trying to scoop out the mess, they declared that they would have to siphon out the water and clean. Yikes...we left in a hurry!

We got home for some rest time and everything seemed to be going smoother. Olivia as singing songs with Grandma when she got a strange look on her face. She said..."I think I am going to be sick..." and ran to the bathroom. Repeat this scenario by 4 times and that is how we spent our evening. She couldn't keep any liquids down and eventually fell asleep. No fever...I think all the swimming and hot sun got to her.
Speaking of sun, the sun became a thing of yesterday...
I am not a expert on hurricanes, but I can guess that all the dark clouds, thunder and rain for the next 2 days is the result of Alex. No worries Mom! Ira made sure we all got gas for our cars and extra water, although I am confident we aren't going to even closely need it.

Day 8

Morning started off by Eli exclaiming that today was going to be a "sunny day" with no rain. Poor Humboldt boy...he knows that it rains in the summer there. However, while it did start out a sunny day, it quickly grew dark, rained, thundered lots and rained some more...most of the day. The difference is that it was still 95 degrees and all the rain quickly became steam. The stickiness was a bit overwhelming today.

After the kids devoured a box of strawberry Special K, we started to get cleaned up for the day. Olivia had a date with cousin Rachel to get a mani/pedi and go out to lunch. The boys went with me and Grandma to drop off the disgusting car, get ice cream and go to the grocery store. The boys got a kick out of choosing their ice cream and topping and then watching it get mixed together. After ice cream we came home to relax. Nathan challenged Grandma to a game of Sorry...

He won and was very proud of himself. I don't think that has ever happened before... :-)

Olivia and Rachel returned in the afternoon all spruced up...

They also visited a chocolate store where they bought treats to share. Olivia is pretty enamoured with her big cousin.

I asked Rachel if she would then drive me to pick up my car. I figured I should call first. I googled the name of the shop with the street name and city/state. I got 2 results and called the first one. When I asked if my black Chevy Tahoe was ready, they said "hold on..." and transferred me to another person. I asked the 2nd person again if my black Chevy Tahoe was ready. This person also said "hold on...". Again I asked a 3rd person about my car. She said "you know that you called the Taco Cabana...a restaurant...not The Cabana". Now why did it take 3 people to tell me that?

My car is again beautiful and clean. I am so used to having limited options at home. Here there are so many options and very competitive prices, that I am going to look into getting a few other things done while I have the chance.

Tonight I made chicken enchiladas with the New Mexican chili powder we got in Albuquerque. Mom...I did you proud. They were a hit. I also made Spanish rice and a salad. For the kids I heated up some black beans to go on the rice and called it dinner.

On our list of things to do this week include a day of swimming, go to the Childrens Museum and ride the train in the park. Not sure which of these is on the agenda for tomorrow.

Day 7

Today was the final push. After a fun night with cousin Andrew, we had a nice breakfast, threw on some clothes, played a few minutes of Wii and hopped in the car. We left at 11:20 and were at Anne's house by 2:50. Not bad with only 1 stop...a new record in our book!

First on the agenda was emptying the car and removing the car seats. No one could imagine a car so filthy. I removed the car seats, took apart the car seats, washed the car seat covers and power washed the car seat shells. They were gross! Tomorrow I am taking my car in for a professional vacuum job...trying to restore it to somewhat tolerable.

Next came some water fun. The kids were hot and tired of being still. Grandma Anne had a really fun sprinkler the cooled the kids of quickly. I say she had a fun sprinkler, because after a few hours it was broken. But we won't name names!

For dinner we ate with Uncle Ira, Aunt Sharon and cousin Rachel. We had a full table with the 8 of us. Grandma made Greek chicken, roasted potatoes, cauliflower casserole and salad. Cousin Rachel brought a variety of the best cupcakes to share. Red velvet, coconut, strawberry and key lime were my favorites.

Tomorrow Olivia is going for a pedicure with cousin Rachel, while the boys and Grandma and I figure out some menus and do some grocery shopping. It's going to be a busy and fun couple of weeks!

Finally, here is a map of our route...all 7 days, 2325 miles and 18 bags of Goldfish brand crackers.

Houston!

Day 6

We had another morning of sleeping in since Central time takes a bit to adjust to. After another yummy Hampton Inn breakfast (home fries and Western omlet), we got on the road at 10:30. That was after of course, I had to make an emergency run to Fort Stockton's only shopping experience...Walmart. The boys were out of clean underwear and shorts. Nothing like some cheap clothes to keep you going on the road.

We made a pit stop in Ozona, Texas for gas, bathroom and visitors center...It took us only 5 hours to reach San Antonio and cousin Andrews house. We had a yummy Thai dinner and several pitchers of Mojitos. Aunt Sharon and I felt well deserving after 2, 12 hour days of driving. Tomorrow will be a short day (only 3 hours plus potty stops)) as we make the final push into Houston.

After a great dinner and chocolates (thanks Andrew!), the kids settled down for the night..

Of course, Eli didn't stay long in this sleeping arrangement. He and Andrew found a common bond...

Finally...here is the view of my bed last night while I was updating this blog..

San Antonio!!!

Day 5

Mountain time did a number on the kids and I. Sharon was up and having coffee while the rest of us snoozed. By the time we got up, showered, dressed and ate breakfast (LOVE Hampton Inns), it was 10am and Old Town Albuquerque shops started to open.

It didn't take long for the boys to be tired of window shopping, so after we bought some New Mexican chili powder and Red Chili Pistachios, the boys and I went in search of a bakery while Olivia and Aunt Sharon walked around more.

After buying some Biscochittos and other baked goods, the boys and I sat in the town square across the street from.....

After we regrouped, we got on the interstate again towards Texas. But before we could leave New Mexico, we had to make a stop and take in the sights of Roswell...

Our goal was to make it to Fort Stockton, TX. We knew it was going to be another long day in the car, but we plan on visiting cousin Andrew in San Antiono on Saturday. Just when I thought we would never leave New Mexico...

But really, the only difference between Eastern NM and Texas was that after we crossed the boarder, there began an endless view of Oil Derricks to go with the endless ribbons of highway.

To pass the time, Aunt Sharon made some phone calls to Uncle Ira and cousin Andrew. Of course Eli wanted to know who she was talking to and demanded to talk also. While talking to Andrew the conversation went something like this...



Eli: What are you doing?

Andrew: Nothing. What are you doing?

Eli: Sitting.

Eli: Mommy is still driving.

Eli: Nathan has a green game.

Eli: See you tomorrow.

Eli: Love you.



Like everything else, Eli dominates most conversations.



After a while the sun set, the full moon came up and we still had 40 miles to go. It was a long 40 minutes...but the view was pretty...






By 10pm we pulled into the hotel, had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with apples for dinner and threw the kids in bed.



Gad we are finally in the right state, even if it will take us 2 more days to get to our destination.

TEXAS! TEXAS! TEXAS!

Roswell, NM!!!

Day 4

WARNING! This post will contain more pictures than you will want to view!
I can't believe this is only Day 4. Today especially feels like 2 or 3 days wrapped into one.
Here is a run down of our day before I bombard you with pictures.
Eli wakes up at 5am and throws-up on me. Nice.
Everyone gets up at 7am and gets dressed.
Downstairs for breakfast by 8:30
Make it to the Grand Canyon airport by 10am. Flight leaves at 10:45, so I have plenty of time to take too many pictures before we have even done anything.
Helicopter company checks us in, weighs us, has us watch a safety video, fits us for personal flotation devices and gives us seat numbers.
Employees are super nice and take group pictures for us in front of our helicopter. We view them after the flight and they were awesome. Of course we had to buy them!
Flight was beyond words. We couldn't have seen anything near what we saw had we done it by car. Olivia was wowed. Eli fell asleep and Nathan was bored and about to puke.
The helicopter itself had no ventilation (seems like it would be a no brainer to have some circulation?), so it was very hot. Like his mother, Nathan has a strong gag reflex, and being too hot doesn't help. The heat in combination with the turbulence about did him in. But we survived.
After the flight, a quick stop at the grocery store for more food supplies, we got on the road to Albuquerque. Our first major town was Flagstaff. We had seen the smoke plume for quite some time (wildfire), but didn't expect to see giant, exploding flames from the road. We stopped for awhile to take it all in and capture some photos. It was overwhelming to say the least. In the 30 minutes we were there, we watched the entire fire line barrel towards us.
Between Flagstaff and Albuquerque we must have stopped at least 12 times for potty breaks. This was the reason I didn't want to potty train Eli before our trip. But honestly, it was still easier than diapers on the side of the road. Poor Aunt Sharon took almost every single potty duty today. My turn tomorrow.
Made it to Albuquerque by 8:30 to eat at a restaurant we had read about. Monica's El Portal Restaurant got good reviews online. They stopped seating tables at 8:45, so we made it just in time. Great chili (red was the best), super nice people and very family friendly. Aunt Sharon and I really needed a drink (the last 90 miles were difficult with the kids) and the food was super good.
Tomorrow is up in the air. Going to check out old town again in the morning in search of some chili and maybe some knick knacks.
Ok...time for pictures.

Ok. Because I am tired, hate Mountain time and just want to be done with this post, the pictures are in backwards order...but you get the point. Captions below each one.

New Mexico Sky

New Mexico Welcome Center

Beautiful New Mexico

More beautiful New Mexico

Arizona Sky

Fire at Flagstaff

Olivia taking it all in!

Sharon loving every mintue

Nathan feeling ill and not loving it so much

The view

The Colorado river

Our first view of the Grand Canyon

The kids excited

Me excited

Aunt Sharon excited

Eli thinks he is excited!

All geared up and ready to go!

Starting to lift off and very excited!

Pre-flight posers!

Olivia leading the way!

Lets go! We are ready!

Getting fitted with our PFD (personal flotation device)

Eli studies our aircraft

Just arriving. Taking it all in...