..texas weekend

Friday night we went home with W&K. (Max & their Son are penpals.) Helena made quite the impression with their Son. Good thing her terrorizing ways only lasted the initial day. (Well.... other than eating his crayon(s), books and plastic figurines all weekend long, but that's normal.) "this is ridiculous"-their Son. Despite all they got along very well.
And now 4:30 a.m. is the latest Papi has ever stayed up talking with people. It worked perfectly since the plan was to have a chill Saturday. That evening, there were 3 other young families and my dear cousin Sandra for dinner making it an enjoyable time.

Sunday morning was mtg, afterwards we went to the (B) family house (yet, again) for a yummy lunch and naps. They are 2 very special people I'm blessed to have in my life. And their sweet girls.

Back to W&K for the night. Much fun trying to speak only Spanish and realizing much later we had switched to English! Lots of hilarious memories made. Thank you K; who made the yummiest GF pancakes that I grubbed on all week!!

texas!

Papi started to get real sleepy shortly after getting to Texas. So we stopped at a gas station. Inside there was a lady cooking beans, her son frying eggs and sausage so we got breakfast at 4:45 a.m.! I drove for 1 1/2 hrs until my contacts started to stick. The most exciting part would be making it to a chevron! We persevered through detours, a closed gas station, frontage and one-way roads. After filling up @$3.49/gal in Sweetwater we drove on for another 1 1/2 hrs and stopped to take an hour nap!
And finally at 11:30 a.m. we arrived at Stan & Nancy's. That evening j&l and kids, s&a and kids and Clark came over and enjoyed a delicious ham dinner with us. The next day we had a fun play date.

Then a scrumptious dinner with the newlys. The darlings were in fine form.

"even though S&N don't have kids, it was fun"-Max

And her lovely barista...

On Friday, we went to the Forth Worth Stockyards with the lovely C&D'nette (B) family. They treated us to some authentic BBQ and a fun, relaxing time before sing.

And some laughs.... And homemade pecan pie but NOT the pumpkin pie!

After sing, w&k and their son, the lovely (B)family and us enjoyed some Fastaco. Imagine real beef TacoBell!

new mexico

4:30 p.m. We crossed the border and gained an hour. Lots more driving. Naps and first DVD. A pretty sunset.

Albuquerque for dinner at Chuck E. Cheese. Papi took an 1 1/2hr nap while the kiddos and Mami played. Helena was audibly terrified of Chuck when he came out to greet the kids. Of course, we were the only ones who stayed late. And immediately left when the EcoLab Man showed up, wearing a mask and spraying inside the game area!!! They didn't mind we were there with 15 minutes til closing. From the parking lot, we saw him tinkering with these little boxes outside, along the building. Oh, you know Rat Traps!! And I ate at the open salad bar!! I kept telling myself "just DON'T THINK about it...."We got gas @$3.55/gal and we hit the road.

Max & Helena fell asleep at about 11:30 p.m. with the assurance that they'd wake up in TX and nothing exciting would be happening before then.
Ha! @ 2 a.m. upon exiting I-40 in Santa Rosa, on the off ramp cross street was a semi. So as any CA driver would, we slowed down at the stop sign and courteously allowed it to pass. As we pulled in behind, on the right side on a random dirt path was a NM state police with all its lights off. Ummm yes a minute later.

Good thing it wasn't CA where everything cost an arm & a leg plus tax. $71, a reprimand for a burned out headlight and told to drive back to the Travelers Advantage and fix it.
Yes, I grew up in the ghetto but this little spot made me quite nervous. The oddest, creepy looking people just walking around smoking or sitting in parked vehicles. Until we left TA, I carried a knife everywhere. I couldn't wait to get to TX!
Not soon enough, we were on the road. And my spooked, over active imagination was acting up. What am I supposed to think....when in the vast dark flatness we see vehicle lights 2 miles behind us. And they are coming VERY rapidly. Quite the unpleasant feeling. Eyes glued on the rearview, it feels like we're stuck in place and it's gaining on us.. Such a relief when they just speed on by... I am wide awake, it is 3 a.m.!!

*and anyone with digestive issues can relate with the havoc any degree of stress can create! Running out of the car at predawn hours while your hubby is standing next to a cop getting a ticket just would not flow....
NM: 11 freight trains, 1 "super cool" coal train and teepees

On the road again

One thing this family enjoys is sleeping in. Might have something to do with keeping late nights.
But after a yummy brunch at the Red Rock Cafe and gas @3.75/gal on our way to Texas we were!

Oak Creek Canyon, a drive I could do over & over. The rest was.... pretty blah and not worth a pic. There were 2 side of the road potty stops with mandatory 5 minute cardio sessions, this Mami was serious on PORA: the prevention of restless activity. I should add that this was only offered to the tots.:-)And since the kiddos are keeping tally, Arizona gave us 5 more freight trains.

sedona

8 p.m.- We arrived at the Bell Rock Inn & Resort. Location was great & clean but I would not recommend.  Straight to bed the kids went.
Next morning Helena assisted bro with his treatment. "i massaged the med-sin so you can brief better" 

We feasted at Red Rock Cafe. Breakfast tacos. Blue corn tortilla, eggs w/ (housemade) chorizo, jack, avo, green onion and roasted (housemade) salsa! Very tasty and inexpensive we made plans for the next morning.
And here's what we saw and did:

We drove thru beautiful Oak Creek Canyon on our way to Slide Rock.

Slide Rock is actually a state park. We got our hiking gear (snacks, h20, diapers & inhalers) and off exploring.

And silly me thought that 70* was not ideal for swimming...I will say that it all began with Helena accidentally landing on her rump in a shallow pool with a "oh my gracious, HELP!" Max howled at her misfortune, slipped, slid and ended supine. Once they were back on their feet we removed their wet shorts. Of course, they found it all so funny and twice more did the sorta, almost, halfway and then slip & splash! All along, these two older ladies sitting on the rocks above us, kept alternating between giggle and shriek. Helena not so quietly informed us "I want to take off my diaper" and.......

On our way to the car Helena said " I feel much better when I'm naked and just look at All the miracles of Jesus" pointing to the amazing sights we beheld.

And that's my fave side of Bell Rock. It was 5 p.m. when we got to our hotel, washed up and napped. Or maybe watched some of the presidential debate. Three and a half hours later we were on our way to dinner. The only places open were the gas station, a pub, a cafe recommended by the hotel with awful yelp reviews and subway. We definitely weren't in the happening part of town and were the only car on the road. All of a sudden...... there were 10 javelinas sauntering across the road towards the creek!! We just stopped and stared. We could hear more snorting and grunting from where they crossed. And saw a bunch of mama and young ones. Like any responsible parents, we pulled into the parking lot adjacent the bushes, with no attempt to truly park, ran out with flashlights and an iPhone! The Great plan was for Papi to shoo'em towards the creek and I would capture it all on the iPhone. It might of worked, had I not heard, in the midst of this crazy scheme a little voice "mama, where are you guys?"-Helena. oh, We left the kids with the engine running and doors wide open to chase some wild pigs WITH LONG SHARP TEETH!! AHhhh. Even though we assured them we were safe and didn't have plans to abandon them EVER, Max & Helena were NOT impressed!
"the law says parents should NEVER leave their children"-Max

And now back to the task of finding dinner. Downtown was dead. The Hilton Resort was the only place with life and they had a real trendy bar & grill. We felt it wouldn't be wise or nice to kill people's buzz like that. Papi went in to ask for suggestions. And someone's friend worked at the Red Planet Cafe and they were open until 11 p.m. And so there we went. Who knew there is gf liver & onions!!

And our question as to why everything closes at dark was finally answered. We were told it was Something to do with javalinas looking for food & drink at night as well as their predators. Oh you know; wolves, mountain lions and bears.
Sweet dreams, alright.

hmmm

http://instagr.am/p/Qqc-qQje55/

flagstaff

After the canyon, JR called and invited us over for dinner. So we headed over to flagstaff.
Driving to flagstaff was a pleasant surprise. Didn't fit our preconceived ideas of Arizona. It was gorgeous and ...well see for yourselves.

JR and his sweet wife had a spread. Baby back ribs, beef riblets, chicken, corn on the cob, rice and beans, fruit salad, bread, cookies and pie. All done in 3hrs with 4 boys! (Ages 6,5,3,1) Yes I was impressed. The boys were intrigued with Helena and her ability to get them to play her games by her rules, sweetly of course. Max had fun stacking wood, playing indians and chasing dogs and squirrels. It was a fun, good 'ol red neck time! We drove down to our hotel in Sedona. Obviously Max had a little too much excitement and needed a breathing treatment. And that was day 1...