Road trip 2011 – part 2

Day 3 (11/9) – Driving through West Texas to Las Cruces, NM. Another very long drive with flat landscape and an occasional oil pump. Very glad to see 80 mph sign! Stayed in Las Cruces, NM at Holiday Inn Express (using points).
Day 4 (11/10) –  Toured Old Town Mesilla and then stayed in Green Valley at Holiday Inn Express.

Old Town Mesilla is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!!! I really love southwestern architecture, so we enjoyed wandering around the square. This is also where Billy the Kid was tried and hung.

Beautiful adobe structures with adorable red pepper garland. An old truck for sale.

Oldest brick building in New Mexico.

Savannah in front of one of the quirky, cultural, artsy shops. New Mexico seems abundant in artists. Quaint shops on every corner – just cute!

This was a pottery shop that John came across – the shop owner was very sweet and taught the kids a little about pottery making. We bought a bowl with red peppers in it as a keepsake.

Some exposed adobe brick.

Church in Mesilla. Had this headstone as a dedication to the unborn that are silenced.

Mountains and rock formations along the road.

Saguaro cactus were plentiful and HUGE!! Ha – we took the “scenic” drive through part of AZ. We got a good chuckle at the amount of scenic cactus that we got to see. The cactus block the view of the backdrop of mountains.

We stayed in room 111 and woke up there on 11/11/11 :) The picture on the right was taken very near 11:11 on 11/11/11
Day 5 (11/11) – Driving through Tucson, AZ over to Yuma, AZ to visit my parents. We stopped for a break and stretch and enjoyed some of the cactus skeletons.

In 2000, John made a trip out to Phoenix and Tucson to check out some rammed earth construction. Here is a before (2000), and after (2011). He looks even better now :)
These rammed earth pieces are in Tucson, AZ.

A couple of other additions, as well! Here are the kiddos with Daddy! Outside a rammed earth architect’s home.

Loved this exposed adobe brick structure.

Quaint little street with all kinds of beautiful adobe/stucco homes. Cute little old car makes it feel like time is standing still.
Next up: Yuma, AZ and Mexico with my parents

Road trip 2011 - part 1

Nov. 7th, 2011, we began a 30-day road trip west to visit my side of the family and to tour some sights. John has been working in the prison for 4 years, and We Care Program allowed him an 8-week sabbatical. We are grateful for this opportunity for him to rest and to be rejuvenated. We are continually thankful for all of you who support us through prayers, words of encouragement, sharing of your lives and financial support.

Be warned – we took a LOT of pictures. Day 1 (11/7) – driving to Dallas. Day 2 (11/8) – touring Dallas and Fort Worth.

We rented a car because we didn’t feel confident in either of our vehicles. The cost savings of better gas mileage offset the cost of the rental, so we felt that it was worth it. Our first stop was Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area where we stayed 2 nights. Driving the first day, we went through Jackson, MS, so we took a short walk at the capitol. We spent some time praying for the personhood amendment that was on the MS ballot, as the next day was election day. We drove about 11 hours and stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel north of Dallas using our accumulated hotel points. Most of our hotel stays were using redeemed hotel points, so we were able to stay for free a lot of places.

The next morning, we drove into downtown Dallas to see some of the sights. This is a new bridge under construction. We enjoyed the large sculptures of long-horn cattle in the midst of a cattle drive through Dallas.

 

This is the area where John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Notable sign on the Dallas Morning News building – I wonder how many that work in the building read and adhere to this sign. The other picture is of a tall, observation tower that you can pay to go up in. We just enjoyed it from the sidewalk.

Fun opportunity for a family picture – using the reflection of the glass :)

Visitor’s museum in Dallas. The picture on the right is the Convention Center in Los Calinas. It has a very unique architecture and use of materials. We parked there and walked to see the mustang sculptures.

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed hanging out with the mustangs. Savannah loves horses, so she sat and sketched the outlines of all of the horses.

 

On to the Stockyards in Fort Worth. It was later in the day, so there weren’t a lot of people around. We enjoyed meandering through the shops and talking to the shop owners.

We decided that a fun, inexpensive souvenir would be crushed pennies from different places. The kids had fun looking for the machines, and also crushing them  at each place they found them along our journey.

Merry Christmas 2011

May you truly know the love of Jesus this Christmas season!

Field trips

Boy, it’s been a while since I posted. No excuses, really. I did want to show you some pictures from our recent field trips. First, we went to the Ave Marie Grotto in Cullman, AL. Here’s a little piece from their website:

Known throughout the world as "Jerusalem in Miniature," is a beautifully landscaped, four-acre park designed to provide a natural setting for the 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous historic buildings and shrines of the world. The masterpieces of stone and concrete are the lifetime work of Brother Joseph Zoettl, a Benedictine monk of St. Bernard Abbey. Begun as a hobby, with various materials he could find, and infinite patience and a remarkable sense of symmetry and proportion, Brother Joseph re-created some of the greatest edifices of all time.

Kids enjoyed pointing out things they could find. Friendly cat gives you a size perspective.

This one is the actual grotto – it was interesting. Again, some kids in front to give perspective of the size.

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This past week, we went to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. Lots of fun! They have a “river journey” and an “ocean journey”. I really enjoy aquariums and this was very nice. It is also nice that the kids are a little older and can enjoy it more.

New “fish” were added to the tank! And the penguins – oh, the penguins! It was homeschool day at the aquarium, so they had planned feedings and taught us about the penguins. They also had divers in the super huge tank talking about the animals.

And, the rays!!! How cool are these? They were HUGE! This is a silhouette of Hadden with the ray behind him. Then, I was able to catch two of them at once.

 

Some fun, goofy pictures mixed in :)

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Finally, we ended our day on the Chattanooga “Duck” tour. Here is a piece from their website:

The DUKW (Presently known as ''Duck'') was developed by the National Defense Research Committee and the Office of Scientific Research and Development, it was initially rejected by the armed services. When a United States Coast Guard patrol craft ran aground on a sandbar near Provincetown, Massachusetts, an experimental DUKW happened to be in the area for a demonstration. Winds up to 60 knots (110 km/h), rain, and heavy surf prevented conventional craft from rescuing the seven stranded Coast Guardsmen, but the DUKW had no trouble, and the military opposition melted. The DUKW would later prove its seaworthiness by crossing the English Channel.

It rained! We got pretty soaked, but it was really fun. During the time on the water, the guide gave a lot of historical information about Chattanooga. While he was speaking, he gave the kids an opportunity to “man” the boat. I took some pictures with my phone, but I think you get the idea :)

How are you doing? What’s going on in your life?

Birthday boy and Braves/Dodgers

Last week, we celebrated Hadden’s 9th birthday! We are so thankful for the fine young man that God has blessed us with! Savannah was very helpful, also. She really enjoys making birthdays special, so she secretly made something for him (so she could surprise him), then proceeded to create an adventure. She made a scavenger hunt with clues that he had to find and then once he found all of the clues, he had to put the puzzle together to make a map. The map showed the location of the present.

Hadden has found all of the clues and is putting the pieces together. I am so thrilled that our kids ask to wrap their presents in newspaper! A couple of years ago, during the middle of building our house, it was someone’s birthday and I had NO IDEA where wrapping paper might be. Rather than buy more, I just decided to wrap their presents in newspaper. Now, it has become a favorite – love that!

Here is the finished puzzle – and LEGOS!! The boy loves legos! Bonus that we found this on clearance a couple of months ago :)

Then, on Friday, we traveled over to Atlanta for a Braves/Dodgers game. John has been a Dodgers fan for a long time and Hadden likes both the Braves and the Dodgers, so he would have been happy either way the game went. John’s Mom loved the Braves as well. It was a pretty good game and the Dodgers even pulled out the win.

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We are also at the beginning of fall soccer and baseball. Someone commented on how Hadden seems to play baseball year around, and Savannah plays soccer all the time, too. For now, since those are the only sports that they are playing, they are doing both the normal and the off-season for those sports. The normal season for soccer is fall, but there is an off-season in the spring. Spring is baseball season, with fall being the off-season. Hadden also had the privilege of playing all-stars which is in the summer. All that to say … yes, they do play a lot!! :)

We're heading to a Braves game!!!

We are very excited to head to Atlanta for a Braves game - they are playing the Dodgers. Whoo hoo!