Texas Part 2

After our stop in Farmington we drove down to Artesia, New Mexico with a stop in Albuquerque and Roswell.  Damon wanted to stop by as many temples as we passed.  We missed the Dallas one, but got all the others.  Roswell made us laugh.  There were aliens everywhere.  We finally stopped to meet some.

 After our night in Artesia (wouldn't recommend that place) we drove down to Carlsbad Caverns National Park-Monday June 10th.  That place was super cool!!  We met some people from Germany there. I honestly thought we were going to descend forever.  We eventually hit the bottom.  It was hard to take pictures down inside the cave, but a few did turn out.

 Lily got to become a Jr. Ranger at Mesa Verde and Carlsbad Cavern.  This was her swearing in ceremony.  After this we left for San Antonio!

The Great Texas Road Trip!

Damon thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to drive to Texas for our family vacation this summer.  Yes, I was crazy, but we had an amazing vacation that was well worth all the craziness and miles in the car.  I'll have to break the vacation up into sections because it would be a Texas sized blog if I didn't.

First stop- we took off Friday June 7th around 5pm.  We drove to Cortez, Colorado.  We drove through Moab and right past Arches National Park (we decided to save that for a fall field trip).  We were headed into uncharted territory for all of us so it was a bit fun.

After breakfast the next morning we headed into Mesa Verde National Park.  We always joke about how many foreigners we meet at national parks.  The first we met here were from Italy.

 We started at the visitors center and then headed to Spruce Treehouse and the museum.

We then went on a guided tour of Cliff Palace.  It's one of the bigger cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde.  It was amazing!  Noah got to be a pueblo Indian.  After our hike out we stopped for some ice cream.  It seems to be our tradition to get ice cream at the national parks.  It's always so good!

 We saw some interesting landscaping on our drive to Four Corners National Monument and then on to Farmington, New Mexico.  We stayed with our old friends, The Larson's, who used to live near us in San Diego.  There is nothing like seeing friends.  I forgot how much I laugh when I am around them.  The kids enjoyed seeing each other again.  Didn't get any pictures of them though.  Melissa was one of the first people I met when we moved to Scripps Ranch and she befriended me and made me feel so welcome. 

A catch all of sorts

Bits and pieces of our lives the past few weeks that I keep forgetting about.  We've been so busy.  I think I may have mentioned the school activities.  Only 5 more days and I swear they are the longest 5 days ever.

Memorial 5k- I did a 5k race with Adam, Lily and my nephew Ethan.  It was a fun run with the kids.  They had a good time.

Adam's play- Adam was Mr. Banks in his after school drama club's production of Mary Poppins.  He did a great job!  He was also star student in his class.  It was a busy week for him.

Puppet presentation- Adam had to make a puppet and then do some fractured fairy tales with some classmates.  It was pretty silly, but they had a good time doing it.

Swim meet-another swim meet for the kids.  I got to stressed about it so this is the only picture I took the whole day.  I think Damon took some too. 

Lily's Recital-Lily loves to dance.  She was so happy when we found her a jazz class to join after we moved here.  She did great in her new class and is learning lots of new things.  We miss our old friends from our old ballet studio, but she is making new friends here.

She's still baking away.  Her favorite show is still cupcake wars and she invented her own cupcake here.  It was a chocolate marshmallow cream with chocolate frosting.

Memorial Day!

 What is Memorial Day?  Is it the day we officially kick of summer?  Is it a day we get off from school and work?  No.  It is a day to remember.

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May.^[1] Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.^[2] Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. (from wikipedia)

It's a day that I remember those who sacrificed their life for a greater good.  It's a day where the words honor, integrity, sacrifice, service, loyalty, bravery and patriotism mean just that much more and can evoke emotions that normally don't get evoked.  It's a day for us to remember to say thank you to those who aren't around to hear it any more.

I loved driving around my neighborhood today and seeing hundreds of flags flying high and proud.  I loved seeing my daughter come downstairs covered in red, white and blue.  I loved looking at all the pictures friends posted online reminding us what the day is for.  I loved reading the poem by John McCrae, written May 1915;

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Now after all that remembering I'm also ready to kick off the summer, which is my absolute most favorite time of the year.  We had family over, Played games,  BBQd and had an all out good time.  Nothing says summer like the kids running around through the neighborhood playing tag or basketball until it's almost to dark to see.