Texas Part 3-San Antonio

We got to San Antonio around 8pm on Monday the 10th.  We drove through some ugly parts of Texas and some really pretty parts.  We stayed at my cousin's house in San Antonio.  They weren't there, but were so nice to let us stay there.  Thanks Lisle and MaryAnn! It was nice to have a bit more room to stretch out in instead of a hotel room.

Our first stop was the San Antonio Temple.   It's in a nice spot up on a hill on the north side of the city. 

Ever since I was little and watched the movie Clock and Dagger I have wanted to visit San Antonio and the Riverwalk.  I've always wanted to visit the Alamo too.  The city was alive with spirit the day we were there because the Spurs were playing a game that night for the NBA finals. 

The Alamo was very nice.  I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed as we walked around the place.  We love visiting places of history, because it makes it all real.  Adam noted how he was happy to be there, but also sad to remember what happened there.  That's exactly what makes places like this special.  We "Remember the Alamo!"

 Three separate people told me that Rudy's was the best place to stop by and eat while in San Antonio.  It didn't disappoint.  We enjoyed our BBQ and also the peach cobbler with ice cream afterwards.  After lunch it was on to Houston!

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.