June 8, 2017. On the Road Again

8 June 2017...on the road again
We spent two weeks traveling with Kelly and her girls to Houston, Texas.  We took Kelly's van but Tom did most of the driving.  The girls school was out at 1130 and we were headed to White Sands, New Mexico by 12 Noon.   Had fun on the dunes at White Sands.   Such nice white fine sand.  The girls got a saucer sled and had fun sliding the hills of white sand.  Saw some pretty plants and flowers too.   After playing on the Sand we drove to Fort Stockton, Texas for the night before we drove on to San Antonio.  The humidity was something the girls had not experienced!!  We went to the Alamo and on the River Cruse.  Kelly , Tom and the girls also went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean" as first weekend that was in the theaters. We also spent time at the pool.  The next day we went to Waco to "Magnolia".  Samantha wanted to go as she watches the show "FIxer Upper" .  And Magnolia was opened by Chip and Joanna, stars of the show.
Neat store and grain silos and we also spent time sitting in their nice open area with about 10 food trucks to get lunch.   They had a great variety of foods so everyone could get what they wanted.  While we were eating,  we had a "bird poop" incident.  Just missed Molly but she did get a little on her clothes ...so had some drama!  At least made another memory!!   Spent the rest of the day at the hotel pool playing games in the pool with Granddad.  The next morning we drove to Houston and were welcomed with hugs by Fred and Belinda Martinez.  ( we had met them when we lived in Austin).   Tom, Kelly, Molly, Kirsten and Samantha spent the next day at Houston Space Center...even had a fun experience in a flight simulator. I had a very nice relaxing day at home with Belinda...catching up.    We had one day of just hanging out and the girls had another day to spend in the pool.  We left on Friday after Fred made us all "the best pancakes" and went back to the Space Center where Kelly, Molly and Samantha went and had "Lunch with an Astronaut." (Bryan Duffy).   They said he was very personable and really enjoyed the experience.   Molly was even picked to demonstrate some of the equipment that the astronauts use in outer space.   Molly has said she wants to be an Astronaut since she was about 4 years old..so such a treat with her.   SHE still wants to be an Astronaut!!   Tom, Kirsten and I hung out and went to lunch while they were at the space Center.  We then headed to San Antonio where we were going to spend the night.  Had some really bad rains on our way there.   Mark and Judy came to our hotel to spend a few hours with us.   We had met Mark in Japan in 1972 as he was an Air Force Medic...
Even though it had been 45 years it was yesterday.   We had not met his wife Judy but felt we knew her too.  Talked about so many memories...one of the best parts of our travel is when we can re-connect with our friends.  We plan to see them again...not 45 years from now!!      We left the next morning and spent the night in El Paso before we arrived back in Tucson on June 4th.  What fun it is traveling with the girls and Kelly...so many conversations , play car games and just be together.
Emme, Molly, Samantha and Kirsten came over on Monday and spent the night.   We spent most of the time playing cards, dice and Monopoly.    It was difficult saying good bye to OUR Molly, Samantha and Kirsten on Tuesday afternoon as last time we will be seeing them for awhile as we headed out on our summer adventure on 8th.   They are moving to Florida in July.   Bryan has accepted a position with Grumman-NASA in Melbourne.  Yes..Nana had lots of tears.   We will see them again in August on our way back to Tucson.  We watched Emme yesterday evening as Carrie had a meeting...so gave her lots of hugs before she left last evening.   We will see Emme and Carrie in Pennsylvania in a couple weeks as they will fly in to see family for a week.
Yesterday we were busy getting the house ready for us to be gone, running errands and packing etc.   We decided to get up at 0700 and get "on the road" by 0800. However slept in until 0800.  Tom packed the car etc. and left the house at 1030!   Another great advantage of being retired....can take our time.   We decided to take the road through the White Mountains and has been a beautiful drive. Saw some interesting plants and turned out to be Thistles ..which I had not seen in years...of course we stopped for pictures! Tonight we are in Gallup, New Mexico. Found the best hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant ...best soapies ever.   It was nice to just BE in the car today driving through some beautiful scenery after the last hectic days and just taking our time, talking and just being together.
We love our travels but is also difficult to leave our Tucson Family.  What blessing we have with all our extended family.  
By the way it only took me 9 months to finish our book of memories from our Europe Trip last year.    I finished it the night before we left with Kelly and girls.   111 pages and over 700 pictures!   Was so fun having it to review when we arrived home from our 2 weeks with the girls.

Quote of the day....
~Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.~
Sent from my iPad