Our North Carolina visit

Around the end of September, we flew to North Carolina for two weeks.  We rented a car at the airport and then drove to Fernando and Eva's house.  We were so happy to finally be there again!

We did a lot everyday that first week.  We took Leo to a Nature Preserve for a Nature Day, we took him to the children's museum, to the library, to the Nature and Science Museum and of course to Toys R Us and various other stores and places.  The first week we were there, the weather was quite cool!

Playing on a "Sprayground"!

At the Wilkerson Nature Preserve.  Nature Day for Children.  

We went back and forth about going to this event simply because it was SO far away from the house.  At the very last minute, we decided to make some sandwiches and go anyway.  We are so happy we decided to go because it was an extremely good and fun event.  Leo had a blast.  

He tried on Ladybug wings and got a net to look for bugs (which we didn't find any).

 He LOVED the HUGE sandbox and "fishing" in the little pool.

 Drawing with chalk with one of the employees.

We thought we'd have lunch and head back home but after eating, Leo ran to the bubble making station.  So we stayed a while longer!

One evening we had dinner at the Nantucket Grill.  It's in such a nice shopping strip with several other restaurants and lots of space for kids to play.  We brought Leo's little Blaze truck so that he could ride around.  Wow did his little legs make that thing zip along!  He even shared his truck with another boy there who so obviously wanted a ride on it.

These pictures are taken at the Children's Museum.  The museum's name is Marbles.

Guillermo checked out the vegetable garden there while Leo played in the sand.

These pictures are from the Museum of Science and Nature 

Riding the train which went through an actual tunnel!  Not sure what Leo thought of all that screaming, but on the second loop of the train, he climbed into Guillermo's lap when the train came out of the tunnel.

A little farm section

 There is a fantastic Dinosaur section at this Nature Museum. The dinosaurs look so realistic and are placed among the vegetation so that they almost seem real.  Leo LOVED it in there!

This was the only dinosaur out in the open and that could be touched.

Nature play in tree houses and streams

We got to this sand area pretty late on our visit so he was pretty angry when we had to leave, but we could tell he was getting tired.

Unfortunately, a week before our trip was over, Leo got sick.  Then Eva got sick.  Then I did.  Then Fernando got a LITTLE bit sick.  Guillermo just felt funny but never actually got sick.  So, that made our last week there a little different.  We  didn't go out much anymore except to pick up stuff from the store and we did one more library trip.  Everyone was better by the time we left and we were glad for that.  We were also happy to have been there to help them through that rough period of sickness.

Our trip home was somewhat eventful.  I texted Fernando that we were on the plane and getting ready to leave.  He texted back saying he hopes we get out of there before the storms hit because it was really POURING at their house.  We looked out the plane window and were shocked to see how dark it was out there (it was only 5:45pm) so we knew the storms were close.  Sure enough, the pilot comes on saying we have to sit tight until the storms pass, but that fortunately the storms are moving quickly.

So we waited and waited and waited and finally the storms hit.  Then we're finally cleared for takeoff, but are subsequently informed that since some planes had been circling in the air waiting for the storms to pass, those planes needed to land before we could take off, since they were running low on fuel.  So we wait some more.  Then we are cleared for take off again.  That was soon dashed when the pilot comes back on saying we need to go back to the gate because we had been idling so long that now WE were low on fuel!!!  So back to the gate we go.  Fortunately, they let us get off the plane for a little while because there was no way to refuel since new storms had cropped up and planes can't be fueled with lightning around.  Once the storms passed and the plane was refueled, they called everyone back on to the plane.  That took a little while also.  Finally, 3 hours after we were SUPPOSED  to take off, we finally actually really did take off. 

Another slight wait once in Atlanta because we were told we needed to wait for a Delta flight to back away from the gate.  We thought our plane was going to take that gate, but after the Delta backed up and left, we taxied on to a much farther gate.  Who knows.

This whole event was not distressing to us since we were actually going home and were on a direct flight, which meant we had no connection in Atlanta to possibly miss.  We weren't going to miss our flight because we were already on it!!!  So that was good.  We finally got home at 1am.  

A new look!

Too many cats in the neighborhood using the dirt under the front bedroom as their private bathroom!!  Things kind of got out of control when we were in Tucson, so there was a very obvious smell when we would be on our front porch.  After several evenings of going out there and watering down the dirt (hoping the cats wouldn't want to go in mud) we now have rocks under the front windows.  Hopefully that will deter them.

Guillermo placed the leftover rocks along the path on the side of our house.  This is what it looked like before the rocks.

We tried putting grass around the blocks, but it never really grew and rains always made this area so muddy.

This is what it looks like now!

This will work so much better.  But one thing leads to another - we're going to have to buy a leaf blower for when the oak leaves fall.  When those leaves completely cover this walkway, it'll be much easier to blow them off than to rake them.

Our trip to Tucson

Guillermo and I left 3 days early so that we could visit some places before meeting up with Rebeca, Jason and Scotty in Sedona, Arizona.
The first night we drove from San Antonio to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We hadn't planned on going that far (we had planned to stop in Roswell, New Mexico) but we left earlier in the morning than we thought we would so we found ourselves with still plenty of day once we were in Roswell.  Bleahh.  The drive from Roswell to Vaughn, New Mexico was incredibly monotonous.  Not even driving from Fort Stockton to Van Horn is as bad!  The drive seemed to be a continuous straight road ahead as far as the horizon.  Then we'd get to where we thought we had seen the end, go over a slight hill, and there before us was another stretch of seemingly endless straight road.  We must have gone through that 5 or 6 times.  Maybe more.  And there was nothing beautiful about the landscape.  It seemed we were stuck in some sort of warp that was never going to end.  But finally it did.  Vaughn had also been on our list of possible places to stay the night but fortunately we were still ready to keep on going.  Vaughn had absolutely nothing going for it.

When it was Guillermo's turn to drive, I'd look up possible places to stay in Santa Fe (because by now that was our goal) and by the time we got to Santa Fe had settled on a place that seemed to be fairly decent and less expensive than most other places there.  We checked into the Del Rey Courts and what a precious little place that was.  We loved it there.  We asked to be switched from the first room they put us in because the first room didn't have a fridge.  That turned out well because the 2nd room was nicer and more private with the room facing a little courtyard.  We seemed to be the only people in that little section of the hotel.  We drove around downtown Santa Fe a little before going for dinner. Santa Fe is really nice and we wouldn't mind going back there one of these days.  Where we chose to have dinner was right by the hotel but we were disappointed with the food.  It was raining hard when we left the restaurant.  Later that evening, we walked around the hotel grounds and were surprised how big it was and also how lovely and relaxing it was.  So many little nooks and crannies practically everywhere you walked with nice gardens and landscaping.

 Our room was to the left of that closest table.  We were the only people in this se ction that evening.  We ate our breakfast on that table the next morning.

Our first room was in this section.  Still very nice, but not as private.

The next day was a somewhat shorter drive.  We drove to the Thunderbird Lodge, which is just outside Chinle, Arizona.  This lodge is on the Navajo Nation.  Very nice place - we got a room on the end so it was nice and quiet.  That late afternoon and early evening we did the south side drive of Canyon de Chelly.  Wow!!  Very impressive!  Our first stop was at Tunnel Overlook.  It was a little alarming right at first to walk towards the edge of the cliff, realize there are no barriers whatsoever, and to feel the strong wind at our backs blowing in the direction of the cliff's edge!!  Looking in either direction, we could see that it was an absolute straight down from those cliff edges.   It was very sobering and definitely made you feel extreme caution about getting anywhere near those edges.  I can't imagine taking kids to these lookouts.  Anyway, the views were absolutely stunning.  We overloaded our cameras and phones with pictures.  

It really is straight down!

The White House Overlook.  There are some dwellings just to the left of center of the picture.

That night we ate in the hotel's cafeteria.  I ordered a Navajo burger.  My goodness, that burger was as big as a regular size plate.  No way I could finish it.  But that worked out, because we took the rest to our room, and shared it for breakfast the next morning.

These below were taken the next day on our drive on the north side of the canyon.

The next day we drove through lots of very beautiful and interesting scenery in Arizona.  Arizona really is a beautiful state.  We visited Monument Valley - quite hot there- then drove towards Page, Arizona where we saw Lake Powell.  Guillermo was going to hike down to Horseshoe Bend but it was the middle of the afternoon, it was so hot and sitting in the parking lot watching the hordes - and we do mean hordes - of people heading up and down the trail just made it not appealing at all. So we drove on.  Our next stop was the Cameron Trading Post in Cameron, AZ.  It was weird from Page, AZ on because we were never really sure what time it was.  The Navajo nation observes daylight saving time, but Arizona does not.  So, sometimes it was confusing as to what time it was in different places.

Arizona scenery

Monument Valley

Lake Powell

The Cameron Trading Post was probably our favorite stop.  Such a nice hotel - our room had a front balcony and also a private back balcony which had a view of the Little Colorado River.  The trading post had one of the best stores for souvenirs and groceries.  And a nice restaurant with a wonderful view.  

This was the view from our private balcony.

The next day we visited the Grand Canyon.  It was a little unbelievable to me that I was FINALLY getting to see it!!  The day was a little hazy, so the color wasn't all that great.

After a quick yummy lunch of hot dogs (our rare indulgence) eaten inside our car, we made our way out of Grand Canyon National Park.  Now it was time to head to what we had been looking forward to the most - meeting up with Rebeca, Jason and Scotty in Sedona!  We got into rain as we got close to Flagstaff and into terrible road construction just on the other side of Flagstaff.  Going through Oak Creek Canyon was a really beautiful drive.  We got to the Oak Creek Terrace Resort, got the keys to our room and Rebeca's room, unloaded our stuff and then just sat outside Rebeca's room waiting for them to arrive.  Oh what happiness when they finally did!!!!

We had a lot of rain and storms during our two day stay here.  It was exciting, but kind of kept us from doing fun things along the creek.  Scotty and I loved to spend time in some huge swings they had on a back porch, but so many times they were wet from all the rain.

We loved being on those swings!

We had fun at this resort.  It's not a resort resort, it's quite rustic, but still it's a nice place.  Scotty loved the Koi pond which was close to our room.  He especially enjoyed feeding them and loved it when one time the fish got in a little frenzy and splashed his daddy!!

We were able to spend a few minutes one time down on the creek although we could tell there was a storm coming.  A big loud crack of thunder sent us scurrying back up the hill to our room!

But before that, here we are enjoying the creek.

Having ice cream in Sedona

 Once in Tucson -

We did our usual Costco run which we've been doing with Scotty since he was tiny.  Lately, he really enjoys the Polish Sausage and then some ice cream afterwards.

 Riding around on his bike in the garage at home.

About to go out the gate that leads to the wash behind their house.  We took several walks up and down that wash!

Still has lots of fun with his water table!

One evening we took Scotty to the Pantano wash bridge in hopes of seeing the bats fly out.  We never saw them, but saw other interesting things like rabbits and roadrunners.

Then we took Scotty to Ha Long Bay for dinner!  He really enjoyed his strawberry smoothie with tapioca.

Another day we went to Toys R Us and bought Scotty a little grill.  

And we got over the plan of setting up the tent out in the yard.  Just too hot.  So we set it up in the living room and we did a lot of playing and reading books in it.

Our last weekend in Tucson, we spent Saturday night at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort.  Wow, that night there was a terrific storm.  With lightning that I can't remember seeing before.  Usually lightning just lights up the grounds.  This time the lightning actually was blinding.  It was really wild!  Fortunately we had a nice private balcony, but even so, we stayed inside while this storm was going on.

Scotty loved spending time in our room and our bed!

 The next day we took a walk to the waterfall on the property.

And we enjoyed a swim in the pool

 Playing with colorful snakes back at home

We also took a walk to the wash by Irene's house while in Tucson.  The wash was running and Scotty and I removed our shoes and walked around just a little in the cool water.

Getting in some pictures before taking off back to San Antonio the next day.