A November Tucson visit

First of all, talking about Halloween.  We spent Halloween at home for the first time in who knows how long.   We usually leave as it starts to get dark and go have a nice dinner somewhere until we're sure there will be no more trick-or-treaters.  We have done that probably since 1998 but not sure.  With Leo at our house now, we wanted to be there to see him off for trick-or-treating and then we stayed on our front porch and passed out candy.   We had a good time, the weather was fantastic and Leo, Eva and Fernando enjoyed taking Leo out trick-or-treating.
Fernando carved a pretty scary looking pumpkin!

The very next day, we drove to Tucson.  We spent the first night of our drive in Mesilla, NM as usual.  We got to Rebeca's house Friday afternoon, unpacked our stuff and then headed to Scotty's school to pick him up.  He was so happy to see us as we were to see him!  We ate at Sweet Tomatoes that evening - Scotty's favorite restaurant.

The next day, Rebeca left early for Utah.  She has work to do there with her job.  Guillermo left to help Roy about getting a truck.  Scotty and I went to the Children's museum.  We spent over three hours there.  It's amazing what different things interest him each time we go.  Last time we went, he was definitely into role-playing.  This time, he spent a lot of time in the art room creating.  That was a lot of fun.

So we took care of Scotty Saturday, Sunday and Rebeca came home late Monday night.  On Monday we had breakfast with Scotty at Ihop and then took him to get his hair cut.

 Scotty went to school during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then he spent Friday with us at the zoo.

 What fun he had using the chart to identify the birds in the aviary!

We just had to get a picture on this bench because it says, "Nana's Bench".

On Saturday, we went to a construction yard to buy sand, went to Costco and then enjoyed a relaxing evening at home.  Guillermo and I left early Sunday to head back home.  We drove as far as Fort Stockton.  In Fort Stockton, we got out of the nice balmy weather we had been enjoying in Tucson.  By the time we got back to San Antonio, it was pretty cold!!!!

It was the best gift ever

Last week, Rebeca and Scotty flew to San Antonio to stay with us for a week!  Rebeca had to go to Dallas for a conference for 3 days, and the other two days, she decided to work out of the Kimley Horn office here in San Antonio.
She and Scotty arrived on a Sunday.  We had pizza at home and Scotty and Leo seemed happy to be together.  Here they are waiting for Rebeca to get her rental car.

On Monday, Rebeca went in to work and Leo went to his school.  Fernando and Eva told us Leo was sad while being dropped off at school.  But when we went with Scotty in the afternoon to pick Leo up, the smile Leo got on his face when he saw Scotty was priceless!!

We then took the two boys to our local library for Lego Time, which they both seemed to enjoy very much.

On Tuesday, we took Scotty and Leo to the Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne for the Little Explorers Program.  They did some crafts and then a little walk along the creek.  And marveled at the dinosaur tracks!

We never suggested or told the boys to hold hands.  They just did.

Afterwards we took them to McDonalds where they had a blast playing on the indoor playground.

On Wednesday, Leo again went to school.  Scotty just loved going to pick him up and Leo just LOVED seeing his cousin there to pick him up.

On Thursday, we took the boys to the Children's Museum.  It was a little cold inside the building and also outside.  We hoped they wouldn't get pneumonia!  

They loved playing in the airplane, the construction site, the vet's office, and the grocery store.

 A Skid Steer with an actual working bucket!

We got a kick out of Leo taking his groceries to the little car and putting them all in the back. 

On Friday, we took them to a nearby trampoline park.  They had fun but the rivalries were starting to kick in more and more.  They each wanted to be the one to decide which section they'd play in.  After playing there, we took them to have lunch at Chick Fil A, and after eating, they played happily together on that playground.  

On Saturday, we ALL went to the zoo.  Laura and Madisen met us there also.  It was a rainy day, and it seemed to impress the boys when we scurried into a replica of a termite mound to get out of the rain.  They loved seeing the hippo up close, too!

Having those two boys together for 6 days had a few challenges, but most of all, I consider it a gift more precious than gold.

Fun times!

It sure has been nice having Fernando, Eva and Leo here at our house.  Thankfully our house is big enough so that they pretty much have their own section in the back, and we have our huge place up front.  Then we all share the common areas of the living and dining room, and kitchen. 
Leo adapted to his new school very well.  He seems happy there.  Fernando and Eva usually drop him off in the morning, since he is going to the Children's Center right there on the campus where they work.  Then we pick him up in the afternoon.  Here he is playing in red sand on the first day we picked him up. 

The first few weeks they were here in San Antonio, the weather was brutally hot.  This was something fun we could do sometimes after picking him up from school

One day we took him to the nearby aquarium.  He got the biggest smile on his face when this mermaid there asked him if he'd like to take a picture with her!

More fun times!

At our community pool

At the Witte Museum

And at the new trampoline park they opened recently near our house.

Now we are all excited because Rebeca and Scotty are coming in one week for one week!!!

Our trip to Alaska

We had such a nice trip to Alaska with our good friends, John and Angie.

First we visited Guillermo's brother Eugene and wife in Seattle.  John and Angie toured Seattle during that day.

This is the view from the back deck of their house.  It was so beautiful.

 Their daughter Shirley and husband Ken hosted a dinner that evening at their lovely house.  We had such a nice time visiting with everyone.

The next day we flew to Juneau from Seattle.
Wow, what a different world it seemed when we landed in Seattle.  The beauty was everywhere and it was cold!

This is us taking a break while doing the dreaded "steps".  There are a LOT of stairs and uphill walks in Juneau! 

Stairs were practically everywhere.

There are constant flights in small planes taking off in the harbor.  We didn't go on one.

We took a tram up Mt Roberts our first day in Juneau.  It was cloudy and rainy but the view was still amazing.

And we did quite a bit of hiking while up there!

And it's really hard to see but there in the center of the picture is a porcupine in a small tree nibbling on something.

We also saw a Bald Eagle in a tree on our way down.

Views from around Juneau.  Our first 4 days there were very cold with constant rain or drizzle.

Here we are on Gold Creek at a Salmon Bake.  It was interesting, just cold and rainy.

The next day we got a rental so we drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier.  We took the trail to the closest viewpoint.  We saw way too many helicopters flying around but when between helicopters, it sure was lovely out there.  It was another cold and rainy day.

  
Some nice lady from Juneau was just hanging around this other viewpoint and graciously taking tourist's pictures with their cameras.  The umbrella from Hell was with me everyday and came in super handy with all the rain and practically constant drizzle.  Hell, Norway, that is.... When we visited that place in 2014, I accidentally forgot to pick up my umbrella while going through security at the Oslo airport.  So knowing how rainy Norway is, when we stopped to spend the night in Hell, I bought another umbrella from a little mall there.  Hence, our umbrella from Hell.

We also drove north from Juneau to where the road just ended.  On our way back, we stopped at various places to admire the view.

Here's a precious marmot.

We crossed the bridge from Juneau to Douglas Island and drove around hoping to find bears.  We didn't see any but as always, many beautiful views.  This picture below reminds me so much of how the skies always looked in Norway.

 Looking at the Mendenhall Glacier from Douglas Island

On our way back to return the car, we stopped along the road to admire all the Bald Eagles hanging around.  We also saw a little bear cub playing around by the trees but no pictures.

Our last full day in Juneau we took a boat tour out 50 miles through Tracy Arm to see Sawyer Glacier.  It was a 10 hour tour and was just awesome!

Guillermo and I, and sometimes John, spent most of the ride on the bridge with the captain.  The captain was a very nice young girl named Alyssa.  She enjoyed talking with her passengers and we enjoyed talking with her.  When the waters were as glassy as they are in the picture below, she just kicked back and steered the boat with her feet!

 When we got closer to icebergs, Alyssa was very attentive to the situation.

This one in particular was so beautiful.

We enjoyed watching this Eagle eat whatever it is he had captured. 

Not a fan of selfies, but thought I'd try one. 

Alyssa practically took the boat under the water of this waterfall, we were so close!  I didn't take pictures then.

Approaching North Sawyer Glacier

This is North Sawyer Glacier.  Alyssa tried to maneuver the boat to South Sawyer Glacier first but the water was too full of icerbergs.

We spent a lot of time at the North Sawyer Glacier.  It was doing a lot of spectacular calving.

We got a few videos of calving but like just about any other picture or video, it's just not the same as in real life.  The sound of the ice hitting the water sounded just like a gunshot, it was amazingly LOUD and very impressive.  

 Heading back to Juneau

An island covered with Steller Seal Lions.

Last view back before arriving close to Juneau

We stayed at a nice Air BnB in Juneau, it felt just like being at home.  This was the view out of our bedroom window - at 10:00 at night!

The last thing we did in Juneau was hike a flume trail.  It was interesting and very pretty.

This is how most of the streets are in Juneau.  We did a LOT of uphill walking every single day.

We were in Juneau for about a week.  Then we flew back to Seattle and visited with Guillermo's other brother Alfred and some of his family.

It's always wonderful to travel, but it's always nice to get back home too.  Now we're getting our house ready for Fernando, Eva and Leo who will be coming in July!