Tucson again - finally!

 We are all vaccinated, and Rebeca and Jason are about to receive their second dose so we thought now would be a good time to take a trip to Tucson.  Of course, Scotty and Leo are not yet vaccinated.   Last time we saw Rebeca, Jason and Scotty was in March of 2020.  That is the LONGEST we have ever gone without seeing them.

At first it was just Guillermo and I going, but we were happy to hear that Fernando and Leo wanted to go with us!  That was a very pleasant surprise for us.   Then the decision was made that I would spend an extra week in Tucson so that Scotty and I could have good one-on-one time.  That meant that we would be taking two cars out there and that meant that I would be driving back home by myself.  That was perfectly fine and I have no problem doing that drive by myself as long as nothing goes wrong with the car.  

We had a good drive out there on April 23.  We drove as far as Van Horn, Texas, stopping at a rest area near Junction for lunch.  Wow, it was windy at that rest area and there were caterpillars everywhere!  You couldn't walk without stepping on one.  It was a little unnerving eating under such conditions but we got our lunch in anyway.  We stopped again at a rest area near Fort Stockton and as usual with this rest stop, this rest area had hurricane force winds.  It was wild.

Hampton Inn made it so easy to make a reservation and the best part is being able to pick our room ourselves.  So when we arrived, all we had to do was walk in and say our names and what room number we had reserved and they handed us our keys and that was it!

The next morning, Fernando went by McDonalds to pick up breakfast.  We ate that in our room and then packed up, checked out of our rooms over our phone, and were on our way again.  We took a bathroom break at the New Mexico travel center and then decided to have lunch at the roadrunner rest area by Las Cruces.

We got to Tucson around 4pm.  We gave everyone big big hugs.  It was so nice to see them.  The one thing, though, was their new dog Spot.  He did NOT like these intruders at his house.  So Rebeca had to keep the dog outside while we unpacked our stuff into our room.  It was just so unbelievable to be there with them again.  Scotty and Leo got right into playing together as if they had never been apart.  That was so nice to see as both boys had hardly played with other kids for more than a year.  Eventually Spot made friends with Guillermo and Fernando but he definitely did not like me and Leo.  

We spent the first night at Rebeca's house and enjoyed a good dinner picked up from Ha Long Bay restaurant.  In the picture above, the boys are enjoying their Boba drinks and are happy to be together again.  The next day, we went out to visit with relatives at Irene's house.  

After that, we checked into an Airbnb that was fairly close to Irene's house.  What a nice big house that was!!!  We enjoyed everything about our stay there except for the internet.  It's still amazing to us that people can't provide reliable internet in this day and age.  Other than that, though, it was a great place to stay.

The next day was Monday, a school day for both boys.  Unfortunately for Leo, there was a 2-hour time difference so his school starting at 7:30am in San Antonio meant he needed to be up and in front of the computer by 5:30am in Tucson!!!  Whew, that was rough the first couple of days.

We learned that first day that a nap longer than 30 minutes was necessary to make up for getting up so early.  We picked up Scotty from his school every day, and the first thing Scotty would do when we got back to the house was go into the room to wake up Leo.  Which was fine because by then, Leo had been sleeping for an hour - which made him more than ready to face the rest of the day.

Eventually we got into a good routine.  And every evening we gathered around the round dining table and we all enjoyed good food and just being together.  It was priceless.

Tuesday Rebeca got her second dose of the Moderna vaccine (Jason had gotten his 2nd Pfizer dose a week earlier).  She felt a little sick Tuesday night but nothing anywhere near as bad as how she felt after her first dose.  We were so relieved about that.

Everyday we would take a walk down to the wash and see what we could see.  The boys loved collecting rocks.

Picking Scotty up from school

On Thursday, we took a short hike up a trail by Agua Caliente.  It was a nice hike with good sunny weather.  

Then after the hike we drove to Agua Caliente park and met Camille, Reid, Iris and Opal.  The cousins had a nice time talking with each other and the 2nd cousins? had fun running around together.

The two boys got a kick out of placing this rat and blue bug in various places around the house because they knew I didn't like it.

Saturday, May 1, Guillermo, Fernando and Leo left headed back to San Antonio.  It felt really really weird to no be going with them but I also looked forward to giving Scotty my undivided attention for the next week!