(Still Monday) Explora! Children's Museum and Science Center

Amazing, fabulous, fun-filled, thought provoking, exciting, crafty, messy…I can’t think of enough adjectives to describe this great afternoon. The 3 hours we spent there (right up until closing time) were not enough, and the kids were both asking if we could come back tomorrow. You KNOW it’s good if the kids want to come back before they have even exited the building. Even the outside of the building offered an opportunity for wonder and inquisition. As we walked up to the building Tasha asked if we were going on a boat because the windows looked like portholes:

Bubbles, need I say more?!

Notice Tasha has left me hanging here while Kyra and these kids took over? I really could have spent a while playing here by myself! It was enlightening to watch these 3 kids (one of my own) working together and utilizing each others ideas, especially since they were varying ages and had never met before. Building a dam.

Junk art crafts (I took a ton of pictures for my art class next summer, but I’ll spare you):

Kyra was also able to do some kind of spirograph drawing with my mom while I sat with Tasha in the craft room. My mom said it was pretty cool and they could have spent a while there if it wasn’t closing time. There were several places to test your engineering abilities, most of which I failed miserably. The problems with some of the centers were that there were no instructions for a non-scientific mind like mine. I was able to help Tasha concoct a working windmill, but only by following the example of someone else’s work. Seriously, I was the kid that took the field trip here and had a great time but didn’t learn a dang thing. Give me a book and I learned sentence structure, paragraph writing and proper use of quotation marks, but unless science included formulas I was lost.

It was a long day, and the kids went to bed easily after a carpet picnic of pizza a chocolate. Tasha finally decided to give her grandmother some room to sleep.

(Still Monday) Lunch at the Quesadilla Grill

We searched for a while to find a place for lunch that would be both kid friendly in atmosphere and on Tasha’s somewhat upset stomach. We needed to lay off the beans, which sent her to the bathroom at least 5 times the night before, supplement the ice cream, and lend itself to her fairly picky pallet. Why is it that the youngest traveler gets to make most of the decisions?! Tucked away in the Poco Apoco Patio on San Felipe and Church Street we found an outdoor patio that was open to the many other shops in the area. We placed our order with the nice looking new owner of the restaurant. (My mom is the one that pointed out that he was eye candy!) He was very apologetic as he went back and forth getting things and forgetting other things since this was he very first day open. He actually put up the closed sign while we were there because he was getting so backed up (there was just him and one other man at the grill). There was a fry bar which means he brings you a cone of French fries and you go put all the toppings on it that you want. Tasha had a plan cheese quesadilla, Kyra the pizza-dilla, and my mom and I shared the veggie-dilla. Actually, they had some other funky names for them but you get the picture better this way. The most amazing thing was the tortillas they were served on. We’re going to buy some tomorrow before we leave town! (They are a New Mexico brand and can be purchased at any grocery store in the state apparently.)

Monday, June 30, 2008 Downtown Albuquerque

We set off today for a fun filled day in Downtown Albuquerque where all the good shopping is (girls love to shop!) and most of the kid museums. As we pulled into the museum I noticed 3 school buses parked across the street at the park. I wisely inquired before we went in if they were expecting any groups today, which they were, so we went shopping until 2pm when they were expected to leave. To pacify Tasha (who really wanted into the museum), our first mission was to obtain some ice cream. Then we found some anklets for the girls, purchased from an Indian whose mother made them. I don’t think you are supposed to say Native American out here, it sounds different and I don’t know why. Tasha got a t-shirt, both girls got some earrings and sunglass chains, Kyra got a bookmark and hair thing, and we bought some NM cards, a dice game, and some magnetic rocks. I’m not positive, but I think Tasha takes advantage of shopping mode and asks for EVERYTHING! It got quite annoying and I put an end to it. The problem is, I really love to window shop and kids don’t like to shop unless they get to buy it. Kyra is pretty good at browsing and hinting, plus I think she remembers 2 days ago when I told them they could only ask for 3 things a day. (I didn’t say I would buy the 3 things, but they could ask for 3 things…this encourages thoughtful asking)

Earrings, sunglass chains, butterfly in the hair, and anklets… (sorry, I'll upload pictures later)

Saturday, June 28, 2008 Keith Reunion, Logan, NM

Most of us were stirring around 7am, although Tasha lazed around until 8. As I was straightening my hair I listened intently to the wall in front of me because I knew it was the wall that separated us from my Uncle Ray. I was curious to know if he still honked his nose every morning and wondering if they had already gotten up and left. Shur’nuf (that’s NM talk), at 7:30 there was the distinct sound of the nose horn going off. They left well before we did and we were lucky to get any breakfast at 8:30. I guess they start serving around 7am and are pretty much done cooking by 8. That’s all well and good, except that Arizona happens to be one of the few states that don’t adopt daylight savings time, and that would mean 6 and 7am to us. Tonight I’m leaving the blinds open so the sun shines in.

Last night my mom got to catch up with all of her generation. Interestingly enough, most of them are her uncles but are her age or younger. Her mother Leacy, was from a first marriage. After Leacy’s mother died, her father remarried and had another slew of kids with his second wife. There were 13 kids in all: Iva (just turned 100 this summer), Lewis, Leacy (my grandmother),TD, Alice, LeRoy, Edward, Neil,Tommy, Melvin and Alvin. (The last 6 boys were from the second wife) I really only have one uncle, my mom’s brother Ray, but I will refer to all of them as uncle since “great-uncle” would get just plain annoying. I took pictures of all of them and will give them each their own post, because they deserve it, but here are the remaining 5 brothers in all their laughing glory!

Alvin and Melvin (they are twins), Tommy, Neil, and LeRoy (the oldest brother) Aunt Iva is still living in Texas, just turned 100, but was unable to make the trip to NM.

Friday, June 27, 2008 Adam’s Street, Tucumcari, New Mexico

I told the kids last night that they were not allowed to get out of bed this morning until Momo (my mom) got up, unless they had to use the bathroom. Mom was up around 6:30 to shower, Kyra shortly after her to read, and Tasha bolted out of bed, got dressed and crawled in bed with me around 7:30. She’s a snuggly little thing in the morning and it is pretty sweet. We all walked down to the Magdalena Café for breakfast while listening to Tasha complain about how far it was. She had walked twice that distance the night before to get some of the wiggles out before bed but now she was hungry and cranky. She ended up eating her entire plate sized pancake without a blink, 2 pieces of hefty bacon, and downed it all with about 6 oz of chocolate milk. My mom and I split a fabulous veggie omelet that had been generously smothered in green chilies. Ah, I love New Mexico and their willingness to put green chilies on everything! I don’t know if this is true in every family, but when you get together with extended family it always seems to be about the food. I’ll try to avoid any further play-by-plays on our eating habits.

Kyra has been a trooper so far in the car. Two, 5-6 hour trips and she hasn’t strangled her sister yet. Maybe she is a little older than our last road trip, maybe it was the threat that I made her this morning, or maybe it’s a little bit of both. Thursday morning as we were getting ready to leave they were arguing over something ridiculous. I pulled them each aside individually for a kind, motherly lecture. Kyra’s went something like this: “When you were Tasha’s age I traveled everywhere with you because you were not in school. I could just as easily do the same thing with Tasha and leave you at home. She is fine when she doesn’t have to compete with you and I can easily leave you at home. I don’t want to leave you here, so please prove to me that you deserve to come.” I actually saw awareness hit her solemn, almost-10-year-old face as she agreed to do her best to keep the peace. (Was this wrong?! My mom seemed to think that was a pretty harsh thing to tell her.)

On our way into Tucumcari we stopped at the cemetery where my grandparents are buried to place some flowers by their headstone. Then we drove by their old home which is in a sad state with dead grass, missing bushes, and junk strewn all over the back yard. I don’t know if it is possible or not, but I think my grandparent’s neighbor still lives next door with the same dogs. OK, I’m sure it can’t be the same dogs 20 years later, but they still are the yappin’est things direct from my childhood memories. I told the kids of the giant 3wheeled bikes that I used to ride on up and down the empty neighborhood street. When we came to the end of the block I saw the house with the concrete turn-around spot that I used sometimes. Again, is it possible that the original owners were still there with the same little trike tipped over in front of the porch?!

At one point on the drive, about 40 miles outside of Tucumcari, my mom mentioned that it was now that she usually became sad. It was then that she realized she should be going to visit “mama and daddy” but that they weren’t going to be there to greet her. We recalled how they would always be sitting out on their front porch waiting for us to pull up, or else they would be opening the screen door before we had a chance to put the car in park. We used to make that trip in one long 11 hour drive, with no cell phones. They must have been looking out the windows for hours just anticipating our arrival. That is dedication, and they sure were something special. I am so grateful that their temple work has been done and that I can look forward to meeting them in heaven again. I never knew my grandfather to be without a cane or hearing aids, so it will be a grand time when I make him chase me down for a hug and whisper “I love you” in his ear. I can still smell his deodorant, taste my grandmother’s cookies, and feel their loving embrace. Maybe they have followed us to Logan and are here with me right now as I listen to the hum of the room air-conditioner and watch my children flop back and forth on their beds by the glare of the computer screen.


Seriously, where are my mom and I supposed to sleep?!

Thursday, June 26, 2008 Out of Town

Tasha has been obsessed with asking when we are going “out of town”. She doesn’t even know what it really means, but she knows we won’t be at home. We left town this morning around 9am and made it as far as Payson before we had to stop for a break at “Old McDonald’s”. It was a quick stop where Tasha raced up the stairs and down the slide several times while I counted. It takes about 10 seconds, although once she whittled it down to 9 seconds. My mom had to stop at her place in Forest Lakes to leave some Costco food in her fridge and pick up her mail so her husband wouldn’t get it and leave it lying “who knows where.” Why is it that husbands can get the mail in the house but then they scatter it from room to room with no apparent rhyme or reason? Strange, true, and annoying.

The girls maintained themselves pretty well until around 1pm or so. I called for quiet time and eventually, after much whining, pushing, and moaning, this is what I found:

We arrived in the much anticipated Pie Town for a late lunch and pie. Much to our chagrin, our favorite eatery (Pie-oneer) is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday so we ended up at the only other establishment in town. We ordered 3 pieces of pie: chocolate crème (my mom confirmed that they were not trying to pass off chocolate pudding as crème before she ordered it), peanut butter (the pregnant waitress’s favorite), and blackberry (heated, but not with ice cream). Hands down, the best was a swipe of the chocolate with a full scoop of peanut butter. Yum. It wasn’t until we left that I informed my mom of the cost of the pie: $4.75 and $3.99 per slice. Yep, the supreme pie was just as costly as my full pork chop dinner. I guess that’s what you get for ordering pie in Pie Town.

Alive and Well

We made it to Logan, New Mexico and the girls have made some friends with several cousins. I'm happy to report that there is Internet available, just not on my computer. Maybe in Albuquerque...

Ahhh, yes! Thank you ABQ and this Country Inn. Wi-Fi is a beautiful thing and I have only seen one cowboy hat since we have arrived (and it was on a lady!?!). I love my relatives but the funky hick towns we have to go through and stay in really make me wonder. I have some journaling I've done over the past few days that I will post date on the day that they happened. This is mostly for Bill, who is apparently home with a stomach flew or virus. Or, maybe he just misses us that much! Poor guy.