Singing the praises

I am here to sing the praises of SEARS.  Now I normally wouldn't necessarily endorse a particular store and I'm definitely not being paid to do this but I am so impressed with our local schmocal SEARS store that I have to say something.  Now here there are small SEARS appliance stores in every town.  No clothes, etc.  Just some appliances, tools, tv's and the like.  This is where I ordered all of our appliances and they were all in stock and delivered a day and a half later. While I was in ordering, the sales guy price matched one of the items for me and he even mentioned that if I came back on Sunday they could give me the new sales prices, plus 15% off and then no interest for a year.

So we go back in today to get our price adjustments and they were so NICE and POLITE and guess how much money I got back?  Just guess.....take your time.  Think about it...Ok are you ready???? I got back $930...that is almost $1000 back!!!!!!!  I was smiling and so excited.  Even the guy was excited for me.  Then before I walked out, he reminded me about my delivery rebate and then proceeded to do the online rebate of $65 for me and now all I have to do is...oh yeah nothing...he did it all for me.  I was amazed.  We have lived a lot of places and the customer service and courtesy has been overwhelming here.  

Good stuff!!!  So if you are in need of any new appliance, I encourage you to check out your local SEARS store. Hopefully you'll have the same good luck I did!!

And just so everyone doesn't think my life is full of roses....my children are all currently whining and/or crying about how their siblings get more than they do and that each of them gets NOTHING!!  Now, some parents might think that their kids are being ungrateful but I understand that we are in transition and that we have to be patient and that all kids say these things...BUT my patience is wearing thin and someone is about to take a major TIME OUT because, as evidenced by my bank statement, no on here goes without much!!!

Ahhh...better, back to happy thoughts again....SEARS....did I mention the good morning I had at SEARS??????!!!!!!

SO very tired

We are running on fumes now...paint fumes that is.  We managed to paint two full bedrooms today.  Zach picked a great blue color to match his blue camo room and Brooke picked an awesome shade of lilac/lavender.  We are so pleased with ourselves, but as I sit her typing now I can feel my muscles starting to seize up. I'm sure I'm in for a fitful night of leg cramps and back spasms (again that's the optimist in me).

Miles is holding off on painting for two things...a perfect longhorn orange color and a Longhorns fathead which we are still on the hunt for (let me know if anyone finds one).  He's decided to go big with the sports theme...the kid is a sports fanatic and it's just getting worse by the day.  If he could have a TV in his room - and he can't- it would only be on one channel...ESPN.  He is the stats guy for any sport you can name.  It's incredible how much he loves sports.  He'll be in baseball camp soon and that's gonna be great for him to play his very favorite sport, and one that he's awesome at, and to meet some new friends around here.

Also, in Nowak news today we are acquiring lots of new sets of wheels.  Zach is still searching for the perfect bike but Miles got his new bike which is pretty freakin' nice as bikes go and before I had a chance to get out of bed this morning, and make pancakes for the kids, Charlie had headed out and bought a car (which he needed for work since he sold his before we left Valdez).  Remember how I said he can't sit still..yeah, he doesn't really sleep either.  

Now before I tell you what he ended up getting, I'll first mention what one of his other top choices was. A Mercedes, he test drove a Mercedes...yes, you heard me...a Mercedes.  Now it was in our price range (true story) as it was a year old and it was a very nice car.  Good gas mileage, very sporty, comfortable for his commute to work (I know I'm thinking the same thing..when is this guy going back to work anyway?  not any time soon..it's still weeks away evidently) but ultimately he decided it didn't get high enough marks in the reliability department.  Too bad cause I'm sure it would have been a real chick magnet. He ended up going with a very nice car.  He has been smiling all day at the great deal he got on it and I've found him in the garage sitting in it or just looking at it twice.  He decided on the Toyota Avalon - Touring version. It's very nice, and I think he will have a super comfy 40 minute commute each morning and afternoon.  Big sacrifice on the commute (especially after his 3 minute commute in Valdez) so he deserves to be comfortable on the trip each way.

So that's the end of all the major and, frankly, minor purchases.  I just realized that our household goods stuff isn't coming Monday...it's coming Tuesday.  That's such a bummer since I really want my dining room table to sit at and a chair to sit in. Now we just have to start enjoying living here in this great community. 

Only 3 days????

Has it only been three days since we bought this house?  So much has happened and we have been very busy bees.  It really helps to have a husband who CANNOT sit still.  We have had our new mattress and bedroom furniture delivered, the new washer and dryer and our kitchen appliances too.  Tonight we started on this project....

We are priming and painting Brooke's new room.  It had lots of stripes and a really dark wall and it was not very girly at all.  So we stayed up late to prime.

It was a family affair as you can tell.  We all took turns, but to be honest, Charlie did a majority of the work with Brooke coming in a close second.  She is quite the worker!!

And here's a little peek at the new kitchen appliances.  The seller took her frig so we were 

"forced" to get something new. Thanks to Charlie's willingness to drill through tile, I was able to get a microhood/convection oven over the new stove.  I did not know you could cook and microwave in one appliance but here it is.  The guy at the store assures me I will make the best pies ever in the microwave convection thing.  I said that's possible since I've never really made many pies before but it's worth a whirl.  In addition, I'm super stoked about the oven range.  It has a fifth burner...which is a warming burner and two ovens.  A smaller oven, also called a pizza oven, which is used frequently and then the larger lower oven which is the size of a normal oven. 

I have so many manuals to read and buttons to learn about I may never actually get to cook anything.   But that's ok, all the appliances will stay cleaner that way. 

At any rate, our plan for the weekend is to paint all three of the kids rooms.  We don't have anything else going on so I'm thinking it will be a quick and productive weekend.  Our household goods are arriving on Monday so we should be knee deep in our own junk and trying to find a new space for everything soon.  Everyone is very excited!! The arrival of our stuff kind of marks the line where we stop being in "moving stage" and start on the "living here phase." 

Off to bed now...we are hitting the paint store bright and early! Do stay tuned for later posts and photos of my new washer and dryer and how much I love doing laundry now..kidding...I wouldn't do that to you all...unless I had a a special request for such a thing...then I might be forced to post photos and a detailed description of my laundry duties. 

YAY! Yippee! Wahoo!

The deed is done.  We closed on our house today!!!

I cannot explain how excited we are to have closed on the house today.  It was a great feeling to know we will be back in our own home once again and be able to do whatever we want.

Since nothing is without drama there were a few little glitches...like the closing got pushed back a day (but was still earlier than the contract date), and then the little "to do" about the seller not realizing she had to show up with money today and we had to wait around while her realtor revised his contract (taking less of a cut) so we could finalize today.   We had to wait this morning while she scrounged up some moolah and her realtor did some numbers magic. In the end we got what we wanted...a good house and a place to hang out hats.  Now we also had to show up with money and it's always hard to part with that but as I said...it was for a good cause.

We spent our afternoon exploring the house again and finding that we like it even better and then we proceeded to go buy new appliances for the kitchen which, sadly, was really fun and maybe even more exciting than actually buying the house.  In addition to my mac daddy washer and dryer we are getting an awesome new stove and a refrigerator (as I thought she was leaving the frig but evidently not) and a convection oven/microwave/exhaust hood...who knew these things existed????  I'm never leaving my kitchen again....oh don't worry I'll post photos soon as I'm truly a big dork.

The kids are in the process of picking out their rooms and waiting for the final approval from mom and dad.  We also have to get in gear so that when the movers come we can tell them where to put everything..the less we have to move ourselves, the better our relationship will be...Charlie loves nothing more than me mentioning that I think we should move our big monster armoire to a new location....he just says "the sweetest things" when I mention that.

Ok so as you can probably tell we are totally excited.  We have emailed out our new address and if you didn't get it, and want it, email me and I'll send it out to you that way you know where to send the "the nowak kids aren't going to college but mommas got a new oven" contibutions ...kidding...I love Christmas cards and I wanna keep in touch with all of you who aren't on extended vacation like me and haven't started a blog .  

Birthday Girl

This is one of the beautiful dresses Brooke received form her Busia and Dzia.  Seriously gorgeous dress.

Our morning started early...like 6:45 early.  Brooke, announced that it was in fact her birthday, and that we should commence the celebration.  So because we are masochists out here, on the ranch, we agreed.  She opened a few gifts and we proceeded to start our day.  We took our little girl gem to Cracker Barrel for breakfast on our way out to our big adventure for the day...

Build a Bear....where you too can stuff an animal, give it a name, dress it up and kiss some body's college tuition goodbye in the process.  So here she is stuffing her monkey...

and here she is with the finished project...this would be before we bought a karate outfit and underwear...yes, underwear, for the monkey.  She is very pleased with the outcome. Oh look, the monkey has the undies on in the photo below.  No nudity allowed on this blog...we are family friendly here!

Now here we are after the sugar high of the cake and the 2 slushies (thanks on the free refills waiter guy) she had at lunch are finally starting to wear off.  This is one of her gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, a scooter.

And finally, the day would not be complete unless we went down to the river to try out the new bathing suit from Aunt Heather and Uncle Chris and the new ring float from Aunt Deanna, Uncle Mick, and Chloe.  Also the new sunglasses, which upon me saying "Brooke, you look really cool in those" she nonchalantly responded, "I know."  

Yes, this little girl had a FABULOUS birthday!!!  She kept saying "This was like the best birthday ever!"  And that's all the thanks we needed.  But for the record, she did thank us a bazillion times. 

Also a huge thank you to everyone who sent Brooke emails for her b-day, called her, sent her cards and money and to Busia and Dzia who sent the most beautiful dresses a girl could ask for.

On a day like this

This evening we were treated to another one of those lovely evening skies we've been getting each day since we arrived here.

And in weather news....it finally rained.  At 5 am we were awakened by a short but heavy downpour and some thunder and lightning too.  It was all dry by the time we headed out today and aside from a small puddle you would not have known it rained.

We have not been without watermelon since we hit Texas so each night we are outside eating and filling our stomachs full.  The last watermelon we bought had seeds and while I didn't find it as tasty as the seedless variety, the kids found it super entertaining to see who could spit the seeds the furthest, with a new twist...the assistance of a straw is technically cheating, but what happens on "the ranch" stays on "the ranch."

Now as a final thought and picture for today.  Here is a the last photo ever of Brooke as a 7 year old.  Tomorrow morning we round the bend on 8...or is it 28????  We've been a bit sassy lately!

Our daily outing

Today we took a little drive to a neighboring town called Medina.  It is famous for apples.  While on the road one of these little things ran across in front of us.  It is, in fact, a roadrunner. 

While in Medina, we visited this little place and had some awesome apple cinnamon soft serve ice cream.  It was delicious and we also bought some apple butter.  I'm adding it to my list of yummy stops for those of you visiting us here in Texas.  It will go right under Mamacitas (come on they don't serve margaritas...that means they come in second). 

We spent all of yesterday in San Antonio looking for furniture (just mention furniture to the kids, now, and they get all steamed up.  They have heard so many sales pitches that they could probably sell many of you some "fine furniture". Kudos to the kids because every store clerk said the same thing about them..."wow, they are the best behaved kids"...seriously we were in one store for well over an hour).  It was a long day but we are so close to finishing the major shopping for the house and of course now we only need to wait for delivery...oh yes and the bills...let's not forget the bills.  Just an aside and a disclaimer to my husband..when I say "finished" with the shopping....that's a figure of speech..it's not really what I mean.

As a final note, Brooke is anxiously counting down the days (well more like minutes) until her birthday on Saturday.  As we officially welcome summer, we will also wish Brooke a Happy 8th Birthday.  I cannot believe our "baby" is going to be 8! 

Just a Thought

As I was looking at the blog this afternoon I realized we have been on the road a month today.  A month ago today we left the city of Valdez to start our great adventure to Texas.  A month of being displaced, a month of hotels and hotel beds (nothing grosses me out more), a month of eating out, a month of just feeling like we don't have a space and we don't have a place.  It is getting old now.  

We are ready for a house, a home, our own space and to get our own things back.  We know our stuff is here in San Antonio and we should be receiving it in the next 10 days.  It will be awesome to sleep in our own beds and eat at our own table and just relax in our own space.

Here's a big shout out to all the military families who do this.  It's not fun but it is necessary!

Father's Day...here at the ranch!

Here is the BEST father in the entire world with his three kiddos.  I think, upon asking, any of the kids (or anyone who knows us) they would agree.  And if there was any confusion, Brooke officially thinks Charlie sets the sun and moon each day!

So Father's Day here at the ranch was very low key!  We hung out and did absolutely NOTHING!  Then we made fajitas for dinner and watched the sun set.  Not much to speak of except that we were able to be together....at the ranch!!!!!

A note about the beard:  I know it's a bit frightening...but this is what happens when Charlie is on extended leave.  He's  not returning to work for awhile so it will probably become even more out of control.  

You know you are a parent when...

you go to a really nice mall and you intend to go to Pottery Barn to look for a new bed  and a couch for your living room but instead you end up going to ....

Hollister and buying your 13 year old son a new pair of flip flops for $42 ...which is just wrong

and you go to Lenscrafters to get your 11 year old son's glasses checked and they tell you the arm is beyond repair and he needs a new pair...Polo Ralph Lauren frames are what he chooses. Handsome as they are it costs a bit.

And let us not forget the trip to Claire's  to get your daughter some hair accessories because she wanted to wear her hair down, but the wind is whipping so her hair is a big crazy knot.

And ultimately you leave with no bed and no couch...we did however, find some things later in the day.  

I am in love...

and her name is Mamacitas!!!!!!  She is the yummiest Mexican restaurant with some great salsa and some other chip dip made of 60% sour cream, 30% avocado, and 10% spices...just in case any of you were looking for a new recipe.  It was a funky lime green color but it was oh so good!! And the best part is that she serves a great Strawberry frozen margarita too.  She is my new love!! And she was really affordable too. Her flour tortillas, which are made fresh on site, were served so warm I could not handle them and her servers were outstanding!

I promise anyone who comes to visit us here in Texas, that I will drive them to and dine with them at Mamacitas.  I'm sure she won't disappoint. 

I'll still be on the lookout for yummy food spots but for now - she's perfection!

Lazy days on the river

Here are the kids enjoying some lazy moments just tubing down the river.  They loved it.  We bought two innertubes and they just hopped in and floated on down...walked them back and did it all over again.

We got all sunscreened up and we still managed to get a little pink.  We have to get better at slathering it on.  These photos were obviously taken early on as the kids are still wicked pasty Alaska pale.

We also purchased a small inflatable two man boat.  The kids loved it, although Brooke was dismayed when she saw some teen girls with long rafts that have drink holders. 

Notice those big puffy white clouds and the air temp was in the upper nineties.  Perfect for water play! 

As you can tell we are enjoying Texas big time! 

Life on the ranch..

So here are Brooke and I trying, with much patience, to find the high speed internet service which was one of the things promised in the deal here at "the ranch".  As you can see it is quite picturesque.  We have been happy with our view and with the slight breeze that seems to come each day keeping the 98 plus temps completely manageable.

Now as it happens we did find a great spot where we get awesome internet.  Unfortunately, I kid you not..swear to goodness...it's in one of the bathrooms.  Luckily we have two bathrooms so we've modify this one to be a toothbrushing station/internet cafe.  Note my swanky desk..one of those groovy pedestals that was holding up some "fancy" art piece.  I promise no other restroom business is happening in here...only toothbrushing and surfing the web.  And I have, since this photo, found a regular chair to sit on.

Oh yes, I can tell that this adventure is just getting started. In other good news, it seems the sellers of the house may want to bump up the close date a week to our originally requested date.  If so, we'll be outta here sooner than I imagined and I'll be saying goodbye to my sweet office here. And yes, that is a tan I am getting!

On the way up to the ranch...

We had some time to kill and we were able to head up to Luckenbach, Texas and get a good look at this town from a very well known song.  The singer...anyone?  Can anyone name that singer...there may be a jar of Texas salsa in it for ya'll!

So as luck would have it Luckenbach was just our speed....slower than molasses.  We got there around 11:45 am and we were 5 of about 9 people there.  We were the only people who weren't already having a beer from the old watering hole. 

This is the famous post office associated with this town.  It is a most frequently seen piece of framed "art".  I took my own pic and may be framing it at a later date.  It's kind of quirky and fun.

 

Now while hanging around in Luckenbach we had a chance to see stuff like this...a cowboy on a longhorn.  I know people see these things everyday but, in an effort for one-up-man-ship, we also got to talk to him.  He was most impressed that we'd come all the way from Alaska but got pretty annoyed when I couldn't name all the rivers in Alaska, as one of his cousins just "bought hisself a lodge up on one o' 'em rivers".  I didn't have the heart to tell him that Alaska is bigger than Texas.  I figured one or two more trips to the watering hole and he wouldn't even remember us.

OK, also if you've been in Alaska for two years (and haven't been to the Jones Family Chicken Farm) you may not have seen these for a while.  My kids were most intrigued by the wildlife.  I promise we do get them out a bit...the kids that is. 

At any rate, we had a fun time checking out this little place and since we have lots of time to kill we'll be keeping busy with lots of other day trips and fun stuff.  I will also be giving everyone a frequent update on the old ranch living.  There really are so many things I have to share about this place.  Stay tuned!

Ranch Living

So while we are waiting to close on our house we found a place to stay.  It is an extended stay deal on a ranch.  It sounds very glamorous.  IT IS NOT!!!  It was, shall we say, a bit misrepresented by the website.  Technically, it promotes itself as a Resort and Conference Center.  When we met the owner he said he was working on making this a "destination".....yeah that little ditty hung in the air for a bit while we all shifted uncomfortably.  Many things are "coming soon" - just not soon enough.  Like the pool that is coming soon - I suspect in a few years.  As I have said to my sisters - it is clean, which is most important and 1/2 the price of a hotel for 3 weeks and we can cook our own meals which is a savings in and of itself.  I will say this - it is a great view.  The best part is that we've only got 19 more days here!! 

On the upside, we saw lightening and are once again mesmerized by the things we haven't seen while being in Alaska.  And this evidently, is the deer capital of the world.  They are quite abundant and we just laugh at seeing fields and fields of them as we drive along.  And speaking of being shocked by stuff...we have eaten ourselves silly on cheap and fresh fruit.  We have plowed through many containers of cherries, strawberries, and peaches.

Now lets talk about living like locals...which we are starting to do.  We have begun the hunt for the best BBQ in the area.  Now you should understand from the outset that one of the qualifications for Best BBQ joint in Texas, means that it should look on the inside, outside or both, that it should be closed down by the Health Department. We started in Fredericksburg, Texas and ate a place called Cranky Frank's.  Now from my estimation the only thing that makes folks cranky 'round here is people from Alaska rollin' in and not knowin' how to order. Otherwise, the food was good and no one got sick.  Thank goodness!!  Also, in the category of local fun, is that our big purchase today was inner tubes to float lazily down the Guadalupe River.  I don't want to know if it's infested with alligators, piranha, or eColi.  I normally would suspect and check but I'm thinking any one of these could land me a night in the hospital and that might be a welcome break from "the ranch" and the family...who I love dearly, but could use a break from about now!

On the house front all looks good and we are, fingers crossed, set for closing on June 30th. 

Housing Search

Ok so this is the house we have a bid on currently.  Of everything we looked at it seems to fit the bill best.  Should this all pan out we will be living about 40  minutes from San Antonio, and in a school district that gets very good reviews.  

Now I say, should this work out, because we have had some issues over the closing date.  We wanted something earlier, they wanted something later, then they wanted to change it to still later and we think we have come to an agreement of June 30.  When we get closer and all is definite I will post more photos of the inside of the house.  We are excited as the house is spacious,  newish, has a good feel and a relaxed comfy flow.

 

We are staying at an extended stay place in "hill country" here, so by the time we mosy back into town we should all have a sufficient southern drawl...and maybe a snake bite or two.  I'll be glad to get a bed of my own to sleep in and a kitchen to prepare some yummy meals in too.  All in due time and I know this will all work out, for now we have to be patient.

In the meantime, I'm window shopping for new living room furniture and a mac daddy washing machine and dryer!!  It's sick the things that excite me!

And for all my Valdez friends...I had a drink from Starbucks today and dinner at Chili's, and it only took me five minutes to get there...I felt guilty and gleeful all at the same time.

Some random stuff from our trip...

Oh my, I really don't know where I should begin..there has been some funny and interesting stuff on this trip.  I guess I'll just do bullets with comments of things that are filling my head.  This family of mine is seriously fun...

• Ok, the funniest thing said on this trip has to be something that Charlie said.  We were making great time on the trip and somewhere in Utah Charlie made a comment about the fact that we were really moving along.  He turned to me to comment and halfway through he realized the whole car was listening so what came out was "man we are seriously hauling 'A'......double snakes'.  I think Miles was the only one who truly got it but we were all cracking up for a while. 
  
• If you have not been lucky enough to hear Brooke sing along with the radio or iPod well let me let you into our car traveling world.  She has a couple of favorites which she sings with LOTS of enthusiasm....here are a few of her favs - Hurts So Good, Proud Mary, Wedgy Woman (which the rest of you may know as Witchy woman - clearly there is a woman out there with a huge wedgy that needs to be taken care of) 
• While in Seattle, Brooke saw homeless people for the first time and was alternately intrigued and frightened by them.  She kept asking if it was bad to be homeless and she was quite fearful of them, even when we were driving by in the car.  She even said "don't look them right in the eye"...clearly they were magical and mystical homeless people..which begs the question, if they have special powers why are they homeless...I'm sure my sarcasm does not do much in the way of consoling her in these matters.
• Also in Seattle, Brooke decided she wanted to invent and institute her own personal sign language and we spent part of a very frustrating, albeit silent, day trying to decode her made up hand motions...that would be until I finally lost it and demanded that she speak and stop doing hand motions that neither she, nor I, could remember.  This was super fun, as you can imagine, and clearly not my most fabulous parenting moment.
• While stopping in some random ghost town in New Mexico for lunch I narrowly escaped eating at Shorty's BBQ...Charlie's says I'm missing out on some good eatin', but I'm pretty sure I just missed out on a trip to the ER or the very next rest area down the road.  
• Charlie and I became official video game usage referees. Our black and white striped shirts are on order as we speak.  This is truly a proud moment for us as the parents of children who are officially considered gifted.  We had to set up a schedule of usage for a roller coaster video game.  Thank you Aunt Heather and Uncle Chris for Thrillville.  I may have at some point, during a heated discussion from the backseat, threatened to roll down the window and send the game sailing "frisbee style" into the wonder that is Idaho. Again, awesome parenting moment...no worries though, after I'm done with the blog I'll be starting a parenting book which should make enough profit to pay for therapy for all 3 of our kids later down the road.
• Our kids never drink caffeinated soda but somehow Brooke managed to get a glass of  Mountain Dew at lunch one day.  Well, let me tell you, I was begging for the crazy made up sign language that day.  I was driving and she talked to me literally NON STOP about anything and everything she has ever thought of...in her entire life.  I did lots of smiling and head nodding...I did get nailed a time or two...it's not good to answer a question with a head nod or a uum hmm...it's a dead giveaway that you aren't listening.
• We saw 7 rainbows in a two hour period in Idaho...and yet we always managed to escape the rain.  The weather has been nothing less than perfect since we left.
• While driving to a particular destination there was a map reading snafu and Charlie and I got lost...I was navigating, which he says means I got us lost, but I say that this is a team effort and we got lost together.  During this time two things happened, the Dr. Miles show was created...a backseat interview show run by our son and the mantra "get a girl a Garmin", which I've been saying for months, became a real possibility. 
• Since we've been in a kajillion hotels since leaving Valdez we've been bed sharing. This would not be a problem if our kids could hop in bed and just quietly go to sleep in the same bed.  No... there have to be noises, smells, and lots of giggling, so we have to separate them.  I cannot explain to you the "joy" of sleeping in a bed with your children.  Now I'm not talking about babies or little kids.  We're talking flopping like a fish, kick you all night, throw an elbow in your eye, half grown kids.  It's so not a good idea.
• Miles was misbehaving during some, or all, of the trip...Kidding he's been pretty good considering he's 13 and traveling with his dorky family.  Anyway, at some point Charlie was informing him how obnoxious he was being and said "Miles, I'm gonna have to lay the hammer down if you don't cut it out."  To this Miles responded..."how about a mallet?" Now while I value sarcasm, and I'm probably the reason Miles took a chance on saying something so clever, there's always a time and place.  I will say Charlie chose not to come ripping out of his seat and Miles walked away in one piece...but I'm pretty sure he didn't have any privileges that day.  
• Charlie introduced the kids to a 1980's movie, Strange Brew, before we left Valdez, if you haven't seen it...don't bother...it's like an hour and a half of your life that you'll never get back.  Zach received a copy of this movie for his birthday. Thank you Aunt Deanna, Uncle Mick and Chloe.  The kids watched this movie about 8 times in the car and now we are being treated to all of the memorized lines from the movie.  We are hearing things like "hey dad can we stop at the next rest area so I can throw a whiz?"  Yeah - one can never get enough of the Canadian comedians Bob and Doug McKenzie, eeh.  This, paired with entire memorized monologues from Napoleon Dynamite, has made for a very fun trip. 
  

I guess that's all I can think of for right now.  I'm sure there's more rattling around in my head but for now the lack of sleep has caught up with me.

That there's a big hole.....

You may want to get a snack and a beverage...this may take a while...

So our Friday morning started off bright and early and we headed to the Grand Canyon.  It was most impressive.  If you have not been, it is definitely worth the trip.  We spent a few hours, started a great sunburn, and took lots of pictures and we could have stayed way longer.  This is my very first view as we walked up the path from the parking lot and it was a stunner.  The picture does not do it justice.

Here is a family photo at the Grand Canyon...somehow we managed to not push each other off the edge...  

and it is a loooooong way down.  Again, this photo does not do it justice....

Here we are - the ringleaders of this crazy circus...we are smiling because it is still early in the morning and we haven't had enough time to get spun up yet!  Also, I'm super excited to be able to wear a tank top...it will become apparent later that this was a bad, bad choice.  I just got caught up in the warm and sunny moment. 

I thought things had been going fairly well overall, but in this candid picture Brooke took of Charlie, unknowingly, it does look like he's contemplating ending this whole long trip and just jumping right over the edge.

A few hours later we arrived at the Meteor Crater Landmark....now, let me preface this by saying I was told by someone in our group...no names...CHARLIE, that this would be a 15 minute detour.  Well, it was 15 minutes plus 2 hours....you do the math.  We arrived at the ticket gate, because evidently you have to pay to see a gigantic hole in the ground, and we ask about any discounts...military, AAA...so the guy mentions that if we are traveling on orders (we are) that we can get in for free.  Well, it was gonna be $51...to see a huge hole in the ground, so we go back to  the car for the orders...you know orders that you would put in a particular spot for safekeeping...umm hmm....so we rip our car apart and finally 25 minutes later and a lovely addition to the sunburn, we find the orders and take them up to the window.  Now remember,  we are gonna save $51 by doing this ($51 we'll later spend on aloe and sunscreen).  The guy then tells us that Charlie gets in free and the rest of us well, not so free...yeah, more like full price!  He may have been a little wrong about the rules. 

So off we go to take the crater tour with our friendly Navajo guide, Mike...yeah that was his name.  He gave us a one hour PARTIAL walk around the crater, in full sun, which further added to the blistering sensation of our skin.  It was fabulous...you know that sizzle of your skin that you can kind of hear as it's happening? 

 

In all seriousness, it was a very informative and interesting tour.  We are glad we stopped and that we paid the price of admission to get in.  And Mike, was also a really great guide. The photo below is a taste of the crater...it is vast. At some point in the past, companies mined at the bottom of the crater and the workers lived in homes at the bottom.

One of the things we saw along our trip, on Friday, were things like this...an RV on fire!!!  Look to the right of the photo...that's a guy with, I kid you not, a brush fire hose...think garden hose, attached to a Hummer. Looking to the left, I believe you'll see the couple who used to own a nice RV and all that they could salvage before it got this ugly. Note I took this photo while Charlie was driving MACH 2 on the interstate!

On Saturday, we just drove and drove and drove and drove and...well you get the picture.  We also spent a considerable amount of time, while driving, slathering ourselves with aloe.  It was a painful ride.  We only stopped for lunch, dinner and restroom breaks.  We crossed into Texas around 7 pm, had dinner and then we got to see our very first Texas sunset.  Isn't it awesome??? Again, I took this photo while Charlie was going MACH 2...someone likes the 75 and 80 mile an hour speed limits here in the southwest. (Trip stats: The Suburban got 15 miles per gallon and we spent over $600 in gas in just 5 days...stats courtesy of Charlie).

We arrived in Boerne, right outside of San Antonio, around 4 AM and slept a bit and now we are spending time hotel hopping and house hunting. The temps had been climbing as we went further south but today it was 102 degrees here.  But let me assure you it wasn't too bad...say it with me now..."it's a dry heat!"

I will let folks know what's happening as we figure it out ourselves.  There are plenty of houses to choose from but not everything is fabulous.  We'll find something I'm sure! 

Stay posted for further developments, YA'LL!

We've arrived

We have arrived in San Antonio (or right outside of) as of 3:30 this morning.  We have slept for a few hours and are back out to start looking around for a good town to start our home search. When I get back this evening I'm going to catch up on our happenings for the last two days.  

For now... we arrived safe, we are tired, but we are here...and it looks pretty good...and it's warm, but then that could be the heat of the sunburn radiating from my shoulders!!!!!!