Road Trip Day 2

This is what Mobile, AL looks like at 6:00am...

Isn't it beautiful?  We watched this barge come in while we ate breakfast.  Amazing.  McKay was glued to the window the entire time.  I love that the kids got to see something completely different than anything they would see in a normal day at home.  

After breakfast, we took a very long and leisurely drive down the panhandle coast toward our next destination and stopped at Perdido Beach so the kids could put their feet in the sand.  It's like walking in fairy dust.  It's so soft and perfect.

they're all trying to spot crabs in the water...there were tons!

We are loving these Florida beaches and we're looking forward to a few days outside of the Yukon so we can enjoy them!  

 
We arrived at our destination tonight, but once again it's too dark to see what's outside the hotel room.  We drove over so many bridges, though, that I'm pretty sure we're entirely surrounded by water.  We'll find out in the morning. 

Stay tuned...

Sea World at Christmas

On Christmas Eve, the Scout Master and I had a crazy idea to surprise the kids with one last trip to Sea World in San Antonio before our passes expired.  We have never been to SA in the winter, and we were pretty intrigued by the thought of Sea World at Christmas...."where the season meets the sea."

The weather forecast looked hopeful, and about 15 degrees warmer than Dallas for the weekend, so we happily loaded the van and drove off for our adventure bright and early yesterday morning.  

Sea World is beautiful during the Christmas season, and until it got dark, the weather was pretty darn perfect, too.  The Scout Master and a couple of the kids managed to get on a the roller coasters, and we hit all three of the big shows.  Unfortunately that's about all we were able to do because the park was completely PACKED with people.  Who knew Christmas was such an ideal time to visit Sea World?  We had forgotten about the Alamo Bowl scheduled for this afternoon, so we ran into A LOT of football fans, including both the UT and Oregon State bands!  Despite the crowds, we had a really great time.  Lots of togetherness,  and a really great way to break up the monotony of a two week vacation from school.  We stopped at a few of the outlet malls on the way home and zipped through the UT campus in Austin so that I could breathe a little orange blood into my children, and we made it home by 8:30ish.  

Here is my favorite part of this weekend and every other family vacation that we've ever been on...

I absolutely LOVE having all of my chickens in one space.  I'm not crazy about sharing one bathroom, and I'm sure the lack of privacy would be irritating after awhile, but to be stuffed in a hotel room for one or two nights is the most peaceful, content, joy-inducing thing I can think of.  I woke up at 4:00am because Mack is getting a pretty bad cold.  I gave him some water and then walked the two feet back to my own bed and hopped in.  For a minute, I just sat there in the dark and counted four little blessings and one larger snoring one beside me, and then I went back to sleep.  I love these guys so much!

High Five for Friday

If you had a whole day to yourself, with no obligations, a beautiful new place to explore and this to drive around...what would you do?

Yep, that's what I was thinking, too.

I woke up yesterday morning after spending all day in the hotel room on Wednesday and thought, "Seriously, you have access to a Mustang and you're not going to even try to drive the thing?"  So, I drove it yesterday...everywhere!  Thank goodness for unlimited mileage and a GPS.

1.  Mesa Temple.  It was already in the GPS, so I just drove there first.  It's just as beautiful in the daytime as it is at night. 

2.  These gorgeous trees are all around the Temple grounds and are LOADED with fruit.  There were more lemons, oranges, and grapefruits than I have ever seen in my life.  It must be citrus season in Arizona. 

3.  Old Town Scottsdale

4.  Fleetwood Mac Day on Classic Rewind!  Perfect music for driving around.

5.  Arizona is beautiful and Mustangs are meant to be driven. 

Mesa Temple

Last night after dinner with the Scout Master's business associates, we decided to drive over to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights.  

It was absolutely spectacular and my biggest regret was that I had decided to pack lightly and not bring my camera.  Thank goodness for iPhones.  I took pictures of the lights on the Temple grounds and sent them via text to Flowering Buttercup and Spell Girl and wished like crazy that the kids had been with us last night.  

The Scout Master took several pictures, too, and posted a couple on Facebook.  

And here's how I gained a testimony of the miracle of technology...

Have you ever seen those movies where people who have some connection to each other are in the same vicinity but they don't even know it?  Because you're watching the movie, you have the advantage of knowing all the players and being able to see with a broader perspective what the characters in the movie can't see.  I think about that all the time when I'm in a crowd.  Sometimes obsessively.  I always wonder if there's someone in the crowd who might share a mutual friend, or if I've just missed someone I know by a few moments.  

Last night, as the Scout Master and I were walking around the Mesa Temple, I kept straining to look at faces.  It was dark, so we couldn't make out anyone's face very well, but in a place like the Temple at Christmas, you're bound to run into someone, right?  The Scout Master asked me who I was expecting to see, and I thought "Well, I have no idea, but no one would be expecting to run into us in Arizona either, and tonight they just might!"  You never know when you're going to cross paths with someone.

And then the Scout Master took a beautiful picture of the Mesa Temple illuminated by all the Christmas lights and posted it on Facebook.  A friend we had known briefly and casually in Atlanta saw the picture and immediately commented, "If you see Sister... please tell her hello for us!"  I think the Scout Master would have been content to just check name tags on a few of the sister missionaries who happened to pass by us.  But not me.  After that post, I was on a quest.  We talked to every sister missionary we passed on the grounds of the Temple, and when we didn't find her out there, we went into the Visitors Center and talked to all of the missionaries inside.  We eventually found her companion who told us that she was in the little theater with a few visitors watching a movie about the Church.  It had 5 minutes before it ended.  That was plenty of time to meet a few more sister missionaries and bask in their glow.  They were all so sweet and SO chatty.  There is something entirely different and wonderful about the spirit those sister missionaries bring with them.  I love the elders, but the sisters have a special place in my heart.  (I kept thinking to myself, "How are my reserved daughters...especially my little Spell Girl...going to do this for 18 whole months in a place they're not familiar with?")  

We eventually found the cute sister missionary we were hunting for.  She was so happy to see us and she didn't even know who we were.  We told her how we had come to find her and she immediately gave me a hug.  (I LOVE that the sister missionaries can give hugs!)  We connected for a few minutes about the friends we have in common and then took a quick picture that we posted on FB.

After talking to her, we also found out that there was a sister missionary from Toulouse, France, where the Scout Master served his mission.  We talked to that delightful girl for a few minutes (and she hugged me, too!) and I got to listen to the Scout Master reminisce with her in French about all the people they both knew and the way the area has changed (and stayed the same) over the last 22 years.  We also realized later that that sister missionary had not even been born when the Scout Master was a missionary there!

The whole night was miraculous to me.  I marveled as we left at the amazing connecting power of technology combined with the spirit, the Temple, sister missionaries, and the Christmas season.  A few minutes after we left, the Scout Master received a cute comment on that picture from that sister missionary's mom.  And I thought, "I hope that sometime in the future when my children are away from me serving missions, that someone will make the effort to find them and post a picture somewhere to reassure me that they are happy and safe."   

Last night I felt the strong connection Heavenly Father intends for us to have with one another.  We're not supposed to just wander around by ourselves and be isolated.  We are supposed to connect with our families, as well as with friends, neighbors and strangers.   I loved that Temple experience last night.  The connection I felt with those sister missionaries was even more miraculous than the hundreds of people who were walking around the Mesa Temple last night.  It was more miraculous than the hundreds of Books of Mormon in various languages on the table in the center of the Visitors Center.  It was even more miraculous than the beautiful Christmas lights that become an amazing missionary tool at this time of year.  Last night, technology connected a handful of people who might have just walked past each other and never known that they had a connection at all.  

I love this time of year.  I'm so grateful to have decided to come on this trip.  And just for a few moments last night, I loved Facebook. 

Scottsdale

I found this quote on a blog I once followed:

"Do you know what detracts from happiness?  Rushing."

Do you know what the antidote to rushing is?  Scottsdale, AZ 

When we got home from our Thanksgiving trip to Utah, there was so much to do.  And it was so hard to get it all done.  Take down Thanksgiving, put up Christmas. Help with the Nativity at church.  Plan the 4th grade holiday party.  Learn 30 minutes of Christmas music on the piano.    Remember how to get up at 5am.  Groceries.  Dinner.  Homework.  Doctors appointments. 

By Saturday, I was ready to crawl out onto a small ledge and just hang out there until January.

Early in November, the Scout Master invited me to come with him on a business trip to Arizona.  Have I mentioned that I'm not great at spontaneous?  Have I mentioned that I'm not great at doing anything different than what I usually do?  I know most women would jump at the chance to go on a trip with their husbands, but I didn't exactly jump when I thought about this trip.  All I could think about was everything that I would have to do to get ready to go.  I didn't want to disappoint him, though, so I said yes in November and then crossed my fingers and then spent the rest of the month hoping I would be able to muster up a better attitude before we actually got on the plane.  

Honestly, I didn't get off that ledge and have a better attitude until about an hour before we got on the plane, but I did eventually get there and that's what matters, right?

And look at this amazing place!

 

My suitcase is filled with Oprah magazines, books I haven't read yet, and cards for me to write all those notes I've been meaning to write.  So that's what I've done all morning...

...from here...
 
I don't have to decorate for Christmas here. I don't have to think about homework or school projects or holiday parties.  I don't have to go Christmas shopping (but I might because there are tons of cute little places to shop here.)  I don't have to buy groceries or make dinner for four days.  I don't even have to get dressed if I don't want to.   

I'm so grateful that my kind, wonderful, infinitely patient husband invited me to come on this trip with him even though I was a little like a giant bag of cement reluctant to come.  I'm already feeling more relaxed and I still have three more days of this.    


 
  

High Five for Friday

Welcome to the Road Trip edition of H54F.  We left this morning at 5:00 (ish) and have had a great day on the road.  It's so nice to have kids who are old enough to be entertained and happy while traveling in a van for 12+ hours. 

1.  Even though the burnt orange blood running through my veins makes morally opposed to the state of Oklahoma, we did have to drive through it.  (And it's actually really beautiful.) By 8:00am we could no longer put off the starving children in the backseat, so we gave in and stopped for breakfast at this cute little donut shop in Norman, OK of all places!  Fortunately several of us were decked out in our Texas sweatshirts so there wasn't a chance we'd be mistaken for Sooners (phew...)

2.  We saw a lot of these today! And, do you know what?  It turns out I kinda love rolling fields and amber waves of grain.

3.  Cawker City, KS.  We detoured through this cute, little (and I mean little) town so that we could visit...(insert anxious anticipation here)

4.  ...the highlight of Mack's trip, The World's Largest Ball of String

someone put these cute googly eyes on it so it feels a little more personal than just the average ball of string.

5.  Somewhere in the middle of those beautiful wheat fields, between Kansas and Nebraska, we found the geographic center of the US.  So we admired it for a minute, took a picture, and then drove on.

Right now, everyone else is peacefully snoring in our hotel room in North Platte, NE and as soon as I post this, I will be, too.  Well, I don't actually snore.  But I will be peacefully energizing for the last half of our trip tomorrow.  We start bright and early at 6:00am.  More Road Trip adventures to come.  (Maybe they've added something exciting in Wyoming since our last trip through.)

Hope your Friday was great and the rest of your weekend is amazing!

Road Trips

I LOVE road trips so much!  We've been planning this one for a few months, but now that it's finally here, we're all about to lose our minds with excitement.  The Scout Master has been out of town since Monday morning so I've been busy cleaning out the van, doing laundry, hunting down warmer clothes for everyone, cleaning the house and packing.  (hmmm....I wonder if he purposely timed this trip so that he could get out of all the hard stuff???)

We leave tomorrow morning at 5:00am...or as close to that as possible.  The van is stocked with snacks, water bottles, electronic devices, and about 4 weeks' worth of outfits because you just never know what kind of a mood you're going to be in when you're on vacation...or what the weather's going to be like...or if there will be a surprise fancy dinner involved.  It's always good to have about 4 extra pairs of shoes just in case.  

Mack has planned a short detour to see the Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, KS into our route, but if all goes according to plan, we should arrive at our destination sometime late Saturday night.  

Today I'm so grateful for trips to look forward to, family to spend Thanksgiving with, and amazing neighbors who are willing to get our mail, feed our fish, and make sure our house is safe while we're gone.