Santa Fe

We just had Sunday morning for Santa Fe. We had a nice Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis, including a great, orthodox homily by a new priest. We strolled around the town square a bit, with Owen finding some motorcycles and obsessively saying "toto" until we put him on one. Then we visited the Loretto Chapel. I don't think Bobbins appreciated it as much as I did, and probably not the girls, but hopefully they remember it. It was something I really wanted to take them to see. I remembered it vividly from 2004.

What a cool miracle! Even the wood is an unknown, non-native specimen. I wonder if they will ever take the railing down to restore it to its original.

From Santa Fe, we drove all the way home to Phoenix, stopping in Payson for dinner, at Taco Bell. Thankfully I had the following day, Memorial Day, off to recover. But what a fun, adventurous trip.

CO Springs - Air Force Academy

We left Boulder Saturday and got stuck in some traffic on I-25 but managed to make it to the Air Force Academy before lunch. We checked out the visitor center and gift shop, then walked over to the chapel, by the far the coolest building on the campus. We especially appreciated the Catholic chapel in the basement.

 

We hit Chik-Fil-A for lunch, then got back onto 25 for Santa Fe. It was about an hour north of Santa Fe we hit the 200K mile mark in the Sequoia. The drive in southern Colorado, among the mountains, was pretty, but into Santa Fe was only ok. We were also quite tired by that point.

Boulder

That Friday we drove up to Boulder to see Bobbins' friends Michael and Ann and their two girls. It was a nice visit with some good food and beer. The four girls loved playing together. Bobbins and I fondly remembered visiting Michael and Ann many years before, when we were un-married, and driving over to Boulder with them for lunch.

Denver

We were in Denver for almost the whole week. Bobbins took the kids out each day while I was doing applicant interviews. She got some nice photos, but unfortunately they were lost (will explain later). They went to the Colorado State Capitol, the Denver Art Museum, and a few other places. I had some good interviews and went swimming with the girls at the hotel a few times. They were re-modeling, so Owen got to "drive" this forklift a couple times.

 

It was something all of us piled into one room. We had a king size bed for Bobbins and I, a pull-out couch for the girls, and the PnP for Owen. Which left Fish with ... the bathtub. He was fine in there and slept no problem. But being the light sleeper he is, it meant we couldn't use the toilet at night. The girls and Bobbins got by with cups, while I walked down to the lobby restroom.

Other highlights were a restaurant called Modern Market and Centennial Center Park.

Into Colorado

From Arches, we planned to drive to Grand Junction, CO, where I had a hotel reservation. I figured there'd be somewhere to eat on I-70 on the way there, but alas, there was only a gas station and nasty food. Bobbins made due. We nearly hit a deer just west of Grand Junction. Out of nowhere it sprinted onto the freeway in front of us as we were going about 75mph. We pulled into our hotel around 10pm. Luckily, we had called ahead to keep our reservation, because the hotel was fully booked. We got the handicapped room, which left plenty of room for Fish in the PnP in the bathroom.

He woke up that Sunday morning with the worst blowout poop I have ever seen. I got to clean it out by hand in the shower, which had terrible water pressure. One of the pant legs of his one-sie was full of crap.

We had a very nice Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church in downtown Grand Junction. Then we found a great local restaurant nearby for a delicious breakfast. Off we headed to Denver in the afternoon. The drive along I-70 and the Colorado River was stunning. I actually enjoyed being behind the wheel for once. We stopped in Vail to stretch our legs. The skiing season had just ended (although there were people still on the slopes way up in the mountains), so it was dead. The kids played on a pirate ship park and we found a high quality ski pole in a stream. We rolled into Denver about 6pm.

Arches National Park

I had planned for us to stop at Arches National Park near Moab. We pulled in later than intended, about 3pm, but we had plenty of daylight to explore. Somehow, the park was free, and the Visitor Center was nice. Bobbins snapped this photo of the boys in the courtyard. Fish fell about two minutes after this. Bobbins caught him, thankfully. We followed the map into the park and spent all our time at Sand Dune Arch, about in the middle of the park. We drove around to a couple others. The girls loved playing in the sand, and we had a nice little hike to Broken Arch.

Monument Valley

I had to go to Denver for work for a week at the end of May, and we decided to make a family trip of it, even though MM would miss her last days of school. So on a Saturday morning, we all piled into the Sequoia and drove north, stopping for gas in Flagstaff and lunch at Sonic in Kayenta, where it was very windy. From there we went through Monument Valley into Utah. It was a gorgeous drive, of course. Monument Valley is stunning, and southeastern Utah (such as Mexican Hat) wasn't too shabby either. After Monument Valley, everyone, including Bobbins, fell asleep, so I was left to enjoy it by myself.

 

 

Vacation or Trip

I'm about to post pic's of our trip to Denver, but first I wanted to share this article, which appropriately sets the stage. We definitely fell in the category of trip, not vacation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/m-blazoned/vacation-or-trip-a-helpful-guide-for-parents_b_7789310.html

So, you’re headed out on a family vacation this summer. Great news! But are you sure? Are you sure it’s a vacation? You might want to think about that for a minute. Because a vacation is best described as time away from a job and/or the monotony and frustrations of day-to-day life, with the goal of relaxing and having fun.

Not to be a super downer, but chances are, if you have kids (and they are coming with you), you aren’t going on a vacation at all. You’re going on what I like to call... a trip. You see, a trip is simply a journey to a place.

While there is nothing wrong with a family trip — and, in fact, it can be a memorable time of family bonding — it should never, ever be confused with a vacation. Such confusion can lead to unexpected feelings of regret and disappointment typically taken out on your spouse, who, incidentally, is feeling just as confused and swindled as you are.

JoJo's TK Graduation

I managed to find some old pictures. These are from JoJo's graduation from transitional kindergarten in May. Great job JoJo. She really loved her teacher Mrs. Brown.

The boy holding the US flag is named Peter and is the youngest child (of 6) of our friends who live nearby and who were carpool buddies for a while. JoJo really likes Peter.

Owen's First Baseball Game

Bobbins' father did our annual D-backs game early this year, in May, because the Yankees (his team) were in town. Thankfully, we stomped the Pinstripes. It was Owen's first game and he loved it. He brought his mitt and had a blast running around. He even tried to play catch with an older boy a few rows down. Owen took the ball and the look on the other boy's face was priceless. His parents and us had a good laugh. This was also the last game with Jack, who loved it.

Knights Tournament

Still back in May, I played in Dennis's Knights Council fundraiser, again at Orange Tree. Uncle Jack and Sean joined D and I. No bogeys and some fun birdies.

MM's Kindergarten Class

They took a quick class photo after doing the Marian consecration on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima. We love her teacher and the school!