From AZ to Mexico

We think this was some sort of mining, south of Phoenix.

New Views on the way to AZ

We had a contest for the kids - a buck to the one who saw the first cactus. Mitchell won!

Feb 3, still in AZ

We were so thrilled to have the opportunity to spend the evening with long-time friends Len and Ginny Bell. Amazingly they live just under 4 miles from James & Nicky's! Dinner of course was tasty, and the fellowship was SWEET! The kids enjoyed them too! Ginny made a special dessert that the kids enjoyed helping her with: it was a cookie that they topped with ice cream, etc! What a special treat!

Marking our time together with a picture! We had never hung out together in the US! We made sure we hit Starbucks together, as well as Target and Sally's. Lots of talking time, hanging out with our kids, etc. BUT NO ROOK - what's wrong with us?? OK, we'll do that next time we're together!

Spending time in AZ with the Poarch's

On February 2nd, we arrived at James & Nicky's house in the evening. We spent two days with their family and enjoyed every minute!

Julia and Nicky at Peter Piper's Pizza.

Katrina enjoying the Bob the Builder ride!

Mitchell & Emily

Spencer & Luke

Road Trip!

We left WI on Saturday morning. Now it's Monday night, and we're in New Mexico!

One more sleep and a days' drive until we're at Poarch's! The kids are excited to see their friends again, as are we. We've seen some awesome scenery along the way,

and I thought I'd share some of my photos with you! Enjoy!

Julia getting to know my good friend Linda. Linda and her husband Dan hosted us at their home in MO the first night. Josh and I've known them since we started dating in '94, as they were my dorm parents in college. With a rule that didn't allow us (single, dating people) to be alone together, we hung out at the Jennett home a lot! We liked THEM a lot too! :)

The whole crew ready to hit the road! Katrina's holding "Eddie" (short for Teddy), whom we got from the Jennetts when they found out that we'd forgotten Katrina's teddy at home.

Katrina has a cat-nap in the car - so glad we got her that sun shade the second day.

The first day she kept getting woken up by the sun in her eyes.

The landscape on the way to our hotel the 2nd night clued us in

to why the hotel called to ask if we were still coming...

Katrina sleeping in a big bed - I was so worried she'd fall out that I didn't sleep too well.

(My bum knee -from my slip on the ice last week- hurting all night didn't help either...but it IS getting better.)

Julia sacked out at the foot of the bed she shared with Katrina.

The boys shared a hide-a-bed.

Breakfast time!

Choosing their food - not this much selection mornings at home!

Waffles AND a donut?

Katrina didn't have much of an appetite but Josh tried to feed her some oatmeal anyway.

Katrina loved the decor in the lobby of the hotel!

Ice Storm Damage

Entering TX with very overcast skies - not the way I pictured my first time in TX!

Then suddenly it was clear!!

Loved all the windmills!

The road stretched out as far as we could see!

It was fun catching up with this train! The engineer blew his whistle a few times as we passed him!

The scenery is changing...
From flat to hilly again...

We had to stop a few more times than yesterday as Katrina's patience was wearing thin. We didn't get to our hotel until after 6 today.

Beautiful!

* I realized I'd uploaded the pics smaller than usual this time, sorry about that.

If you want to see a pic up close, click on it and you'll see it full sized.

I plan to post more as I get time, so check back when you get a chance!