CANMT Trip: Albuquerque and Gallup

 After Santa Fe we made our way to Albuquerque. On the way we saw a sign for something to do with the Mormon Battalion, so we pulled over to see what it was. It was this marker.

 Then we went to walk around the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple.

Once again there wasn't anyone around to take a family picture, so we tried our best to take it ourselves.

 I had heard about this place

while researching the trip. It sounded interesting, but was very disappointing. There was suppose to be all kinds of hands on things for Mel, but most weren't staffed. We left after not spending much time there. But this gave us time to go to Petroglyph National Park, barely.

When we arrived at the Visitor's Center we found out that you actually had to drive to the different trails. While the trails stayed open until sunset, the parking lots closed at 5pm. There were only a few parking spaces outside the lot. We stamped our passports, grabbed a junior ranger packet (which we wouldn't be able to turn in, but he told us we could mail it) and hurried to the closest trail, Rinconada Canyon. While it was the closest, it also had the least amount of petroglyphs, but we felt it was our best chance to see any. When we arrived there weren't any available parking spaces outside the lot, so we parked in the lot with only 20 min. before it closed. We started our quick hike.

After about 10 minutes we started seeing petroglyphs.

But then we started wondering, "How many of these were real?" I don't think these were:

I wish there was a sign next to the real ones, or some kind of a pamphlet with a map showing which were the real ones. By this time we only had about five minutes until the parking lot closed. There was no way Melodie could make it back so quickly, so Rocky ran ahead. When Melodie and I made it back we went to the restroom. "Mom, it's a porta potty." Melodie told me. "No it's not," I told her (there was a toilet and it was in a building). Then she exclaimed, "It's a hole!"Sure enough, there wasn't any plumbing. Then she started laughing, "There's air going on my bum." I started laughing so hard I cried. After we left the hole in the ground we saw the park rangers getting ready to close the gates to the parking lot. Whew! We weren't locked in.
 On our way to Gallup we pulled to the side of the road when we saw another sign that caught our interest. It was a marker showing different points of interests. Off in the distance we saw Pueblo Laguna.

We ate dinner on the road (McDonalds for the first time the whole trip - Mel was happy). When we arrived in Gallup we stopped at the El Rancho Hotel to look around. Melodie wasn't interested so Rocky and I took turns going in the hotel to look around. I didn't feel she would miss anything by not looking around and she had looked at so many things that just weren't interesting to her already that I didn't feel the need to push the issue. None of my pictures from inside turned out, but it was a quirky hotel with pictures of all the stars that had stayed there.

And then we stayed the night in Gallup, NM.

CANMT Trip: NCCIL, Peter Pan, Dallas Temple

 After Frontier Texas! We went to The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature (NCCIL). The exhibit in the gallery while we were there was The Fantastic World of Dan Yaccarino. I had prepared Melodie for this by checking out a bunch of his books from the library. "Unlovable" is one of my favorites. The only character Melodie knew from his books was Oswald. She knows the Backyardigans from TV, but I felt she'd enjoy the center more if she was familiar with the stories.

A volunteer greeted us and said we could join the school group that was on a field trip if we wanted to. Melodie said no.

We started walking around the gallery, but every time we moved Melodie almost started crying and hid behind me. She kept saying she didn't want to go with the group of kids, and I kept telling her we weren't. It didn't matter. She started crying and saying she was shy (she isn't). This went into full blown meltdown as I took her out of the center to the car ("I don't want to leave!" she was screaming). We got to the car and I let her get it out of her system after yelling at her "I was not taking her to the group of children, so I have no idea what your problem is!". She'd done so well on this trip. I was surprised that it took this long for a meltdown. Then I noticed her lip was bleeding. We all had very dry skin from the wind and her lips (despite all the chapstick applications) were so cracked that the upper one started bleeding while she was crying. Surprisingly, taking care of that calmed her down and we were able to go back in to look at the rest of the gallery. There was also a room of books to look at.

I was thrilled that there were Robert Sabuda books to look at. Our library doesn't carry them and they are always wrapped in plastic at book stores.                                 
 I'm glad we went to NCCIL. It was small, but it was free. I love books and I was thrilled to share that with Mel. Dan Yaccarino's paintings were amazing.
 Now we were on our way to Murphy, TX (where we would be visiting our friends), but there were still two more stops along the way.
 I'm not sure how I found this. It seems that if there's something to do with Peter Pan, I will find it. Sure enough, while planning the trip I found out that the city of Weatherford, TX was the place where Mary Martin was born. I can't tell you how many times I've watched my VHS tape of her as Peter Pan. Turns out there was a stature of her as Peter Pan in front of the Weatherford library. Since Weatherford was along our route, we stopped for some pictures (after I changed into one of my Peter Pan shirts).

 

 Melodie played on the computers at the libraries for a little while and then we were on our way again. Before long we arrived in Dallas. We live in So Cal, but the freeways in Dallas were crazy. And there was a lot of construction. Our GPS did not do well. We got a little lost a few times, but eventually we arrived at the Dallas Temple.

 We walked the temple grounds enjoying how beautiful it was.

 

We tried to find someone to take our picture, but there wasn't anyone around. So we tried to take a family shot by ourselves.

And finally people started coming out of the temple. Unfortunately the doors are at the very back, so we weren't able to get a picture in front of the temple. So the picture is us by the side of the temple, but at least we got a family picture!

 We were almost to Murphy! A few more wrong turns and we were finally at the Gamlen's house. Melodie, Jason and Cassie were soon playing like they had never been apart and I LOVED girl talk and catching up with Jennifer. I think poor Rocky was just waiting until Josh came home. We started laundry (Thank you Jennifer! We did soooo much laundry.) and made dinner.

Soon the kids were in bed (and so was Jennifer). Rocky and I stayed up talking with Josh. He was so busy at work we were very thankful for the time he was taking off to spend with us (and his family of course).

CANMT Trip: Easter Pageant

 We went to the Mesa Arizona Temple hours before the pageant started. We wanted seats in the front in order to see my niece better. My sister and her family usually go to the area where you can sit on blankets on the ground, but they are near the back. This year we sat in the chairs in the second row. Score! Another fun thing they do is bring dinner to eat while waiting. Then we spent a little time in the Visitor's Center and around the rest of the Temple grounds.

 

Melodie and her cousins

 

 Soon the cast was walking around visiting with the audience. They are always willing to pose for a picture and answer questions. I love seeing the costumes up close.

 

 This time we were thrilled because family members were in the cast. It was great to see them in their costumes.

With my cousin Robert                        Robert let Mel hold the shield

 

With my Uncle                                          With my Aunt and her grandson

 

My niece

 Another fun treat was that we saw the animals up close. There were ponies, a lamb and the cutest little goat.

My nephew and sister with the cute little goat

 Because of the date we were able to go to the pageant, we were going to be seeing it in Spanish. This wasn't too bothersome because Melodie and I saw it this year and Rocky speaks Spanish. Plus, we know the story. Turns out they also had headset translators. This was helpful.
 The pageant was wonderful. It's emotional to see the life of Christ acted out on a stage. The kids always take it hard when it comes to the Crucifixion. One niece cried. Melodie took off her headset and closed her eyes. It is difficult to watch. The whole pageant is so well done and we loved seeing my niece up there.

After a visit to the temple, my sister and her family always go to the little Dairy Queen right next to the temple. Nice little tradition.

The pagaent is a wonderful way to remember the reason we celebrate Easter. I'm glad we were able to go this year. And that we were able to go with so much family.

 

My mom with all her grandkids (a very happy grandma)