View from the Road: Mega Trip Part One

I'm going to assume that I can't tell you about this whole trip and show you all the pictures and expect that you will read to the bottom of the page.  Too much happened.  Too much was seen.  Too many miles were driven.  That's right.  Driven.

We started our summer vacation with a road trip.  Our goal was to make it to Glacier National Park and back, seeing family and friends and as many National Parks as we could.  We expected to spend long stretches in the car and long nights in a tent.  All our expectations were met.  So where did we go?  What did we see?

Our first leg of the journey was to get across Texas.  If you have ever made the drive across Texas, by way of I-10, then you know what I'm talking about.  If you haven't, then I think you've managed to avoid a certain type of torture.  Lucky you.

Unfortunately for us, going west means crossing the majority of this fine state.  That's roughly 750 miles.  Gross.  But let's begin...

Our first day had us driving to Big Bend National Park.  If you've never been to Big Bend, you should go.  Just don't go in the summer time.  It's a desert and it's hot.  Seriously hot.

Looking at fossils and trying not to bake in the sun

The park's busy season is between November and April.  Troy and I have visited the park in January and found it to be quite pleasant.  This time was just too hot.  Luckily, there is a campsite in the mountains and the temperature drops by about 20 degrees up there.  So that's where we camped.  We had a cool night with lots of wind and stars, and very few mountain lions and bears (or so I think...).

For our second day, we got a very early start and finished our Texas part of the trip.  Our sights were set on the Saguaro National Park, so we quickly crossed New Mexico and got into Arizona.  Before we got to Tuscon, we made it to the mystical land of these tall cacti.  

But there were many other types of cacti to be seen.  

Ocotillo

Prickly Pear

Cholla

Fishhook 

Here's a close up of the fishhook cactus.  Pretty easy to see how it got its name.

I will probably sound like a broken record, but if you have never been to Saguaro National Park, you should go.  I don't know if the time of year would matter, but it was pretty hot.  Even with the rain threatening, it was still quite warm out.  I wouldn't recommend camping, though.  I'm not too sure if it ever cools down at night.  Also, the majority of camping is back country.  It requires permits and equipment.  But visiting is a definite must.  

Saguaro National Park is like another world.  A strange Sonoran world teeming with life and color.  

We got to watch the sun set.  It was sure beautiful.  

We spent the second night in a hotel.  Troy informed me that we wouldn't be camping here due to the fact that Tuscon doesn't cool down at night.  I couldn't imagine what he was talking about until we pulled into the hotel parking lot at 9 pm and it felt like it was 90 degrees outside and blowing hot, dry air in my face.  We slept fine in a nice cool room, but when we woke up at 5:30 am, it was still in the upper 80's.  After breakfast we pulled out of the parking lot at 9:30 am.  The cheery radio announcer said that it was 96 degrees and expected to get to 113 for the high.  Ummm...  No thanks.  We sure did high tail it out of there and were relieved when we got to Flagstaff.  There we finally felt some cool air and smelled the most fragrant pine trees. 

Our third day had us visiting the Grand Canyon.  

It was incredible.  Our kids were blown away at the sight of it.  It should be pretty high on everyone's list of National Parks to see.  This time around it earned a place on my bucket list, if I can even say that I have a bucket list.  Before xyz I would like to climb to the bottom and back up again.  I would also like to find Brighty down there...

Our third night on the road ended with a spontaneous trip into Navajo Nation, where we spent the night in the Painted Desert.  I was less than thrilled about this, but the kids loved it.  Turns out my kids love camping.  Pitching the tent, sleeping on the air mat, reading with a flashlight, even peeing outside (that should come as no surprise).  And I don't even mind most of those things.  What bothers me is being isolated from other people and possibly being harassed by a mountain lion or a drunken man. But I'm happy to say that we had a peaceful, uneventful night.  

Our "campsite"

I feel like this is a good place to stop for now.  There are many more things to show, but as I scroll through, I realize just how much is on this page.  Until next time!

Gunpowder and What?

This past month we celebrated Richmond, TX.  We also celebrated the county in which Richmond resides, Fort Bend.  (And yes, to my Louisiana friends, county is a strange word better replaced by parish.)

So what have we learned from our celebratory experiences?  Well, let me tell you...through a series of pictures and captions.

Festival celebrating Richmond's 175th year of incorporation:

Richmond Texans love America...and Texas.

Poodles and cowboys clearly go together.

These were some of the possible clothing styles worn between the years 1837 and 2012.

This old timey firetruck is pretty cool.

American flags make any parade better.

Not everything in Richmond is old or historic.  There is a Zumba class.

Did you know there are cowboys here?

Miss Daisy is here, too.

It's totally cool for kids to ride these things.

Jail isn't really a joking matter.

This wagon is one (or two) steps away from having a bicycle pull it...Troy Becker.

There is an old timey barbershop in town and it's totally fine for the manliest men to go there.

American flags really do make any parade better.

That was fun.  All 20 minutes of it.  Even though I jest, I really do like the people here.  I also like the history.    It's like trading in Cajuns for cowboys.

Now onto the 76th Annual Fort Bend County Fair:

You can get a gallon of milk from one cow in one milking...!

Baby ducks are about the cutest, most cuddly thing!

I spoke too soon.  This pig is pretty darn cute.

And big.

The FFA and 4-H are alive and well here.

Auctioneers talk fast, even ceiling fans are bigger in Texas, and did I mention that there are cowboys here? 

What a fun time.  I think we'll all need a pair of cowboy boots before we can really feel at home.  I don't know that we'll be raising any animals anytime soon (do bees count?!).  And another thing, I'm not sure that any amount of time spent here, no matter how long, could convince me that girls are made of gunpowder and lead.   I don't know that I will ever get into country music.                                     

So there you have it.  A small taste of our small country life.

Sweetness

It's been a mild winter here in Texas.  And plenty of rain has fallen to help relieve some of the drought-like conditions.  So what do you get when you add rain and sunshine in the deep South.  Mosquitoes.  Yuck.

And this is what you get when you add one mosquito and Annie-cakes.

This picture was just too cute not to throw in here...

She got bitten right above her right eye.  She must taste real sweet to those pesky skeeters.  And I know what you're thinking.  You want a Baby Ruth.  And now I've found my segue.

Yesterday we solemnly celebrated Ash Wednesday.  Here's a little information on the holiday, if you will.  In the Old Testament, ashes were sprinkled on the head and over the whole body as a sign of mourning and penance.  Pope Urban II (c. 1035-1099) is credited with recommending that Catholics receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. During the Reformation, most Protestant Churches eliminated the use of ashes.  In recent years, however, many of these Churches have resumed the practice.*

And so, our little family received ashes yesterday.  Some of us for the first time.  During the service, we listened to "The Invitation to a Holy Lent".  You can read it here by clicking the Table of Contents and then clicking Ash Wednesday.  To sum it up, it's an invitation to observe a holy Lent through self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self denial.  You got it, we're giving up something for Lent.

And here's where the Baby Ruth fits right in.  I asked Orry what he might like to give up.  He had a really hard time coming up with something.  Partly because 40 days seems like a lifetime to a child.  Partly because the idea of sacrificing something is hard to wrap your head around at that age.  But never the less, we came to the consensus that we would give up sweets.  Cakes, cookies, and donuts.  But not ice cream.  Oh ho ho ho, no.  Not ice cream...

Annie is giving up painting her fingernails and toenails this Lenten season.  I told her that it's because she loves Jesus.  To which she replied, "Jesus!".  Troy is giving up lunch.  And I'm giving up cake, cookies, donuts, painting my fingernails and toenails, sleeping in past 6am, and movies.  Well, that last one is still up in the air.  Troy protested when I told him that idea because if I don't watch movies, he doesn't watch movies.  I know that one would be really hard for us, but isn't that the point?  Isaac hasn't chosen anything yet.  But he won't be eating any sweets (except ice cream) like the rest of us.

But this Lenten season we are going to try something new.  We are going to give up laziness.  We are going to finish all our projects that we start.  We are going to pick up after ourselves and not leave tasks for "later".  We are going to get through our chores in a timely fashion regardless of how much we don't want to do them.
And by we, I am mainly talking about myself, but I will do my best to see to it that everyone else participates.

Boy, after all this I think I will need a candy bar on top of a cookie on top of a cake, with a donut on the side. But I won't need the ice cream...

*Taken from The Little Black Book: Six Minute Meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent (Cycle B)

Our Family Tradition

My little Becker family has a summertime tradition.  I didn't realize it was a tradition until this year, when Troy said, "We need to build our yearly sandcastle.".  Could it be?  Did we really make a sandcastle every year.  Well, let's see.  

That is the castle from 2006.  We made it to Pensacola, FL before Orry came along.  (Troy and I also made a castle in 2005, but we weren't married and I don't have a picture to show you, so does it count?)  

And that is 2007's sandcastle.  That year we went to Destin, FL.  Orry was somewhere between 10 and 11 months.  Here's what he looked like:

He didn't particularly like the ocean.  But he didn't dislike it either.  When kids go the ocean for the first time it is pretty amazing.  It is such a vast thing to behold.  I can understand the excitement that is mixed with fear as the waves break over their shoulders.  The feeling that they could just be swept away into that big sea...

Now our journey takes us to 2008 and Korea.  That sandcastle was built by Troy and his brother, Trent.  We were in Yang Yang, South Korea, looking at the Sea of Japan.

Here we are when Orry was two, Isaac was a wee little 4 month old, Troy was less bald, and I was rocking a "new mom for the second time" haircut.  This was before we learned that Koreans preferred that we called the Sea of Japan the East Sea.

A year later we were still in Korea.  This time we journeyed to Donghae to build a sandcastle.  And here you can still see the East Sea.  

In 2010 we moved to Houston, TX.  Looking back, it was a good move to make in regards to this family tradition.  Now we live about 1 hour away from Galveston.  So here we are in Galveston, making another sandcastle. 

It was a great beach trip because Orry got over his fear of being in the water.  Isaac was thrilled to jump right in and I think this encouraged his older brother a bit.  

Another reason that it was so great was because we brought our newest addition along for the ride.  (Well, we couldn't just leave her home alone...)

And that is our sandcastle from today.  It was a lovely time filled with sand, sun, and salty water.  

Annie didn't like the sand or the water.  But she did like getting her beach pose on.

Troy was the work horse.  I was the baby monitor.

Isaac kept his shirt on for "swimming".  He sure loved the water.  He loved getting it in his mouth and then spitting everywhere to try and get it out.  

And Orry.  Well, Orry was busy showing the babes where the beach was...