Pecos Historical Park

We had a nice warm breakfast at our campsite in Storrie Lake State Park. While Mom and Dad cleaned up, the kids got out Ladder Ball and enjoyed a few rounds learning how to play. Ladder Ball came out at almost every campsite and was enjoyed throughout the whole trip. 

After traveling a few miles down the road, we stopped at our first “site” of the trip, Pecos National Historic Park. Though the park did not have any Ranger Talks due to the C restrictions, we still could enjoy the park by walking along the historic trail reading various signs. We learned about the Pecos Pueblo people, why they settled in this area, the Spanish coming into the area with their monastery, and how this changed the lives of the Pueblo. There were still walls and the remains of old walls from the monastery building. 

Going into the kivas at Pecos Historical Park was a highlight. It was neat to climb the ladders and feel how deep and big the kivas were. 

We had a fun stop with a rare eat-out at Sonic in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Sonic is Joel’s favorite fast food restaurant. He loves to get the #1 value meal! We all enjoyed a hot and yummy lunch! 


As we continued on our way, Callie enjoyed completing the Junior Ranger book for the Pecos Historic Site. 

We rolled into Arizona and settled for the evening in Holbrook, AZ at a KOA! The kids couldn’t wait to jump into a swimming pool. Though the weather was cooler, they jumped in anyway. The KOA also had a fun playground with a basketball court and tether ball. It was nice to have a shower and we did a load of laundry. We are looking forward to shorter days on the road as we start to reach the destinations of our trip. Curtis has done a great job driving us safely across the USA! 

Traveling to New Mexico

We got on the road at a nice time in the morning after a yummy breakfast from Aunt Kim. The kids enjoyed audio books, card games, activity books, reading, movies, and trivia throughout the trip. We traveled on a two lane highway for much of the day. We started timing how long we would go in between seeing cars traveling towards us. A minute was usually average but sometimes it went as long as three minutes. We could tell we were moving West to the open fields and spaces! We drove through the Panhandle of Oklahoma into New Mexico in the early afternoon. We got to cross off two more states! Curtis had found a state park in Las Vegas, NM with electrical camping, right about where we wanted to stop for the day and the site worked out great.  We pulled right in about our long 9 hour day of driving (490 miles!) and were glad to be stopped for the night. We got settled and cooked some dinner. After dinner we took a walk toward the lake in the State Park. The water level of the park was way down and we walked a number of yards into what had been the “lake”. Many people were fishing and enjoying the evening. The kids picked up lots of sea shells. We enjoyed the beautiful sunset, as it went down for the night behind the New Mexican mountains. It felt so good to be in the mountains! 

On the Road!

We didn’t even take a breath and hit the road West. First stop, Kansas, to take the girls back and enjoy time with family! It was a long 12 hour day on the road. The hills of Iowa were challenging on the RV, and we covered a lot of miles. After arriving, Aly was helpful and took Mom to Aldi for groceries. When we got back, Aunt Kim made an delicious dinner for us. We enjoyed lots of cousin time! 

8th Grade Graduation Ceremony and Reception

Cade’s 8th grade graduation ceremony! He received the American Legion award from Miss Beverly, and Bible award from Pastor Justin during the ceremony. He gave an excellent speech titled, Faith over Facts. Cade spoke about how he has seen the Lord work in his life at PCA by learning faith is more important than learning facts and being able to answer questions correctly. It was a beautiful testimony of the Lord’s working. Curtis was the featured speaker at the ceremony. He made his message personal, challenging, and with The Gospel at the forefront. After the students received their diplomas, Mrs. Holmes had a fun “Yankee Doodle” break out during the processional. It brought many smiles and laughs. 

The cake reception in the gym after the ceremony was led by Mrs. Anderson. She ordered a beautiful cake for the graduates, and she also made individual graduation hat cakes. She made the hat cakes for the kids in kindergarten so it was fun to do them again in 8th grade. Great job, Mrs. Anderson! 

We also had our memory tables at the reception. We put Cade’s quilt on the table as the table cloth and displayed each of his school pictures from kindergarten. Mom made a book filled his class pictures, awards from each grade, and selections of his school work and grades during his PCA years. What a fun book of history! 

We also enjoyed the balloon arch at the reception for special pictures with friends and family. It was nice to snap a picture with Mrs. Cook. Cade has really enjoyed her teaching during his junior high years. Her conversational style teaching has fit him well.