Petersons Never Give Up: Fourth of July in New Mexico

Sean and I usually try to avoid traveling on Sundays, but when planning this trip we felt like it would be a good idea to stay home Saturday and recuperate from his intense service weeks and the graduation party. We woke up on Saturday morning and couldn't think of anything to do so we decided to drive to NM. I was glad it was a last minute choice because if we had decided the day before we probably would have woken up super early and stayed up late the night before getting things packed. This way we just packed really quickly and got ready to go. We left about 10:15 from our house, but when I stopped to fill up the tank with gas, Sean checked the oil and we needed to get some. The gas station didn't have any of the oil we needed so we went to a nearby auto store and got the car some more oil. Sean was annoyed with himself for not getting the oil changed earlier, but I was so grateful that his dad taught him to check, no one wants a melted engine in Monticello, Utah! I bought Brett a BB-8 bop-it game for the trip and was planning to pull it out during a super bored moment, but when I went to put it in the car it started going off, so I gave it to him right away. He was soooo excited and played for 2 hours! He finally beat the game by getting 100 a few days into our trip. Alana is a little too young for the bop-it so I got her a Moana barbie which she played with on the way down, but hasn't cared much about since. I bought Lizzie a fun ball that lights up and I got all of them a slinky which we pulled out after dinner. We didn't get on the road until about 11 so we didn't get to NM till 11 PM. We figured all kids would fall asleep. Alana and Lizzie conked out no problem, but Brett couldn't get to sleep. It was actually super fun just chatting with Brett about all kinds of things. We told him funny stories about when we were dating and when he was a baby. It was actually one of the smoothest trips we've ever had! It went really fast and the kids were so great!

On Sunday we got dressed and ready and went to church at 9 AM. Brett and Alana and Lizzie slept in the blue room where they are used to sleeping. Eric, Natzz, and Estelle slept in the brown room. Brian and Jill slept in the piano room on the fold out sofa and Sean and I slept in the family room on a blow up mattress. We all shared the hall bathroom and Mom and Dad's master. Neil and Rebecca and Kaden and Lexi came to NM too, but stayed with Rebecca's sister Maria in Santa Fe. Neil's family came up to church in White Rock and stayed for a delicious spaghetti lunch after.

We took a picture of our family in front of Mom and Dad P's house for the last time. It was more sad to leave than I thought, but I am just so excited to have them move closer!

On Sunday afternoon I fell asleep on the floor while Brett played some Nintendo and Sean took Alana on a walk to Overlook park. Eric and Natzz went with them and they had fun talking about thier different perspectives as the youngest and oldest brother. One story Sean shared with me was of a time when the 3 older boys were picking on Sean and had really hurt his feeling. Sean went into his bedroom and was crying on his bed, Eric started feeling bad and went in to talk to poor little Sean and Sean said through tears and sobs "Eric are we friends, enemies, or brothers?" Eric said it actually affected him a lot thinking about what it really means to be brothers. Sean didn't even remember it, so it was fun to hear the two of them talking.

On Monday we went on a hike along the canyon rim and had gorgeous views of the very full rio grande. Brett walked 2 miles straight with no problems. Alana walked a good portion but tripped and got sad so Sean carried her for awhile. I carried Lizzie in the Bjorn. We drove to a the trail then hiked back home, so we dropped the kids off there and Sean and I jogged over to get the van. We helped with picking up some pine cones in the yard, then got showered and had lunch.

In the afternoon we drove up to Los Alamos to go to CB Fox department store. We all got to pick a candy. Lizzie and I each got a chocolate covered bisquit cookie thing, Sean got a little chocolate honey bee, Alana got a ring pop, and Brett tried pop rocks for the first time. We took the kiddos back home and dropped them off with Papa and Mimi so we could meet one of Sean's childhood friends, Peter at Gabriels (a local favorite!). The kids did awesome and we even snuck out the back door so Lizzie didn't see us leave and didn't cry! Dinner was AMAZING especially the guacamole!

Lizzie and Estelle were sometimes unsure of each other when they were playing on the floor, mostly because whatever toy they had was the one the other wanted. When they were eating though, they loved hanging out with each other!! Brett and Alana also super enjoyed playing with Estelle. Brett played a really fun game where Natalie and Estelle would chase around with Brett. He told me that he loved Estelle better than all the babies! Alana also loved to play with Estelle although she kinda intimidated her a lot since Estelle isn't as used to having a 3 year old helper.

On the morning of the 4th we woke up to some exciting and plan altering news. Mom was needed in France to help Pamela. Uncle Brian had called and asked if she could go, luckily she had a current passport so they started all the work to get her on a plane. Sean and Eric were working on figuring out international calling and Brian was helping to find apps that would translate signs and such. She gave me a super quick tour of the house and told me what food she was planning to serve as well as what needed to be cleaned and put away since they were planning to put the house up for sale right after all of us left. Brian and Sean helped Brett and Alana decorate their bikes for the parade. Sean and I are both suckers for a good flag ceremony especially on the Fourth of July, so we were planning to get to the church a little before 10. As we were wrapping up the decorations at 9:52, Brett's tooth fell out and started bleeding. I was in a hurry to rush inside to get a tissue for him and got off the porch swing to quickly which knocked Alana off and scraped up her knees. Then Lizzie started crying because no one would hold her and everyone else was crying. Needless to say we didn't make it for the flag ceremony, bummer! We got everyone calmed down and it was very exciting that Brett lost another tooth! We booked it over to the Church house where we arrived just in time for the parade to begin, we hopped right in and the kids were thrilled to be riding around in their awesomely decorated bikes. I found myself getting emotional as we rode through the streets listening to Patriotic Fanfare. I was thinking about the wonderful childhood memories my kids are making and hoping they would remember this particular Fourth of July. As I think about it now, it really is because we live in this amazing country that my kids are able to ride their bikes through the street and participate in a church sponsored carnival without being in danger or going against the law. They can choose to stand for the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance, or they can choose to sit. They can travel two states away with no passports or papers of any kind. They have toys to play with and enough food to eat and school to attend!

The missing tooth

Papa helped us book it over to the church

After the parade we went to the church carnival. Brett ran off with Sean to the water slide, Lizzie went with Neil to get a balloon, and Alana and I went to the bounce house and then to get our faces painted.

The kids played lots of games and got lots of prizes and ate cotton candy and popcorn and snow cones. All the family came, Neil and Becks, Eric and Natzz, Brian and Jill, and Mom and Dad.

Sean waited in line to get cotton candy that was green and Alana was disappointed so he waited in line again to get her pink =)

After the carnival we went back to the house and had a lunch of sandwiches, watermelon, and garlic chicken. Rebecca's sister Maria and her family joined us too! It was a lot of fun to visit with her and get to know her better. Brett and Alana had fun with Kaden and Lexi while Neil and Rebecca went to the Bradburry Science museum and Lizzie and I took a nap.

Sean was the official griller for the BBQ and he did a great job! Brian made a delicious sauce to go on all the burgers.

Eric played the most hilarious game with mostly Alana although Brett and babies joined in later where he was a dragon (pronounced draygun) and I can't even remember what she was (although I guess a lion). It was super fun to see him and Alana connecting and see Eric playing pretend! Eric and Natalie were putting up a pretty great campaign for favorite Aunt and Uncle =)

Sean gave Brian and haircut and Brian made a little apron thing out of a giant plastic bag. Brian and Jill recieved some sad news over the weekend that Jill's grandfather had passed away. They changed their plans to drive up to Utah with Neil and Rebecca instead of flying back to Boston. Then they flew out of Salt Lake after the funeral.

We had fun that evening and I decided to put Lizzie to bed about 7 because she was so tired. At 8 we got her up and walked over to the overlook park where each of the kids got to pick one bounce house to play in and then we sacked out to watch the fireworks. The show was incredible! Like Disneyland quality! About a half hour long with gorgeous fireworks!

The flash doesn't take the most flattering pictures =)

Estelle fell asleep in the middle of the firework show and I tried to get a picture, but again the flash isn't great.

Lizzie LOVED the fireworks. She sat in my lap so happy and excited about each one. She couldn't stop babbling on about it! Brett loved them and brought his camera. He took lots of pictures and movies. Alana snuggled up in Sean's lap and also loved them, although she got really tired at the end and ended up falling asleep as Sean carried her home.

The next morning we woke up around 6:30 and got lots of things cleaned up and put back. Sean and I cleaned the hall bathroom and started a load of towels. When Alana woke up out of our bed we got that put away and the blue room the kids were staying in all cleaned up too. We left about 8 for our drive home. It was a long drive back, made a lot longer with traffic and road construction. Alana had a super stuffy nose and spent a lot of the trip snuggled to a tissue box.