I have been missing my mama.
A couple weeks ago I decided to brave a road trip with my littles and celebrate The 4th ABQ style!
We headed out bright and early on the 3rd.
Made it to Payson around 7:30am. That part of the trip went pretty well, except my sweet Mia started complaining of nausea about and hour into the drive. So after some breakfast we stopped over at Walgreen's and bought some Dramamine.
Then we hit up the town park for a little running around and action before pushing on.
Then in was back in the mini and on the road again!!
The next 2 hours went pretty smoothly.
Mia fell asleep for a while after taking the Dramamine!
And Marshall hung out.
(Usually he doesn't get his binkie much during the day so he was in hog heaven!)
About 20 minutes outside of Gallup, NM he started melting down.
One of those that even the binkie can't fix!
We made it to the town Wendy's with most of my sanity intact!
There we grabbed some lunch and despite the way I used to feel about this type of parenting, I allowed Marshall to walk all around the restaurant!
He was happy, therefore I was happy!
Then back into the car we went for the final stretch!
It went really quite well I must say.
Mia kept asking how she would know when we were close.
So I told her to watch for "9 mile hill".
It is a loooong hill and when you crest the top you see Albuquerque below!
I'm telling you, for many reasons I needed my mama and home land, and when we crested that hill I seriously physically felt a weight lift off of me.
My mama was only 20 minutes more away!!
We unpacked and settled right in.
It didn't take Marshall long to make himself at home!
(he left his mark all over mama d's house!)
I spent the weeks leading up to my visit making some crafts for my mom.
I made her this garden post.
It's hard to see, but it says
Leave room in your garden for fairies to dance
I also made these 4th of July luminarias!
We had a lovely evening visiting and talking about the fun we had planned for the 4th.
At 3:30am that night Mia came into my room crying that her ear hurt.
I knew this wasn't good.
Earlier in the week she had some fevers, but I didn't think too much of it because she had no other symptoms.
We spent the morning of the 4th at an urgent care.
Here's my poor girl all dressed up for the 4th and sooooo sick!
Turns out it was a double ear infection AND strep throat!
We ended up having to cancel the party we had planned for that night.
But mom and I decided it was a blessing in disguise because it gave us some mello time to spend together.
Mia would feel pretty good when the medicine was working so we were able to squeeze in some fun.
Mama d bought this great marble run game and the kids had a blast!
When the tylenol or motrin wore off she felt pretty stinky and had to lay down for a while until the next dose kicked in!
As darkness approached we broke out the sparklers!
And lit our luminarias!
Then in true ABQ fashion we went out front and did fireworks in the street!
There were about 4 other neighbors doing theirs too, so we had quite the show.
Mia and I had bought some from a corner stand near our house in PHX and we had a couple winners!
It was really fun and took me back to my childhood days.
The next day, 24hrs into the antibiotics, we tried to make up for some lost time and made some visiting rounds!
We went to my Uncle Tony and Aunt Ruth's house in Corrales.
It is a gorgeous home with a park like back yard.
Right when we got there a huge rain storm hit.
It was awesome!
It poured for about 20 minutes and we just sat on the patio and enjoyed it.
Once the rain stopped Marshall discovered the joy of puddles.
He was soaked!!
But he had a blast.
My calmness about the situation is another testament to what being near one's mama and homeland does for the spirit!
(Otherwise I probably would have needed a valium to keep me from ruining my boy's fun!)
I also got to meet my cousin's fiance!
So excited for the 2 of them.
It was during this wonderful visit that Mia came up to me and said
"Mom, my eyes are all blurry."
They were covered in green goop!
GREAT!
Luckily I remembered that we had a refill on some eye drops the doctor had prescribed for a previous run in with the pink eye!
So we stopped in to Target on the way back to my mom's and picked them up.
The newest development in the sickness stomped out our plans to hang out with some friends and their kiddos that night.
So once again we found ourselves enjoying a quiet evening at home.
The next day it was time to head home.
Grampa Eddie and Miss Moya came by for a visit.
At first Marshall cried when he saw Grampa, but he quickly realized that he is a good guy and they had some fun together.
Despite all of our trials we had a wonderful visit with my mom!
Thanks mom for your unwavering hospitality!
We love you so and look forward to seeing you next time!
Now it was time to brave the road home.
This time I gave Mia her Dramamine early on to stave off the car sickness.
Poor baby was still quite sick and she zonked out!
So did my trooper of a boy!
I decided that we were only stopping once on the way home.
This was the perfect spot!
We had a picnic lunch and the kiddos explored around.
After a while there we were ready for the last leg of our journey.
We made it home safe and sound!
It was a quick trip, filled with lots of things (some unexpected and unwelcome!)
but we made the most of it!
Phew, I am tired!
