As a child my family would go skiing in New Mexico. I used to think of New Mexico as mountainous and cold. That was before I visited southern New Mexico, which is mostly desert and hot. We spent the last week traveling to and from New Mexico and visiting Collin's parents there. We love visiting them and don't get to see them as much as we'd like. His brother and sister-in-law live in New Mexico and his parents really needed to live closer to family. Last Thanksgiving we helped his parents pack up their house and move out there to be near them. I'm really glad they are close to family but it makes for a long and expensive trip for us. We went in January and flew but plane tickets are so expensive it would have cost us a lot to fly. Sadly, after looking through all the receipts it looks like we paid around the same as we would have flying and took us a lot longer to get there.
Collin's mom has wanted Collin to drive to their property in west Texas to take care of things. Since it's an 8-hour drive from our house it really didn't make any sense to drive out there and come back. So since plane tickets were so high we decided we'd try and drive it this time so we could check on their house. We started our journey a week from Wednesday after Collin got off work. We stayed the first night in Sweetwater. The next day we drove to his parents' old house and spent 3 hours getting some things done there. I was so sick when we arrived at their house in west Texas. I had to lay on a dusty bed while Collin took care of things in and outside of the house. The heat and car ride were just wearing on me. We were hoping to stay that night in Balmorhea and swim and do something fun on our trip. However, that didn't work out since his dad was in the hospital and about to get out, his mom was worried we wouldn't be able to make it in time for Collin to help his dad leave the hospital. So rather than stop for a few hours of fun, we kept driving. His brother was attending a wedding out of town which is the main reason we were asked to come last weekend. We drove on and stayed the second night in El Paso. Friday morning we arrived in New Mexico and unpacked, saw his dad, ate lunch with his mom, then picked his dad up from the hospital around 3pm. We spent the rest of the day with them and then Saturday we spent the day with them. I felt sick going and Friday night started throwing up. I kept getting headaches and migraines. I really had to pray about it and not stress out. Pregnancy is a scary thing fo rme. Car trips are very hard on me and I'm realizing they are even more so during pregnancy. Sadly, there's really not much between Midland/Odessa and El Paso so lots of the trip is just wide open spaces. My family and friends were worried about us making this trip and after driving it I can see why. There is literally a 4-hour stretch where there are no medical facilities. Not very safe when pregnant. Thankfully God took care of us and the baby.
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| Collin's parents |
Sunday we went to church with his mom, his dad wasn't able to come, then I took Caden back to the house and let Collin have an afternoon with his parents. Monday we all went over there and after some time I took Caden and we were going to go to a museum with Caden's older cousin, Jayce, who is 26. However, some issues came up with a caregiver's pay so timing didn't work out. We ended up taking Caden to a bounce house at a mall for about 30 minutes instead. Then we went back to Collin's parents and got to see his niece and her family who came in town from Colorado. A few hours later we went to his brother and sister-in-laws for dinner and Caden had a great time with his second cousins, especially Tula. He loves being around other kids and didn't get to see many on this trip. Tuesday morning we went to his parents and ate breakfast then headed home. We had to stop at his parent's old house on the way home and then stayed the night in Sweetwater again. Originally we were going to try and go to Carlsbad Caverns on the way home but all the hotels were booked up or overpriced. Spending $300 a night for a 2 or 3 star hotel is not worth it to us. We didn't realize that Carlsbad was about 4 hours from his parents. So we decided we'd just head home and skip Carlsbad. It took us 14 hours each way. We were talking about how it used to take us less time to fly from Germany than it does to drive to New Mexico. I'm not sure I would be able to drive that again, especially while pregnant. Caden was ready to come home after about 40 minutes in the car. He and I both get car sick. I know I would not make this drive with a newborn and would not want Collin driving this alone.
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| Tula and Caden |
Overall it was nice to see his parents and family. I wish they lived closer so we could see them more often. We didn't do anything real exciting except see family which was the purpose of the trip. I wish we would have had more time with them. Sadly we spent 4.5 days traveling about the same time we actually spent with them. This was our summer "vacation" even though it really wasn't a vacation, per se. But costs, expense, and time off, it's all we could do at this time. We feel blessed we are able to see our family. Many friends of ours don't see their families every year, or multiple times a year for that matter. Here are a few pictures from our trip and visit.
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| Jim and Collin |
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| Jayce and Cindy |
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| Nene and one of her neat hats |
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Caden at his grandparents' old home in west Texas
He was so tired of being in the car that he decided he'd
jump from the dresser to bed about 50 times. |
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| Caden on his granddad's lawn mower in west TX |
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| Horse on Collin's parents' property in west Texas |
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House in west Texas, lots of pretty trees
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| Bounce house in NM |
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| Slide outside of Collin's parents' house - it got hot! |
As a child my family would go skiing in New Mexico. I used to think of New Mexico as mountainous and cold. That was before I visited southern New Mexico, which is mostly desert and hot. We spent the last week traveling to and from New Mexico and visiting Collin's parents there. We love visiting them and don't get to see them as much as we'd like. His brother and sister-in-law live in New Mexico and his parents really needed to live closer to family. Last Thanksgiving we helped his parents pack up their house and move out there to be near them. I'm really glad they are close to family but it makes for a long and expensive trip for us. We went in January and flew but plane tickets are so expensive it would have cost us a lot to fly. Sadly, after looking through all the receipts it looks like we paid around the same as we would have flying and took us a lot longer to get there.
Collin's mom has wanted Collin to drive to their property in west Texas to take care of things. Since it's an 8-hour drive from our house it really didn't make any sense to drive out there and come back. So since plane tickets were so high we decided we'd try and drive it this time so we could check on their house. We started our journey a week from Wednesday after Collin got off work. We stayed the first night in Sweetwater. The next day we drove to his parents' old house and spent 3 hours getting some things done there. I was so sick when we arrived at their house in west Texas. I had to lay on a dusty bed while Collin took care of things in and outside of the house. The heat and car ride were just wearing on me. We were hoping to stay that night in Balmorhea and swim and do something fun on our trip. However, that didn't work out since his dad was in the hospital and about to get out, his mom was worried we wouldn't be able to make it in time for Collin to help his dad leave the hospital. So rather than stop for a few hours of fun, we kept driving. His brother was attending a wedding out of town which is the main reason we were asked to come last weekend. We drove on and stayed the second night in El Paso. Friday morning we arrived in New Mexico and unpacked, saw his dad, ate lunch with his mom, then picked his dad up from the hospital around 3pm. We spent the rest of the day with them and then Saturday we spent the day with them. I felt sick going and Friday night started throwing up. I kept getting headaches and migraines. I really had to pray about it and not stress out. Pregnancy is a scary thing fo rme. Car trips are very hard on me and I'm realizing they are even more so during pregnancy. Sadly, there's really not much between Midland/Odessa and El Paso so lots of the trip is just wide open spaces. My family and friends were worried about us making this trip and after driving it I can see why. There is literally a 4-hour stretch where there are no medical facilities. Not very safe when pregnant. Thankfully God took care of us and the baby.
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