quick hello

Going to Memphis

YEP! we're going to Memphis to see cousin Elvis!.. tis Wednesday morning-ish and we're packing up and headin out to rainy Graceland!

We spent a few days here in Fort Worth and had a blast visiting our friends Roger, Julia, Marry and Abby. They are the coolest family and have been such a blessing and encouragement to me and my family!  They have a beautiful home in a beautiful neighborhood.. they even have a replica mini version of their home Julia's dad built complete with furniture, electricity and AC!.. How cool is that!

I'm thinking.. if we can't find a home in Virginia maybe we can ask Julia's dad to build us a mini house and fed-ex it to us!

We so-much wish we could stay (for ever) but we still need to find a home in Virginia.

Roger and I had the chance to record a rockin' hymn in his studio! - He was gracious to let me do the vocals.. watch the quicky video i slapped together on my netbook below!

who's the fat guy on the left?

 

On our drive to Rogers and Julia's one fine day we GPS'd a nearby park to let the kids run wild for a few:

We also had a chance to visit Marie's Grampa Calvin and hook up with Mom and Don and Chris. G Calvin is looking so good. Last time we visited he was in the hospital.. God is good! G Calvin gave an early birthday card to Joey and Joeseph was sooo excited!

We got to eat at our favorite joint.. the Texas Grill in Fort Worth with G Calvin. He out ate us all! - He slammed down this giant burger in record time.. quite amazing!

The Texas Grill is a hidden gem inside a strip mall somewhere in Fort Worth.. it's D'licious! They have 2 free rocking horses that the kids LOVE!!! ahh the simple pleasures of a kids life.

that's some fancy ridin' pardner

Thanks Grampa Calvin, Roger, Julia, Mary, Abby and Texas for your hospitality! - we love y'all!

Short Drive to Dallas/Ft Worth

YEAH! Halfway point ahead! - After our wonderful stay at the Tornado Inn we got up at the crack of 10 and hit the road.. I should mention that we ordered some questionable take-out Chinese food the night before so i was expecting alot of unexpected bathroom breaks.. I was pleaseantly surprised that we all survived the local cuisine.

Today was a big day because it marks our journey to our halfway point. It's also a day we'll see some friends in Fort Worth. Our plan is to stay 2 or 3 days to rest up for the last leg of this adventure.

Thanks to our tour guide (Garmin Nuvi GPS) we found a cool little food joint called the Whistle Stop along the way.. I think it's after vernon tx..

The food at the whistle stop was awesome! Home Cookin' at it's best..plus it was Really Cheap! 'It's a winning combination!' (ed2go inside pun :) - The folks inside this 'very local' place seemed to be checkin us out the entire time.. a little strange, but I guess we kinda looked like the circus coming to town.. Another thing that threw us for aloop was the massive over-powering tobacco aroma the second we walked in.. man o man! - it's smelled like a 70's vegas hotel room.. none-the-less, the food and atmosphere was awesome!

Sari liked it so much she did not want to leave and refused to get in the mini-van.

After convincing 'the princess'  back into the car we were off to Dallas/Ft Worth. We hit a little rain but all in all it was a very easy and quick drive. btw - There are so many beautiful green rolling meadows off of the interstate here in Texas it's ridiculous! If i had deep pockets i'd be buying land like a champ!

Arrival

As soon as we arrived in Ft Worth we hooked up with our buddies at our hotel room followed by a nice dinner at a local mexican joint.. It was really cool hangin' out with our friends. Our first day in Fort Worth was great and look forward to hangin out more, seeing the sites and resting up for the trip to Virginia.

Chillin in Childress Texas

ALRIGHT!! - Made it from Albuquerque NM to Childress Texas.. not too shabby with three boys and a screaming baby! We stayed at a Days Inn in Childress Texas that had recently been visited by a tornado.. how cool is that! - no wonder the rates were cheap ;)

We drove through a whole lot of nothing but still found the beauty in God's vast creation. The kids saw their first real live rainbow and Sari never seems to get tired of pointing out cows and choo choo trains!.. priceless. As for the mini detours and offramp fun.. for some reason we find great pleasure in 'Truckstops, Roadhouse Diners and Wooden Indians'. hmm sounds like a good title for a country song.. but I digress.
Next stop Dallas! - Here's some pix from the road.

Heading to Texas

It's Saturday morning and we're getting ready to make a 7 hour drive to Childress, Texas. Childress is an hour or 2 past Amarillo.

We didn't get to really enjoy anything about albuquerque other than the Cracker Barrel.. ;) but we're anxious to see some friends and family in Dallas in a few days so the rush will be worth it.

We did get to enjoy the beautiful drive TO albuquerque and saw a lot of great wide open spaces..here's some pix!

Family, Flagstaff and Albuquerque

YEAH!.. We made it to Albuquerque!

After blowing through my old stomping grounds in 29 Palms, we headed past amboy, got on the I40 and stopped to visit Marie's cousin Frank and family in Bullhead City! It was neat seeing frank and his awesome kids. He's so blessed!

denny's in 29 palms

The kids had a blast hanging out and getting to know each other. We hope that once we get settled in Virginia they'll come and visit!

After a long visit we headed out to Flagstaff.. thank goodness for the GPS.. we would have never have found Franks or Flagstaff without this cool gizmo! aint technology grand?

The weather in Flagstaff was nice and chilli. At an elevation of 6700 feet i guess that's the norm. We got to our hotel room pretty beat but got a good nights sleep, woke up pretty refreshed and was ready to hit the open road and head out to Albuquerque.