Pima Air & Space Museum

When we walked into 'our' Waffle House on Friday morning we were greeted by our server from the morning before. She asked the kids what all we did the day before, oohing and aahing over our fabulously busy day. We LOVE 'our' Tucson Waffle House!

We returned to the motorhome, unhooked & secured everything to get it road ready, attached the car that we tow, and drove to the eastern edge of Tucson to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum.

Now let me tell you, this is Grandpa's idea of a museum! And both of the boys commented about how great it was to be there with him because he knows so much about most of these magnificent aircraft with stories to share about them. He never flew and that may be one of his very few regrets.

Again, a few shots from our morning at this museum. You will see that occasionally now, one or the other of the grands will wrest the camera from my grip and get a shot of me. In addition to viewing the many aircraft housed in this main building, we took a tram ride around the 80 acres that are packed with nearly 300 aircraft of all ages and types.

The collection indoors even included a Blackbird which, along with the photo above of Dylan in front of that massive seaplane, gives you a better idea of the magnitude of the building in which these aircraft are displayed.

While Rich and the grands toured another building, I happened to make the acquaintance of a couple from Berlin, Germany. During our chat, she told me that they have come to America for at least a month of travel every two or three years for the past twenty-plus years. What really touched my heart was her telling me how much they love America and the other Allied countries who saved them during WWII. This is a couple who were born years after the end of that war, yet love and honor us today. What saddened my heart was her observation over the years of the many huge projects around the world that are funded by American dollars while they have noticed such deteriorization of our own infrastructure when compared to what they saw in their earliest travels here. That conversation was a beautiful gift for me and I'm still moved to tears recalling my time with them.

We enjoyed a Lunchables lunch in the motorhome along with scoops of Thrifty ice cream that we purchased at the museum grill. Ice cream at Thrifty drugstores in California was a big treat when we lived there. It turns out that the kids can have Thrifty ice cream anytime at the Water & Ice shops near them.

I don't know what has happened to our motorhome but after only two nights spent sleeping in it, the grands took on some characteristics that Rich and I acquired from our visit to Roswell!

The kids got home from school an hour ago so we've all been doing homework which happily distracted me from this post! Now we're off to baseball practice...more from sports central to come!!!

Lovin' Life ~~ And Our Darling Aliens
Bev

Tucson Children's Museum

Here I am again...to continue my post about last Thursday...yikes! The time just flies when we're with the kids, even when we just hang out around home.

After our jam-packed morning at the Waffle House and the Tucson Botanical Garden, we spent the afternoon at the Tucson Children's Museum. Having taken them to several Children's Museums, it's always fun to see what grabs their attention at a new one. Parking in front of this one, Dylan commented that it was a very little museum. Shelby quickly replied that the museum we went to with Riley, Branden, and Tanner was LOTS LITTLER THAN THIS BUT WE STILL HAD LOTS OF FUN!!! And yes, Shelby does sometimes talk in caps...haha.

Here are just a few photos of our afternoon there, with my very favorites being those taken outside as we were leaving.

But Wait! There's More!

As if that wasn't enough for one day, we had dinner at SweetTomatoes, which is a favorite of Rich's and mine and was another first for the kids. Next to the restaurant was Funtastics so the kids got in a few thrilling laps of go-cart racing...

...on our way to Wal-Mart where we picked up a Strawberry Shortcake movie (definitely not a high point of the boys' evening...tee hee) and the Mega Mind movie (which Shelby slept through). We ended our busy day in the motorhome playing on Grandma's computer and watching movies in bed. A perfect end to another perfect day!

Lovin' Life ~~ And Fun-Filled, Jam-Packed Days

Bev

Tucson Botanical Gardens

Last Wednesday I was under the weather all day but the kids got packed and Rich got the motorhome ready. We drove it to Dylan's pre-season baseball game so that we could leave from there. After saying good night/good bye to their folks and getting their beds made, we headed for Tucson. It was 9:30 when we got to the RV Park and the grands were sound asleep in their beds. We started the day on Thursday with the kids' first ever breakfast at a Waffle House. I was so surprised that they had never been to one since they are such a staple in the south where their dad grew up. They loved it so much that we ate there again on Friday morning...but I'm getting ahead of myself!

After breakfast we went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. We have a long running gag with the grands about botanical gardens ever since we took them to their first one. That doesn't stop us from taking them to more whenever we have the opportunity...even when they groan through their smiles!

Since I love flowers but can't grow them, I must content myself with photographing them. Here are a few of my favorites from there.

The Tucson Botanical Garden has a butterfly house, which was the main attraction for all of us.

That last one, the black & white, is called a Paperwhite and was Dylan's favorite. He was especially fascinated with the fact that they have four wings, so fly erratically. After seeing so many beautiful specimens of flowers and butterflies I still had no trouble selecting the three most outstanding examples of nature's perfection in the garden that day...

And...this was all before noon! Perhaps tomorrow I'll find some time to share with you all the exciting things we did Thursday afternoon! Luckily I was feeling great by then.

Lovin' Life ~~ And the Beauty of Nature

Bev

Goldfield Ghost Town

I know, I know...you're all desperately wondering what we've been up to. Well, obviously so much that I couldn't find time to post!

On Tuesday we went to Goldfield Ghost Town which is located less than an hour from the kids' house. Isn't this a beautiful location in the Superstition Mountains?

We toured the Goldfield Mine...

Where Shelby made a new friend.

Jackson enjoyed a Sarsaparilla at the Mammoth Saloon.

Dylan! Wait your turn! 

All three kids wanted to make Wanted posters at one of the shops there. Rather than spend the $$$s, I convinced them that I could make the posters. They suggested the wording and were pretty happy with how the posters turned out...hopefully they'll still be happy when they find out that I posted them here...teehee! 

Lovin' Life ~~ And Darling Little Jailbirds

Bev