(Or, as it was told several times on our trip, "as Bryson once called it, Outer Turkey!")
Several weekends ago our family, along with the entire Coe family and our benefactor Grandma Ann, took a two day trip to New Mexico. Grandma had invited us all to attend the memorial service of her beloved uncle Elliot, which included an LDS memorial service in his hometown of Albuquerque, as well as a full military honors memorial at the National Cemetery in Santa Fe, NM.
Even though it was to take place the last weekend before school was out for the year, and it meant missing one day of school after we had already been furloughed from several this month, we all accepted her invitation and started packing.
Thursday after school we quickly grabbed a snack and our suitcases, and started on our caravan toward Ontario, CA airport where we would catch our flights.
In Ontario we hit the Carl's Jr. drive-thru, found the park-n-fly, unloaded everyone, gathered up all our stuff and caught the shuttle to the airport. And even though the shuttle driver joked that in our chaotic state we reminded him of the family from Home Alone, I have to say that for a party of 12 which included 5 adults and 7 kids we did an awesome job of navigating our way through this entire adventure. Everyone got along great, we stuck to our schedule pretty well and made it on time to our engagements, we explored a new place some of us had never been to before and found some cool things along the way.
filling the entire back of the shuttle
on the way to the airport
Grandma had prepared for all of the kids a travel packet
which included games, information, questionnaires and maps
pertaining to the USA and to New Mexico specifically.
(The flight attendants were very impressed when they
saw the kids with their clipboards working on the worksheets.)
Grandma also had some family information on the extended
family that we would be coming in contact with
over the next few days. Ann's aunt Norma and her husband
Elliot had 4 children, 16 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren,
many of whom would be at the family gatherings and none of whom
most of us (from my family) had ever met.
Some of the kids found other ways to pass the time
until it was time to board our first flight to Phoenix
We are basically the only ones who remain on the plane
for the continuing flight on to Albuquerque.
We entertain ourselves while waiting for the next group
of passengers to load by visiting the co-pilot
in the cockpit, and by taking over the last few
rows of the plane.
Our whole gang
Albuquerque arrival!
Abbie was born in Alb. when the Coes lived
here for a few years in the early '90s -
she doesn't remember it at all, but it is still
the city of her birth!
LDS Memorial Service - Friday Morning
Albuquerque, NM
cute cousins dressed for the memorial service
family luncheon
between the church memorial and the drive to the
cemetery in Santa Fe we stop and visit the Coe's
old Albuquerque neighborhood and grab some photos of
Abbie and Kenzie in front of their onetime childhood house
the owners see us and come out to chat - they give
the girls a quick tour of their former home
Santa Fe National Cemetery - Santa Fe, NM
Elliot was a Lt. Col in the Air Force, and is given
a full military service memorial, complete with
Taps, six-gun salute, bagpipe tribute as
well as flag presentation to the widow.
(Elliot had been cremated and his ashes were there
at the service.)
Normie with her family and the flag after presentation
kids with the gun saluters in the background
Cemetery with Santa Fe in the distance
bus back to the parking area in the cemetery
(end of part one)
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