Road Scholars

Wisconsin

2010-08-05T14:06:00.010-04:00

On our way to PA we spent a great two weeks in WI with Grandma Gile, AKA Gagee. Gagee has a small cottage on a lake in northern WI with a water trampoline, boat for skiing, fishing poles, dock, kayaks, rafts and more. ALWAYS something to do. I am not much of a lake fan. The brown water gives me the heebee jeebbees (is that a word?). But, Dog lake, as it is called, is quiet and peaceful and I enjoy my time there so much. Not to mention the fact that there has been a bald eagle flying overhead!

Pooh posing!

Toley and Pooh and their sweet smiles

We spent a week there enjoying the sun, fun and family. Unkey Lanny (dad's brother) was also there for part of the time and the kids always enjoy his company. He makes them laugh and is always up for a game or a ride in the boat. He is a great cook. He uses only local and organic ingredient, something that is near and dear to my heart, and puts them together well. Kik was his biggest fan, as Unkey Lanny would cook him breakfast every day. His favorite being Unkey Lanny's cilantro pesto!

While at the lake we had some celebrations. Dad has his birthday and we (mom and dad) celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary!! Dad surprised mom with a day at the spa together and it was wonderful. After that Unkey Lanny planned a wonderful dinner at the restaurant where he works. We had a special table, menu, champagne, flowers and food! It was awesome and it was the perfect ending to a very special day. 20 years together, the best 20 years of my life.

Mr. Fire!

After the lake we headed down to Appleton to enjoy another week at Gagee's house. Z-man had a soccer tourney in Appleton at the end of the week. It was nice that he continued to play with his team. They made it to the finals, but lost. It was a tough loss too, but they played well.

We left with heavy hearts as before this long trip we were only 3 1/2 hours from Gagee and saw her often. Now we will be 12 and we will be seeing her less and less. We hope she will make some visits to our new home! The kids sure do love hanging out with her. We are grateful for skype.

Next stop: Pennsylvania or bust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom

Back home to Marquette

2010-07-25T20:06:00.016-04:00

We have come full circle. We started our trip on Aug 1st 2009 in Marquette MI and have nearly come to the end back in Marquette (MQT).

We arrived on a beautiful sunny day, in the 70's and it took our breath away. Little did we know it would be about the only nice day we had! LOTS of rain in June this year. But, we weren't there for the weather, we were there to see our family, the people that make up our family when we are away from our real family. The last 3 years of our military career were spent in MQT and we all had a wonderful time. We all made some lifelong friends and I know that we will continue to make an effort to visit for many, many years to come.

Isaac and Mr. Newman. They were buds and had a lot of fun together.

We stayed at our dear friends the Newman's. We failed to get any pictures of the adults with each other! UGH! Even after spending three weeks there. So sad! But we did manage to acquire 2 little kittens from the Newman's, so that will have to do.

Mickey the mamma nursing the two kitten we took. So far we think their names are Yooper (the gray one), and Pfeffer (the white and striped one). Both boys and both soooo adorable!

Lara holding Pfeffer in her pocket. SOO CUTE!

The Newman's are great. They allowed us to move right into their lake house that overlooks lake Superior. What a beautiful sight, especially for the sunrise at 5 something. Suffices to say, I (mom) did not see it more than once :) My early rising husband on the other hand almost never missed it. The Newman's made us all feel at home and we will miss laughing and enjoying their family on a regular basis. We also spent some time at their cabin on a smaller lake in the area. It is so peaceful and quiet, even if it did rain most of the time! But there was plenty of fun to be had!

The first ones to try out the newly build pontoon at the Newman's cabin. Rainy, but loads of fun.

While there we had planned on seeing a lot of sights and doing some hiking to places we failed to visit while we lived there. But............none of that happened. We just spent time with the people we love.

Z-man has a group of friends he spent nearly every night with, played soccer with his old team (including two tournaments) and enjoyed seeing other friends from church and our homeschool group

Toley and Pooh spent many days with different friends, sleeping over, playing, swimming and crafting.

Toley, Brianna, Megan and Pooh

Kik got to see his teachers Aide from last year. He was so excited. Not to mention all his time in the water and playing on the Newman's swing.

Dad spent his time with friends from NMU and friends from church. He was busy riding his bike in all his old places and even did a road bike race. We also had an opportunity to go kayaking with Dave and Susan Michels on lake Superior before we left. It was a sunny day, a bit windy, but so neat to see MQT from the water!

Dad leading the race! WAHOO!!

Mom spent many days with friends over coffee, homeschool friends chatting while the kids played and lunch with my dear friend Susan. I will miss our talks.

We all enjoyed going back to our church for 4 Sundays! It will be hard to match Bethel when we leave. They have set the bar high. But I am sure God will put us in the right spot.

The highlight was that the whole family got to participate in VBS at church! Kik actually got to go while the other 5 worked. Dad and Z did the games, Pooh was a teachers helper with a group of 8 and Toley and Mom did hair and face painting. We all had so much fun and it was so nice to be able to volunteer our time.

We left at the end of June and headed down to WI to visit Grandma! We spent 2 weeks with dad's mom and had a great time. Hopefully someone will write about that soon!!!! hint hint!!

Butterfly picture by Pooh.

MOM

Acadia National Park

2010-07-20T08:28:00.010-04:00

After an awesome trip to Canada, we crossed the border, got our trailer and headed to Acadia National Park. What a beautiful place!!! We did some great hiking, sightseeing and eating!

The picture at the top of our blog was taken there, after a hike up the rocks.

This is a must see for all your northeasteners. It is not a very challenging or huge National Park like the ones out west. It is rather small, but packs an enormous view of the Atlantic and the little islands right off the coast. SOOOO beautiful, as you can see from the pictures.

We even splurged and at lunch at Jordan Pond restaurant. It is a very fancy little place located right in the park. It is known for it's turnovers and of course I had to try the Lobster stew! Amazing!!!

Thunder rock. The waves come in and it sounds like thunder in this cave. VERY COOL!

There isn't much more to write as the pictures say it all!

Bar Harbor Maine is a pretty fancy and beautiful place!

XO Mom

Nova Scotia and Prine Edward Island

2010-07-10T16:18:00.014-04:00

We left our trailer in Maine and traveled over the boarder into New Brunswick to catch the ferry that would take us to Nova Scotia on: Thursday, May 20th 2010 at 7:30am! Just…so you know.

The Princess of Acadia ferry it was called. The boat left at… noon and we got there around 3:00. It was really neat. It had a little gift shop, a cafeteria, a lounge, tables and chairs, and…a Starbucks! Can’t get much better than that, it was SO cool! I can’t even imagine what cruise ships must look like. We sailed for about 3 hours and it was fun. We ate lunch, did some school (well, that part wasn’t exactly what you call FUN, per se).

We said goodbye to the fun ferry ride and all got into our crammed suburban to drive a couple hours to where we were staying. Daddy told us, on the way there, that it was only $60.00 a night! Fortunately it was okay. It was a little cabin, by a lake, with two bedrooms (Z man and Kik slept on the pull-out couch) a kitchen, bathroom, and a living room.

Oh and I guess I should tell you that on the boat we took out the camera to take some pictures and we realized we left the battery at home, sitting in the charger. We were all upset, but we managed to take a few pictures with Daddy’s iPhone and a little disposable camera Mommy bought. So while Mommy cooked taco’s , Z-man, Kik, Toley and I all got into a very bug infested paddle boat and tried to go…somewhere. We didn’t make it very far, just a few feet, than gave up. The bugs were just crazy. We had a cozy night at the cabin and enjoyed sounds of the lake in the morning.

The next day we all got up, swept, cleaned, and mopped the house (you have to do that in order to stay at the place) and started our drive to P.E.I. We drove uhh…I don’t really remember, a long time to the hotel house cabin thingy where we were staying. On the way, we stopped at a few places to take in the sights of Nova Scotia. We even went to a beach to play in the sand, go to the bathroom (in the bathhouse!) and skip flat rocks; which were everywhere. I got a grand total of 2 skips, that’s what I normally get. Z got like 8 or something. Like always. The water was freezing, so we didn't do too much swimming.

SO! We drove to the hotel and we stayed in a little house right next to it. It had two bedrooms, one with two full size bed for the kids and one with a queen bed for mom and dad. It also had a kitchen, dining room table, a couch and some chairs, a TV (that actually worked!) and a bathroom, with a Jacuzzi tub too! The next day Daddy, Z-man, Toley, and I went to the hotel for the continental breakfast. It was pretty good too! Cereal, toast, bagels, oatmeal, hot chocolate, coffee, and these huge chocolate and lemon poppy seed muffins. They were great!

We then left and drove about 10 min. to some places to shop, and then on to Lucy Maude Montgomery’s house (the author of Anne of Green Gables). Everybody except Kik, and Daddy got to take a tour of it. They had some really neat things around the house. There was original furniture, pictures and all her books. They also had some things she said up on the walls in frames.

We then walked around Charlotte town, and went into a bunch of shops: Anne of Green Gables souvenirs, Anne of Green Gables chocolate store, a food store, the mall, yea things like that. Since I dislike shopping very much, it was pretty boring to me. But the chocolate store was pretty good. :)

Next we walked around the wharf (wharfing as Daddy called it) then headed home. It was a very busy and tiring, but fun, day. I loved the scenery on the way there and back!

Sometime in-between there, we went to another Anne of Green Gables site. This one is a little town built with all the buildings you would see in the Anne of Green Gables movies. We were there in June, so unfortunately it was all closed up. Their winter season ends July 1st. It was still neat to see. It had the Avonlea school, dress-up place, picture place, the church, and farm. We got to walk around but I wish we were there when it was running. We even took a great picture of all of us with Anne HA!

So we went home, had spaghetti, ice cream and watched Star Wars. We got up early to head home the next day. On the way to the bridge, which was huge by the way. It is 8 miles long and it is free to get over to P.E.I, but cost $41 to get back!! I am not kidding. Anyway, we decided to stop at a little touristy spot to do some last minute souvenir shopping. We got some Anne of Green Gables things, Toley got a cool P.E.I sweatshirt and Z-man got a couple of post cards and a crazy sign you will have to ask him about. It was nice to have a few things to remember P.E.I by, since we have like NO pictures!

~Pooh

Boston, Vermont and New Hampshire and finally MAINE!

2010-06-21T15:33:00.006-04:00

After leaving Jersey we started our trek up north. There were a few of us who have never been to VT or NH and all of us have never been to Maine, so we had to make our way up there. BUT, there are many awesome places along the way and the first one was to Boston.

If you are a history buff like I am, Boston is full of it and a must see. They have a great Iphone app. too that you can download. It takes you on a historic tour of the city during the Revolutionary War time. There are short notes on each spot you stop to see and of course lots to read about at each spot. We began our journey at Paul Revere's home and meandered down the city streets seeing cemeteries, government buildings, Fanel Hall, and then ended at Bunker Hill. All of it was WAY cool. We had done a big US history year about 3 years ago, so we did know some things. It was nice to see the real thing from our studies as well as learn some new stuff too.

Next we drove up to NH and VT and then back through NH toward ME. Although we didn't do a whole lot it either state, we did enjoy the beautiful views of both states. The rolling hills are breathtaking with all the greenery. We decided that while we were in NH we should ALL walk part of the Appalachian Trail. Kik especially wanted to get out there with his backpack, water bottle and walking stick. So we parked our car, that was making some funny noises and walked for about an hour or so. It was a gorgeous dense forest with lots of rocks to tackle and trails that were twisty and bumpy.

We spent an extra 2 days in VT getting the back of our car fixed, but I will let dad tell that story :) We are thankful to God for letting it be nothing too serious and for allowing us to continue to have a reliable car even if it has 160,000 miles on it! WE LOVE YOU SUBURBAN!!

We crossed the border into ME on a cold and rainy afternoon. We were all excited. It was our last state! Yes we had missed a few along the way on this trip, but this was the last state that no one had been to (except HI - only three of us have made it there). Even though the weather was dreary, it was another beautiful place. We stayed for a day and then parked the trailer and headed for Canada! That is another blog as if our visit to Acadia National Park - AMAZING!

Sorry this is short, but I wanted to get something written.

XO

Jersey Family

2010-06-08T11:14:00.017-04:00

Now we’re going to skip back to before the Roberts to Maryland where we visited mom’s youngest brother and his family. We always love to visit them and play with our two adorable cousins Ani and Hudson, oh, and Shelby, their wonderful dog.

While we were there, Ani had lacrosse and Hudson had a t-ball game so we had a great time watching them. Mommy and Daddy drove up to PA to go house-shopping (that’s another blog) while Aunt Keri and Unkey Russ let us kids stay with them. Hudson had piano lessons and Aunt Keri even got us set up with lessons from Mrs. Gloria, which was much needed for our rusty fingers!

Abby, Toley and Katie

Pooh and I had so much fun with Ani, reading, playing dress-up and doing crafts. Isaac, Zach and Huddy had fun together too, hanging out in the basement and playing with cars & trucks. Mommy and Daddy came back and we left the next day for the Roberts but looking forward to seeing each other for Mother’s Day a couple weeks later.

Happy 13th birthday pooh!!!

After the Roberts, which was fun too, we headed to ReRe and PopPop’s house in New Jersey to celebrate Pooh’s 13th birthday with a stripes themed party (Pooh loves stripes). Aunt Julie, Abby and Katie got to come join the fun as well! We missed Unkey Jeff at this visit, but he was there in spirit!

Aunt Keri and daddy talking running - AGAIN!

For Mother’s Day the 16 of us met at ReRe and PopPop’s beach house, plus Aunt Keri’s parents got to come too. Bringing the grand total to 8 kids, 10 grown-ups and 2 dogs in one house (it was tons of fun :)

Mother’s Day Eve we headed to the beach, Unkey Russ and Hudson with fishing poles. It was way to cold to go swimming, but we splashed in the waves and had fun anyway.

Kik and Ani searching for shells while Hudson gets a lesson from his daddy.

ReRe and mom hanging on the beach! It was a beautiful day.

We had a great Mother’s Day with Mrs. Sellerberg’s famous cream puffs, lots of presents, a cake made by ReRe, and the five girl cousins doing a dance for the moms. Slowly everyone left till it was only ReRe, PopPop and our family left. It was so quiet, but still nice. We got to hang out with ReRe and PopPop by ourselves, which is a rare treat. But we still missed our cousins!

We then went back to their other house for a while before we headed up north for the last 2 weeks of our journey, leaving our beloved dog in the loving care of ReRe and PopPop for a couple weeks. We will miss him, but we know that PopPop will take him for lots of walks and ReRe will love him almost as much as we do! But I’ll let Z-man tell you about all our trip up north, beginning with Boston.

Unkey Jeff and Abby.

Lastly, but not least was a short visit to see the Bennett's. They are mom's oldest friends. They have the honor (well, I guess that depends on who you talk to) of watching our best kitty, Tigger. We miss him terribly, but they and their 4 boys are doing a great job taking care of him. He is a social cat and the whole neighborhood has adopted him. We are feeling a bit guilty about coming to take him away in July. We SO appreciate all the love he has been given. Tigger and the Bennett's cat Ricki have become fast, fighting friends and we hope they both aren't too sad to separate.

Ta Ta for now.............Toley

Long time friends

2010-05-21T19:20:00.022-04:00

I am not going to ask if you can stand another blog about friends because I am going to write about them anyway :)

After leaving SC we headed to NC to visit my roommate Lisa and her family. The funny part of this story is that when Lisa and I were roommates in college, I was dating Todd and he was living next door to a former classmate of his Kevin. We decided they would make a good match and set them up. So....here we are 20+ years later and they are married with three kids. It was great to be able to have that much history together. There are so many memories.

Not only that our kids seem to get along great as well, even though we have only seen them three times since the kids were born. We both have girls the same ages and they hung out together like they have known each other all their lives. Toley and Mary Kathryn are in the same grade, as are Pooh and Sarah. It was great fun. Lisa and Kevin's daughters even teased and joked with Z-man like he was their brother. And then there are the two little................lets call them balls of energy..........that we each have.

Joshua and Kik were two peas in a pod. Their ages differences were vast, but man did they have fun together. Kik had an opportunity to be a big brother to Joshua. He didn't do the greatest job, but it was fun watching him try and teaching him some things.

Lisa and I, of course, spent our time chatting and catching up. We have a lot in common and so many memories to discuss. She and Kevin were great hosts, allowing us to park our "home" in front of their beautiful house, and just take over. I had a hard time getting Lisa to let me in the kitchen. She just cooked up a storm and fed all of us with ease. So sweet of her! and yummy too! It was a great visit!

After we left the Lech's we made a few side trips that I am hoping someone will write about SOON! During the first week of May we visited the Roberts. We met Joe and Jen in Germany. They were our neighbors in our tight knit apartment building in Garmisch. We have been friends ever since. They have 7 kids and when we come to visit the house is FULL! But, we all love it. The kids make due with sleeping wherever they can find space and the air is always filled with joy, albeit loud joy! Everyone gets along. This time was no different. Cooking for a large bunch is always on the forefront of our minds and we all spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

The Roberts girls are our girls ages and they have a lot in common. They have a tight bond and I am so grateful for wonderful, lifelong friends. Z-man usually gets involved with all the little boys and is all the better for it. Kik fits in perfect with the Roberts boys, ages 9, 7, 5. He finds a little something in common with each of them and they are wonderful to him. The last two Roberts are sweet Grace and little Ben. They are 3 and 1 and are a precious addition to any of the groups of kids. Here is a silly picture of Pooh, Taylor, Grace, Toley, and Emma enjoying a nice and lumpy rest.

I also had a picture of the adults, but it was taken at about 9:30 PM after a long day and all four of us do not look so great.................so, you will have to use your imagination! :)

We usually spend our time baking, hanging outside (the boys looking for anything that creeps and crawls), sightseeing in the DC area and having some light conversations about recipes or friends we have in common OR some deep discussions involving our children or the Bible. There never seems to be a lack of things to discuss. We learn a lot from each other and we are blessed to know them.

Lisa and Jen are such dear friends of mine and it was hard to leave both places. One because they are both so sweet and two because they both STINK at keeping in touch :)

It was hard to leave Lisa because we live so far away and we don't see each other often, so I knew it would be a while until we got a chance again. We didn't get nearly enough chatting time in. And Jen because she and her family are moving to a time zone 10 hours away for two years. It will be difficult not to have Jen around to chat with and get advice and encouragement from.

Again, another blessing on this year long trip. It has been nearly 10 months and my heart is full with all the friends that we have seen. Life is Good, God is good- all the time!

XO Mom

End of FL, GA, and then SC

2010-05-14T10:52:00.001-04:00

We have been blessed yet again by another visit with friends.

After leaving Tampa we had a quick stop for a day at Disney. Yes, again! We did a volunteer day and got a free day at Disney, so we used it before we headed out of FL. We had a tough time deciding which park to go to, but finally decided on MGM/Hollywood Studios. It was fun, but not half as fun as when you are with family. They were missed.

Kids in front of Hollywood Studios cool matching shirts thanks to ReRe and PopPop!

We headed straight up to Jacksonville FL after a long day in Orlando. There we got a chance to spend two days with the Gapinski family. Dad and Matt worked together at Ft. Bragg a VERY long time ago and we were at each others weddings.

The kids posing for a group shot! Andrew, Z-man, Kik, David, Toley, Anna and Pooh.

Matt, Nina and their three kids welcomed us right in and we had such a wonderful visit. Nina and I hadn't known each other well and hadn't seen each other since they were married back in 1990, but got along great as if we had been hanging out for years. We had a lot to talk about and enjoyed watching the kids get along so well. Andrew and Z-man entertained each other with games, sports and watching RV (very funny), Anna and the girls entertained each other with crafts and card tricks. But, their youngest David gets the kindest award as he taught Kik how to play baseball! He was very patient and kind and he and Kik got along very well.

We stayed an extra day, parking our big rig outside their home for all the neighbors to enjoy! It was a great visit and we all vowed not to make it another 20 years before we saw each other again!

Next was a stop up to Savannah to see another friend from Germany. Chip and Kelly Hester gave us a warm welcome and a GREAT dinner. They live in a beautiful home and neighborhood and it was a lot of fun to see them after so many years. The visit was short, but the time of fellowship was sweet and their kids and ours had a lot to reminisce about Germany.

Next stop, Charlston, SC. What a great town. So much history and lots to see and do. We took a drive down to Ft. Moultrie. This is an old fort built during the Revolutionary war to stop the British from entering into Charlston. Ft. Sumter is on an island a little distance away and between the two of them the Confederate Army could guard all of Charlston from the water during the Civil War. It was very interesting to hear about the history and hit the visitors center for all sorts of information.

After we were done touring the fort, we drove down to the water front and the boys went on the USS Yorktown , an aircraft carrier. While we were there, the Blue Angels did a show and it was AWESOME! They flew over the ship and what seemed like the whole city of Charlston. Man are they loud, but just amazing. we stood in awe at how close they came to one another and the formations they did. Just...............way cool!

The girls holding up the bridge. Good thing we were there! :)

All in all a great couple of days.

more friends to come..................

Immokalee Mission Trip

2010-05-10T12:31:00.008-04:00

Ok so about a month ago (yes it’s been that long) the youth group from our church in Marquette came down to Florida to go on a mission trip in Immokalee, FL and Toley and I were able to join them! Although Toley made every possible attempt to get out of it, I was pretty pumped. I was going to be able to see some of my friends AND get out of cleaning the new trailer. Definitely a win-win.

So on Easter Sunday after church Mom and Dad drove us down to meet up with everyone. The house we were staying at was pretty sweet. It was an old ranch that was used to house “missionaries”, such as ourselves, that came to work with a local Habitat for Humanity-ish organization called I Hope. After we got settled in we drove into town to pass out flyers for the three day VBS we were holding at a local church. We did this for about an hour and then headed to our youth pastor’s, Passa Dave, parents’ house for dinner. It was a great night to relax, catch up and, um, doing each other’s hair.

We got up bright and early the next morning, although not as early as one would like with 13 teenagers. We then headed to the I HOPE headquarters to get our orders for the day. We were tasked to fix up a home that got pretty beat up during Tropical Storm Fay in 2008. It turned out to be pretty fun. The guys of the group got to rip up most of the floor in the house. Our display of sheer power and muscle was a sight to behold. We ended up cleaning the house the whole week. We got to paint, clean the bathroom, power wash the house, scrape glue and destroy hornets nests! The house looked great by the time we left.

That night we headed to the church to prepare for our VBS. After getting ready and setting up equipment and eating dinner we waited for the kids to show up. And we waited some more….and waited. Eventually we realized no one was coming. We then took some time to sing and pray and we realized how we needed to just fall back on who God is and His will instead of our own plans. It was great to have some quiet time after all of the activity of the day.

Tuesday we had another “early” start and went to work on the house. We spent the morning continuing our renovations and headed back to the ranch after lunch. That evening we changed our plans and got to go pass out Bible tracks at an apartment complex. We were introduced to a local guy who had been witnessing on the streets of Immokalee for years. So he gave us the low down on what we would be doing and we split up to go talk to people. Now out of the thousands of people that live in Immokalee, about 12 of them are white. So just about everyone spoke either Spanish or Creole. Fortunately, for those of us who spoke Spanish, talking to people wasn’t too difficult. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of those people. But both Toley and I did our best and were able to have conversations with a few people. Well at least I did. Toley is shyer than shy so she doesn’t talk all that much. It was great fun.

Wednesday was our last day, so we finished up on the house, took some photos to prove we actually worked and headed to the beach in Naples! The beach was pretty sweet, albeit crowded. Saw tons of fish, diving pelicans, took a walk down the beach, and talked about our reactions to seeing Jesus. It was great! That night, the church we were working with was having their weekly dinner and Bible study for the kids in Immokalee. We got to take over the K-5 group and have the little VBS we had been hoping for. I got to be in charge of the games! So we ran around and played some Pac man, which the kids loved! Then we had music time, a little skit, and a small message. It was pretty sweet!

We met our parents back up in Orlando the next day. It was such an awesome experience. God did some amazing things and Toley and I really learned a lot! I’m so thankful we had the opportunity and would do it again in a heartbeat!

A new RV

2010-04-16T17:56:00.008-04:00

Our little Coachman Freelander has served us well for 8 months and 23,000 miles, but it’s becoming a maintenance headache. Between the slide that would occasionally stop working and was so off kilter that the frame surrounding the slide had developed two significant cracks to the broken sink faucets, we decided that we needed a new house. As timing would have it, we were in Tampa where my West Point classmate and former roommate, Marc ‘Big-un’ Taylor (he's the one on the left), sells RV’s at Lazy Days – the largest RV dealer in the US. We thought that a fifth wheel would be a neat alternative to the Class C that we had used for the trip. We were concerned that once the Teamgile Odyssey was over, the RV would sit for months with no use – not good for the engine. We figured that a fifth wheel would give us a good size “home” and we could use the truck after the trip. So, we began looking at Lazy Days. The nice thing about Lazy Days is that they leave all their units open so we spent a couple of days looking at a lot of units. Once we realized that we couldn’t fit the six of us into any kind of pick-up necessary to pull a fifth wheel, we started looking at travel trailers. The kids spent the better part of two solid days looking at all the options and presented us with 4-5 that would work. We narrowed the search down to three that could be pulled by our Suburban and would fit most of our “stuff.” We really agonized over the decision between some cool layouts, but decided on a 2010 Crossroads Zinger. The best thing about it is the four bunks in the back which gives the kids each a bed – something they haven’t had since August. Marc gave us a good deal on our broken-down Freelander so we picked up a new trailer. After we decided on the Zinger, we left for Disney and Key West (which hopefully you’ve read about in previous posts) so they had some time to get everything ready. I ended up flying out of Miami up to Green Bay where my brother, Lanny, picked me up and drove me up to Three Lakes where we had left our Suburban. As an editorial comment, I think Lanny and I spent the most quality time together since I left for West Point in 1982 – it was good. Let’s not wait another 28 years (the same as the drought between Packer SB victories…)Anyway, I drove the Sub back to Appleton where I spent the night before driving the 1400 miles back to Tampa. My dear wife and I arrived together at Lazy Days and prepared to take delivery of our new trailer the following day. We had some cabinets put into the kids’ room and needed to have a hitch on the back of the Zinger for the bikes. Unfortunately, these two things threw off the delivery so they didn’t complete the things that they were supposed to which kept us at Lazy Days for a couple extra days until they finished up. At the end of the day, we ended up with a newer trailer with more room inside. We are struggling to make everything fit that we used to keep in the extensive external storage of the RV, but it will be fine. It was a bittersweet good-bye to the RV that had been our home for the last 8 months, but we expect this will be more practical for the future. We plan to use it for the remaining four months of our trip and then we will have a “visitors quarters” once we find a new home. Sorry if you didn’t get a chance to see the Harvey RV, but now you will get a chance to see the Zinger if we crash your place.

~ Peace, Dad

Key West

2010-04-13T07:01:00.017-04:00

HI Key West

Disney was great fun, and I can’t wait to go again…..whenever that is, but there were more adventures ahead. So, after that we went to…um…I think a hotel, a couple campsites. Just for a night each. Then we drove down down down to KEY WEST!

We met Gagee (Dad's mom) and Mr. Lee on the way down. Kik and I drove in their car, with the sun roof open and all the windows rolled down. We were cruisin’! We got down to Key West and parked the RV in front of our cool condo and loaded in almost everything we own. They were SO nice and now I can’t wait to get a house again! 3 bedrooms (including master) 1 1/2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, an awesome princess phone and a screened in patio! It was SO cool!

So we hung out, called each other on the phone and then went to dinner. The Military was donating free fish as long as you bring a side dish with you. It was really quite good (especially the dessert! Sugar cookies, cake, brownies). It was nice. So we went to bed Toley and I shared one room (and bed) and Z-man and Kik shared the other room (and bed). I must say, I have a very hard time sleeping with other people. Even if it is my sister. For instance some people, who shall be nameless, kick and turn and pull the covers right off you. Ahem, I’m not mentioning any names.

ANYWAYS I always get off track. The next day we packed lunch and drove the RV down to the beach. Fortunately we were the only people there (on that side of the beach) so we could act like maniac’s the whole time, and no one knew who we were. Z-man and I were the brave ones and went in 1st. It was really pretty when you looked AT it, but when you looked IN it...... well…you couldn’t see ZIP. But it was really fun.

Eventually even mommy came in for a while! Later, Mommy and daddy went to rent some snorkels but the lady at the counter said that there were huge jelly's in the water and they wouldn't suggest snorkeling. So they got a paper with all sorts of fun boating things to do. We decided to go sailing the next day. The trip included meals, snorkeling, kayaking and sailing. We were excited after a long afternoon at the beach.

But when we got home we found out that all of us (except Kik) had sunburn. Mommy and I had it all over. Z-man and Daddy had it bad on their backs and Toley had it bad on her arms. I had it bad on my lower back and mommy had it bad…well everywhere! What’s worse we were watching American Idol and my throat started to hurt. Turns out the next day I had a cold. Oy veh. But I didn’t really notice it on the boat.

The sailing was so much fun. We went on a boat with like…20 people. The captain and the two ladies’s that served and talked to you were all very funny and nice. Well we…snorkeled, kayaked and sailed! They served us lunch and tons of snacks before and after. You probably want to hear more. ...........

Well we sailed around for a while. Then we stopped at a really shallow area. It was like a sea garden or something. Lots of fish, sponges, Sting rays, a barracuda!and conch shells. They gave us snorkels, wet suits, flippers. It was really neat. It was so cool swimming next to those sting rays, and all the fish! It was really awesome. Even Kik got the hang of it after a while.

After that we sailed, ate some lunch and talked. Then we split up into two groups and went kayaking around. Our leader (Ms. Michelle) showed us around a little island and talked about all the cool plants and animals. It’s really fascinating how much they know! Then we headed back, Daddy and the kids all jumped in the water to cool off while mom took pictures. It was a beautiful day We were sad to go, but on the way back we saw a fish jump straight into the air chasing something! It must’ve gone like…psh...4 ft into the air! It was so cool, and to finish off a good day Kik got to steer the ship AND we saw some dolphins. Which, according to Ms. Wendy, can make even a grown man jump up and down and scream “DOLPHIN!!!!” We left the dock at about 10:00am and got back at about 4. It was a long time but it didn’t seem like it.

The next few days were spent just hangin’ out. One day Toley, Z and I went to the mini-mart to buy some “ounce cream” as I call it. Well turns out they were closed so we headed back to Gagee's (AKA Grog) condo (right next door) where we heard a rumor that SHE had some. So (before they had any dinner) we had a bowl of Moose track ice cream with some extra M&M’s, Junior mints and Peppermint paddy’s! We talked about how we could make a secret passage way to the fridge where the bon bon’s were with a little lock that only we knew the code. So we came, talked, ate, laughed and left. Sigh, I love going to Grog’s! Well they left the next day and we left the day after that. We spent our last day doing school, cleaning and loading the RV. Sounds boring, but it was fun and we all needed to stay out of the sun for a day.

-Pooh

Disney 2010

2010-04-04T21:04:00.027-04:00

Hello, I was nominated to write about WDW -- probably because of my Disney knowledge. I won’t give away who this is, though, in case you want to guess; although it might be obvious. I have been thrilled for Disney… I don’t know how long. ReRe gave me a great Disney book to read and we would talk on the phone for a long time discussing what we read. I was set.

On Thursday we got to the Fort Wilderness Campground while our Weber Family checked into the Wilderness Lodge, only a ferry away. We also got sightings of an armadillo. Who knew they were in Florida? Some of the Webers went to the park, but we just got settled in and met everyone after dinner. We went to ReRe and PopPop’s hotel room and ReRe loaded us up with new Disney color coordinated t-shirts, St. Patrick’s Day stuff and our annual Easter bag filled with goodies. Friday we met the Webers at Wilderness Lodge bright and early and took the bus to Epcot. We met Gagee and her friend Mr. Lee inside the park expanding our group to 18! We headed to “The Seas with Nemo and Friends” while the guys got fastpasses (that’s usually how our mornings started off) to Soarin’. After having a turtle talk with Crush and watching the manatees we headed over to Test Track. It ended up being one of my favorite rides, but I was really scared. We had to wait about an hour and a half, but it was worth it. I got to go on with Pooh, my three girl cousins and Aunt Julie (just imagine how much the six of us screamed!) Mommy was the only one who didn’t go on; she had to walk the dog. We grabbed lunch and then headed to Soarin’ for our ride over California!

After a bit we headed over to World Showcase. Eleven countries are represented and they have people from each country come work there. It is really neat. We looked around at our own pace and later met for a Biergarten dinner in “Germany.” It was fantastic along with the German entertainment. IT brought back a lot of good memories! Thank you Unkey Jeff and Unkey Russ! Afterwards the group separated, some going home to get some much needed rest and some of us hard-core Disney tourists staying to see “Illuminations,” Epcot’s night show and some ice cream. We were all really tired but this was just the beginning!

Saturday we headed to Hollywood Studios . Okay, Epcot was too detailed; I’ll tone it down a bit. We started with the guys getting Toy Story Mania fastpasses. The Crazy People went on Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Roller Coaster, while us so-called wimps went to Muppet Vision 3D. Our day also consisted of Prince Caspian, The Little Mermaid and Star Tours, finally getting to Toy Story-- a new, interactive ride that ended up being at the top of everyone’s list.

Mommy went home a little early to cook dinner as we were hosting everybody in the RV, while the rest of us headed over to Lights, Motor, Action! and Extreme stunt show. When that was finished we headed back to the Lodge and took the ferry to the campsite. We enjoyed a great meal of tacos with cupcakes for dessert. Mom was happy it didn't rain because our RV can't hold 16 taco eating people. The cousins loved playing up on our bed! Sunday we all took the ferry over to the Contemporary Resort early in the morning (very early!) for a delicious Mickey’s Breakfast, adding lots of signatures to our autograph books! Thanks PopPop! After our belly's were full we took one of Huddy's favorite rides, the monorail, to Magic Kingdom. It started raining soon after we got there, but not too hard. We went on Peter Pan, Splash, Space and Big Thunder Mountains (well not all of us went on Splash Mountain or Space Mountain). Big Thunder is another one of my very favorites -- not too scary. I felt brave enough for Splash Mountain too, but after the huge drop I vowed never again! The rain started getting too much and everyone except Z-man, Pooh, ReRe, PopPop and I headed home for a few hours. I wasn’t about to miss Disney for a little rain! So the five of us enjoyed mostly indoor attractions and got a bunch of stuff done with such few people. We met the rest of the gang for dinner at the Crystal Palace thanks to ReRe, another good buffet! After dinner some of us went to Big Thunder Mountain another two times and then we all headed to Main Street to watch the SpectroMagic parade. At last the night came to an end with a ferry ride home. We were pooped!

Monday was Animal Kingdom day, our last day at Disney. We had a lazy morning and didn’t get to the park till nine or ten. We started off with Kilimanjaro Safaris which has real animals to see and all 16 of us can actually fit in one truck! . After that we headed to It’s Tough to be a Bug show,

which is a little scary especially if creepy crawlies aren’t your favorite thing in the world. Next the crazy people got in line for Expedition Everest, which makes Splash Mountain look like a kiddy ride. I still can't believe my little cousins love all those crazy rides! We went and watched a bird show and then headed to DinoLand for Triceratops Spin, our last ride with our cousins. We said a sad goodbye, they had to leave to make they’re plane; we’ll see them this summer though.

When they were all gone, Mommy, Z, Pooh and I then went on Primeval Whirl, a better “last ride” although it was a little scary. As we were headed out to the park Z reminded daddy that they should go on a white water rapids ride. Daddy agreed as the rest of us went to have lunch. As we were eating, a VERY wet duo walked up to our table. They were soaked. They even had to ring out the shorts when we got back to the RV. Good thing it was their last ride. We bid a fond farewell to Disney; see you next time, right Daddy?

Toley

A day in the life of the RV travelers

2010-03-23T07:42:00.028-04:00

Many people have asked me over the last 7+ months what life is like living in an RV. So, I decided that maybe I needed to blog about it.

Our day usually begins slowly for everyone except dad. He is always up at dawn or before ready to begin his day. He walks the dog, feeds him, ties him up outside and heads to the gym or for a run or for a bike, or for a swim..........he works out! The kids and I are usually rousing ourselves out of bed by the time he gets back. He is ALWAYS chipper and we are ALWAYS annoyed!! HA!

I try and cook breakfast 3-4 times a week. It doesn't always work out that way, but I try. After that the breakdown begins. I clean the kitchen, while the girls organize the beds and get things put away. Once the area is clean, beds are made or broken down, all the stuff has found its proper place, the slide comes in - which makes our RV 18 inches smaller. That is a lot for such a small space. Pooh then heads out to take down the dog house and put all his stuff away and Toley lets him in as he is in a state of panic that we will leave him behind!

Meantime, Z-man, Kik and Dad head outside to do the dirty work. They put all 8 bikes on the trailer and ladder on the back, buckle them down and do a lot with bungee chords! Kik's job is to take the keys and go around and lock all the basement storage for the drive. He also scans the spot where we have stayed for any extra items. Then they empty all the stuff from the sink, toilet and shower. NOT a fun job!!! All this while the water tank gets filled for the drive. Water and sewer hoses are stored (far from each other!!) and the RV is then unplugged.

We are ready to drive. We usually drive 200-300 miles, depending on the day. Kik seems to need a little time to wake up, so he sits around and watches the road for a while. After a bit he gets out his work and sits at the table near his number line for math. The other three get their school work out and hit the books. They usually separate, Toley going on the over head to work/read, Z-man in the back room to do the same and Pooh at the table or couch to get her math done. They all have some work on the computers, so they vie for the two laptops we have to get some work done during the day.

Mom and Dad are in the front seat, Dad usually driving, mom usually staring out the window :) We have our morning mocha or tea or coffee and try and get the GPS to go where we want it to go. We look for campsites, places to stop, interesting things and chat. Some days I take this opportunity to grade papers or check over work. I am in constant Kik contact as he requires the most help with his work. But that independence is getting better and better!!!

The dog finds himself a tight spot, right under every ones feet :) He stays there most of the day. He likes to head out the door if anyone is going out and just check out his surroundings, even if it is a gas station. He is pretty quiet and after about 2 months he FINALLY seemed to get into the groove of traveling all the time. Although I still think he would rather be at home in our fenced in back yard!

The day goes on like this for a long while, only stopping for potty breaks for the driver and lunch prep for the kids.

As we arrive at our campsites, the kids immediately check the Internet to see if it is working and ask if there is cable if it is American Idol night (or a football game in the fall).

As usual, the boys head outside. Kik has to ride his bike ASAP! He gets it down by himself, unlocks the basement, dons his helmet and off he goes. Dad gives him a perimeter and reminder not to talk to strangers and he is all smiles!

Z-man does the electric, water and cable while Dad gets the sewer job - poor man.

The girls and I pull out the slide and sweep up the floor. While the girls reorganize after a busy day of driving, I start dinner. We have limited counter space, so cooking big meals with lots of different items can be a challenge. AND, when I talk limited, I mean it! We have really just one 18inch by 18 inch counter top and another small one on the other side of the sink that might be 12x12 inch. There is a three burner stove that has a cover that pulls down over top, so if the stove isn't being used, I can have that space, but that is almost never the case.

The table is the same deal. It is a bench set, so Mom and Dad on one side, Toley, Kik and Pooh on the other (way tight!) and Z-man on a chair at the end. We have room for our plates, cups, silverware, and possibly one or two small bowls. What I usually do is dish up all the plates and the girls place them on the table. This way is not the best, but the only way we can do it. The problem being is that almost everyone wants some sort of seconds and up mom goes again to dish it all out. Ahhhh the life of a mom :)

The oven is small, as most of you have seen from the turkey experience. I can usually fit what I need in there. It is tight, but works well. It usually takes me about an hour to get dinner ready, so depending on our arrival time, we sometimes don't eat until 7:00, which isn't good for the Kikster!

Kik goes to bed around 7-7:30 in our room as the rest of the RV is the living room. We move him to his bed when we all hit the hay around 9:30-10:00. While the kids get Kik ready for bed, Dad and Mom do the dishes and get the living room organized AGAIN! Amazing how one little space can get so completely dirty! We usually do a Bible study then with Dad. We are reading about the life of Paul right now. Then we have some computer time, watch tv time or play a game time. It all depends on the night and how many people Toley can talk into playing a game.

Then it is off to bed. This is always a problem as it is a mad rush to the one bathroom. We do a lot of knocking and "ARE YOU DONE YET?" We have some that take longer.......I won't mention any names - POOH! and others who are in and out in a split second - Dad. When that time is up we bring Kik back into the living/sleeping area and get him settled into bed. He rarely wakes up, which is nice. Mom and Dad go back to their room and the three other kids try and settle down, although there are MANY times we need to yell in there to calm down. They laugh, wrestle, toss stuffed animals and pillows at each other or just plain bug each other until someone comes in complaining (with a smile on their face). I love to see them get along so well, I just wish it was during the day, not at 10 at night!!!

So, that is it in a nut shell. Not all that exciting, but fun none the less. Of course on days that we have plans to meet someone or visit a park or museum the day is different, but that is a typical day on the road.

XO Mom

Another blog on friends-REALLY!

2010-03-15T11:07:00.020-04:00

Things are getting warmer.............................

Pontooning with the Lawry's

Can you stand another post about friends??? We are just too blessed! As I last talked about friends, I had just visited a bunch of my old girlfriends in TN. We had a wonderful time. But, our house is on wheels, so off we went.

After leaving TN we headed to Louisiana, Mississippi ,Alabama and then into Georgia. We didn't stay too long in the first two states, just wanted to get them on our "map of where we have been!" We did have a great dinner with an old friend of my husbands in Mississippi. Jim, dad and I went to a great little restaurant and the food was amazing! We even had alligator! YUM!

After the boys tortured themselves on the Appalachian Trail we headed back to TN to visit my friend Kaye and her boys. We met Kaye in Germany and it has been a long time since we saw each other, although we keep up thru emails. One of her son's Sean, is a good friend of Z-man's, so it was fun all around. Kaye and I even had a night out for coffee and a chance to catch up. When the kids called at 10:00 and asked if we were ever coming home we were both shocked at the late hour.

We could have talked all night.
It was awesome to see her.

Chad, Sean, Z-man, Kik, Toley, Pooh

The kids reacting to a crash landing!

Next it was down into Florida, Pensacola to be exact. We stayed for a day on the Navy base and to toured the VERY cool air and space museum. We all had such a cool time looking and getting into all the planes. Very neat! After our short stay on base we headed to visit another old TN friend. Those TN folks are sure nice!!! Sandie and Gordon and their daughters were great friends to us in Millington and after a 7 year absence from each other we just fell right back into comfort as they welcomed us into their home. They live right on the water in Pensacola, so there was much to do and see. Their neighborhood was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan a while back and there are still many lots empty where homes used to be. It was strange for us to see and to hear them talk about the devastation that they came back to after being evacuated.

I finally met someone who is always cold too! It was
so nice to have someone to commiserate with! I know,
not too many people would wear turtlenecks in FL!

The Lawry's were SUPER and we had a hard time leaving. Sandie and I had a lot of catching up to do. Between our faith, cooking, homeschooling, raising teens and baking bread the time flew by. Kik was most intrigued as two of their bikes had flat tires. He was in his glory! Good thing Gordon has the patience that dad has, so he and Kik worked on bike tires for a good portion of the morning. Not to mention the fishing expeditions on the boat. Still haven't caught a thing, but that doesn't matter. Kik had so much fun. Our time together was sweet and we are all the more blessed for being there.

After leaving Pensacola we headed east toward Tampa with a short stop over in Panama City. Our friends from Marquette were there for a Campus Crusade week with their college groupies. Dave and Sue were a sight for sore eyes and we had a special time, even though it was short. Lots of sand, sun and catching up. Panama City is one wild town!
Good thing there are groups like Campus Crusade.

Next it was to Tampa where another friend from Germany was living. Actually they are living in St. Pete's beach in a beautiful condo right on the water. As far as you can see in all directions is water and palm trees. Dr. Reppert was dad's boss in Germany and a great one at that. The Reppert's were wonderful hosts. They took our children in with such care, but that must come from the fact that they have 11 grandchildren!!! The kids swam in the pool, Pat and I chatted (imagine - me - chatting!! HA) and then we all went out to lunch. Again, another short visit, but worth the time as they are heading back to Germany to the same job as before. Dr. Reppert can't seem to retire. I may have married the same type of man!

We will be in Florida for a long time, traveling all over the state. I am sure we will have much more to write about as we have Disney and the Key's on our list of things to do.

Stay tuned......................................XO mom

Appalachian Trail #1

2010-03-09T20:30:00.009-05:00

Many of you who read this (well, at least two of the three who actually read it) know that part of our journey was going to include Z-man and I walking a portion of the Appalachian Trail (AT). For the one who didn’t know, the AT is a trail that runs 2100 miles from Springer Mountain, GA (about 50 miles NW of Atlanta) up the east coast to Kahadtin, ME in north central Maine. My original intent was for us to walk about 500 miles of the trail. I modified that to more manageable plan of us walking four sections of about 100 miles. We would do one each of the first and last sections (GA and ME) and two other sections in NC/TN and VA. I had hoped to start in early March which is supposed to be OK, although a little early in the mountains of GA. However, based on our trip, we ended up being in eastern TN with a decent window of weather, so we made the decision to start in late Feb. I had also intended to wait until we did all sections to write a blog, but since we have been neglecting our blog of late, I’ll go ahead and write one for our first section.

Z-man and I began our AT hike in Helen, GA, at mile 50.1 on 24 Feb. We headed out of Uncoil Gap (2950’) at 1230 and immediately started up Blue Mountain (3750’). We exchanged packs every 90:00 when we stopped for a break. Z-man’s pack is not as comfortable, but it’s lighter. He can really make time – I can’t keep up so he stops every so often and lets me catch him. The first day we walked about 14 miles , 5 miles of which was in snow. It was really tough – slippery and like walking in sand. We stopped at 1845 (6:45) after finding out that the shelter we were headed towards was actually 1.3 miles off the trail. A mile doesn’t sound like much, but with packs and the dirt/snow/mud trail, we average about 2 MPH, so that would have meant another :40 of walking. We ended up putting the tent in a parking lot and spent the night.

We enjoyed a delicious meal of MREs and Z-man was actually asleep by about 8 which was the earliest I remember him going to bed…ever. On Tues, we started at 0830 and were low on water. Made Z-man some hot chocolate for a morning wake up, but used up our remaining water supply. He’s in good spirits and is doing better than I had thought. No complaints in spite of a couple of injuries and he’s humping a less than ideal pack. It is an Army internal frame MOLLE pack which is not comfortable. We walked for about two hours before coming to a small “stream (a flow of about 2” wide by 1” deep) that we used to refill our Camelbacks. We made the 5.6 miles to Neel’s Gap by noon. Things got fun immediately after our break as we walked the 2 miles up Blood Mountain – the highest point in GA on the AT. Lots of rock stairs – many of which were snow covered -- made for a tough climb up to 4500’. It was nice to descend after that, but we both got real tired about 4 miles out from our finish. Had one last 1200’ climb prior to finishing at Woody Gap. The RV met us so we could go together to a new camp site with the intention of returning to Springer Mountain to walk the first 18 miles of the trail. Unfortunately, the nearest campsite was vacant and we had to drive 85 miles to find one. Thus ended our first section of the AT. Total for the two days – 31 miles, lots of climbing and descending and more snow that would have been preferred. I Look forward to our second section which we hope to do in VA where we will meet the Roberts boys for a day of hiking

Peace, Dad

Snow Day

2010-02-28T20:57:00.015-05:00

After Millington, we headed to Little Rock, AR to visit friends of Dads. He met Mr. Eddie at the basic course and then he and mom met them both while living in MO, before any of us kids were born. So, like a lot of our "friends", I had never met them. We always end up having a great time though, and this was no exception. We planned on staying the weekend but thanks to the snow, we had to stay an extra day. The kids had two snow days, so they were home the whole time. They have two girls about J and my ages and a son around Kik's age. Their dog Sienna kept Konig company and I think Koney missed her once we left. I'll give you the highlights of our weekend:

~Playing in the snow

~Eddie teaching Zach guitar

~The girls: Amanda, Pooh, Natalie and I tie-dying t-shirts

~The boys: The BFG ,Jonny and Kik playing Nerf guns and video games

~The moms talking and exchanging recipes

~The dads exercising and walking the dogs

~Going to a mega church

~Watching the Super Bowl (Hooray for the Saints!)

~Amanda straightening mom's hair with a flat iron. She's almost unrecognizable!

~Kik riding Mr. Eddie's bike trainer

Since I happen to be part of the "girls group", I'm more savvy on what we did.

This consisted of playing apples to apples, doing crafts after a trip to Hobby Lobby, playing with the dogs, watching movies and learning cool card tricks.

After the dads had checked the roads to make sure they were safe to drive on, we said our goodbyes and headed south. We drove through Louisiana just to say we had been there, just not too close to New Orleans. (that would have been a mad house!)

We had a great visit and it was awesome seeing some more snow, you gotta love it!

~Toley~

Memphis Zoo

2010-02-22T13:26:00.019-05:00

After some confusion, writing and re-writing. I’m finally posting my blog. Sorry it was such a long time! Okay let’s try this again:

When we lived in Millington we took Zoo school at the Memphis zoo. Z and Toley took it all 3 years; I just took it for the last year, so I don’t remember much. Toley remembers feeding a ton of cool animals and Z remembers writing reports about manatee’s and other boring stuff (which he reminded us of throughout the trip)

After piling up in our rental car (which Kik loved), we drove about a half ‘n’ hour to the zoo. Daddy rode back to see his old office and work. So mom took us in. We handed over our tickets, looked at the map and decided to go to the Cat…house…place first. The first cat(s) we saw was a black leopard and a spotted leopard sitting on a log together (like the pic). They were so beautiful, and stared straight at us so we got a good picture. Across from them were two gorgeous tigers. The one in the picture we all loved. Then there was a fluffy snow leopard all curled up in a corner, two Ocelots, a lynx, and two cheetahs. There were two lions were laying on a heated rock, and the girls wanted to just cuddle up in their manes. Good thing Daddy wasn’t there!

After that we went to the tropical bird house thingy. The “best animal in the zoo” as Toley calls it, was the pink cockatoo. He (or she) kept ducking its head up and down playing peek-a-boo with us behind a log. So cute! We sat there watching him for a little while.

We saw a lot of different tropical birds with many different colors, including two kookaburras; whose song we sang throughout the day. We went in a couple huge bird rooms and watched them as they flew around us. We walked around and saw some pelicans (who looked absolutely bored out of their minds) and some grumpy looking’ warthogs and a couple little piggy’s!

Next it was to the aquarium. It had...well what normal aquarium’s usually have! Fish. Fish, eels, turtles. One turtle was kind of creeping Toley and I out. It was looking at us and smiling a very…malicious smile! It was so creepy! Then over to the Komodo dragons, those things are so cool! But creepy. Kik didn’t really get why they weren’t moving, Toley thanked the big one for “posing” so well, and Z just said “cool! We should get one!”

After that we headed over the reptile area. There was a croc and an Alligator that tried to be still as it could and look like a log, Kik got a kick out of that! There was also a humongous snapping turtle, a bunch of snakes and lizard’s one of the snakes was eating a mouse which Kik loved and sat watching it the whole time.

At last we headed over to the picnic area and had lunch, which consisted of power bars, drinks, apples, carrots and Ritz crackers. Z-man's lunch consisted of Ritz and his precious root beer.

Next it was to the primate section. Which had a grand total of 1 monkey in the whole entire area, and he just sat staring at us the whole time. The weather was not nice and a bit chilly, so we didn't expect much, but one?! Oh and also NO: Hippos, Rhinos, Pandas or Giraffes! Actually we saw just the heads (on the body’s of course) peeking out in their cage thingy. Their whole enclosure was frozen and slippery. Z thought it would’ve been funny to see them out there. BOYS!!

So we walked on to see the Zebra’s and some antelope, an Elephant and a huge cage with two lazy polar bears in it. All they did was lie on the rock, we went over to wear they were closest and they walked away, so we followed them but then they turned around and went the other way! UH! Ha-ha. But whenever they tried to get up they would slump back down. It was very entertaining!

Across from them was a huge glass tank with a bunch of sea lions in it. They were swimming around gracefully with their eyes closed like nothing mattered. So cute, mommy and I agreed that we could stay there all day! Then we saw two bald eagles sitting on a tree in their cage. Along with a raven...yes a raven. Ooo lets go see a raven! Ha-ha, poor Mr. Raven. We did glance at him though. But the eagles are always so majestic it’s hard to take your eyes of them!

On the way to the Teton Trek,a new exhibit at the zoo, mommy said that one of us would have to work at a zoo so she could sit there all day for free. Z said “well, you can count me out!”

The Teton trek had two very comical grizzlies and several white wolves running around. It also had a fire place outside which was, I think, Mommy’s favorite part!

The wolves looked at us for a while, then all trotted off somewhere else. It was probably lunch time or something. So we went over to see the grizzlies, they were just lumbering around. One of them was banging on the door, probably looking for food, the other just walked around lazily and clumsily. He had something in his mouth at one point but then dropped it in the little stream running through their enclosure. He tried to get it back by sticking out one paw and trying to reach it, but failed. It was a very good show though!

All in all I thought it was a really good day! Although I always think zoos are good. On the way out, mommy saw a gift shop. Uh-oh. We didn’t stay there for too long though. She actually didn’t buy anything! Just the kids, Kik got a little leopard he named Millie (for Millington), I got a long blue fuzzy snake I named Montgomery (Monte python for short) and Toley got a really big, cute, fuzzy, plush giraffe she named him: Simon James Alexander Ragsdale III. Don’t ask.

-Pooh

Millington Tennessee

2010-02-13T06:55:00.015-05:00

After leaving Texas we drove north, spent a night in OK (just to say we have been there) and headed to Millington, TN. As most of you know, we used to live there. Todd worked for the Corp of Engineers in Memphis and we lived on a small Navy base in Millington 30 miles north.

CAN YOU SAY COLD???

It was suppose to be a short visit, but we ended up getting iced in! YES ICE! It snowed/rained ice for 24 hours and it was a mess. We were glad we got in when we did so we could just batton down the hatches and hang out until the weather got better.

In the mean time, I looked up my friends. We had been emailing back and forth for a few weeks and I was REALLY looking forward to some girl time. There is always something going on with these women and I wanted to get in on some of it!

The storm finally subsided and my friends Liz and Kathy decided to brave the icy roads and we all went out to lunch. It was so much fun to catch up. I hadn't seen them in 7 years, so it was just awesome to hear about how they were doing, how life had changed and how it had stayed the same. Not to mention an awesome meal at the Neighborhood Bistro!

Liz, me and Kathy

The next day Liz got a bunch of ladies together and we all had a pot luck. Again, a great time to see the people I miss from TN and catch up on their lives.

Two day later was their monthly homeschool meeting, so off I went to yet another gathering. By the time I got home (well after midnight) I was thoroughly exhausted from all our long talks. But, also totally refreshed! The very next day a bunch of us went out to lunch and did some shopping.

Friday morning I got in one last visit with another dear friend Teresa for coffee at Starbucks. Later on another friend Rene showed up and sipped some coffee with us, so all in all I got my fill!! It is so nice to have some great conversation with with some amazing women. I thank all of them for giving me a boost in energy and love!!! God has blessed me with women here and there to encourage and keep me going in my walk with Him and as a homeschooler. My visit was much needed and I feel sooooo much better having spent quality time with people I truly care about.

By the end of our Millington visit my family was asking me who I was and if they had seen their mother!! HA! I was gone so much and I am so grateful for a family who understands their wife/mom.

Oh, and I thought I would tell you about one last little thing.........SKUNK! Yes, our beloved dog Konig decided that it would be fun to chase a skunk and see if he could catch it. He did, but as you know, that isn't the end of the story. Here he is, the day before the ice hit in freezing temps getting himself a bath. Doesn't he look pathetic? He was none to happy and neither was I. Peroxide, baking soda and liquid soap. Did the job about 85%. That had to be good enough since the storm hit that night and he had to come in after being banned for the day.

XO Mom

1 Feb ½ Year on the Road

2010-02-05T05:53:00.004-05:00

By the numbers:

Days on the road since we left Marquette: 184

Gallons of gas: 2118 (9.09 MPG)
Campsites: 65
US States: 30 (MI, WI, IL, IN, OH, WV, VA, MD, DE, NJ, PA, NY, MN, ND, MT, AK, WA, OR, ID, UT, WY, CO, NV, CA, AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, TN)
Canadian Provinces: 4 (OR, AL, BC, YT)
Military posts/bases: 21
Friends we’ve visited: 11 families
Visitors to the RV: 2
Lowest temp: 15 – Albuquerque, NM
Highest temp: 95 – Shelby, MT

Most snow: Millington, TN: 3" and ice (we go to AK and the coldest we've been in TN)

Times Z has done the dishes in Mom's pink gloves: hmmm...

Dad

Don't mess with Texas

2010-01-30T21:47:00.021-05:00

I don't know if I would say that I was ever a fan of Texas, but our trip there was actually great. We saw some pretty scenery and reconnected with some wonderful friends.

Our first big stop was to San Antonio. The RV park was nice and even better the laundry was free! When this happens, we unload the whole RV and wash everything that isn't nailed down! It is always a great thing!!!

While in San Antonio we found out that one of the guys that used to work for Dad in Alaska was living there. via my brother (who Mark knows well) we got in touch with him and he and his family graciously asked us over for dinner. What a wonderful time we had. Mark and Maria and their three children were just awesome! We had such a nice time remembering Alaska, eating, laughing and making some new memories. The picture of Texas at the top of the page is dedicated to Maria, who is from there and wouldn't let us leave her fair state until we were loaded down with TX paraphernalia. Thanks to all the Wades who made San Antonio worth the visit.

The kids with Michael, Monica and Mark

During our stay in San Antonio we went to see the Alamo, which is right in the middle of down town. We saw the IMAX movie first and then went to see the actual building and compound where the last stand off happened. Then we took a walk on the River Front, which was so peaceful and quiet. It was a nice walk.

After that we drove up to Ft. Hood, where we met up with our friend Mele. She is the daughter of our pastor from WA. When we first met Mele she was 13. Now she is a young Army LT and enjoying being back in the states after a year long tour in Korea. We had a fun visit talking about old times in WA and all that she saw while in Korea. It was great seeing her again and I hope that we will get to visit soon.
Oh and Toley loves this picture. She saw it and said "Wow daddy, you look tall!" :) Lastly we drove up to the Dallas area to visit our friends Bonnie and Brian and their cute kiddies. We met Bonnie and Brian in Germany and haven't seen them since we left. Brian is at Dallas Seminary and was kind enough to let us disrupt his weekend study time for a nice visit. We had an awesome time chatting and playing with the kids. Konig was a big hit with their young children and the talk of getting a dog is back on the fore front of their minds. Sorry! We also had a nice night out to dinner, grown-ups only, so that was just great. It was a sweet visit and we are all so happy we went.

The kids with Bella, Alece and Cal..SO CUTE!!

God is so good to give us such wonderful friends
Thanks all of you! You made Texas 10 times better................. XO Mom

Carlsbad Caverns

2010-01-30T21:41:00.010-05:00

After sledding the white sands of NM, we decided to hit another National Park before heading south to Texas. Driving thru the mountains of eastern NM was pretty cool as we passed a ski resort and experienced about 6” of snow along much of the route. We made the trip to Carlsbad Caverns not sure what to really expect.

When you first arrive at the caverns, the view looks out on a desert that appears to be an ocean. It's quite a mirage. The first view of the caverns isn't too spectacular since you're actually driving above the caverns. The rolling hills are covered with cacti and brush and it is actually pretty boring.

Up in the visitors center there are all sorts of things to look at and touch. That is Kik's favorite thing, to touch EVERYTHING!

After experiencing the rocks that make up the caves in the Visitor’s Center (you are not allowed to touch anything once you get into the caverns), we headed down to the caverns. We spent about an hour in “the Big Room” which was quite amazing. The cavern is approx 40 acres and contains some of the deepest and highest underground sections in the world. Since we took the elevator up and down the 800' to the caverns, Z and I needed to take part in the total experience. So we walked back down (they wouldn’t let us hike up after 1100!?! -- guess they didn't think we could make it up in 5 hours). Meanwhile, mom was making a delicious lunch of quiche (one of Kik and his dad's favorites). We ate lunch and then headed to Guadalupe National Park in Texas. While it looked like a neat place to hike, it was getting late so we enjoyed the final sunset over the mountains of New Mexico and drove to an RV park in Van Horn, TX to prepare for the Texas portion of the trip. Who knew that western TX was actually quite beautiful! There are still mountains and rolling hills and just a lot of pretty land. We didn't know what to expect while we drove through this huge state, but we were in for some GREAT time of fellowship with some wonderful friends, once again............stay tuned.

Peace ~ Dad

Z-Man's Getaway

2010-01-28T13:08:00.008-05:00

As some of you may have heard, I had the opportunity to take a little trip back to Marquette for a few days. My awesome uncle (even if he is a Cowboys fan) was gracious enough to take care of the expenses and after convincing my mom I could fly by myself, I was all set.

I left Albuquerque at 12 o'clock on the 6th of January headed for Chicago and then onto the U.P. Everything went smooth enough and I was picked up around 9 that night. My welcome party had some last minute issues so I was picked up by the Josh Hate Club. My ride consisted of complaints about Josh's non-committal attitude and questions about why I was wearing shorts. The night was spent hanging out at our good friends, the Newman's. We ended up playing Catch Phrase for about three hours. Then it was back to Marquette to Josh's house, where I was graciously welcomed to stay for most of my trip.

Since my trip was over multiple days and most of our posts span over one day, I'll just go over the highlights:

The next day I was able to have dinner with our friends the Janofskis and then went to watch the BCS National Championship with Kevin, Matt, Garret and Will. We also played some snow bball (I got killed) and football.

Friday consisted of my first viewing of the "MANcation" video with Kyle and Lara, some more football with the guys and a party at Josh's place. While there we had some guest appearances from Susan Pevensie, Rhino the Hamster and Taylor Lautner! Chocolate Eclair cake, Taboo and Telephone rounded out the night.

Saturday morning tasted a lot like home. After a delicious breakfast from Mrs. Michels, Josh, Ryan and I got a lesson in Snow Management 101 from Mr. Michels. In layman's terms that means shoveling. We then went to Krook's hill with Bekah, Lara and Laura. Krook's hill is a luge like sledding hill over in a neighboring town. Its completely ice which makes for some awesome sledding! Another late night party and some more Catch Phrase capped the day off.

Sunday morning we went to church. It was nice to be in a calmer atmosphere and see all of our friends there. Pastor Brian's sermon was very thought-provoking and it was great to see him and Pastor Hank again. We then went to the Newman's lake house to watch Ice Age 3, sample some pasties and eat Twizzlers! That night I went over to the Rapavis to watch the Packers....I won't go into the details. My bad mood didn't last long when I went back to the lake house to watch Enchanted with Lara, Laura, Hannah and Beth (please keep your comments to yourself).

I spent the night at the Newman's and left the next morning for Albuquerque. You all will be happy to know that I did arrive safe and sound, even if that was over two weeks ago. I had a great time hanging out with all of my friends. I even had fun chilling with the elders: the ever-gracious Mrs. Michels, the fun-loving Kosas and Mrs. Newman and the always-entertaining Mr. Michels and Ricky New (Mr. Newman).

Things hadn't changed much while I was gone. Dad picked me up with our bikes and we biked the nine miles back to our RV. Although he and I continue to argue about whether it was a vacation for me or a vacation for them, I still had a blast!

Sand Sledding

2010-01-20T10:09:00.036-05:00

On our way through New Mexico we stopped at White Sands National Monument, it turned out to be one of our favorite stops.
This is pretty much what it looked like, sand dunes with a bit of vegetation with pretty blue mountains in the background. Not what I expected from NM!
We stopped to take a hike, pulled off our shoes (or at least I did) and buried our toes in the sand.

It looked like snow and we even saw some snow on the ground. There is a make shift path that we followed --sort of-- and we saw lots of different animal tracks. Sometimes we saw what looked like rock walls (like this one) except they would crumble if you tried to climb them. Unfortunately it's hard to get a family shot when there's no one around, so we have lots of kid-pictures! After having a good look around and exploring, we headed back to the RV to drive further on, into the hills better for sledding. We bought/rented (they have some deal...?) a sled before hand and also blew up another blow up sled we brought along. We were ready to go.

It was lots of fun and you went pretty fast.

I ended up taking a tumble and doing a backwards somersault down the hill, getting sand in my hair and down my back, but we had a great time anyway!

Kik kept trying to get his blow up sled to work, but it didn't slide. It is harder climbing up sand hills then snow hills, because it doesn't stick together, it just slides down.

The BFG and I tried racing down the hill by rolling. He won, but it was lots of fun and you go really fast. Plus you don't have to carry a sled back up!

We snapped the shot below at the top of the hill, which turned out really well.

Altogether we had a great time at White Sands, but who knows if we'll get back to New Mexico, it's not high on our list!

XO~Toley

Grand Canyon

2010-01-18T18:47:00.010-05:00

Okay….Hi! I never know how to start off! Um, so after Mommy’s friends Anice’s house we tried to find a campsite close to the stadium so the boys could bike there, (poor Zach) so they could try to “scalp” tickets. After looking and calling and looking and calling we finally, well, had to stay in a hotel on Luke Air Force Base. Toley, Kik and I all really love hotels though. They’re so…clean! But we only stayed there for a night. Mommy and Daddy got the bed inside, Z and Kik got the parents bed (with flannel sheets I might add) and Toley and I got stuck up on our bed. The next day (Sunday) we went to church and drove awhile to the next campsite. We got there pretty late, so I don’t exactly know what it was called or looked like. That night Daddy took out the planner (uh oh) everybody started to run, but it was actually okay. We just discussed what we were going to do tomorrow. Well we decided to go to the Grand Canyon tomorrow, instead of doing….something else. So off we went. We’ve all seen pictures and movies (Brady bunch season 3!) of the Grand Canyon but like everything else you never really know what it’s like until you get there! Well I didn’t really expect it to be so cold in AZ! I guess it is winter. We all bundled up and…went to the visitor’s center. We bought a couple post cards then went back, got the dog put some more stuff on and headed off. There are a couple walks you can do, we just kind of hiked around on the trail and videoed and took pics. It’s so huge and wide open; Toley and Mommy were contemplating on how whoever discovered it, discovered it! Well it’s so hard to describe so I’ll just let you look at pics. After we looked awhile, Daddy and Z-man (like always) went on a longer walk, while the rest of us went in the car and drove to meet them somewhere. After looking around and walking…well, we didn’t really know where. We finally found them. We took a couple pictures in front of it and then went back to the “arv” and drove a little more to another part of it. There’s a huge watch tower that was built in the…um…a long time ago! There’s a little gift shop and then you can walk up, up, up to the very top and there’s a bunch of windows you can look out of and look down at the canyon! It was really neat! All of our 1st times I think. Kik just cannot walk on any bit of ice though so that was kind of a problem. Well everything else is pictures. You can just kind of imagine how really awesome it is! I think Z might be writing next ‘bout MI. Maybe. We had a blast when he was there!! Ha! At least Toley and I did! We didn’t have any football for a whole week! sigh, we enjoyed it while it lasted.

Um….BYE!
Pooh

More friends CA/AZ

2010-01-12T18:24:00.013-05:00

Hi all,

Just a quick blog as things are busy around here. The New Year hit and so did the school books. Lots of grading and checking to make sure everyone is on track. Some are, some aren't.......things never change!

We spent the week between Christmas and New Years in San Diego. It was strange being on the beach in December. But, it was nice. We were at a Marine base - Camp Pendelton - and it was quiet and you could hear the waves crashing at night, LOVE THAT!

While we were there one of the cadets from West Point the Dad coached in boxing came to visit. We had just found out the month before that he was living in San Diego, so when we arrived we looked him up. Jamey came down with his 2 year old daughter and had a little visit. It was so nice to see him. He looks the same and I am sure we have aged! HA! The last time we saw him Pooh had just been born, so that was a while ago.

Next we headed to AZ. Dad's aunt and uncle spend a few months down there each year. It was so nice to see family after so many months on the road. Deb and Rog took us around, showed us the deal with the RV park, hung out at the pool with us, and had New Years Day dinner with us. It was fun. We played some games as well (which the girls, Deb and I love to do, but the boys don't!) and this always a great time. We laughed and just had a nice quiet time hanging out.

After that the we drove north to Phoenix and while the boys tried to get tickets to the Packer game here in AZ, the girls, Kik and I drove to Whole foods. While I was there I decided to try and get in touch with my friend Anice. She and I met in 6th grade and she moved to AZ with her family at the end of 9th grade/beginning of 10th. We have kept in touch off and on all these years and I happened to have her phone number. I called her up and off we went to find her home, only 6 miles from Whole Foods.

We only stayed a short time, but it was so fun to chat and meet her family. We were remembering old times listening to the GoGo's and hiking at Ramapo. So much fun. She has an easy laugh and welcomed us into her home, even though she had just gotten back from vacation only the day before.

Next we are headed east to places unknown, but I am sure you will hear about them soon enough. The weather in the southwest is warm and sunny, but I need some grass, pine trees and snow! But the chance to see all of this has been amazing.

XO Mom

A Little Backtracking

2010-01-04T23:37:00.008-05:00

I hope you all forgive me for the delay in this post. I don’t really have any excuses except for procrastinating so I’ll just leave it at that.

During all the delays while waiting to fix our RV’s various problems, we were able to spend some time in Monterey, which may be my favorite place in California. It’s kind of a poor man’s Los Angeles; right on the coast, beautiful beaches and quite big. The nice thing about it was it wasn’t so “big-city,” like LA or San Diego. Even with the amount of people it was relatively calm and quiet. There were still your average Cali hippies but it was very cool. We were able to stay for about 5 days, which gave us time to do all sorts of things. The first thing we got to see was a small Fisherman’s Wharf, where we practically ate a lunch of free samples of “the best clam chowder on the Wharf.” The Wharf is situated alongside a small marina which, apparently, is the local seals favorite hangout. Every time we went by this spot there would be at least one seal floating in the water or just sitting on rocks. One of these lugs had to be sitting on the same rock for hours!

As Toley posted earlier we were also able to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was really cool. That Sunday we had the opportunity to go see our former pastor from Garmisch, who is the Chaplain of the post chapel at the Presidio. It was great to see Chaplain Pacania and his family who have kids roughly the same ages as us. So we went out for some pizza and got to reminisce about old times. It was great to see them!

After another unfortunate, although not unexpected, delay with the RV we rented a car and drove up to San Francisco for the day. Although it was a typical day in San Fran (wet and miserable) it was really cool to see Alcatraz, the Fisherman’s Wharf and famed trolley cars. The clouds would keep coming in and out so we were able to get some cool shots of “the Rock”. We were able to tour around the Wharf (stopping at EVERY store to shop), see the sights and check out Ghirardelli Square. We also decided to experience firsthand how steep some of the roads are. Some of them might as well have been roller coasters and gave Mom the “heebie-jeebies”. Unfortunately I seemed to be the only one in the mood for throwing caution to the wind, so we didn’t really experience any of the hills.

Thankfully after all of this we were able to finally get the RV fixed and headed on our way down the California coast. Even if Dad now has a few more gray hairs!

Z-man

Reagan Library and the Beach

2009-12-31T11:58:00.022-05:00

While visiting a library of a former president didn’t seem too appealing for the younger four members of the family, we decided to follow Bruce Robert’s recommendation. Since I’m the only family member to remember most of the significant events of the Reagan Administration, I was elected to write the blog entry. The Reagan library and Museum is located in Simi Valley, CA which is just north of LA in a very pretty part of the state. The building is the stucco look of the southwest and looks like the Reagan ranch.

Inside, the Christmas of the World display included decorated Christmas trees from about 50 countries. All three girls especially liked to look at all the different Christmas trees and proceeded to take a picture of each one, along with their info on where they were from and how to say Merry Christmas in its particular language. Following the huge array of Christmas decorations from around the world, there were displays about Dutch’s interesting career beginning in radio thru his years as an actor -- most notably as the Gipper at Notre Dame. His move into politics began as Governor of California – “the branch office in Sacramento” and concluded at, “The Home Office in DC” as the 40th President of the United States. His landslide in 1984 of 525 electoral votes to Walter Mondale's 13 electoral votes (95.2% margin) is the largest in history. It was interesting to see the exhibits about the hostages in Iran, his attempted assassination, Operation Urgent Fury -- the battle in Grenada (I remember our 82nd Airborne CPT talking during our entire calculus class about what was probably happening as the Div participated in the first military action since Vietnam.) A large portion of the display is devoted the Cold War and its ultimate end due in large part to the efforts and mentality of the Reagan administration (remember “the Evil Empire?).

One of the highlights of the museum is the section that includes the transportation means that President Reagan utilized. While not as well known as the impressive Air Force 1 which actually flew seven different presidents and Marine 1, the helicopter utilized for short trips, it was nice to see Army 1a and 1b represented in the Museum. All in all, a trip well worth the effort and we concur with Bruce’s recommendation.

After the Reagan Library, we made our way south to Camp Del Mar. This was kind of cool as it was located right on the beach north of San Diego. Camp Del Mar is actually part of Camp Pendleton, a large Marine Corps post. We didn’t do a lot of swimming in the cool 59 degree Pacific Ocean, but it was neat to be playing in the beach in late December. I think the highlight of our stay at Del Mar was on Sunday we had planned to attend church in town since the post chapel was so far from the RV site. I went out to do a bike recon of the route to the church in the morning and was doing that when I saw a sign on post that indicated a chapel nearby. The chapel said that service started at 0900 and since it was already 0815 and I was about 10 minutes from the RV, I didn’t think that there was any chance of getting back in time. I figured I’d go back and if they happened to be up and at ‘em, we’d make it. Upon entering the RV, the only ones awake were Toley and Kik (as usual). I told them that if we could leave in 20 minutes, we could go to the earlier service (this is important to Z-man since the Packers come on at 10 PST). Miraculously, we not only got out of the RV in time, but even made the 2.5 mile uphill bike ride in time for the 0900 start. The service was ok, but Kik got to go to Sunday School for the first time in quite a while. He really enjoyed it. After the service, we listened, on the radio, to the Pack thump the Seahawks and make the playoffs.

The next day was sunny and nice and Zman, Pooh and I braved the 59 degree water and VERY large waves just to say we swam in the Pacific in December. Well worth it.

Another interesting and fun stop in the RV Odyssey.

Peace ~ Dad

2009-12-29T23:50:00.010-05:00

Christmas was GREAT this year. I enjoy a low key Christmas every once in a while. It reminded me, in a way, of our Christmas 5 years ago when we went to Ukraine to get Kik. Nothing major, a tiny make shift tree, a few gifts that were small and useful here in our RV, and just the 6 of us. We were on a small base at the time and just like our Christmas time in Ukraine, we ended up conducting our own church service.

Here, on this remote post there wasn't a church within 4 miles and it was too far to ride our bikes in the dark, so we had Christmas Eve service here. We sang songs, read the story of the birth of Jesus from our Bibles and sang some more. It was nice. Pooh played a little music on our keyboard to make it all the more festive.

The picture above is Christmas morning and the kids are wearing the matching shirts I made them. Zach got long flannel pj pants. All were cozy for the morning activities

We had decorated our RV with lights too. We have them strung up in the living area, on the dash board and in the bedroom in the back. So, no matter where we looked, we were all lit up with colored lights! so fun! My mom sent an early Christmas gift of a clock that played Christmas music every hour on the hour. We had a lot of fun listening to the different songs played. My mom also sent crafts for us to work on. This is a little elf that Toley made. Fun!

But must of all we just enjoyed each others company. God is so good, all the time and he granted us a blessed Christmas. The weather was warm, which is a change for us, but we were able to go for a walk and just enjoy the sunshine for a change. It has been over 6 years since we had a green Christmas! We all took a vote and like the snow better!!!

We didn't get too many Christmas photos, but here are a few. This is one of my favorite. Kik got a new suit for Christmas. He loves to wear them and he wore it most of the day! The second shot is of him working on his bike, but he wouldn't take his shirt and tie off! HAHA! so cute!!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and blessed New Year!

XO Mom

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-24T22:24:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! Here is a picture of our humble little tree. It is decorated with our playmobile nativity set! Perfect!!! I hope to post more pictures tomorrow.

We just wanted to wish everyone a VERY MERRY Christmas. We hope this blog finds you well and happy. Remember that Christ came to earth to save all of you! Enjoy the season, but remember why you are celebrating!

HUGS and lots of Love - Mom

Monterey Bay Aquarium

2009-12-17T14:27:00.033-05:00

While in Monterey, I really wanted a chance to see the Aquarium, which is said to be the best in America.

Unfortunately, it is very expensive to go in, but, through some wonderful connections, we managed to get in. We had a fantastic time. We started off with the otters at feeding time. The otters made quite a show! They had to do tricks for some of their food. They were given shelled food because if they give them whole, shell and all, they bang it against things to get it open. In this case the windows.

Next, we moved out smartly to see the last of the penguin feeding. The aquarium is huge with two floors and a bridge on the top floor. The "south African" penguins were cute, but not as exciting as the energetic otters! We looked around on the top floor at the different fish. Including Nemo and Dory (above).
They have lots of cool jellyfish as well and we got some really great pictures. You can get a really good close up look at them through these tanks. We headed downstairs to see a show about Great Whites. How they attach tracking devises and where they go. It was really interesting. We learned that the sharks don't really leave their area. Unlike whales, the furthest they go from CA, is Hawaii. The sharks don't mix with different sharks from different places.
They have touch zones, where you can feel kelp and starfish. They also have a neat area where you can touch bat rays (to the left) which are like sting rays. The stingers have been removed and they swim around in a little pool.

The Secret lives of the Sea Horses was really neat as well. There are tons of different kinds. All different colors and sizes. This was one of our favorites. They like to wrap themselves around plants in the tank, and they swim funny. With little fins on their backs going back and forth rapidly.

We saw a diver go down in a huge tank to feed the fish and sharks. He wasn't exactly a "SCUBA" diver because his tank wasn't self contained, but we did see lots of scuba divers outside the aquarium. He had a microphone so he could talk to us while in the tank.
We took a peek outside to look at Monterey Bay, it is really pretty. Altogether we had a great time and now understand why it's the #1 aquarium!

~Toley~

Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks

2009-12-13T16:37:00.029-05:00

Hi all,

This will be short, but I wanted to get something out about our last couple of weeks here in CA. We have hit many National Parks, which is awesome and the last few weeks haven't failed us in the continuing awe of our country. It never ceases to amaze me how different the United States is.
Our first stop was to Sequoia National Park in the mid eastern section of CA. WOW! Let me tell you we were all amazed at how HUGE these trees were! We took an hour hike through the forest and they were everywhere and each time we saw one we would run up to it, take a picture and touch it. So amazing. I wish I could describe to you the width of these ancient trees. But, all I can do is show you some pictures. I am sure you will agree that they are magnificent.

Toley, our tree hugger! She hugs all the trees we see. I think she will eventually blog about her tree hugging self!!!

The next stop was to Yosemite which is just a little bit north. This National Park reminded us a bit of Zion as there are huge rocks that you drive right through. The cool thing about both of these parks (Zion and Yosemite) is that is could be a beautiful sunny day, which it was both times, but you get right inside and next to these huge cliffs that it feels like another planet. It is cold, dim and damp. So funny to look up and see blue sky!

The pine cones off
of these trees are
unbelievable!

Todd walking down
one of the hiking
paths. See how big
the trees are?

We had a great time in both parks taking a hike, climbing on boulders and just oohing and aahhing out the window. What a wonderful thing it is to visit so many of these National Parks.

The kids climbing on a fallen tree:

Pooh getting ready to video the huge rocks and
waterfall in Yosemite. Good thing we have such
a great videographer! It is nice to know we will
have videos as well as pictures from our trip.

Below is the waterfall that we climbed to. It was pretty thin as it was winter, but I can imagine how huge it would be in late spring! Good thing as climbing on the rocks would not have been possible with all that water.

Toley showing us how vast this place really was

Z-man making the big climb to get as close to the waterfall as possible.

Pooh and Daddy posing for mommy. It is
amazing how HUGE these rocks were, but
they made for a really fun hike.

The valley down below where we were

Kik spent most of his time looking at the GPS, making sure we were all going in the right direction. I can't tell you how many pictures we have of him doing this! It is a hazard though as he usually stumbles or is soooooo sloooowwww! Like his mother, he is not much of a dual task type of person.

FUN FACTS: Grants Tree, the 3rd biggest sequoia tree is 268Ft tall, 1,254 tons! 40 feet in diameter, 46,608 cubic feet in volume, and 1,700 years old AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy all the pics...............XO Mom

Working out on the Road

2009-12-06T22:58:00.008-05:00

Kevin Foley, formerly the head of NMU’s Clinical Lab Science Dept and a self-proclaimed stud told me that I’d get soft on the trip. First, Kevin is very fit and knows a thing about staying active. Conversely, one constant in my life is trying to stay in shape, so I took that as a challenge of sorts. Second, since working out is frequently my top priority (a fact that I’m not necessarily proud of although PK admonished that admission saying that at least I stay true to my values). Anyway, in order to keep my old body fit, I like to work out 2 hours/day. Unfortunately, that isn’t always feasible on the road. So, in order to keep the old body moving, the following are examples of “Working out on the road:”
Biking: We brought 8 bikes: 1 mountain bike/person + Isaac’s tandem that fits on my bike and my road bike that I don’t leave home without. Did one mountain bike race at Fort Lewis that was a brutal 30k thru some very technical terrain – finished fourth, one place out of the money (of course, there were only 5 of us that completed the long course). My favorite rides are the family rides that include hills. We road to Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Canada. I didn’t figure it would be bad since it was only about 4 miles. What I didn’t realize was that it went up about 1000’ so it took us the better part of an hour. We also rode to the Commissary at USAFA with almost the same elevation change over four miles. The girls weren’t happy.
Running/power walking: Since I’ve been afflicted with some sort of injury to my calves since 2001, my running is limited. I occasionally run 20-30 minutes with the dog. Zach and I did a 5K at Elmendorf AFB in AK and we continue to target some trail runs in CA as possible training venues. Otherwise, daily walks with the dog are the normal AM routine.
Hiking: Probably the best family friendly activity. As long as there’s food and some kind of distraction (water, rock formations, etc) the kids are usually all right with it.

An awesome hike was in Bryce Canyon, UT. While only 1.5 miles, it went down 500’ and back. The beauty of the park made the challenging terrain acceptable.
Hill runs: One of the best climbs I’ve done in a while was at PKs on Mercer Island. The road was probably 20% grade for ¼ mile with a staircase that finished at the top of the hill and was about 100’ up. That was until we discovered ”The Incline” in Manitou Springs. Rob Koehler told us about this workout and referred to a NY Times article http: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/sports/olympics/02incline.html that claimed that the Olympic wrestlers at the training center considered it one of their hardest workouts. So, with that kind of reputation I figured that we should give it a try. Zach wasn’t too excited, but like usual, did as he was told. The incline rises 2000’ over the one mile climb or an average grade of 35%. Actually the middle third was closer to 45% and pretty much maxed my heart rate. I did it in just under 32:00 and Zach was a couple minutes behind. I love those high intensity, short workouts. The run back down was great as well. About 3 miles through some beautiful terrain. Reminded me of the run down the Kramer in Garmisch, except there was no sheep poop or the accompanying flies – “they’re kind of nasty, but at least they don’t get up in your Kool-aide” Rudy, June 2003.
So, in addition to swimming or lifting on posts when we stay at military campsites, those are the activities that we use to stay active while traipsing about the country.
Until next time, Go Pack…

Peace ~ Dad

2009-11-29T17:05:00.008-05:00

1st Thanksgiving in the RV!

Hello all and Happy Thanksgiving (a couple days late!) Our 1st Thanksgiving in the RV was not much different than the ones in, well, a house! The boys watched football while the girls watched them throw things at the TV and listened to them yell at the Packers. Nothing new!

I personally could care less about football (unless Jordy Nelson is playing that is) and I also think the Packers are very good! But I’m out ruled on that one so I just keep my mouth shut. I always tell Z-man that they couldn`t do any better when he yells at them and that they are really good and trying their best and all you can do is yell at them! He just looks at me like I have no idea what’s going on. Anyway, you probably don`t want to hear what Z and Dad do to the poor Packers. But I WAS a little disappointed at the beginning of the game when Jords dropped the ball! For no reason at all!! Oh well. They won anyways so what`s the point of screaming at them.

You probably want to hear about the meal, right? Well, hold on, I`m almost done! So, the last thing I want to say is how Z is obsessively…obsessed with football. You probably already know but this is “behind the scenes” with Jordy. Before the game: Z is checking what other people are saying about who`s going to win, and checking scores and whatever else he does to get ready for the game. After the game: Z is checking what people say the Pack could`ve done better, the scores, the interviews. It`s absolutely pathetic!!! Everybody just sits there rolling their eyes at him. Well you`ve probably heard enough so I`ll stop there.

Alright, our RV is built like any other RV. Small. Well smaller than a house that is. With really no counter space at all cooking it tough! Our oven is about 12” X 12” and the stove has three teeny burners. Mom had to cut off a big bone in the center of the turkey for it to fit. Our counter space consists of a cutting board over a sink, and a little extra square counter that flips up and down. It`s a little hard for Mom but she manages. The Kitchen, as some of you might know, is in the same room as: Z-man`s bed, Toley, Kik and my bed, the TV room, and the Dining room. So when Mom cooked dinner the window`s were all fogged up and it`s practically a sauna up on the overhang! You can`t go up there without getting sweaty! That`s why Toley and I are usually stuck up there.

Also are table is pretty small, so when we`re eating, Toley, Kik and I are on one bench, Mommy and Daddy are on another bench, and the BFG (since he has too big of feet! Heehee) is at the end of the table on a fold up chair. But since it was a special event, we figured out a way to fix that up. First, since the table is directly perpendicular with the couch, we got an extra table from the storage underneath, put one leg down, and put it right next to the table and the other side we kept the leg up and put a lap desk and a couple books under it to make it even. Then we spread a tablecloth over the whole thing and voila you have a…10ft. long table! (Not really 10ft. but you know) So Toley and I sat on one bench, Kik and Daddy sat on the other, and Z and Mommy sat on fold up chairs on either sides of the add on table. It was really good, but I`ll admit we all ate too much! But that’s what you do on thanksgiving isin`t it? That and thank God for all the good food and family fun!

Peace,
Pooh

Bryce, Zion and The Hoover Dam

2009-11-27T13:31:00.010-05:00

After we left Colorado, we headed through the not-so-beautiful plains of Utah. We planned on going to Bryce Canyon, Zion and The Grand Canyon. After some research we found out the part of Grand Canyon we were going to see was on an Indian Reservation. It was extremely pricey, so we scratched that idea. But we continued to Bryce Canyon, which turned out well worth the trip. (The collage is of Bryce)

Bryce Canyon is orangey rock, like the Grand Canyon except it was carved by weather (wind etc…) instead of by water. We took a great family hike down to the bottom and got some great snap-shots. We split ways at the bottom and the BFG and Dad took a longer hike while the four of us headed back. It was beautiful and we liked climbing in and around the rocks.

Zion is very different from Bryce so it is hard to compare the two. While Bryce is rocky and dry, Zion is very green and…watery. I think I like Bryce better, but loved them both. We took another family hike to “The Emerald Pools” which turned out pretty but not quite worthy of the word Emerald!
It was warm in the sun and there were lots of Cactus around the trail. We enjoyed romping around and exploring the “pools.” Once again the boys went on, while we headed back. They took a different trail to “Angel’s Landing” Mommy went back and forth about going, and was glad she didn’t after the boys related the story.
To get there, it is a steep hill with chains to hold onto so you don’t fall. Daddy wouldn’t even let Z go all the way up because it was too steep; Dad even said, “I’m surprised more people haven’t died.” Yikes!

It was pretty though and we had a great time and have enjoyed lots of National Parks. After Zion we went to an Air Force Base outside Las Vegas, which was less then desirable. Las Vegas isn’t my favorite place to be, too dry anyway.
While there we decided to take a trip to the Hoover Dam, which was neat to see, but not too much of an eye opening experience. We took a walk over to Dam and looked around; it was pretty amazing what they had done. Afterwards we headed to Lake Mead, the lake made by the Hoover Dam. We played around in the water a bit. It was pretty warm, although that’s not saying much since I’m used to Lake Superior, but it was fun.
We left Vegas on a Sunday afternoon for California. There was lots of traffic; we guessed everyone was going home from Vacation in Las Vegas.
We finally made it though and settled into a nice campground.

~Toley~

More Dear Friends

2009-11-23T22:19:00.018-05:00

Hi all!

Happy Thanksgiving. We will be spending Thanksgiving somewhere in CA, not sure where, but it will be interesting to cook a turkey in a teeny tiny oven, that is for sure!

This letter is kind of a sequel to the other "Friends" letter I wrote.

After we left Utah, we headed to CO to visit a bunch more people. We decided that we should hit the mountains before the snow fell and we were glad we did. We had such a great time.

Our first stop was to see my cousin Diane and her family. Diane and I are the oldest (me) and youngest (her) girls on my dad's side of the family. There are three boys in between us and since there is such a big age difference, we never really got to spend a whole lot of time with just us, so this was a real treat for me. She and her husband Kenne were more than wonderful as we settled into their neighborhood, ate some awesome spaghetti and meatballs and played with their adorable kids - three boys no less! We had some late night chats and good food. Not to mention that fact that Diane's dad was there, my uncle whom I don't see that often and my other cousin Karl. All are now living in CO and it was great to be able to see them and chat a while. I found out that Karl, like me, is into healthy eating. As we were heavy into one of our food discussions, Diane walked by, heard what we were saying and said, "Oh this is great! Karl finally has someone to listen to him talk about all his organic food issues!" HA! It was funny because I am sure my family feels the same way about me :)

Anyway, our girls had a great time playing with the boys and little baby Nico (who was only 7 weeks!!) was more than adorable, as you can see!!! Gotta love babies!!!

Totally adorable Nico at about 7 weeks!

Next we drove down to the Air Force Academy where Zman took a tour, we got settled and ready for the next big day - Army/Air force football. Unfortunately, Army stunk! UGH! but, the game and tailgate were fun. Dad's friend Jon AKA "Homer" came down for the game, so it was nice to hang around with him for a while.

Jon, Isaac, Todd and Zach enjoying the first half of the Army/Air force game. That was the only enjoyable half. Isaac was fascinated to learn that Jon was once a member of the Army parachute team. After the guys jumped, he couldn't ask enough questions, so I, being the great mom, sent him to sit next to Jon and ask HIM a hundred questions. He has young kids, so he was a good sport about it all.

Next was a nice long stay at the Koehlers. Rob and Chris have been long time friends. We met while we were all in grad school at IU in Indiana. Our two oldest boys are the same age and they were best of friends for many years. We hadn't seen them in almost 9 years and WOW, have things changed. All our boys are now taller than the parents - by far!

Rob and Chris were just great and it was so nice to talk with them, hang out and just see how life is going in CO. Chris and I were very close and it was just awesome to see her again after all these years. Rob too was great. He got us tickets to the game, busted on Zman, totally hung out with Kik and let us borrow the car. What a treat! They are just a great family and it was fun to see how grown up their boys are. They are super kids and I wish we had more time to be with them.

Funny Kik line: Rob had been totally hanging out with Kik all day and was just super with him. Kik loves people who give him their undivided attention and answer his incessant questions. At dinner that night Rob had changed and Kik said to me - "Mommy, where is that fun guy in the blue shirt?" HA! "right next to you sweety!" Too cute!

Kevin, Alex, Nicole, Jordan and Zach all snuggled around a very asleep Isaac. I kept forgetting to take pictures, so I made all the big kids, after a super fun game of "Catch Phrase" go in and get around Isaac for a group shot.

I am sure you are wondering how Kik got to sit in a real firetruck! Well, Rob and Chris's smoke detectors are wired directly to the fire department. And, being my mothers daughter, I am not a very neat cook. I let one of my meals over flow in the oven and when we opened it up the room was filled with smoke! We tried in vain to get it to blow out the door, but sure enough, the smoke detector started screaming. Chris called, but they were already on their way. En route they were finally gotten a hold of, but they came anyway. Kik was thrilled and I was embarrassed! Chris tried to make me feel better by letting me know it wasn't the first time and surely wouldn't be the last!

Next was a quick little dinner with a great friend of mines daughter Heather. Heather is a great gal and is on her way to be a missionary in a place FAR away! She came to our RV and had a spaghetti dinner with us and it was so nice to chat with her about her future and what has been going on in her life. She is totally sweet and a breath of fresh air! I failed to take a picture with her, which makes me crazy! Maybe I can dig one up from long ago :)

OK, only a few more to go! We drove up to Boulder to visit another roommate of Dad's - Steve AKA "Gumby" Don't ask me about the nicknames? I don't get it! Steve and his wife Jennifer were fun to hang out with. They too live in a nice neighborhood and our eye sore of an RV stained that landscape for a long weekend! We got snowed in and had to stay an extra day or so. It was fun. They have three children and all the kids hit it off doing this and that. One liked to sit on the couch all day and watch football like Zman and the other two liked hanging with the girls playing around, having a snowball fight and playing flashlight tag. Steve and Jennifer were more than gracious and we had a nice time while in Boulder. Jennifer took me on a tour of Celestial Seasonings and Steve and dad hung out remembering old times. The funniest part was when Steve asked us over and over........how long are you going to be doing this?? how long??? How long??? HA!!

Last, but not definitely not least was our trip to Frisco to see an old friend of mine, Kathy. Our mothers met before we were born, so we have grown up together. We live totally different lives, but still seem to have a lot in common. I didn't get as much time with her as I would have liked, but between hitting the road and her working, that is the way it went. We did get to have lunch and go for a walk around Frisco and it was great. We had a nice talk and good food and I hope to see her again soon - sooner than last time!

Once again, God has blessed us with such wonderful friends and family. People are always so willing to open their doors to us and let us stay, feed us and give us a much needed relief of just stability, even if for only a day or two. We love you all so much and had a super time! Thank you!!!

XO Mom

The Springs

2009-11-18T23:04:00.017-05:00

Since our last post in Wyoming we headed down into Colorado. We stopped in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy. The first evening there, the rest of the family went on a bike ride to the BX/Commissary while I stayed home. This turned out to be a pretty good idea, because the first thing I heard when the girls got home was what a HUGE hill they had to climb and how Dad is soooo mean and how it wasn’t fair that I got to stay home. This put me in a better mood since I was actually kind of bored staying home.

The next day Dad and I took another college tour, this one was at USAFA. The first stop was at the air field where we got to see some gliders from the Soaring program. These were pretty cool. They get towed into the air and then released and are able to glide for up to six hours! The next thing we saw was a training room for the Jump program. The room had all sorts of equipment to prepare for jumping out of planes. They also had a wall with pictures of situations that most jumpers would not prefer to run into. Looking at these kind of curbed my interest for free fall but we’ll see. Our last stop was “the Hill”, which is pretty much the entire cadet area. The first thing we saw was the Cadet Chapel. The Chapel is the largest tourist attraction in the state of Colorado! It was pretty sweet. It had Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Buddhist churches/temples. After that, we took the normal college tour: classrooms, student area, library and dorm rooms. I must say that the dorm rooms were probably the nicest dorms I had seen to date. So, overall the biggest thing I learned was that the Air Force has it easy! No offense to all you USAFA grads. After the tour I went to meet Dad (who had ditched me after the Air Field) and Mom at the gym to watch some Army vs. Air Force boxing. Unfortunately Army failed to represent, but it was still fun; and I enjoyed listening to dad reminisce about his boxing career as a cadet.

The next day we woke up and got ready to tailgate for the Army vs. Air Force football game. This led us to realize that we had virtually no Army gear. So Mom, Toley and I headed to Fort Carson for some last minute shopping. During that time Dad moved the RV to the field to get a good spot for tailgating. By the time we got there the place was packed! It took us about 15 minutes to drive the 50 yards to the spot. Our tailgate party wasn’t the grandest ever, but it was fun. Dad’s old roomy, Homer came to hang out as well. He actually came up with the clever idea of doing some cut and paste with the GO AIR FORCE BEAT ARMY signs to read GO ARMY BEAT AIR FORCE. So what if they were blue and white! The game itself was a bit of a disappointment, although not altogether unexpected. The Black Knights started off well and kept it close the first two quarters and then they fell flat on their faces, losing 35-7. Oh well.

We spent the next few days with old time friends. We hadn’t seen them in nine years after we met them back in Indiana. So it was really cool to see them. Mom is going to write another friends blog, so I will stop there. We also got to go to “Focus on the Family,” where we took a tour of the place and got to go to Whit’s End and have a Wodfamchocsod!

Then on Wednesday Dad decided to take me to run “the Incline” after our friend Rob, who is the assistant coach of the USAFA lacrosse team, told us he was taking the team. Now, the Incline is a mile long stair, which at the base is already 6,500 ft and rises to 8500’! This altitude makes it a little tougher to climb and the fact that the stairs aren’t much of a staircase at all doesn’t help. It’s really a mile of railroad ties from an old tram that gave rides to Pike’s Peak. So, since I never really have much of a say in these things, off we went. It ended up not being that bad, my dad did it in 31:45 minutes and I did it in 34:50…………I am trying to think of a good excuse for being slower than my old man, but I can’t come up with anything good. After that we ran the three miles back down. Nothing like another character building experience.

Sincerely,

ZMan

Hiking the "Little Hill" in WY

2009-11-12T17:43:00.005-05:00

Hi! I`m finally writing again. It always takes a while for me to write, I can never get motivated. Well anyways….. after - Utah I think it was, we went to Wyoming, where we stopped at a campsite in Rawlins; which is really quite hard to say when it`s 1st told to you! Just as we got there, our Father (who cannot sit still for one second) decided we should go on a hike. While Toley and I tried to get out of it by saying we would help Mommy cook dinner, Kik was in the RV basement getting his camelback ready. If Kik`s going to go (Daddy says) then you can go. So after some moaning and groaning from the big kids, we finally set off. Some of you may know this, but Wyoming is SO windy! Probably most of you know too, it`s even windier on a mountain. So up we go on this “little hill”, as Dad calls it, to a large cross at the top. We took Konig along too. As we first started walking, Konig started sniffing something. Toley and I went to look and it turned out to be 3 deer legs, but no Deer-YUCK! It was really gross so I won`t go into details. After we finished gagging, we kept going. It was very comforting to know a story Mom once told us when she and Daddy drove to Alaska over 17 years ago. After they crossed into Alberta, Canada, Daddy (as you all know) had to go hiking. As he climbed the hill, he was stopped by a rattlesnake and did not go any further. Since Alberta, in my opinion, is directly north of Wyoming and rattlesnakes may be hanging out on that “little hill” in Rawlins, I was concerned. But after a little reassurance from Dad that there were NO rattlers on that “little hill” I was fine. Also, Wyoming is very dry so there`s a lot of cactus growing on the ground (and little hills). We hiked and hiked and picked cactus out of our socks and hiked some more. After about 45 min we finally reached the top. There was a cute little wooden cross up there (which wasn`t so little cause it was taller than Z-man) but it was cool. There were a lot of crosses at the top of mountains in Garmisch and I never got to get to the top to see one. So that was pretty neat for me. After a couple pictures and videos, along with my expertise in “Flipping,” (Kik word) we headed back. It was so windy and cold too! When we got back, we were cold, tired, and full of cactuses, but mom had a nice warm dinner waiting for us all to enjoy! All in all it was a great hike!:)

~Pooh

By the numbers II...

2009-11-09T18:29:00.006-05:00

1 Nov 2009 (Sunday)

Days on the road since Z-man and Dad left Mqt: 81

Miles driven: 11,875
Gallons of gas: 1,311 (9.06 MPG)
Campsites: 33
US States: 21 (MI, WI, IL, IN, OH, WV, VA, MD, DE, NJ, PA, NY, MN, ND, MT, AK, WA, OR, ID, UT, WY, CO)
Canadian Provinces: 4 (OR, AL, BC, YT)
Cars seen during one three hour stretch (0630-0930) driving in the Yukon Territory: 3
Cars seen during one three minute stretch on US 5 in Seattle: 300
Crappers replaced: one
Days since broken shower identified: 68
Number of RV dealers visited who have proven unable to fix/replace the shower: 3
Old friends (or, rather, long time friends) seen: 7
Longest time since last seen friend/relative: 19+ years (Steph)
Colleges visited: 5 (IU, WVU, Penn State, UAF, BYU)
Packer losses to the most hated rival: 2
Number of times that Brett performed better in a Viking uniform than he had in 16 years in Green and Gold: 2

Peace...

Dad

Friendship

2009-11-02T17:44:00.018-05:00

UTAH

We were going to save this blog about friends for another time, but we have seen so many friends and have many more to see, that we thought we would split them up.

When we started this trip we made lists of places we wanted to see. The sights that we have seen so far have been beautiful and I wouldn’t trade them in for anything, but something changed when we visited our friends in WA. Now that we have seen many different families that we know, it has actually become the highlight of our journey. We are still seeing the beautiful sights of N. America, but the people we see mean so much more to us. The times we have spent with them, even though short, have been the best part of our trip.

Our first stop, as my husband alluded to in one of his blogs, was to see our friends Jim and Pam and their son Josh (they have a daughter Mele in the Army whom we will visit early next year). They welcomed us into their home, fed us, let us do laundry, and were just great friends all around. We were neighbors when we lived in WA 10 years ago and it felt like we never left. Pam is an unbelievable cook and I always enjoy watching her in the kitchen and eating ANYTHING she is cooking! Not to mention the great chats. Jim even worked out a way for Dad and Z to tour the Seattle Seahawks practice field and training center. That was the best thing ever, according to Z!

Next we went to see Dad’s old roommate from West Point -- Paul and his wife Kristie, along with Jackson and Hannah -- their sweet kids. They, too, welcomed us into their home and survived the loud noises of 4 additional kids in their house and a large dog taking over their backyard. We had a great time with them: talking, hiking and having an adult night out to dinner! What a treat. I even got to cook in their BIG kitchen, which is a great thing for me!!! Their hospitality was awesome and as we drove south to Portland we realized how much we would miss them as well as Jim and Pam.

In amongst the WA visit, one of my closest friends Debbie and her husband Bill flew out to Seattle for a wedding. It was so funny to see her there in the middle of our visit. We are both from NJ and grew up together and to see each other outside of our hometown was a bit strange. We only had a few short hours together, but it was great to see her and Bill. We talked like old times, but every time she leaves or I leave -- which is usually the case-- I find myself wishing that we lived closer. We couldn’t be more different in many ways, but we have a history and an understanding that you don’t often find. Great to see you, Deb!! Not to mention the fact that they are baby-sitting our cat! He loves it there and it will be hard for everyone to drag him away! But I am sure the mice, birds and rabbits will be happy to see him go. Not to mention the neighbors :)

Next on the list was a trip to Oregon to visit Dad’s cousin Stephanie and her family. She has teenagers, so you know how busy they can be. We spent most of the time chatting with Steph. She was a great hostess and cooked us all a yummy dinner and dessert. Steph is an author and she and her husband, Tim, have lived in almost as many different places that we have -although the places they have been are cooler! It was great to chat with her about her writing, her travels and her family. The last time we all saw each other was right after we got married! Time sure does fly.

This picture I took of the cousins isn't great, but that is what
you get when you use a cell phone!

Last, but not least we drove to Utah to visit friends that we had met in Germany. Dave and Judy were more than friendly and our time there was both a learning time and a fun time. All three of the big kids hung out with their kids. Best of all was our own private tour of Salt Lake City with Dave as our tour guide. My husband really enjoyed working with Dave and had described him as tremendously knowledgeable in many areas, level headed and quite humorous. His wit and the fact that he is a lawyer who analyzes things with a lawyers mind was what Dad found interesting and enjoyable. Dave and Judy and family are Mormons. Although I have read and heard a lot about their religion, it was fascinating for me to hear about their tumultuous history and why they believe what they believe. Salt Lake City is the most amazing place to hear and see the Mormon history. Although we might disagree on some levels in our faith, it was a good time to gain some knowledge and understanding of the Mormon religion. The way they honor the family is a lesson that all of us could learn from. The kids fell right back into chatting and hanging out with each other and I know that they wished to stay longer. The food and fellowship were great and we so appreciate all their hospitality.

Crazy dress up time! YIKES

Jim, whom I mentioned at the top of this blog, is actually Pastor Jim and I remember a sermon he preached 11 years ago on how much we love and enjoy looking at beautiful Mount Rainier and scenery in general. We ooh and aahh at the landscape. We anticipate those clouds moving each day in order to get a glimpse of the awesome mountain. But he reminded us that there are beautiful people all around us, sitting right next to us that should be looked at with love, admired and oohed and aahhhed at as well. He is so right. It is the people that you meet along the way that make life so much better.

Thank you friends. You all went out of your way to make our stay with you a special memory that will stay in our hearts forever.

Blessings, Mom

Birthday time!

2009-10-24T10:53:00.017-04:00

Hi all,

October is a big month in our house as well as our extended family. We have two children, two nephews, one niece and one aunt that have October birthdays. Not to mention many friends! And both mom's brothers have anniversary's that month as well! It is BUSY! but loads of fun.

This year the kids didn't have any big time celebrations with friends. We had to make due with what we could as a family, which is kinda nice. Baking cakes in our tiny oven, decorating with birthday banners and finding a place to keep secret gifts was a bit difficult, but we managed. Not to mention having a place for the uneaten cake! Counter space is lacking.

Toley's birthday came first. For her birthday we had a big breakfast, opened gifts and we went to see "UP". Good thing about being near a military post, they are always showing movies way past their prime! HA! so, we got a chance to see a fun movie that we missed when it came out (save for Z man who went with his friends). And the fact that we got to ride our bikes there made dad happy :) After that it was dinner of her choice. That is always a challenge for Toley because she likes so many things. She chose spaghetti and meatballs. YUM!

The next birthday was Z-mans who I am now going to call the BFG (big footed galoot!). The BFG is also a book by Roald Dahl. He is one of Toley's favorite authors and the BFG is one my favorite books. BFG in this case stands for Big Friendly Giant. He is way funny and one of my favorite lines is when he says, "Am I right or am I left?" HA!........anyway just go and read the book!

OK, back to BFG. He had a less eventful birthday. What can you do to entertain a teenager in a 31 foot RV? Pretty tough. But he got his big prized gift - the extended versions of Lord of the Rings - from mom's parents. So we spent most of the afternoon watching how they made costumes, created sets and thought up ideas. It was actually really amazing how it was all done; what was fake and what was real. For dinner we had BFG's favorite meal - pizza! His day was continued into Sunday as he donned his new Packer jersey from dad's mom and watched the Packers win! It was a good weekend for him.

You know what you get when you mix three big goofballs with one rainy day and an "I'm bored" attitude? WRESTLERS! That is how we spend a lot of our time, wrestling in this tiny space. It is a bit frightening, as you can see by Pooh's face! And I am sure BFG is going to love seeing this picture of him in his sisters hat posted for the world! Sorry BFG!

Anyway, the day was fun. BFG is getting closer and closer to the ceiling and closer and closer to flying the coop! That is both a happy and sad thought for me. But that is life!

Our last fun item is a "flip" that Pooh made of BFG talking like Gollum. For those of you that might not know, Gollum is the little creature that follows Frodo all over the place in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It is a bit scary, but a pretty good impression if I do say so myself.

Enjoy the day

mom

Comments

2009-10-23T12:31:00.002-04:00

Another dull post from Dad w/o Sue's exciting editing.

I just wanted to thank you all for your comments. We don't always respond to them, but we do read and appreciate them all.

Now, we realize that it is not easy to post comments. For whatever reason, this site seems to make it quite difficult. I believe they try to protect each site from "spam" and those who leave random comments. We have had a couple instances of comments unrelated to the site.

The easiest way to post comments is to click on the "comments" link at the end of the post and write your comment in the space provided. Then, using the drop down box, click on Anonymous. If you have a website that you want to reference, you could use that as well, but Anonymous is the easiest (Mom). Once you do that, click on the Preview button. That will bring up the comment as well as a window of blurry letters that you have to type to validate the comment. Once you type in those letters, you can click "Post Comment."

Another way you can comment is to become a "Follower" of the site (See Handyman, Lanny, Ray, etc). Their posts seem to get uploaded.

Sorry to those who've unsuccessfully attempted to comment. Hope this clears it up.

Peace,

Dad

Mount St. Helens

2009-10-21T13:14:00.009-04:00

Hi I’m Kik, I am 8 years old and I’m writing about Mt. St. Hiwens. First we packed all our stuff and got into the rental car (the car we’re borrowing, Kik loves rental cars!). We took a long drive and I played with my CD player. When we got there we went to a fun place called the visitors center. We saw a sign: No Pets, No Water, and No Food. We went to play with fun stuff, you could go under a pretend Mt. St. Helens and they had pretend lava. Then we got to go to a movie. We got to sit in the way front.

The movie had a earfquake, real. It had a volcano too, there was tons of smoke. We got in the car again and went to another visitor’s center, it wasn't open, but we got to go play at a park. We played cruise ship and got to go down a slide on pretend rock. It was really foggy and you couldn’t see anything. If you look out toward Mt. St. Helens it looked like the end of the earth! While my big brother and sisters took funny pictures, like the one of Toley on the mountain, Mommy, Daddy and I got to go on a little hike through the woods.
We had a fun day.
~KIK

Favorite day reprint

2009-10-20T23:20:00.005-04:00

I posted this blog once before, but there were some issues with the pictures I had on there. They have been edited and I printed this again. Unfortunately, it only posts as you write, so I can't go back and post it where it was originally. So, if you have read it before, skip it!

********************************************************************************

I had a favorite day a few weeks ago that I have been wanting to write about, but the grumbling got in the way :) We aren't quite past the grumbling, but getting better. Lots of warm sunshine does wonders.

Anyway, it was Sunday and we had just gotten home from riding our bikes to the post chapel for Sunday service. The weather was overcast and about an hour after we got home it started to rain. It was a definite day for indoors. Problem being is that our indoors is pretty tight and we relish the chance to be out.

We did make the best of it though. It happened to be my day to bake bread. This is a relaxing time for me. As many of you know, we grind our own grain and I make my own bread. Well, in all fairness Dad and Z-man grind grain since we have a hand grinder. We brought it with us, along with a 50lb tub of wheat berries to grind. We clamp the grinder to the picnic table (thanks Jen! those clamps work great!!!) and grind away. The boys usually do enough for bread - 8 cups - and another 5-8 for the freezer to use to make cookies, cakes or whatever.

While I was doing that, the family was watching a movie. The week before we were in the same sort of predicament. School was done, rain was everywhere and we thought we would watch something. We couldn't find a thing. You know how it is, you go through the 100+ movies that you have and there isn't anything! It is kind of like when you go through your closets or the pantry and nothing jumps out at you. So.....later that week, my dear husband and I biked to the store to look for movies that were cheap that the whole family could watch. Just something new to see.

That is harder than it sounds. We had a lot of trouble. I did find Sense and Sensibility for $5, so that was cool, but not everyone agreed :) and then I discovered the "musicals" section. I grew up in NJ and my mom took us to musicals all my life. I love them. They are so fun and I always came out all happy inside, singing and dancing albeit poorly!! So I went through some of the musicals, but they were picked through and I couldn't find anything that interested me. Then I spotted Fiddler on the Roof. I don't think I have ever seen this before. Although I did sing it in 8th grade chorus!

So, to make a long story even longer.... we proceeded to watch Fiddler on the Roof - 3 hours I might add - while I baked bread. It was a great day. It was super to have the whole family under one roof enjoying something together, even if it was on the TV!

EVERYONE liked the movie! Rare treat! Even Kik likes to watch the man sing. The man who wrote it is from Ukraine, so we reminded Kik that one of "his people" wrote it. That is a direct quote from him "his people". Too funny! Anyway, it was warm and dry inside and the bread rose just like it was suppose to. The recipe I have makes three medium size loaves, so as soon as they were done we all got a taste of warm buttery bread! What a treat. Not to mention the fact that Fiddler on the Roof is now one of our family favorites. Everyone is happy because, before that, I was totally hooked on Pride and Prejudice. Pooh is my pal on that one as we both really like it and vote on putting that one in all the time. We are usually overruled.

Just another day in the life.................a most enjoyable day!!

XO Mom

Leavenworth

2009-10-20T18:40:00.008-04:00

Wie Gehts! Finally, I’m in the mood for writing, sorry it took me so long. I have just finished making myself some homemade Spaetzle with leftover German gravy. Along with a glass of apple cider, I am ready to go.
I remembered looking at a Family Fun magazine while Kik was at a doctor’s appointment. I read about a place in Washington called Leavenworth, it was a replica of a little Deutsch town. I had forgotten what it was called and so I googled a little German town in Washington. I quickly found it and showed the family and we decided to take the trip one day.
We loaded into a van we were borrowing from friends, and headed through the rolling hills to Leavenworth. We drove past the Wilkommen sign to the town, the houses looked very German. After parking across from a Starbucks (I guess they couldn’t go that far) we took a stroll through Leavenworth.
They had lots of different shops, hotels and restaurants, they even had a maypole. Some of the shops just looked and were in fact very American (like starbucks!) but some were wonderfully done. They had a hat shop, wood shops, chocolate shops, a fudge factory, Nusscracker shop, a Russian shop, an Australian shop and even a huge store called Kris Kringl “where it’s Christmas all year long.” We didn’t even cover all of the shops, in the hours we stayed.
They also have Oktoberfest, although we weren’t there on the right day. I was disappointed that no one spoke German and I couldn’t use my leftover Euros while Z-man was disappointed about how expensive Schnitzel was. He ended up buying a pretzel while J-Pooh, Kik and I had some “Eis” (Ice Cream.) It was tasty, although not as good as I’ve had it. Altogether we had a great time and it brought back great memories. I myself prefer to think of myself as German, since I really don’t have a home town.
Auf Wiedersehn!
Alles Liebe Von
Toley

He provides...

2009-10-17T19:43:00.007-04:00

In light of a seemingly disproportionate number of negative blogs that I’ve written, I have decided that I need to write on the positive aspect of enjoying God’s provision. To quote Paul, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4: 11-13)
When we arrived in Seattle, we had to decide how to visit the many friends that we have in the area. The first was our former Pastor and family in Bellevue – Pastor Jim and Pam Rehder. The Rehders introduced themselves to us when we arrived in Puyallup in 1998 within about 5 minutes of our pulling into the driveway after having driven across country from West Point. We ended up attending the Lutheran Church where Pastor Jim led the congregation. Anyway, when we got to Seattle they welcomed us with open arms and offered for us to take their van to use the entire duration that we’re here in the area. We eagerly took them up on their offer and used the van to go to Leavenworth, WA – a neat little “Bavarian village” in eastern WA that Bird claims she will describe in another blog.

Our second trip in the van was to Pike’s Market in Seattle. Pikes Market is a neat market that covers about three street levels across two or three blocks. Z-man, Kik and I did the Space Needle (above) while Mom and the girls did the market. After an enjoyable afternoon in sunny Seattle, we returned to our vehicle, fresh halibut in hand, to find a mounted officer standing by the van. My first thought was that our parking time limit had expired, but upon reaching the van, discovered that the passenger side window had been smashed and our GPS and Z’s I-pod had been taken along with the 3-way power splitter and the tuner to run the IPod thru the car stereo.

So how does this demonstrate the appreciation that Paul spoke in Philippians? Let me explain. First, the Rehder’s reaction to the fact that their van had a broken window and the cost to get it fixed was exactly what the deductible for their insurance. “Don’t worry about it – it’s about the third time it’s happened to this van.” They truly had compassion for our situation and were not the least bit bothered by the fact that they had to get their van fixed.

Second, how God has provided in our time of “loss.” This is another long story, so bear with me. While driving the Alcan, our bikes took a beating. I love the fact that we can ride our bikes all over the country and most of you know that I kind of like to bike, but the bikes have really been beaten up. One day I needed to true the rear wheel on my road bike. While doing that, the nipple broke thru which means that the whole wheel is shot. A new wheel is pricey – sending it to AK is especially so. When I described my dilemma to Mom’s brother Russ and asked him to check out a new strong wheel for me, he immediately offered to send me a new one that he had and did so immediately. Receiving that new wheel and being able to ride the road bike again was wonderful!

Another bike story…my mountain bike’s shocks have been “shot” since a very wet ride in Hyder, AK. I finally decided to bite the bullet and get the shocks fixed. The bike shop described the process of doing so and estimated two weeks and $250. While I went to pay, the technician started messing with the bike and hung it up by the front wheel whereupon water started coming out of the shocks. By continuing to push on them, they continued to “excrete” water. After putting out about a cup of water, the shocks seemed to work again. Turns out that the water was causing the shocks not to function correctly – money saved $250.Last, but not least, we decided that we needed to replace Z’s Ipod. With the connector that he has, we use it quite extensively to listen to his myriad of tunes thru the RV’s stereo. Z, in particular, was upset about losing his collection that he had painstakingly developed over the last couple of years. Once again, when we told the story to Mom’s other brother, he immediately offered to help pay for another Ipod. Without any prompting, we were again provided for.

So, in light of the frustrating break in of the van, we had enough funds to pay the cost of replacing the stolen items and an example of loving your neighbor. We are continuing to learn to live knowing that He will provide.

Peace...Dad

Liard Hot Springs

2009-10-06T19:38:00.007-04:00

After driving thru most of the Yukon, we left Teslin, YT to head down to Liard river a.k.a hot springs. Dad and Mom went to the exact one 18 years ago. Before Z-man was born! This was a very long time ago.
On the way (Z was driving) we ran into some Bison, not literally, on the side of the road. We were excited and took some pictures of them. We kept on going and saw a couple more. Then we hit the jackpot, a couple miles down the road. There were about 50 in all! Kik wanted to know if they could kill you and Z wanted to know if we could stick the dog out there. We saw a couple calves and some Bulls knockin` heads. Then one started crossing, and we tried to go, but then others followed so we were stuck. Boy they're slow! Some just stepped out into the middle of the road, yadadada and just stand there! “Move it buddy” When we finally got through, we kept on going to our destination.

Liard hot springs is has two sections. The ‘alpha and the beta’ pools. They are out in the middle of the woods, and they STINK of sulfur! Mom and dad didn’t think they smelled that bad, but we kids did. The Beta pool was closed because there were too many bears nearby. Yikes! That was pretty comforting! Z wanted to go see if they were hangin` out in there. NOT! When we got there Mom said “Oh ya, I remember this, it looks pretty much the same” and Dad said what he always says “Really?”

When Kik got in the first thing he said was “Aw man! It stings!” Ha!!! It was just like a hot tub which is one of Kik`s “Fravorite” things ever! After about an hour we started getting a little hot, except for Kik. But, we headed out to the RV anyway, smelling like rotten eggs. Which really….stunk! But the warm hot springs were great, especially on a chilly day.

TTYL!

Pooh

You Know You're In Alaska When

2009-10-06T14:38:00.005-04:00

During our stay in Alaska we came across some funny signs, sights and um...animals. We took a few great pictures and put them in to a collage for all of you.

Enjoy!

monsters in the night.................

2009-10-03T14:09:00.005-04:00

We are enjoying our stay here in Washington. Everything is so green from all the rain, which we are enjoying as well :)

Our dog, Konig, is rather large and takes up A LOT of space in our RV. So, he usually spends most of his days and nights outside when we are camped for a long period of time; which for us is more than one day! We have a great kennel for him and he loves to be outside. He has a long leash and can come and go as he pleases in our camp site.

Things were just as I said the first night we were here at this particular campsite. We were all in bed and Konig was too - outside in his kennel. About 1:30AM he starts to bark. Now this isn’t shocking, especially when we are in a new place. Every new noise seems to stir him and in turn wake me up. I open the window, yell, close the window and go back to sleep – hopefully!

Well, this particular night was no different. I did what I said, but he wouldn’t quit. So I turned on the outside porch light and took a look out the window and there, up a tree was a raccoon! Cute little guy, and BIG, but at least 8 feet up and clinging on for dear life. I brought the dog in and watched through the window as the raccoon climbed down the tree and hightailed it into the woods to join the other one (which I saw from a distance). I tried to get a picture while he was in the tree, but couldn’t get the camera to work in the dark without playing around with it and that took too long.

The following night was quiet and uneventful and I had hoped that the thought of a dog lurking about was enough for the raccoons to stay away, but I was wrong. Last night Konig wanted to sleep inside. So we brought him in and all was well. Not for long……….about 2:30 I hear this shaking sound. It reminded me of someone shaking a box of cereal or a puzzle box. I couldn’t quite place it in my sleeping stupor, so I listened for a while as I woke up. I have always been a light sleeper and wake up to just about anything. I suppose that is why all our children didn’t sleep through the night until they were, well, OLD! I would hear them cry and in I would run. I totally failed baby sleeping 101 that is for sure!

Anyway, as I am listening to this shaking noise I start to think that someone is in our compartments underneath the RV. We have ample storage and it is located directly under our bed. I go into the main room and turn on the flood lights that light up the back of the RV, thinking that if it was a person they would run off. I go back into our room and look out the window and what do I see…. a raccoon with Konig's dog food container! YES! He was dragging it into the woods and that was the shaking sound. It is quite a large container, holding about a weeks worth of dog food (4 cups a day – you do the math, I don’t want to) . It was amazing and he was going pretty fast. Little monster!!! So, being the good wife that I am, I woke up my husband. I asked him if he was willing to go outside in the cold and get the dog food back. He is a good sport and hightailed it out there with a marshmallow poker stake and a running sneaker as his weapons of choice.

The rest was uneventful. As soon as the raccoon saw him he scurried away and my brave husband grabbed the dog food and put it in the RV. I still can’t get over how bold they are. I have read and heard about them, but to see what they can do – wow!

I hope that this is our last raccoon tale, but I have a sneaking suspicion it is not!

See ya
Mom

Grumbling on the road...with Dad

2009-09-25T14:36:00.010-04:00

All right, so I don't grumble...call these observations.

1. Driving the Alcan (now called the Alaska Hwy) is rough in a car – those of you who’ve done it can attest to that (PK, Bruce, Jack, Joe & Jen, Lanny – in a ’53 Jeep Willie, no less). In an RV it’s like running in low-quarters (or wing-tips for you non-military types) or high heels for the ladies. You know how new running shoes feel like you're running on pillows? Well, this is the opposite...every bump is magnified and the little swales that make for a somewhat pleasant roller-coaster feel in a car cause the shocks to bottom out and feel like the entire undercarriage is going to scrape on the road. And when the swale runs at an angle across the road it causes the four wheels to cross it separately creating a major contortion as the vehicle twists in opposite directions. Plus you get to slam on the brakes frequently prior to hitting a rough spot which reduces your speed and causes the entire RV to crash around you – wonderful for the gas mileage, not to mention a few broken dishes.
2. We are extremely fortunate to live in the US for a number of reasons. For example, the average price for gas in Canada is about $1.30/liter. Now that doesn’t sound too bad, except that there are 3.8L/gallon so you’re actually paying $4.94/gal. We actually paid upwards of $2.00/l in northern British Columbia. Dave, to answer your question that works out to $.85/mile. We had intended to enjoy a leisurely drive across Canada enroute to Alaska and back to WA, but it became a dawn to dusk forced march in order to get back to the good ole USA as quickly as possible. Secondly, phone/internet charges. Being savvy AT&T users, we got the Canada plan which brought the rates down from $.79/min to $.59/min. Those charges start as soon as you initiate the call. They also start as soon as your phone starts ringing on an incoming call. So for dear Mom’s normal hour+ calls to her mom, we only had to pay $35 (saved $12 using the plan!!). Better yet, the internet plan reduced the charges from $10/MB to a meager $1.25/MB. Every time you go to a different page on a website, it takes about 1 MB. So, for a typical period of surfing the internet, the 10 minutes required a download of 15-20 MB runs about $20-25. Like I said, be thankful we’re Americans (and not only for the lower cost of living)!

3. The dream of carelessly cruising around North America without a care in the world isn’t quite accurate. The house back in MI is still there (in the 3 weeks they’ve been in the house, the renters have complained about a broken shower, faulty electrical outlets, screens that don’t slide and brown water – Tim, you want to buy that house back?). The normal mechanical issues associated with driving a combustion engine vehicle are magnified when you put a house on the back of it. Daily monitoring and adjusting fluid levels, tire pressure, air shock dampener, loosening plumbing fixtures, doors and drawers that get loose and don’t work and heating duct work (remember it was 20 degrees this morning). Finally, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up – the pension is great, but after living on a pretty good salary, trying to do the same thing on 50% of that salary is tough – see previous paragraph.

4. Of course, given the alternative, this ain't all bad. Life on the road is pretty cool. You get to see a lot of beautiful scenery, get to watch the kids appreciate the beauty and majesty of God’s creation and you get to share it all with the people you love the most. We get to spend a lot of time together (well, sometimes this isn’t a positive, but 99% of the time it is). As I write, the sun is coming up over the mountains in the Yukon Territory. It’s neat to be able to experience Whitehorse, YT, but the sun coming up over snow-capped mountains on a crystal clear day when the temp is about 25 is a phenomenal experience that our family will treasure for a lifetime. Well, my dear wife and I will, the others are still in the rack!!

Dad

Toley vs. The Bike

2009-09-24T21:52:00.005-04:00

Experiences with the bike are … well let’s just say, biking isn’t my favorite. I don’t mind taking a nice little stroll through the woods on a nice warm day. But we tend to fly by on the side of the road in freezing weather for miles. Z-man says I’m wimpy and just to wait a couple years till he goes to college and then I’ll build some real character, so I’m not looking forward to that day very much.

While we were in Mqt. I got lost in the small little campsite and the other day my bike fell on me while I was petting the dog. Then two days ago we were biking home from the pool and I ran into a stop sign. Thankfully a bruised knee was all I suffered. Although, one time while biking home from the PX we saw meese while biking on a bridge (One goose; two geese-One, Moose; two meese). There was a Mama and baby and we got some good snapshots of them both. They crossed right in front of the bike path. Mom made us back up because Mama moose can charge when their babies are around. All went well though and we were really excited from seeing wild meese.

I guess maybe something good can come out of biking, occasionally

~*~Toley~*~

Grumblers afoot!

2009-09-21T17:59:00.009-04:00

I have come to realize that most of the stuff I want to write about is either already written about by the kids or has to do with non RV type things, so I guess you could put this in the latter category. My husband has asked me to put in pictures because all good blogs have pictures, but I really don't have one for this, so you are going to have to deal with a picturless entry and a heavy one too.

I have been observing my family these last few weeks and I notice A LOT of grumbling going on, myself included. You know what I mean, moaning, groaning, complaining - LOUDLY. But, there IS a lot to grumble about! HAHA! There is so much change in our daily life, not to mention the crowded quarters and the fact that there are almost 3 (nearly 17, nearly 15 and 12 1/2 ) teenagers living under one roof!

But I don't like it. I don't like it when I hear myself talking that way, but even worse is hearing the kids talk that way. Truth be told, I am kinda a grumbler by nature. I am not necessarily unhappy, I just like the world to know things aren't perfect. :) Yes, a big flaw on my part. But to watch your kids "catch" what you have is , well, pretty ugly! You know they didn't learn that on their own, they had to get it from somewhere and this is one of the things I can't blame on my husband. He is not a grumbler at all.

Before we moved from Marquette our Pastor Brian spoke on grumbling during his sermon one Sunday. UGH! That was ugly! I kept shrinking lower and lower in the pew wondering if he was talking directly to me, if the kids saw their mother in his speaking or worse yet if the rest of the congregation knew he was speaking to me. Now in all fairness, I am sure Pastor Brian wasn't speaking directly to me as there are many grumblers in the world, but that particular sermon hit me right in the heart. YES! I am a grumbler!! It was hard to listen to, but worth it. I believe that we all need to hear about our faults every so often; just to keep our pride in check if nothing else. For me it was a painful day!! HA! But also a day of learning.

So, the other morning I was reading Exodus and here is our friend Moses. Man was he a grumbler and not just to anyone, he grumbled right to God. God asked him, came to him in a burning bush, spoke his name and actually had a conversation with Moses and what does Moses do? He complains about being asked to talk to the Israelites! "Oh Lord do I really have to talk to them, I am poor in speech...yada yada yada...." There are other times of grumbling by Moses and is shocks me each time I read about it. I mean it is one thing to grumble to a friend or spouse, but to God! OUT LOUD! Yikes!!

So what does an old man from the Old Testament have to teach us? For me, it is a reminder that God can use even the grumblers to show others His love for them. Maybe not while they are grumbling per say........ It is a comfort to me to see that God puts imperfect people in places of importance throughout the Bible. That he can use anyone, to do His work. PHEW! I thought my list of sins was too long :)

The funny thing is, is that I think that maybe Moses' grumbling was catchy. The Israelites complained constantly throughout their years in the desert. Yes, there were many things to grumble about as they were stuck in a desert for what seemed like forever, but God was there. God saved them from slavery, but they were thirsty! God gave them food, but they wanted more or something different. God constantly showed his love to them yet all they could do was grumble, find something else to worship or yell at Moses. Why the constant grumbling, especially since God was right there, in a cloud, with them always! Can you imagine how awesome that would be? You would think that alone would stop the them from grumbling, but not the Israelites, they just kept at it.

Do you see where I am going with this? God is constantly showing His love to me and my family, yet we still grumble. He has blessed us beyond measure with a great family, a great extended family, wonderful friends and a roof over our heads. Not to mention my husbands pension, food, clothing,and........the list can go on for hours, months, days, even years, but still, I grumble, the kids grumble why? Well, I have all sorts of reasons why, mostly it comes down to the fact that we are human after all. We can't just stop at the snap of a finger and be someone different. But God can help us do that. He has the power and strength to help us to stop a behavior that is undesirable. The question is, will you call on Him to help you?

Love you all,

Mom

Kenai Peninsula

2009-09-18T17:31:00.012-04:00

After Fairbanks we continued on our journey through the Last Frontier down to Seward in the Kenai Peninsula. The town is at the end of a large Fjord, which is a Norwegian word for a U-shaped inlet created by a glacier and filled with water. The story of it was pretty cool. The bay was discovered in the 1700s by Russian explorers who were caught in a storm at sea. After days of being tossed around by waves they landed in a particular bay on what they later remembered to be Easter Sunday, so they called the bay Resurrection Bay.

We arrived Friday afternoon after spending the previous evening back in Anchorage. Upon arrival, Dad, Toley and Pooh biked into town on a recon mission. They brought back all sorts of pamphlets on small marine cruises you could take into the Gulf of Alaska. So Mom and Dad mulled over this while I hooked up our newly acquired TV cable and we entertained ourselves with some non-Andy Griffith TV for the first time in a few months. It was kinda boring actually, although, I must say that ESPN was a welcome sight to the whole family (give or take a few people).

The following morning Dad and I went for our weekly 10-mile hike. The road we took was pretty cool, winding along at the base of one of the surrounding mountains and on the shore of the bay. The weather was miserable but hey, it probably built some character. When we got back we found out that Mom and Dad had decided on going on one of the cruises. This specific tour took us on a five hour ride into the Gulf of Alaska and to Bear Glacier, which is part of the Harding Ice Field of Kenai National Park. We left at noon aboard the Star of the Northwest and headed down the bay. This was no short trip either, Resurrection Bay itself is roughly 10 miles long and that was just the beginning. At the end of the bay we were told that another boat had seen a pod of Orcas out in the water a little while earlier. We spotted the Killer Whales a few minutes later. There were about four whales in all, two males, a female and a baby. They were so cool. Three of them were spotted first surfacing together and then a few minutes later the boat almost ran one over. The whale was literally 10 feet from the boat when we first saw it. We got some great pictures!

We saw all sorts of animals during the rest of the tour. All in all we spotted about five bald eagles, a sea otter, a small lagoon of brightly colored jellyfish!, a couple rocks full of lazy, fat sea lions and hundreds of sea birds!! It was really cool. Another sight I especially liked was a small island with the remains of a WWII lookout post on it. The island was so steep that the only way to get men and supplies to the top was by a cable, which we saw parts of. The glacier was pretty cool too. There were even a few icebergs in a small lake in front of it, some of which got up to 400 feet tall!

The trip back home was Kik’s favorite park. He got to become a Kenai Fjords Junior Park Ranger and took an oath promising to protect the park and pick up “glitter” (litter, for those who don’t speak Kikish). He even got a badge, which totally made his day.

The next day we had our own little Bible study since the only church we could find was two mile s away and it was pouring rain. We spent the day pretty much doing nothing and that night Dad and I suffered through the Green & Gold’s first game. Thankfully they won which made the rest of the evening that much better.

We left the next day and drove to Homer, another town on the Kenai Peninsula, where we spent the next couple of days. The town was right on the water and there were bush planes taking off from the lake across the street from our RV Park. We were able to take a small hike on the beach as well. The mountains around the area were beautiful! Mom and dad really liked this town. They said it had a nice feel to it. They took the girls out biking on the Homer Spit that stretched far out into the Cook Inlet which empties into the Pacific. They were hoping to see some beluga whales (being that the nearby bay is called Beluga Bay), but were unsuccessful. Deep sea fishing seems to be the big thing in Homer. But that was easy to figure out since the welcome sign says “Welcome to Homer, Halibut Fishing Capital of the World”

Well our time in Alaska is starting to wind down. Hope none of you are bored of it yet, there is still more to come.

Z

To the North Pole

2009-09-12T11:21:00.018-04:00

North Pole, AK is an actual town – one we used to live and where Z-man was born so he was, in effect, returning to see “his people.” But before that, a quick recap. After the tour in Denali, Z-man and I did our weekly 10 mile walk to Healy, AK where we attended church at the Morning Star Baptist Church. Nice service and nice people – Pastor Pete introduced himself before leading the singing, delivering the sermon and finally baptizing his daughter. We drove the rest of the way to Fairbanks and on to Eielson where we got a place for a couple of days.

The photo is of the lake that we were on in Eielson and the home of a few beaver. We couldn’t figure out what the loud “kerplunk” that sounded like a large rock being thrown in the lake was, until we figured out that the beavers would slap their tales to scare us when we got too close. Cooler still was the 4 or 5 fallen trees that were obviously cut down by the beaver.

From Eielson I rode to the airport and picked up a rental Ford Explorer. We drove out Chena Hot Springs Road, back thru Fairbanks via Farmer’s Loop Rd but didn’t see anything. Mom and I enjoyed the drive around Fairbanks, but recognized that it had changed significantly in the 15 years since we left here.

The next day Mom took the kids to the Knotty Shop (which is a very cool shop made out of knotty pine. They have all sorts of interesting Alaskan made things – this was written by mom because this story needed a little more than bullet points!!) while I drove to Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. Pioneer Park is a really neat place that replicates Fairbanks in the early 1900s during the gold rush. We met up at Pioneer Park and drove the rental car back to Santa Claus House in North Pole then to our old house on Wanda Dr. The house looked totally different. Z couldn’t remember his room (not sure why since he was almost 18 mos when we left here). More needed by mom here. The house is an A frame and that and the fact that it was still brownish red were the only two things that were recognizable. So much had changed. They closed off the garage, moved the front door and cut down the near acre of woods in the back. The grass was beautiful and reminded me of the 3 square inch of grass that my dear husband tried to grow while we lived there. Anyway, on the more exciting bullet points by Dad……. moved to another RV park near the Chena River that was pretty nice.

Z-man and I hit the DMV so he could get an AK driver’s license which turned out to be a challenge……something about scalping Packer tickets and a mug shot, but it was all unclear. Took quite a while to convince them that he could get one comparable to the one he got in Michigan, but we were successful. After lunch we headed to Pioneer Park which, unfortunately, was closed for the season on Labor Day. Turns out my desire to run the Equinox marathon has messed up our timing in many ways. Anyway, we made the best of it then ran up to Beaver Sports to find out my shocks on my bike are shot (not that it was any news) and will take $125-150 to rebuild. After a yummy dinner of potato soup in sourdough bread bowls, the kids and I went to Freddy’s for ice cream while Mommy toiled at home cleaning the RV in preparation for leaving Fairbanks the following morning.

GO PACK!

Dad

A Walk on the Wild Side

2009-09-09T13:32:00.005-04:00

Denali National Park was the next stop and what a stop it was. We got there Friday and stayed right outside the park.

The next morning, bright and early we biked two miles in 30 degree weather down to the visitor’s center. We had gotten a great deal on shuttle bus tickets.

The ride was eight hours long and went all the way to Mt. McKinley. We learned some interesting facts about Denali too. One of them was Denali is 6,000,000 acres, which is about the same size as Massachusetts, except with a lot more trees. We had a great time and saw lots of wildlife. Soon after we started we saw two Bull Moose, we got some great snapshots. Then we saw caribou and Dall sheep, which are the only white, wild sheep. Later on we saw grizzly bears, in all we saw about six. One of them was by himself about half way up a hill. He started walking closer and closer toward us. We got some good close-ups like the picture in the collage. Soon he came up and went on the road right around the bus. It was really cool!

The views were very pretty too. The hills were strange colors, purplish red, green and mustard yellow. The bushes all around were red; it looked like a fairytale land. All the mountains looked like this except Mt. McKinley which, we found out, is over 20,000 ft. tall! It was covered in snow, which isn’t surprising. We spent half an hour eating, hiking and gaping at the mountain before the four hour trip home.

Afterwards we decided to try Alaskan Pizza, which turned out to be pretty tasty. We had a great day in Denali.
><>Toley<><

Alaska or Bust

2009-09-04T22:01:00.003-04:00

Sorry it took so long to write. Okay let`s see here. After Hyder we headed up through the Yukon Territory and then on the potholed roads to Tok Alaska, (thankfully the R.V. didn’t fall apart while we were driving over them) where we spent the time just hanging out, and getting postcards. Z-man and Daddy had a great time taking pictures of the little store that sold “Reindeer hotdogs” and mommy and daddy at reindeer chili that night, Toley and I were horrified. We finally made it to the post where our campsite was in Anchorage. We stopped at the commissary and BX/PX to get some (a ton) of groceries. Z-man thinks I eat too much. “Hey I`m growing!” When we got to our campsite it was about 1:00pm. We hung out and then went to bed peacefully, not knowing what Dad had planned for us the next day!

The following day, Sunday, we biked to the church on post. It was only about a mile; which was easy compared what we did after that! A couple hours later (after church) we needed some more things. So we all biked to the commissary which was right next to the PX. That took, with Kik, about 15-20 min, with the wind against us. When we finally got there we sat down in the food court to do some computer stuff. Pretty tempting. We ate lunch there. While Z-man stayed with his beloved computer the rest of us went shopping in the PX. When we were getting ready to leave I was in a great panic trying to find my helmet which, of course, was on my head. When we got home Dad decided to do some bike maintenance stuff with us (Our bikes had taken a beating from all the pot holes in Canada). This also included the two girls. “C`mon it`s good for ya!” AHHHH Too many bikes!! Kik enjoyed it though, teaching me how to pump up a tire. A couple days later Toley and I were taking the dog for a walk in the woods right next us, where I stepped on a mushroom that popped and green smoke came out of it. I must say I was a bit frightened, we also found some Meese (Moose) droppings. I think that’s what they were. It was nice staying in one place for more then……a day. Not worrying about packing up all the time. Well I think Toley is going to update next.

Tata for now,

Pooh

By the numbers...

2009-09-01T14:04:00.005-04:00

30 Aug 2009 (Sunday)

Days on the road since Z and Dad left Mqt: 31
Miles driven: 6830
Gallons of gas: 765
Campsites: 12
US States: 15 (MI, WI, IL, IN, OH, WV, VA, DE, NJ, PA, NY, MN, ND, MT, AK)
Canadian Provinces: 4 (OR, AL, BC, YT)
Bald Eagles seen: 4
Bears seen: 3
Moose seen: 2
Windshield cracks: 1
Miles of construction: 150 (mostly in BC)
Miles of rough road: ~
# of times my wife closed her eyes while I was driving: 52
Aunt/great aunt who had a significant birthday,
I won't go into numbers, but it rhymes with the actor
who played the Hulk (and Eddie's Father) : 1

QBs who've fallen out of favor: 1

more thoughts from mom

2009-08-31T15:08:00.005-04:00

Hello!

We are enjoying our time in Alaska. So much to see and do. We were here, as most of you know 16+ years ago, and a lot has changed, but some things haven't. There is still an unbelievable amount of vast wilderness like I have never seen. So much beauty. The mountains always make me smile. Plus we saw two moose crossing the road last week, which made my day! Man are they big!

OK, so some more things I have learned. One, I finally found a home I can keep pretty clean! An RV! I know, it isn't big, but it seems to be about all I can handle. I am not much of a house keeper. No matter where we live I can't seem to keep up with the mess, but in an RV, I can do it!! HA! YAHOO! I can pretty much touch every space from one spot in the middle of the room with some sort of sanitizer and broom, so all is good :)

Second, it is really nice to have another man around. Z is almost 17 and he is such a big help around the "house" He and dad get all the stuff done that usually took me and dad. It is really nice to be able to get my own things done inside and let the guys do the hard work outside. I see him in a whole new light and I like what I see. God has done a great work in him. My dear husband said to me the other day, "You know, Z is really "nice" , don't you think? He sure didn't get that from us!" HA!! SO TRUE! Anyway, I appreciate him more and more each day.

Third I don't know how people in Canada survive. Everything there is expensive. For an example: butter $2.00 a stick! YES you read that right, a stick, $4 a gallon for gas (on a good day), can of kidney beans, $4.29 - same goes for refried beans and Campbell's soup. This might not be the way it is all over Canada, but the places we drove through it was just like I said.

Fourth, in tune with number 3, we ate our cupboards bare. I was making all sorts of stuff out of what I brought along with us. We used as little butter as possible, which most of you know is a true sacrifice for my Wisconsonite husband. When we got to AK we were running almost on empty. A trip to the commissary was a joy! It is still pricey up here, but nothing like Canada.

Lastly, I realized that I really enjoy my husband being home all the time. I miss him during the day and to have him around all the time is pretty cool. God has blessed me beyond measure with a great man. I especially like it because I don't have to do all the disciplining ALL DAY LONG any more. That is a BIG bonus!

I think Pooh is writing our next blog on our travels; so look for her post soon.

Bye for now
Mom

PS I wanted to thank you all for posting your thoughts. We read them all faithfully and will try and respond, but if we don't, know that we love to hear from you!

More bear tales

2009-08-27T08:18:00.004-04:00

So, I wake up especially early (0445) which I tend to do when we want to get an early start. Since we had email/internet, I checked our blog and our rapidly diminishing finances before preparing to take the dog for a walk. Since it was still dark at 0530, I decided to start to pack up (and my dear wife didn’t want me to go out while it was still dark – she worries too much). About 6 as it was getting light, Konig and I walked towards town to check when the gas station opens. We were jogging back into town when a medium size black bear appears on the road (silly, wife o mine…)! I did as was recommended and waved my arms and yelled at the bear. He just looked at me and, I think, at Konig. Konig seemed to be sizing up the bear and ignoring my yelling at him to come so I could put his leash on. I was trying to catch him and watch the bear, who seemed interested in our activities, at the same time. Finally, I reverted to my mean voice to get the dog to allow me to grab him and put his leash on. The mean voice seemed to do the trick with the bear as well as he turned around and walked back into the woods that he had come from. Konig and I did another interval to get back to the camp site to prep to leave enroute to the Yukon Territory. Got to love AK.

~Dad

Bears in AK

2009-08-26T07:45:00.011-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Just to update you all. We have done a lot of driving since our last post. I don't think even I realized how far it is from Southern Canada to Alaska. After we left Banff we drove all day until we got to Hyder, Alaska (about as far south in AK as you can get). ALASKA! I was pretty pumped. I haven't been back since we left when I was one. Then, we pulled into the campsite. First of all it was pouring rain. Now I don't get bothered by cold very easily, but rain and 50 degrees in August even dampened my spirit. Then there's the town itself. If you are trying to find the town of Hyder on a map good luck - Stewart is probably the biggest town in the area if you'd like to see where we are. The town consists of 100 people, a gas station, nine shops, a post office, a restaurant and two bars. To make matters worse because Hyder is part of Alaska (which has its own time zone) but might as well be in Canada, half the town goes by Canadian time and the other half goes by Alaska time! The funniest part about the smallness of the town is that there is no law. That's right, no law. No police, no rules, no nothing. So the wild people in town go 40 down the 20 mph road!

Back to us. The day after we got there my dad woke me up early to go for our two and a half hour walk. I have..I mean get to run/walk the Equinox marathon with my dad in a few weeks. So we start off around 7am and about five minutes in I ask if he brought his iPhone to take pictures. He didn't. So after thinking about it for a minute we turned around to get it, just in case we run into any bears destined to be in Wildlife Weekly or something like that. Now about four miles from the campsite there is a national forest with a little walkway that goes out over this little creek where bears like to come and fish. Now this isn't some sort of zoo these are actual wild bears catching these huge salmon spawning in the stream. So we get there after about an hour and go by a pass to go on the walkway. We go up on the walkway and the guide there tells us, it's a good thing you didn't come ten minutes earlier we would have run into a bunch of bears romping around on the road. "Coincidence, I think not!" (Incredibles anyone?) more like Providence! After not seeing any bears and receiving many warnings about not having bear spray (?) we headed back.

That afternoon we decided to head back to the park with the rest of the family. This time there was a bear! A little female grizzly, according to the guide, who was in the mood for seafood.The funniest part of the day was when Kik turns to me after watching the bear chow down and asks 'do fish go to heaven?' I was surprised our laughter didn't scare the bear away. Eventually we did leave, stopping along the walkway to see the man made Blue Lagoon. These people are so good with names. We left the next morning (our first multiple day stay) and got, once again, into our nine hours of driving a day routine. To make matters worse, I'm starting Pre-Calc.

Well that's it for now, I'm off to scavenge in our depressingly empty pantry,

Editorial Comment

2009-08-25T14:25:00.003-04:00

Hello Everyone, we've noticed some issues over the past few weeks and I have looked into a few of those.

First, regarding commenting on our posts. I believe the best way to comment would be to do so under Anonymous. This should work under any circumstances as opposed to Name/URL which I don't think works under select email addresses. If you would like to sign your name at the end of your posts please do so.

Second, we have been out of cell phone service for the last few days. If you have been trying to call or text us during that time, we are sorry for not responding and will try to return your calls once we return to civilization.

Third, some of you have used our names in your comments. I would like to ask you to please refrain from doing so as to keep mom from getting to antsy about our family protection. You may use our "code" names as much as you wish.

Let us know if some of you are still having problems with commenting,

Z

North West Trek

2009-08-24T22:09:00.007-04:00

After Gagee’s lake we headed to Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. I won’t bore you with the details, which, trust me, are boring. Southern North Dakota isn’t so bad with the Bad Lands and all, but unfortunately we drove through northern North
Dakota. North Dakota and Montana had only one color in the scenery, brown. Everything was brown.
The highlight of N.D. was, as seen in the picture, The Geographical Center of North America. Which was pretty neat. After that we drove to Montana where we stayed in Shelby, Montana. If you ever think you’ll stay at an R.V. park in Shelby, don’t. It was one of our most expensive and one of our least favorites, scratch that, definitely our least favorite. Most R.V. parks have a little park, a pool or some sort of entertainment; most R.V. parks at least have trees! There was nothing, which we could live without entertainment, but we had to be in the center so the dog didn’t even have a little grass to run around in without barking at the neighbors.
After that little episode we drove up through Canada to stay at Banff National Park. If you ever think you want to go see Banff, do it; it was gorgeous. We were surrounded by mountains and couldn’t stop taking pictures! When we got to the campsite we were warned of bears. Z-man was excited. We decided to take the 3 mile bike to Lake Louise. We were told to make lots of noise to keep the bears away. Some bike trails were closed because of the bears.

Ours wasn’t closed, yet. The bike trail proved to be very exhausting. It was uphill, on a dirt path, through the woods. We finally made it to the beautiful lake (pictured below). It had taken us about 40 min. to get to the top. We took the road on the way down which only took 5 min. and I used my hands more than my feet (for the brakes)
We were a little disappointed about not seeing any bears, but altogether we had a great time.

~Toley

Random thoughts from mom

2009-08-23T23:22:00.006-04:00

Since the kids are all writing about the places we have been, I thought I would write about life in the R.V., or the ARV as the kids call it.

Initially it was way cool, all these cozy little nooks and crannies to put things into and snugly places to sit and play and sleep. But, once you have to live in it, spend all your waking hours in it, and try and find some solace in it, it is pretty tough. Like right now for instance. The kids are playing a game of monopoly with Daddy and Kik is sleeping in the other room, so I am in the bathroom trying to gather my thoughts! HA!

We all have slowly acclimated to the difficulties that these tight quarters offer. We have jobs that we do when we set up shop and when we break down. Most of my jobs have to do with the inside of the RV and thankfully Z-man and Daddy have the outside jobs (which includes the sewer pipes!). Kik's job is to get his shoes and bike helmet on and go for a ride. This is good for the whole family!! :)

The other thing I was thinking about the other day was how in a big kitchen everything is at your finger tips. If you need your pots and pans, spatulas, spices, potholders or whatever, they are right there. In an RV things are not quite like that. All my pots and pans are stacked in the microwave for safe travel. The oven is filled with a cookie sheet, a pizza pie pan, one cookie rack, two 9" round pans and a frying pan. That fills it to the brim! The kids books are in baskets on top of the stove and most of my plug in items (mixer, elec. fry pan) are under the bench seat at the kitchen table. So, when I cook, it takes all my energy just to get everything out. But, I have finally begun to relax about that. It may take a few extra minutes, but so what! All I have is time.

We do spend most of our time looking how to make things easier to accomplish. We race around all day trying to fit everything and we miss what is going on around us. I am totally guilty of this. But with this new life style, I am learning to relax a bit more. To not stress when it takes so much effort just to BEGIN to cook. I am looking at what is going on around me. Watching Kik trying to figure out how something works, determined to figure it out, or watching the girls snuggle with the dog and how much he loves the attention, or watching Z-man and Daddy laughing over some dumb joke that only they get! All of this is important, much more important than making my life quick, easy and convenient.

Not only is taking time to look at my family important, but also taking the time to look at the magnificent world that God created. We have been driving through mountains for a few days and they are so beautiful. Some of them remind me of our days in Germany. When I see those mountains I am reminded that God is good, ALL the time, even when I am focused on the not so important things.

Just some random thoughts from mom. Remember, I have been bumping around in this thing for over a week, so I might not be playing with a full deck! Not that I ever really was anyway! HA!

Till next time..............XO Mom

A brief comment from Dad for the pragmatists out there. While traveling by RV is great – easy eating, sleeping and tending to bodily needs – it has its drawbacks. The beating that the roads give our vehicles is amplified in the house that is our living area. Consequently, things are always falling and frequently breaking. Things that are supposed to be secure become unsecure and vice versa. WD-40 and 100 MPH (duct) tape are used extensively. Had to stop to get an engine light fixed on three separate occasions -- $ 100 a pop! Thank God for the Havre Ford in Havre (yeah, rhymes with Brent, I mean Brett F) who finally diagnosed the problem and charged the fix to the emissions warranty which hadn’t expired the day prior to the problem staring like our regular warranty. Also, I was hoping for 10 MPG, but had become satisfied with over 9. While fighting the 20+ MPH prevailing westerly winds in ND and Montana, we were lucky to get 7 MPG. So, we’re easily spending $100-125/day on gas for our 400 mile driving days. That's it.....Dad

Good Times in Packerland

2009-08-20T19:55:00.010-04:00

After saying goodbye to our friends in MI. We headed up to Ishpeming, where the R.V. was looked at because we had been having a couple of technical difficulties. There we spent the time bowling and eating fried chicken in the laundromat. Finally after about 5 hours the R.V. was done.

From there we headed to WI where Gagee (Dad’s mom) lives. She has a little cottage on the beautiful Dog Lake. We had a fun time swimming in the lake which (surprisingly) was very warm, jumping on her water trampoline, and catching some small catfish looking things by the shore. But the highlight of that stop was probably the new speed/pontoon boat, which can go up to 35 miles per hour, and is quite frightening when you’re sitting in the front seats on the top of the boat. As shown in the video, and was driven by our Unkey Lanny, Dad’s brother. That night we experimented on the S`mores by using chocolate chip cookies instead of graham crackers. It was awesome! After that we played with sparklers by the lake and took some pictures. The great thing about the lake is that you don`t have to worry about any sharks. Like the 4ft. Bull shark that was caught off the Jersey shore while we were visiting Mom`s parents. Yikes! We had a lot of fun times and new experiences.

~Pooh

P.S. The video has been delayed because of technical difficulties.

Marquette and the Surrounding Lands

2009-08-19T19:49:00.005-04:00

After our brief stint in Canada we made our way back to the U.P. We decided to go up through lower Michigan as opposed to coming in from Sault St. Marie as was our original plan due to time and gas price factors. We crossed at Port Huron Michigan (pictured above) and headed north stopping 30 miles short of the Mackinac Bridge.

The following morning after packing up from our campsite, we continued on the remainder of our trip. We crossed the Bridge (another snapshot for you water-picture-lovers)
and arrived in Marquette that afternoon. We spent the weekend at Tourist Park, which surprisingly got the lowest approval rating, because of the lack of cable and Wi-Fi. While the girls spent the night with their friends the Buhls, I went off for a night of “well mannered frivolity” with the” Young” Mr. Michels. As for the other events of that night, and all that they did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the….? Never mind.

We were fortunate enough to be at church that week end to see Kevin “Re-loaded”. “On a battlefield looking for a sock” was excellent sermon. From the witty Lions cracks, to the actual sock with a hole in it, to the message itself, it was a delight for the whole family. Afterwards we spent a lovely time with the Buhls and Michels along with a delectable meal that was cooked by Mrs. Michels, along with “Old” Mr. Michels’ BBQ sauce. As for me, the latter part of the day consisted of my last Youth Group, Frisbee golf and Drizzles ice cream with the aforementioned Kevin, “Young” Mr. Michels and newcomer Kyle, who eats too many Subway cookies. As for the other events of that night, and all that they did, are they not written…..? Almost as annoying as 1 and 2 Kings isn’t it.

The return of the RV-goers was well worth it, although we were disappointed about not having enough time to spend with select vacationers and the Cherry Creek gang.

Until Next Time,

Yours Truly (I believe my humor speaks for itself)

Niagara Falls

2009-08-14T20:53:00.003-04:00

After leaving Grove City, we drove to a campsite close to Toronto. We crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls. It was really neat. We all had a good time. Hopefully you can see the video I took.

So long

2009-08-14T20:19:00.004-04:00

Hi all,

We have only been on the road for 3 days, but I (mommy) have learned A LOT! First, Kik can talk! WOW! Not that I haven't noticed this before, but when you are in confined quarters he just keeps on going :) I can't possibly list all the things we have talked about, but one of the more intersting conversations was about things your body can and can not live without. Lets just say that Kik was quite surprised that he could NOT live without his brain and heart and that he COULD live without his ears, eyes and hands!

Second thing I have learned is that when it is hot out and you are in a small place with 6 people, well, you get crabby! I have tried very hard not to be crabby, and I know God is trying to teach me something through this trial, but I am a slow learner.

Third, if you go too fast over a speed bump things start falling out all over the place! Our whole medicine cabinet came open. Surprisingly nothing broke.

Fourth, and I guess I need to preface this by saying that our family hasn't eaten at a fast food restaraunt in 8 years -- we avoid them at all cost. But I am beginning to see the pull toward them! Many times the thought of cooking after a 6 hour drive is not very appealing. So far so good.

Jersey Shore

2009-08-06T18:23:00.008-04:00

After Z and Dad's drive cross country, the team reunited in VA where Dad completed the retirement process. After a couple days with our great friends, the Roberts, we headed north to the Jersey shore for a week on the beach. Now, there are parts of Jersey that deserve the reputation that NJ has, but the beaches are nice. We've been on beaches from Alaska to Florida, North Sea to the Persian Gulf and Jersey shore rivals them all.

Anyway, the beach is fun since both of mom's families come to Jersey for a mini-reunion. The kids love seeing their four cousins and the uncles love to bust Z-mans chops about everything. Z and Dad played golf with the uncles which was a painful affair. We may leave the clubs in NJ after that debacle. The beach was great for a couple of days, but we also had a rain day that was spent making cupcakes.

We are hoping to hit the boardwalk tonight for some real Jersey Shore fun. Lots of crowds, greasy foods and expensive rides. Perfect!

The Journey Begins

2009-07-31T19:56:00.000-04:00

The journey begins…

The great odyssey began with split operations. Mom, Toley, Pooh and Kik headed to Virginia by way of WI with stops in Indiana and NJ. Their story will be told by Bird.

Z-man and Dad had to hang in Marquette while Z finished his soccer season. We headed south as soon as the awards barbecue was over. We had to get to IU for some prospective student orientations beginning at 1030 the following morning so it was an all-night drive. Fortunately, Z-man, with his brand new driver’s license in hand, was up to the challenge of driving the RV during the grave-yard shift. I even slept a few fitful minutes while he cruised down the highway. He actually did quite well while cranking his I-pod and munching on peanut butter M&Ms. I experimented with double shots of Starbucks and a 5-hour “energy” drink. Let’s just say 2-hour energy was the end result.

IU was quite interesting. Although we failed to find out exactly what a "Hoosier" is, we had the opportunity to talk to a prospective PhD counselor about possible college destinations after the trip. After getting a tour of the campus we headed out. I was slapping myself to stay awake after about 20 minutes so Z-Man took over once again and piloted us safely to a campground in Ohio where we spent the night. We plan to stop at WVU for our second campus tour of the trip.

Until next time,

Dad

Appleton

2009-07-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

We just got back from Appleton (Z-man had another soccer tournament) not exactly a "trial run" because we stayed at grandma's.
Now we have one week to pack up the RV before the movers come. Everything we want to do, wear, watch, play and read for the next 9 monthes has to be packed up. Unfortunatley the RV had to have a minor fix up and didn't get back till Wednesday, only five days to pack up!
~Toley

Welcome to our Blog!

2009-06-21T16:00:00.001-04:00

Hello! Welcome to our Road Scholars blog.

We are traveling throughout North America to see all that God has created. We have friends and family all around the world and since we will not have a home base, we decided to create this blog so that everyone can see what we are doing and share in our excitement.

We will be leaving Marquette MI soon and heading east. After that.........we will see! We will be taking turns writing all about our adventures. Mom, Dad, Z-man, Toley, Pooh and Kik are ready to take their turn at the keyboard. Who knows what will be written. We hope to have photos and maybe even a video from our very own Pooh!

We hope you enjoy the ride

Blessings,
Mom

Our Trial Run

2009-06-21T15:39:00.000-04:00

Our first trial run was to Petoskey, MI, south of the Mackinaw bridge. We got to stay at an RV park, grilling, open our awning (or as Kik says) yawning. and all the other fun things you do on an RV trip. Z-man had a soccer tournament there and so we took a family trip. The soccer field was about 7 mi. away from the campground and of course, having Dad along, we had to bike there. Dad biked there and back to check out the road and then did it again with Z-man and again while pulling Kik in the trailer! But he said he enjoyed it. The trip was VERY hilly and tiring. When we finally got there, we watched Z-man's soccer game and turned around and rode back! Although Z-man was the one with the most pain and anguish because he had to bike there, play soccer and then bike back. Despite the agonizing bike trip we had a good time and had some beautiful weather. Unfortunately Z-man tied one soccer game and lost the other two, but the last game was very close. Now to the funny animal pictures. On the way home, we unexpectedly got to stop at the Garlyn Zoo. It is a small zoo but lots of fun. They have peacocks, baby pigs, cats and chickens roaming around. They also have wolves, goats, llamas, lemurs, a bear, a puma, a camel and even a buffalo! It was really funny when Dad decided to pet the llama while he was eating. After a few pats, the llama turned, looked straight at Dad and then spit all over him!

The peacocks were very pretty, they were just roaming around and some were even high up in trees! I loved taking pictures of them because they would just sit there and pose for me!

We had a great trip,

~Toley

Starting slowly

2009-06-18T14:53:00.001-04:00

Since I'm the least computer savy of the bunch, my posts will probably be less interesting than the others.

As Mom stated, we are a Christian Home Schooling family preparing for a 10-12 month journey. The kids -- Z, Toley, and Pooh -- will probably do most of the posting as that is one of their school requirements.

We are preparing for the event by taking a series of smaller trips to get used to what is required to travel by RV. We are learning as we go.

As we step out on our big adventure, there is a feeling of slight apprehension along with the excitement. We have faith that God will provide a way and the means and look forward to seeing many of you along the way. We travel with that faith.

For those of you wondering, our name, G-Force has three meanings (you will find I like to do things in threes, more on that later). Being a science type, G-forces are a measure of acceleration relative to gravity and sometimes "carry" us along. Another meaning is our name, but the biggest meaning is for God -- the force that will carry us along this trip.

OK, all for now. Take care and pray for us.

Go Pack...
Dad