**NOTE ON PICTURE GALLERY  - MOST RECENT PICTURES NOW FIRST**

8/28/07 UPDATE:

We went to Mount Rushmore!!!!! It seemed like we kept saying that over and over again.  For some reason we just couldn’t believe we were there! I guess there’s those places that you hear about all the time but you never think you’re going to see.  After Wisconsin, Marty didn’t have a client he had to go to, so he took a couple days off and we drove to South Dakota.  We figured this was the second time we’ve been that close so we HAD to go! Funny that an 8 hour drive is now considered “close!”

On our way out, we kept seeing signs for something called the “Corn Palace.” It was down the road from the Cabela’s we were going to stop at, and it was free so we thought what the heck? Let’s check it out.  It was pretty corny (haha) but pretty amazing, too. It’s actually a convention center for meetings, sporting events, etc.  According to their website, “The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition" was established in 1892. Early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil...The exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals are created each year...New materials are applied to the building with each mural depicting an important facet of the lifestyle of South Dakota. These murals require thousands of bushels of corn, grain, grasses, wild oats, brome grass, blue grass, rye, straw and wheat each year.”  It’s worth the stop.  You might also see some famous people hanging out across the street like we did...

Mount Rushmore...wow!  I wish you could hear the video as we were driving up to it.  I was quietly taping the beautiful mountains when all of a sudden we all started screaming!  Poor Marty, I’m surprised he didn’t drive off the road!  It’s amazing how something can stir up such emotions when you see it. It was a gorgeous day, so the guys all looked great.  George Washington (BIRTH of the country), Thomas Jefferson (EXPANSION since he was largely responsible for the Louisiana Purchase), Theodore Roosevelt (DEVELOPMENT with the construction of the Panama Canal) and Abraham Lincoln (PRESERVATION for confronting the challenges during the Civil War).  I don’t think I could name them before we got there (but Sara could...)

We found out about the Jr. Ranger Program (Rushmore Ranger for 13 and over) put on by all National Parks. I don’t know why we didn’t know about it before, but we just missed that. It’s a free program where the kids have to do activities throughout the park, then they get a certificate and a badge at the end.  It made it so much more fun and interesting to all of us.  We read things and spoke to people we may not have otherwise. One of the coolest parts for me was standing in the original sculptor’s studio.  We saw the model of how the mountain was intended to look (if he hadn’t died after surgery, ultimately on the way to Washington to ask for more money), and you could see the mountain through the big window.   The park has a light show at night where they light up the mountain.  We didn’t stay for that, but we were told it’s awesome.

We learned that it took 14 years to carve. The original idea came from Doane Robinson, who wanted to see Lewis & Clark, Buffalo Bill Cody, Chief Red Cloud and others.  The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, changed the plans. Lincoln’s mole is 16” square!  Ewww... Nobody was ever killed on the job, but some were injured when the aerial tramway system cable broke, not to mention lung issues from all the carving dust, etc. Each year, just before winter, staff rappels over the the faces to inspect them, caulk cracks, and put on a sealant.  The mountain will never be changed, and no president will ever be added.

After leaving Mt. Rushmore, we drove over to the Crazy Horse Memorial. It was started by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski after being invited by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, who said, “My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes, also.” It has been under construction for 50 years, and you can see by the pictures they have a long way to go. The sculptor had only $174 to his name when he started and was determined to only use private donations.  He twice turned down ten million dollars in goverment funding.  After his death his family is carrying on the work.  They said that Mt. Rushmore would fit in the back of his head, so it’s going to be enormous.  It’s also 3 sided, so it’s a whole different challenge.

The following day we stopped in the Badlands on our way out of South Dakota. Wow, it was unbelievable.  We’ve been told that people have different reactions to it. Some love it, some think it’s terribly depressing. We thought it was beautiful, but shortly after we left, we met a couple who had been there and thought it was the most ominous memorial she had ever seen. Every time we turned a corner the colors were so different.  It was cloudy in the beginning of the day and sunny later, and that changed the whole mood of the area.

So that wraps up our first six months of traveling!  Can you believe it? Marty has been working on a new picture database which will make the pictures much easier to view.  We also just bought a new rig....more to follow.....!

___________________________________________________________________

8/17/07 UPDATE:

All is quiet.  We’re sitting and having lunch in Minnesota.  I was pondering what button on the GPS I must have accidentally pushed to land us there when I was looking for a Target an hour away in Wisconsin (go figure!).  Suddenly, out of nowhere, “I love living in the motorhome and I never want to stop!” This from the mouth of 6 year old Samantha.  Stunned, I asked her what made her say that. She said, “I don’t know, we just get to see so much stuff!”  Then Sara chimed in, “Yeah, we get to see a lot of stuff that other kids never get to see.” Wow, they GET it!  How cool is that?

We spent this week in a pretty KOA in Hixton, Wisconsin. We were truly in the middle of nowhere and it was quiet and peaceful.  Our activities of the week consisted mostly of the pool and a really cool thing called a “jumping pillow.”  Picture a big mound filled with air about the size of 1/2 a football field.  It’s was pretty fun!  Marty unfortunately had a 45 minute drive to work since we were in the middle of nowhere, but since we were in the middle of nowhere he had no traffic. He actually had a cool “God moment” on his drive in the first day.  He was getting concerned because there was just nothing, it was taking longer to get to work than he thought, he was seeing no signs for where he was going (Ashley Furniture) and he had no cell service. He said he prayed for God to just show him something that he was going the right way, when WHOOSH!  There goes an Ashley Furniture truck past him!  A little while later he had the same concern again, said the same prayer and would you believe it? There goes another truck!  God’s cool.

We’re noticing a lot of bridge work going on as we drive through Minnesota   I have to say it was a little weird driving over a bridge over the Mississippi.  We recently bought a movie titled “Facing the Giants” (AWESOME movie!) and one guy is telling another guy that in the Bible, God says 365 times to have no fear (interestingly once for each day, huh?).  I find myself repeating that in my head from time to time.  Then I walked through in my mind what I would do if a bridge I was on landed in the water.  We’ve learned that we can’t fear that sort of disaster as we’re traveling, but it’s not a bad idea to work an occasional mental rehearsal into conversation with the kids.

Last week we were in Music City USA...Nashville, Tennessee!  It was fun, but we were all happy to leave the 104 degree heat.  We stayed in a KOA right in Nashville, and we were right down the street from the Grand Ole Opry.  We decided against going since we had just spent money on Yankees tickets the week before, but I’d love to go back.  The kids and I wandered around Opry Plaza and went to the Opry Museum, and one evening we all toured the Gaylord Opry Hotel.  Wow, that place was unbelievable! We actually took a boat ride through the river inside one of the atriums.

Unfortunately the heat kept us from venturing out too much.  One day the kids and I wandered around Opry Mills, which is a big outlet mall, just to be someplace cool. That evening we went back with Marty and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. After dinner we walked to the other end of the mall to check out a place called, “Stingray Reef.”  OK, that was crazy.  It had this big tank full of stingrays that you could pet and feed! They taught us how to put little shrimp between your knuckles with your fingers folded back out of the way.  When the stingrays realized you had food, they would flap up on the side of the tank and you could put the shrimp right in their little mouths.  Oh my gosh, it was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen!

The “adventure” highlight of these two weeks was the overnight stay in Wisconsin Dells on the way to our stop in Hixton.  When we were there previously for the “Families on the Road” rally, we bought tickets for a Jet Boat ride that we were unable to do because of rain.  We couldn’t believe we were actually back in Wisconsin again with the chance to use them.  That ride was sooo much fun!  The pilot spun that thing around doing donuts that sprayed water all over us, and stopped fast enough for us to nose dive and just get drenched.  The kids couldn’t get enough of it, but Marty and I loved it, too!  I would highly recommend it. We also went to the “Tommy Bartlett Greatest Show on H2O” waterski show. That was really fun! They had a pirate theme and it was really funny. There was barefooting (through fire, no less), wakeboarding, and even a guy who started off the dock being pulled by a boat on his hang glider.  Then he released the rope and glided down to land right back on the dock.  The show ended with a juggler and gymnasts doing things on land that would knock your socks off.  If you go...There is a restaurant called “Ravina Bay” that has a deck overlooking the ski show area. You can’t see the entire thing, but you can get a pretty entertaining free show if you time your dinner right (apparently there’s serious jockeying for seats!)  We accidentally found the restaurant 10 minutes after we called and got the ski show tickets.  Oops.

So that’s it for now.  Our next update will be about a place that really “rocks”.....hmmmm......

 __________________________________________________________________

8/5/07 UPDATE:

Oh my goodness!  Where have you been?  OK, so we got WAY behind on this! After Nebraska we met the Bakers in Ocean City, MD for a week of “vacation”...seems odd to say that...meaning we were someplace Marty didn’t actually have to work all week! :-) We had SOOO many pictures from that week (thanks, Ang!) that I got overwhelmed.  I then decided to switch all the pictures on the website so that the most recent would be first and that took FOREVER, then Marty killed the website.  You may have noticed that things were  missing if you visited the past couple weeks, but we’re OK now. Whew!  I have to keep this simple (but it is still long...sorry!) to catch up, no long history lessons this time...bummer, huh?

Our week in Ocean City was great.  We stayed at Frontier Town Campground, which also had a water park. We had a great time playing in the ocean.  Can you believe Marty (Mr. extreme sport motorcross guy) has never ridden a wave?  Samantha didn’t like the ocean so she mostly played on the beach. One day she said, “Mommy, I’m going to build the great wall of China!”  I’m telling you her imagination blows me away.  The water park was fun, and the Lazy River was relaxing. We took one day to go to Assateague Island to see the wild ponies (awesome!) and we ventured down to Chincoteague (which I learned is pronounced with an “sh” sound) and had a great crab feast for dinner. I was loving it because I grew up in Maryland eating steamed crabs and I hadn’t had them in ages.  It was fun to teach my family the art of cracking them open (while grossing them out at the same time!) As we left Ocean City, we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which was an event in itself.  While watching the news this week about the bridge collapse in Minnesota, I learned that there are people you can hire to drive you across if you can’t handle it.

After OC, we spent the week in Montgomery, Alabama.  Wow, that was an education. The girls and I took one day and wandered around Montgomery. There was a great visitors’ center where we got a map and tips from the locals.  They have trolleys to take you around town for a very small fee.  Many places are in walking distance.  Our first stop was “Old Alabama Town,” a living history area right in the middle of everything.  We learned what a “Dog Trot” house is.  It almost looks like two houses put together, with an open air section in the middle for the “dogs to trot through”! We had a moment when there was a connection between our travels.  In Yorktown, VA we learned about how LaFayette came from France to help Washington in the Revolutionary War.  In Louisiana, we stayed in LaFayette, a town named after him.  In Alabama Town, we wandered into a house that had a huge picture of LaFayette in the front room because he stayed there after the war. The country is becoming smaller to all of us!

After Old Alabama Town, we went to the Rosa Parks Museum.  They have an exhibit that takes you back in time as if you’re standing on the street corner watching the whole incident take place. It’s really amazing. The kids now know that “Rosa Parks stood up for what is right by sitting down.”  The exhibit also made us feel like we were outside of the church where Martin Luther King, Jr. was organizing the bus boycott. We walked to the Civil Rights Memorial, and we saw the First White House of the Confederacy, which I never even knew existed. People always say to us, “Wow, your kids are getting such an education.”  Um, I didn’t know half of what we’ve learned! :-) By the end of the day we ended up at the “Cattlesman’s MOOseum,” which just happened to be just a couple blocks from Marty’s work.  He walked down and met us there, so Sara got to serve up a big ole burger for him.

One of our other days was spent at the Montgomery Zoo, where my kids got a lesson in sex education from some HUGE turtles...and that’s all I have to say about that! ;-)

After Alabama, we trucked on up to Pennsylvania so the girls and I could stay the week at my parents’ house, because Marty had to fly to Las Vegas for work.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t have made that drive in time!  Before Marty left for New York, we bought a new toad, a Dodge Dakota, so we have a little more room now! The girls and I got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Steve and Katrina. During the week, we went up to the driving range and Grandpa taught the girls how to hit golf balls.  They had so much fun and I used some muscles I hadn’t used in awhile! The girls also got haircuts, which were turned into fancy hairstyles. She spent more time on their hair than I ever get on mine!  They also got to try on Grandma’s wedding dress...wow...that was something I wasn’t ready to see, but were they beautiful!

At the end of the week, the girls and I drove up to Duanesburg, NY, to meet Marty at his parents house, because he had to work that week in Albany. Unfortunately, Marty’s parents were leaving for a Trax to Adventure RV tour themselves! Not really unfortunately....they’re off galavanting around Nova Scotia and Labrador....rough. :-) We got to see some cousins we hadn’t seen in awhile, and meet a new cousin, Miss Ava Rae, what a cutie!  Sara and Samantha had a great time playing with their (2nd??) cousin  Courtney.  They went off into the bedroom and quilted and latch hooked to their hearts content. We didn’t think they were ever going to come out!  Courtney, they really miss you!!!

Last week we were on Long Island, which was cool because after being in New York so much I’d never been to LI. Unfortunately, there were no campgrounds, so we left our rig at Marty’s parents’ house, and stayed in a hotel.  It was fun, but let me tell you after 3 weeks out of the rig, we were all ready to get back HOME!  While on LI, the girls and I only had the car one day, so we went to the Children’s Museum and they just played and played.  I’d definitley like to go back, because I’ve been told that the beaches are beautiful! That night, Marty said, “Why don’t we have a hot dog for dinner at Yankee Stadium?”  Turns out we were only 20 miles away and there was a game that night. We drove out and figured we’d just get some cheap seats.  Oh no.  Since Alex Rodriguez was expected to hit his 500th career home run that night, by the time we got there the only seats left were $280/person!!  Yeah, not so much.  We drove back to the hotel, went online and bought seats (MUCH cheaper) for the next night! Wow, every time A Rod got up to bat the place just went nuts!  It was fun, but he didn’t get his homerun.  I think the best part though was when Marty called Uncle Barry and said, “Hey, guess where we are??” Hahahahahaaha...maybe he was just a tad bit jealous...

So here we are.  FINALLY back in the rig after three weeks and we’ve just landed in Nashville, Tennessee!  I’m sure it will be an interesting week, so stay tuned!

___________________________________________________________________

6/29/07 UPDATE:

We’re actually 10 miles from Normal! Illinois, that is. So does that mean if we drive 10 miles we’ll be normal? Hmmm, most would agree 10,000 miles hasn’t gotten us anywhere CLOSE to normal!  OK, so the book title is actually “10 Minutes From Normal,” but close enough. :-)

Wow, I typed that paragraph exactly two weeks ago, then my not-so-normal life went zzzzingggg and I never finished! We were on our way from Nebraska to Maryland, and now we’re leaving Alabama....more on that next time.

Lincoln, Nebraska was awesome. What a nice place to visit.  Beautiful parks and walking trails all over the place and the people were especially nice. We were only 5 minutes from Marty’s work, so even though the motorcycle wasn’t working, the girls and I were able to take him to work and go wander with the car.  (He has since fixed the bike, thankfully!)

As we entered Nebraska, we made an unplanned stop at the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center.  We learned that L&C were sent on an expedition by Thomas Jefferson, who was determined to find a Northwest Passage, a water route to the west, so they wouldn’t have to go around the tip of South America.  He also believed that westward expansion would make us more protected from foreign attack.  A huge part of the middle of the continent was called “Louisiana” and was owned by the French, and most of the area west of that was owned by Spain. Napolean had just lost a lot of money and men fighting in Haiti, so he figured he may as well sell Louisiana and get some money.  He also thought it would make the US stronger against Britain, which made him very happy, because he did not like Britain. James Monroe went to Paris authorized to offer Napolean $9 million for Louisiana, but ended up agreeing, without permission to pay $15 million. Most people didn’t care because we had just purchased half the west! They didn’t care that he spent more than authorized, or more than we had in our national treasury.  Hmmmm...is that where the national debt started???   For someone who hated history class, I sure am having fun learning all of this with my kids!  One of the most useful pieces of information we learned, though, was that only female mosquitos bite. Now, every time Samantha starts to freak about about seeing a mosquito, Sara casually informs her that maybe it’s not a female so she shouldn’t be so scared.  And it works. Why don’t I think of these things??

Hey, we just passed the sign for the Natural Bridge. That’s where this all began! Doesn’t that seem like so long ago???  Sorry, back to the story.

We were able to take Sunday afternoon and go to the Omaha Zoo. We were actually at the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom!  Do you remember that show?  I kept humming the jingle from the insurance company commercials.   The aquarium had just about every “character” from Nemo, so we’ll call all of the fish pictures my kids’ tribute to the movie! We learned that pink flamingos get their color from the shrimp they eat. Wow, another reason to cut them out of my diet (the first being that I’ve heard them described as “cockroaches of the sea”....eeewww!) Traffic and parking were CRAZY because just across the street was the stadium where the final game of the College World Series was being played.  We never know what we are going to stumble into....

During the week, the girls and I went to the Nebraska History Museum and the Children’s Museum. Sara has started teaching herself to quilt, so she really liked the quilt exhibit. We were the only ones in the History Museum, so it was really quiet. Right after I snapped the picture of Sam’s favorite quilt, we heard a deep voice over the loudspeaker, “PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR FLASH!”  Oops...THAT was weird.  There was also a hands on room, where the girls were able to dress up as Native Americans and try their hand at building a tee pee.  They had fun, but there’s a reason there’s no picture of the final build. Way too complicated for us. The Children’s Museum was, I think, one of the biggest we’ve ever been to.  Three floors and lots to do.  Samantha dressed up as a Nebraska State cheerleader just for you, Marie.  :-)

Our last night we went to a “Jazz in June” concert on the Nebraska State campus. It was a beautiful night and we had a great time just relaxing and listening to great music.  Yeah, we’re really anxious to stop doing this...

___________________________________________________________________

6/22/07 UPDATE:

“Laissez les bon temps rouler!” Let the good times roll!

We saw this everywhere we went in Cajun country! They are all about the joy of life and having a good time.  We learned that the town of Lafayette, where we stayed, was named after Marquis De Lafayette, who after a struggle to get himself to America, befriended General George Washington, and assisted him on many occasions during the Revolutionary War. There were celebrations and events going on all over the place this year to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Lafayette’s birth.  We toured the Tobasco Factory on Avery Island, and learned that “le petit baton rouge” means “little red stick.” They use their little red sticks to match the color to the peppers and know when they are perfect for picking. Then they mash the peppers and let them ferment in barrels (that they get from Jack Daniels) for three years before bottling.

We learned that “Cajun” people are not only Acadian exiles, but according to Wikipedia, they “also descend from other ethnic groups with whom those exiles intermarried over many generations, including Spanish, German, Native American, éMtis and French Creole settlers. Indeed, historian Carl A. Brasseaux has asserted that it was this process of intermarriage that created the Cajuns in the first place.[3]”

According to Wikipedia, “The Acadians were evicted from their native land Acadia (since resettled and consisting of parts of what is nowadays known as New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada) in the period 1755 - 1763; this has become known as the Great Upheaval or Le Grand Dérangement. At the time there was a war going on in what is now Canada between France and Great Britain over the colony of New France. This war is known in the United States as the French and Indian War, though it is generally considered only one theater of the Seven Years' War.” You can read more about this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun. There are several links to learn about Acadiana, Cajun cuisine, music, etc.

We hoped to take a swamp tour on the Atchafalaya (ah-CHA-fa-LIE-ah) Basin, but it just didn’t work out.  Even though we didn’t get to take the tour, to my husband’s dismay I’ve learned a new word that I really like to say. For me, Atchafalaya is right up there with Sacajawea, which became a permanent part of my vocabulary after watching the movie “RV.”  It’s a wonder that my husband can stand to live in a 300 sq. foot space with me.  (As I just read this to him, he said, “You’re a geek!)

At the campground there was a big green bus that was plastered with Bible Study Bus (www.biblestudybus.com), so we had to go ask what that was all about.  We met a nice family who was traveling around promoting their Bible study software.  We ended up going to a cool church with them http://www.mycrossroads.org/ and heard an awesome Father’s Day message.  They tape the services to show on local TV, so you can order DVD’s of the services....I imagine they are really good.

One evening we decided to head out to a local restaurant and taste some authentic cajun cuisine. Many restaurants in the area, including the one we went to, had nightly cajun music and dancing. Samantha was like a jumping bean, wanting to get out there on the dance floor, but wow, those dancers really knew what they were doing!

We sampled alligator, crawfish, and crawfish etoufee (ay-too-FAY), which is from the French word “etouffer” which means “to smother.” It is a stew made with a dark roux and served over rice.  Sara ordered a crawfish enchillada, which was awesome.  Very spicy! It was also her first time ordering off the adult menu....big night! :-) Marty also tried crawfish gumbo, and chicken and sausage gumbo during his lunches with the guys from work, and he said they were both really good. As we were finishing our dinner, about ready to leave, a HUGE storm passed through. We got a little nervous, but the band kept right on playing and the dancers kept dancing until the roof started to leak.  Everyone stopped, someone got a trash can under the leak, and the band and the dancers started right back up again! We decided to stay for dessert because there was no way we were going outside. Our waitress told us the restaurant used to be a greenhouse and really had nothing more than a canvas roof.  “It’s made it through 5 hurricanes,” she said, “but I don’t know how.”  That was comforting....

As we drove on Route 10 in Louisiana, we could either take Route 12 towards Baton Rouge, or stay on 10 and loop through New Orleans. We decided to do the latter. It was amazing to still see the damaged buildings, trees and fences two years after Hurricane Katrina. We couldn’t see much of the devastation from the highway, but the kids were able to see blue tarps still on the tops of houses, and they were able to see the Superdome. We saw lots of FEMA trailers all over the place. We also saw how the gravesites are in that area, tombs sitting above the ground due to the water table.

Coming out of New Orleans, it was just bridge after bridge over swamps, basins, you name it. Going over the I-10 Twins Spans bridge over the east side of Lake Pontchartrain was interesting. We went over several areas that appeared to be temporary bridging and we wondered what the damage was after Katrina.  Here’s what I found... “The rising storm surge had shifted bridge segments off of their piers or in some cases pulled them completely off the piers. The eastbound span was missing 38 segments with another 170 misaligned, while the westbound span (which we were on) was missing 26 segments with 265 misaligned...Scavenged bridge segments from the westbound span were used to fill in the gaps in the eastbound span...Prefabricated steel bridge spans were used on the westbound bridge in two areas to replace destroyed segments and segments used on the eastbound span.” It was very weird to drive over it...

 __________________________________________________________________

6/15/07 UPDATE:

Bugs don’t like my kids. I just finished programming our GPS for an urgent care facility in Bristol, TN because Sara’s ankle is reacting to a bug bite.  We visited an urgent care facility in Indiana, because a stuffed animal that Samantha won at “Kid’s Night” at a restaurant apparently had spiders in it (creepy, I know!)  Needless to say (and much to Samantha’s sorrow) that stuffed animal is no longer on board with us.  Such is the life of being on the road...

We are driving through a rainy Virginia as we make our way from Maine to Louisiana!  Marty just informed me that this trip will put us over 10,000 miles since we started at the beginning of March!  It’s amazing what we have been able to see in such a short amount of time.

Prior to Maine, we spent a week in Reading, PA.  It was strange being so close to home but not there. We pulled in Sunday evening and when Marty plugged us in...bzzzt...then nothing. All the power was gone.  We thought we had just blown a fuse, but such is life on the road, it could not be that simple.  We were without power (except some battery power) for almost 2 days.  The fridge was running on LP gas, and we had a few lights from the battery, so it was mostly just convenience things we couldn’t use.  Thankfully the weather was really cool so we didn’t need the air conditioner. We planned to take it in for service on Wednesday, but by Tuesday afternoon my amazing husband had it fixed!  That’s the part that makes me not nervous to be on the road... :-) Turns out there is a switch that switches when you switch from generator to shore power (got that?) We happened to have our generator running when we got there, and when Marty plugged in, the switch got stuck.  After taking things apart (I try not to watch!) he unstuck the switch and we were as good as new.  I’m sure there’s more technical terms than that, but that’s the explanation in my little world!

After leaving Reading, we spent one night at the Newburgh, NY KOA (awesome campground!) then we spent the week at Beaver Dam Campground in Berwick, Maine.  It was a great, small campground on a small lake (I guess it was actually a pond) and we loved it.  Marty’s parents drove up from Albany and spent the week with us.  We bought some lacrosse sticks (is that what you call them??) because Sara learned that Indians used to play lacrosse...have I mentioned that she’s getting REALLY into Indians? ;-)  We all had fun trying to figure out how to play.

We went to Portsmouth, NH (where Marty was working) one afternoon and wandered a little before meeing him for a great Lobster dinner. We wandered past a gentleman playing a Hammered Dulcimer and heard some really beautiful music. According to Wikipedia, “The hammered dulcimer (also known as the hammer dulcimer) is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. The instrument is typically set at an angle on a stand in front of the musician, who holds a small mallet, called a hammer in each hand with which to strike the strings (for the plucked Appalachian dulcimer, see Appalachian dulcimer). The word dulcimer comes from the Latin dulcis or "sweet" and the Greek melos, meaning "song". The origin of the instrument is uncertain, but tradition holds that it was invented in Iran roughly 2000 years ago, where it is called a Santur.  The instrument has seen somewhat of a revival in America in the American folk music traditions. It is also still played in Wales, East Anglia, Northumbria, the Middle East, the People's Republic of China and Thailand. It is also used in traditional folk music in Austria and Bavaria.”

Back at the campground, we rented canoes, panned for gems and fossils, and went fishing.  The girls also caught a caterpillar that started to cocoon. We decided it was probably better to leave it there than take it with us, so after a tearful good-bye, they helped Daddy put it on a tree.  It was a really nice, relaxing week...well, for Marty’s parents, the kids and me...of course Marty still has a full-time job!

*I included some pictures I left out last time.  There are a couple of a baby bird getting it’s lunch (yummo!) and some bees.  We were visiting our friends, the Bakers, and just before we got there Jason saw a swarm of bees coming into the yard. We’re assuming the queen must have landed in the tree and all the other bees followed.  It was amazing to watch how the bees just squeezed into place on the tree.

___________________________________________________________________

6/2/07 UPDATE:

Yes, it’s been awhile, sorry!  I’ve had a couple people chastise me for not updating our website...I don’t know where the time goes!

We’re driving along right now listening to our new CD “Bob and Larry Sing the 70’s” (Veggie Tales) and it’s hysterical.  It’s funny listening to my kids sing “Won’t you take me to....Funky Town”! What a hoot! We’re on our way to park for the night in our church parking lot. Woo hoo! I’m so happy we were able to come back “home” and see friends and Kelley’s parents.  We’ve really missed our church, so we’re happy to hear an awesome message tomorrow.

Since I last wrote it seems like we’ve been all over the place.  After leaving Wisconsin Dells, we spent the week at a nice KOA in Jordan, Minnesota, near Minneapolis. The weather allowed Marty to ride his motorcycle to work most days, so he was a happy little camper (pun totally intended! ;-)  The kids and I spent the week doing school and swimming at the indoor pool. I never knew campgrounds had indoor pools. I guess in Minnesota you have to have an indoor pool since the summer is so short.

After leaving Minnesota, we hightailed it to New York and stayed the night with Marty’s parents. The rig needed some work, so we left the rig at the dealer for service and left the kids with Marty’s parents. Marty and I then drove to Rhode Island for the week. It was nice to have some time to ourselves after living in this tiny space for almost 3 months! Wow, it’s actually 3 months TOMORROW that we’ve been on the road!  Hard to believe...

After the week in Rhode Island, we stopped back in NY, picked up the rig and the kids, then drove to Tionesta, PA (a small town near Erie) for Kelley’s college reunion.  Every year over Memorial Day Weekend, we all pile into somebody’s house. There were 26 of us this time.  I think our family got the most sleep this year since we all slept in OUR house instead of fighting for floor space! We had an awesome time catching up, watching the kids be crazy and reconnecting with each other, and just enjoying the beautiful country setting of Curt and Annett’s house.  I love it there.  Even though Annette made us play this crazy game that involved hula hoops, running with a cotton ball on a plastic spoon, and sitting on balloons.:-)  Everyone decided next year we should host...guess I better start scoping out some campgrounds!

After the weekend, we had nowhere to be for Marty’s work, so we hung out near home in Carlisle, PA. Can I tell you how happy I was to go back to my hairstylist? Wow, I needed a haircut!  One night we parked in front of Kelley’s parents, so it was nice to visit with them (even though it was too briefly!)  The girls were so excited to sleep in separate beds.  Unfortunately there was a bad thunder storm when they went to bed, so they were no longer happy to be alone! They still didn’t want to move into the same bed though...imagine that!

As I finish writing this a day later, I am sitting in the church parking lot, listening to the kids play with their friends in the “back room” of the RV.  We just went to an awesome service for “Kid’s Sunday” where the kids ministry took over the adult service.  It was so much fun, and Pastor Joel and Miss Karen did an awesome job team preaching.  It’s funny how there seemed to be a theme to the questions we got the past couple days. “Now that you’ve been doing this a little while, how is it REALLY??” We can honestly say that we are loving it and the kids keep telling us they’re loving it.  I have to say, though, that it sure is good to be home.

___________________________________________________________________

5/16/07 UPDATE:

The beautiful evening of grilling that I mentioned before was spent in Richmond, Indiana.  We spent the week in a nice little campground as a pit stop to our destination this week.  We decided to sort of take it easy and not try to pack anything into the week. We played some basketball, skipped rocks in the creek, and Marty taught us to play shuffleboard (I had no idea he knew how to play!)

On 5/11, Marty and I celebrated our 11th anniversary!  Around 4:00 that morning, I woke up and heard this weird crackling sound.  I sort of ignored it, then I heard it again.  When I opened my eyes, there was Sara standing there with tape and a piece of construction paper in her hand.  I asked her what she was doing and she started to tear up.  She said, “We had to finish our work.”  Now, Marty and I have been onto their “secret reading times” when they get out their flashlights and read after they go to bed (wink, wink!), so my first thought was, You’ve got to be kidding me, they actually do crafts at night, too???? Sara said, “If I tell you what we’re doing do you promise to not tell Daddy?” I said OK. Turns out they made streamers to hang up all around our bedroom for our anniversary! I helped them hang them up, then helped them get down bowls for the cereal they planned to bring us in the morning.  Oh my gosh, I love those little cuties! :-)

While in Indiana, we contacted a group called “Families On the Road (FOTR)”, who maintains a website for, you guessed it, families traveling or those who want to be. We decided to connect with them, and maybe make some new friends. We couldn’t believe it when we found out they were having their 2nd Annual Rally in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin over the weekend, and it was directly on the route we were driving!  We met some great families. One who just started full-timing the same month we did.  One who had been full-timing for over 15 years, and one who was staying in a local hotel, just coming to check the whole thing out! Sara and Samantha were instant friends with “Sarah K” and they had a ball all weekend.

We had never heard of Wisconsin Dells, but it is known as the “water park capital of the world”, and we could sure see where it got it’s name.  Waterslides everywhere you looked!  It definitely looked like a fun place to go in the summer.  The group had plans to go to the theme/water parks on Saturday, but since we had just gone to Hershey Park the weekend before, I was sort of “theme parked out!”  Also, we really wanted to see Wisconsin.

We discovered a horse show happening locally, so we decided to go check it out.  It was a beautiful day, and we got to watch some amazing barrel racing. Sara has been asking forever to go horseback riding, so we decided it was a good day to surprise her with that! We went on an hour long trail ride, and Samantha even got her own horse! They assured me she would be fine, even though she was only 6 and had never done more than pony rides. They did a GREAT job and we had an awesome time. The girls were so excited and can’t wait to do it again.

After a quick lunch, we decided to go try out the Duck Boat tours. They are those crazy boats with wheels that can go on land and in the water.  The Duck boats originated in Wisconsin, so we got to hear the history.  I’ve always wanted to ride one, so I was pretty excited. I have to say, though, I had no idea they went so fast on land!  We zipped right through the woods and it was so much fun.  The tour on the Wisconsin River was just beautiful. We had a hysterical tour guide/driver who really entertained us.

If you go, first, be sure you go to the ORIGINAL duck ride.  Second, you will get wet if you sit in the back of the boat, which is where we were. The first time we entered the water, it was nice and slow. The second time we flew right in and got a huge backwash into the back of the boat!   We saw awesome sandstone formations and heard interesting stories about them.  At Pulpit Rock, we heard quite a story about a preacher who got mad and jumped up and down, causing the rock to split in half. Then we saw the baby grand piano that fell off the pulpit as a result of his jumping (see pictures.)  We also saw a formation called “Hawk’s Bill,” which looks just like a hawk’s beak screaming. We heard legends and history and it was a lot of fun.

We also bought tickets for a jet boat ride, but the stormy weather was coming in so we decided to move on to our next destination.  The tickets are good for life, so hopefully we’ll make it back to Wisconsin Dells one day!

___________________________________________________________________

5/8/07 UPDATE:

As I sit here on a beautiful evening, a pork tenderloin on the grill starting to smell really good, the breeze blowing, the birds chirping, and the sounds of my girls and my husband giggling while they play basketball, I think...why wouldn’t anyone love this?

Even though today we blew the power because the inverter isn’t working right.  Even though I’ve got to force my kids to get some school work done when we all really just want to be at the creek. Even though I miss my family, my friends and my church.  Wow, what an experience we are having!  Where is God taking us.....?

We spent a fun week with Marty’s parents in upstate New York last week.  While we were there, Sara starting writing a play about Christopher Columbus, that she and her sister are going to perform for us...can’t wait for that!  We had the chance to go to  the NYS Museum with my mother-in-law and my neice and we all had a great time. Even my 4 year old neice got into the learning as we brought a school lesson into the museum. 

Sara is getting really...no...REALLY...wait... RRRREEEEEAAAALLLLLYY into Indians, so she LOVED the Indian exhibit at the museum. Did I mention she’s getting really into Indians? We learned all about the life of the Mohawk Iroqouis Indians in upstate NY, including how they lived in and made longhouses, the food they ate, how they made their tools, and what they wore when they married. We got to see beautiful rocks and minerals, which they also loved. The museum has an amazing 911 exhibit, which will take your breath away. Since the kids were with us, we kept our explanations very general.  I would encourage anyone who gets the chance to visit this exhibit.  It will really move you.

Last weekend we got to spend at Hershey Highmeadow Campground with our friends, the Bakers, their kids, and his parents. Saturday was opening day at the park, and they were celebrating their 100th anniversary.  The weather was GORGEOUS and the park was very empty.  Since we stayed at the campground, we were able to go into the park an hour before it opened to the public, with limited rides open. We had a ball. We had a huge milestone when we realized Sara is now a “responsible rider” and could be the one to go on rides with the younger kids....yikes! I think her shoulders got a little broader and she sat up a little taller when she realized that! I also couldn’t believe my little Samantha was big enough and brave enough to go on the Super Duper Looper!!!!  She went upside down!!!!

Oh, and Samantha lost another tooth in NY! My baby’s growing up....

__________________________________________________________________

4/28/07 UPDATE:

Hey there! Yesterday we left Union, Illinois, which is a small town northwest of Chicago. We spent the week there at a very nice campground - Northwest Chicago KOA. The hosts were awesome and there was a nice playground for the kids. Next door to the campground was an amusement park called “Wild West Village,” which unfortunately didn’t open until today, but looked like a fun place.

We were blessed to be really close to the city of South Barrington, where Willow Creek Church is located. Wow, what an awesome and HUGE place! The auditorium seats 7000 people on 3 levels. We were lucky enough to be there when Bill Hybels preached on “The Audacity of Love;” it was a great message. Pastor Hybels wrote a great book called, “Just Walk Across the Room” and I am really enjoying reading it.

Our other highlight of the week was taking the commuter train into Chicago.  It was a double decker train, so we sat on the top level and the kids thought that was way cool (so did I, I must admit! :-) I thought Samantha was going to burst out of her skin she was so excited! It was VERY windy that day, so we all got to experience Chicago’s nickname, “the windy city.”  I thought we might lose Samantha a couple of times.

Because this was a last minute decision Sunday afternoon, we didn’t do much but wander around the city a little, then we had dinner at a Rainforest Cafe. What a fun place.  You literally feel like you’re in the rainforest, with waterfalls and moving animals all around you. You also get the occasional storm when it gets dark and the lights flash like lightening.  We also shared their sinful dessert called a Volcano.  Let’s just say it involves chocolate cake, ice cream and a sparkler... As Rachel Ray would say, “YUMMO!”

OK, now for the not so terribly fun part.  Lesson learned - be sure to check the return train schedule, especially on a Sunday!  We sort of breezed over it and it appeared that the return train ran every hour or so. Yup, not on Sundays. We wandered over to the train station and just missed the 8:40pm train by 2 minutes. Unfortunately the next one didn’t leave until 11:30pm!  Fortunately there WAS another one for us to catch!  Since we had to wait 3 hours, we decided to walk a few blocks and see the Sears tower. Not wanting to wander around Chicago too much with the kids after dark (though where we were was amazingly clean, quiet and safe) we said, “Hey kids, look, there’s the tallest building in the world all lit up!” They said, “Cool,” then we walked back to the train station... woo hoo!

The rest of the week was just rain, rain, rain, so Marty was unable to ride his motorcycle to work, which meant he took the car.  Thankfully we were not affected by any of the severe weather last week, but I must say the girls and I were a little loopy being stuck in this tiny space for so long! OK, so the girls were fine....I was a little loopy!!! :-)

___________________________________________________________________

4/25/07 UPDATE:

Last week we spent in Elkhart, Indiana which, by the way, got it’s name from a nearby lake that looks like an Elk’s heart. I guess we now need a science class on how an elk’s heart is different from any other heart! Kelley and the kids got to take a field trip to an awesome hands on museum in South Bend called HealthWorks.  We got to see, touch and experience some amazing (an often gross!) things about our bodies. We drove past Notre Dame on the way to the museum...maybe next time we’ll stop and look around!

That part of Indiana is RV manufacturer central, so we were able to tour a couple of plants.  We went to Damon (who made ours) and Newmar.  Unfortunately, the Damon tour was after hours so we didn’t get to see anything in motion. The Newmar plant was unbelievable.  The quality of the craftsmanship was very apparent. It was amazing to see how they moved the RV’s to the next station. They put air pads under the tires, blew up the air, then three guys could slide the rig down the line.  Then they’d let the air out and do the next job.  We would recommend to anyone looking to buy an RV to tour the plant if you can....it’s a real eye opener.

We were able to enjoy some nice weather in Indiana and I have to say we are really looking forward to summer! Until next time...

___________________________________________________________________

4/15/07 UPDATE:

We had a great weekend in Luray, Virginia with Kelley’s parents, brother and niece.  We met at the Jellystone Park, made noise makers, and woke up the bears from their season of hibernation!  The kids really had fun with that. Before we left, we took the chance of finding Kelley’s grandparents’ farm that was sold over 25 years ago, and we actually found it!  The very nice lady who lives there now was kind enough to let us walk around the property and take pictures.  How cool.

After that we spent some time close to home in Pennsylvania. Marty seized the opportunity to have his motorcycle carrier welded onto the rig, and then of course he was finally able to buy his motorcycle.  He was like a little kid! Now he will have a way to get to customer sites and we’ll still have a 2nd mode of transportation. Unfortunately the weather hasn’t cooperated for too many rides... hopefully that’s changing.

Easter was spent with Marty’s parents, who traveled down from New York to camp with us, and with our friends who traveled 10 minutes from home to camp with us in their new Winnebago Adventurer!  We had a special Easter egg hunt (complete with hats and gloves because it was COLD!) to reveal a secret we’ve been keeping.  They each had to find a special egg with a clue.  The clues had to be put together for them to go in one of the RV’s and find out that we’re taking them all to Disney World!  I think it was almost more fun for the adults than the kids!

The big highlight was Samantha losing her first tooth! She was so brave she pulled it out herself!

_________________________________________________________________

3/26/07 UPDATE:

Wow, it's been quite an interesting couple weeks! We left Natural Bridge, VA on Saturday March, 10th and drove to Mechanicsburg, PA, where we "boondocked" (which is RV lingo for slept somewhere with no hookups) in our church parking lot. After going to church Sunday morning, we trucked on up to Albany, NY and stayed with Marty's parents for the night. The next day we headed to Rhode Island, where Marty had to train for the week.

After one week in the motorhome, we switched gears and stayed in a hotel, because there were no campgrounds open until April 1st. Rough life, huh? We thought the girls would be excited to sleep in a real bed instead of sharing the fold out couch, but oh no, they always have their own ideas...

They wanted to sleep in the CLOSET! The master bedroom closets at our past two houses were renamed as the girls' 'secret club.' As soon as they saw that closet, they got so excited! We ended up bringing their sleeping bags in from the RV and making it their own space. We think we know what our kids "need" to be entertained, but we are often proven wrong!

We left Rhode Island just before the big snow storm and literally tried to outrun it. We had to stop in Albany to pick up Marty's motorcycle carrier (which we planned to have welded on the rig that weekend in Albany) and we drove until 2:30am and landed in a WalMart in Carlilse, PA. We thought we'd sleep a little and see if the weather prediction stayed the same. We woke up to the "clink clink" of freezing rain, so we started up and drove to Virginia. I sat in the passenger seat with my laptop and watched the radar to see how far we had to go to get out of the snow. The cool thing was, since we are in a Class A, we could put the kids to bed in our bed when we stopped in New York, they slept all night, didn’t wake up when we started the motor the next morning, and continued to sleep from PA to Virginia! Can’t do that in a car.... :-)

We ended up spending the week in Williamsburg, VA. We had a great time (even though a train ran RIGHT past our campsite), and took the kids to Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg. We are all really getting into history - thanks to homeschooling :-) - so the kids really got into things last week. They acted out the battles at the Yorktown Battlefield, and had great conversations with the actors in Colonial Williamsburg.

Time to leave and we had our first OOPS with the motorhome. Two of our hydraullic jacks wouldn't go up! After many phone calls and attempts to manually raise them, it was determined that they might be bent. We called our emergency roadside service and they got the jacks up with no charge (woo hoo!) We still need to take them somewhere to get fixed (boo hoo!) so we'll see how that goes...

___________________________________________________________________

OUR FIRST TRIP:

We finally hit the road on Friday, March 3rd! We didn't get far as we just parked the rig in at a friends house and spent that night there, but the next day we made our way to Luray, Virginia. We spent the weekend at a campground there, but on Monday we decided it was still too cold. We closed up and drove a little more south to Natural Bridge, Virginia. It sure is nice to be able to say, "Let's just move the house!"

Natural Bridge was a pretty awesome display of God's creation. Marty and I had each been here as kids, so it was cool to bring our kids back to see it. We got to see George Washington's initials carved in the bridge, and rocks that looked like faces! While we were there, we also went to the Natural Bridge Caverns, where we were lucky enough (hmmm...) to see a few bats sleeping on the ceiling.