Going, Going, .... Home

           The cross country trip is coming to a close soon.  It has been quite an adventure and I have much to add when I am not spending so much of my time driving.  (I will back date everything, but put in a blog saying so.)

         I think the kids learned a lot about this country and it has been an amazing experience to share with them.   The most important thing they learned was to enjoy each day for the adventure that it brought.  Some days were more fun than others (of course), but each day has been interesting in it's own way.  We have seen some of the most beautiful landscape that this country has to offer, and even in this TV generation; they loved seeing the simple beauty of nature.  They found joy in seeing bears and Bald eagles in Yellowstone, the Badlands of the Dakotas, and the wide Mississippi River.   I think I learned to let them make some of the decisions.  They always made good ones too.  They were better at seeing that we need to have a break.  Even today, they were able to see that as we drove around the University of Notre Dame, we did not need to go on a visitor's tour.  Seeing the grotto, the stadium, and "touchdown Jesus" was more than enough.  

          More importantly the trip and Honey's deployment has taught us how to manage without Honey around.  We have learned how to be a team.  This deployment has united us and taught us self reliance.  But of course we will be happy when our star player comes back and gives the second string a welcome bit of relief! 

Mall of America

          Today we went to the Mall of America.  It doesn't look that big from the outside.  Mostly because you only see one side of it at a time.  What really gets you at first is the size of the parking lot.  I realized very quickly that I needed to concentrate on where I was parking so that I could find my car a few hours later.   

          Christopher was SO excited.   He wanted to walk s l o w l y into the the mall to savor every moment.  Normally, trying to get this boy to walk slowly is challenge!   We then started to look for the stores that we wished to see.  The mall is enormous and no picture could really describe it, not that I took my camera.  I was too concerned about loosing the kids and I wanted to be concentrating on them. 

          For Elizabeth, we went to the American Girl Store first (because we found it first).  It was really neat to see all of the doll stuff in one place.  Since we are going to the American Girl Outlet in Oshkosh WI, we did not buy anything.   We then went to the Lego Store.  Christopher loved it, and of course we got some Legos.  I guess you can never really have too many Legos?!! I enjoyed seeing the kids having such a great time.   We stopped by the Apple store to ask a question,  Gap to get a pair of shoes for the diva and get a few pairs of pants that fit my skinny Minny Elizabeth, (that I don't have to alter, yeah!) and then onto the theme park.  There isa theme park inside the mall.  We luckily got to the mall late in the afternoon, so we were able to buy those ticket  1/2 price.  The kids had a lot of fun riding all the rides.  Elizabeth, Christopher and Rolo were able to ride most of the rides without me, so that made it easier.  I could let them ride on one, then take Keener to one her size.  We spent the rest of the night riding all the rides.  The lines were incredibly short, which made it a lot more fun.  I am glad we went, because the smiles were worth it.

Thoughts on America

We are halfway through our journey across America.  We start the return voyage in a few days.  It has been amazing and beautiful and really makes me appreciate the creativeness of God.  The journey has been crazy but fun and I am glad that I decided to take the kids to see America while Honey defends it.  People have been amazingly supportive of Honey.  I have had many people say thank you for Honey defending our country and thanking me for supporting him on the homefront.    I am happy to do it.  It may not be easy on a daily basis, but I think freedom is worth the sacrifices that the kids and I must make.  We will of course be happy to have Honey home again, but in the meantime, I am happy to be doing my own part to keep our country great.

And still More Yellowstone Pictures

Wildlife and natural wonder Photos 

I mean natural wildlife, not the ones I'm related to!!!

Steam vents and Geyser Pool

 

Buffalo and Buffalo calf

Raven & White Pelican
   

Mud Volcano and Steam vents

 

More Yellowstone Pictures

We are checking out the Boiling mud.  

 

More Pictures from Yellowstone.  The kids were having fun but it was a LOT of walking.  Don't worry about their crazy expressions.  We have "crazy pictures"  otherwise the kids would be really sick of me taking pictures of them.  It's a lot easier when I let them be crazy, I get a lot more smiles that way.   

The park is huge.  We would love to come back again.  There is no way we will be able to see everything here, but the trip has been a good crash course in America.

Yellowstone Day One

   

I have to say that Yellowstone is amazing.  Natural Beauty and Wildlife abound.  The only problem is that you stop driving every 1/4 mile to look at something new and different around the bend.  It is sort of a pain to keep buckling in Keener.  Here are some of the photos.  The pictures can never describe the sounds or the smells that come with the scenery.  Everything from bird calls and water rushing to bubbling geysers that smell of sulfer.  Definitely a place you should try to see in your life.  

  Yes that is snow, we drove through flurries yesterday too.  

Amazing, .... Snow in June!!

St. Louis High Adventures

See the High Adventures for the Day

While in St. Louis, we had to see the Arch.  Apparently this is really called the Jefferson Expansion Museum.  I’d been there before, but the details of the name had never stuck in my head.  It took us a while to go up all the stairs from the Mississippi River to the monument, but we had a great time once we went in and rode the elevator to the top.  What a fabulous view!  There really was a game going on in the stadium.

Bear with me as I make my first attempt at Flickr.

Louisville Slugger

The Entrance to the Museum.  The Biggest Bat in the World

 

Today we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum.  The kids loved it.  I thought it was very interesting to see how the bats were made.  The museum and factory did a good job of not boring the kids with too many details and giving them many opportunities to touch things and explore.  Here are the photo's from the day.  My only mistake was going on a Sunday when the factory was closed.  We got to walk through it, but not see it in action.  

Outside the Museum, where's Keener?

 

Babe and them

How many bats will this tree be?

That's one big glove!

The Bats the kids are holding are from this display case.  Not being a big baseball fan, the only name that I recognized was Micki Mantle.  I think Elizabeth is holding his bat.  Pretty cool to get to hold a real pro bat.

Smiles

It's nice to see smiles on their faces.  I am glad that they are having a nice time.

The Adventure Begins.

I'm getting ready for my cross country adventure.  It seems like things always come up to delay me (this time it was yet another bought of the stomach flu!!!), but both the kids and I are anxious to go and "see America"  We will post pictures of what we see on the way.  Hopefully it is not the inside of a mechanic's shop...., a hospital Emergency Room..., or any other place that we seem to normally visit before or during a trip.....