Experiencing our nation through its environments, animals, people and history.

Galatians 5:1

Monday, June 29, 2009

Puffkins Adveture continued...

















We visited the Jefferson memorial today. Puffkins was there too exept we didn't get a good picture of him.
Puffkins at the Washington monument.

Puffkins has already developed a strong love for ice cream! (He is quite teritorial about it, as you can see). We hope Puffkins does not get motion sick, for he shall soon be traveling back and forth between Shayna and Alexis every month. We bought him in the "Castle Rock" souvenier shop, which is in the upper peninsula of Michgan.






Puffkins even though he has only been apart of te world for a short time, has already seen the marvels of the Lincoln Memorial!!!









Puffkins in D.C!!!

Puffkins, the newest member of the family, has joined us in our advetures in our first day in D.C!!! Puffkins is injoing the veiw of the Washington Monument...

Gallaudet!!

Here we are!! When we drove onto campus Sunday night, Greg and I both sighed one huge sigh of relief... I guess we didn't quite realize that we were partly holding our breath the whole way across the country, hoping nothing would break down.....
Well we made it, with dear friends welcoming us outside Carlin Hall and the security dept very friendly helping us figure out where to park Winnie. We are all now living in the dorm, Cheryl's classes started today (monday) and the kids have already taken Alexis all around the city... They came back with FBI gear and I think they are itching to blog.
(Peekaboo... Winnie out there waiting for our next weekend adventure.....)

And the rest of us, running off to the pool. Gotta break up the time in the books somehow!! Love you all!! Cheryl signing off to go read!!!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Pittsburgh

Day 11: Truth be told, we are tired. We are sunburned and we are all funned out for awhile! We spent the day relaxing, reading, and napping at a Thousand Trails campground in Ohio.... a beautiful day of rest. Cheryl is trying to get ready for school.....

But until then... (Day 12).... we've got a baseball game we have promised to a certain Pirates fan of ours.

Parking Winnie was an adventure in itself. Let's just say we met some colorful recommendations on where we could put that $#&**&#$! oversized vehicle of ours.....

But it didn't phase us.

PNC is a really nice field!! The stadium used to be called Three Rivers. We like to learn about life through baseball. Here we learned that Pittsburgh has a strong Polish influence... they have infrietas (huh? better fix that) race around the field between innings.




Here we are before we got rained out.

All very worth it to get Jo and Huskie to their fist Pirates game.


Now, it is really time for Cheryl to get ready for school. We did make it on to DC Sunday night... it is such a relief to be on campus, and we are really excited to be here though I am too tired to register all that right now. It must be time for sleep. Good night, dear friends....
it has been an amazing journey and we are humbly grateful....

God is Good!



Cedar Point, Ohio

Today we are meeting back up with the Jacobs clan for a day of play, play, play. We have made it to the eastern time zone and we are celebrating!! Cedar Point Park in Ohio sits right on Lake Erie and we spent the day at "Soak City."
Before we left, we went out for one more ceremonial dip in our fourth Great Lake. The kids are sporting their America shirts, which the traveling fairy delivered for them today.
The Jacobs are now off to New York and we are on to DC.
Thanks for hanging with us this far!!!

Lake Erie

Day 10: Good morning Lake Erie!!
Now, I know you must be thinking that this sabbatical stuff is all fun and games.
But we have had some serious problems, you know.

Our bug bites itch.
The bathroom door handle broke.
There is also some silly knocking noise going on behind a rear wheel.

AND, a knob fell off on our oven.
(Just in case you needed to feel sorry for us......)






Tooo much fun.....




Oh man. This little resort in Michigan is rocking our world! We've got laundry... mini golf... waterslides..... it is down to just us (meaning Kalers plus Alexis) and we felt so at home here we decided to blend in with all the other full-timers and hang up our sign.
Woo haw!!

Next stop, Lake Erie.....

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Lake Huron

Day 8: Alright all you vicarious travelers, enough of this fun stuff. It is time for some serious travel school and today, geography lesson number 551....

We camped the night at Sraits State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is were Lake Michigan meets _________ and there is a big ol' bridge to get you to the Lower Peninsula. Anybody know what it is?? Lake or bridge?? Adam??!!

We went to go check out the night lights and also got to have a birthday party with Kadin.

We woke up the next morning ready to tackle our next Great Lake..... Lake Huron. This time we did just a toe dunk because we had big plans for the day as "Yoopers."


(pardon my son, being the monkey.....)

So there we are, our third Great Lake. Its kinda funny how much the kids are getting into this!! Josiah loves "teaching" the younger kids all about our great lakes experience. He has them all memorized with the "HOMES" thing....

(So this is where I would do a pop quiz. Which two lakes haven't we touched yet?) As Yoopers for the day, we checked out this tourist trap called Castle Rock. We climbed up and got a great view of St. Ignace and Lake Huron.








Again, only the brave went out to the edge!!

(isn't Winnie cute down there?)


We finished out the day going back to Lake Michigan with the Caversons (what a great time!! Love you guys!!) and then it was time to take Winnie on her first bridge!
It is the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) bridge, a 5 mile suspension bridge made of 42,000 miles of cable wire. It is tall enough for boats to pass through and strong enough to hold our load!!
It was also Winnie's first toll.... ten dollars and a few heebie jeebies later, we are off to the lower peninsula to check out a resort and to (hopefully) do some laundry!! Love ya!!