Omaha, Nebraska

We're having a big driving day... After a night of good rest and luxurious accommodations at our "new favorite camp site in Missouri". The camp ground had two indoor pools, pirate mini golf, a full recreation center, a spa and a free movie theater. The spa was closed but the boys enjoyed some indoor soccer, a pick up basketball game, mini golf and I took in "Man of Steel." I figured it was good cultural immersion since we were about to drive through the plains states and all.

So today is a lot of sunshine, grass, books on tape... We have a big hole in our map for Nebraska so we made an intentional trip over to Omaha. We picked a random park along our route and got a little reminder of our privilege... Some local kids came up on their bikes and looking at Winnie said "what the heck is THAT??!" Like it was a spaceship or something. They talked about not being able to swim much cuz their uncle didn't have a swim suit. I thought about all our stuff neatly organized in Winnie's closets. Privileged, indeed. The goal is to get to Mt Rushmore tonight and Yellowstone tmw. It's a lot of driving but everyone agrees at this point it's Seattle or bust.

St. Louis, MO

Our first day on the road after a long while... What a joy to have a full day to spend with my children!! They're into more teenage humor and are very smart... We laugh a lot making puns, or busting out in our accents, or enjoying some other random moment. Today we kept spotting people who needed toupes, it became a good little inside joke. It helps that we know sign language. We had driven through the night (we? I mean Greg) and stopped at a rest stop about an hour south of St. Louis. We had our first college tour at what we thought was a random school that kept sending sk mail, but turned out to be a real interesting and viable option for the kids (if they could handle being land locked for four years). So here we are... Our rising junior, freshman and enthusiastic tour guide.

Unexpected bonus- there is a huge park (Central Park style) right across the way, with free museums, very much reminiscent of DC. We chose the zoo for the afternoon, then headed out to an ROD camp on the hills.

EXCELLENT FIRST DAY!! Ps I'm trying to upload pictures but I'm going to go ahead and post while my phone and google have a lengthy discussion about this.

Hellloooo? Update??!!

Wow. it has been so long since I've updated this blog, it seems i need to update my entire computer to do so. this is a test blog... perhaps more is coming soon....

Abita Springs, LA

The Legend of Princess Abita....

Back during the time of the Spanish Occupation of what is now New Orleans, there was also a tribe of Native people that lived on the northern side of Lake Ponchatrain.  They were a peaceful people that thrived on a natural Spring and the lush wetland environment.  The Spanish Capital city was busy and growing, and one weekend a young man ventured across the lake for a weekend of rest and rejuvination at the springs.  Lo and behold,  he met a beautiful native princess named Abita.  They soon fell in love and married.  He took his princess back to the city,  where she learned the new culture and city life with her young husband.

Unexpectedly, Princess Abita took ill in the city and her body slowly deteriorated.  The young Spaniard was devastated as he watched his lovely bride suffer before his very eyes.  What became her dying wish was to return to her native Springs across the lake.  He made the journey and laid her limp body by the water, expecting to return in a month for her burial.

A month later,  he returned to the Springs and Princess Abita ran to greet him,  full of radiant health.  Instead of a funeral, the people celebrated the wellspring of health and vitality given by the Springs... and a town was born.  A place to go to cure all the  ailments of city life!

Now,  I find it poetic that the Kalers have happened upon this town,  the same year they retired from the camping life and bought a home, and the very same year Cheryl has been recovering from surgery and new foreign health ailments.....

So we spent a week in Abita Springs,  discovering its legend and enjoying a bit of refreshment of our own.  Many locals might be familiar with Abita Beer,  made also from the Spring water.  (We dared tried some of that as well...  not bad!)  Next blog will have some shots of our campground and other interesting tidbits of the area.  Cheryl has been feeling AMAZINGLY WONDERFULLY BETTER since our time here.  Coincidence?!

Hangin with the Boys in the Bayou...

 Hello!  We are down in LA for the week and I'm doing my best to get you some snipits of our trip.  First of all,  we are camping right next to a gator farm.. (where Jo went for a field trip last year, pic on left).  We are staying in Abita Springs at a lovely RV resort,  back in Winnie.  JJ will demonstrate how we feel about that!!! 

 We are on the North end of Lake Ponchatrain.  There is a nice 24 mile bridge going across the lake to New Orleans.  I read somewhere it was the longest bridge in the world, but could have sworn we'd already been on that!  Guess I'm remembering the tallest one.  Anyway,  it is surely long indeed.

 New Orleans has a nice flair of intertwining cultures and unique history.  Above is the St. Johns cathedral,  where the Pope has visited.  It's right across from a historical landmark- what used to be the capital when it was a Spanish province. 

 We had heard all about Bigneittes and Cafe Dumond, so we had to try us some.  The verdict:    YUMMMMM,  those French do know how to make a pastry!!  or 6!

One of our favorite New Orleans moments was finding this cool statue while we were cruising the River walk along the Mississippi River.  It was fairly hot and we noticed this statue was sweating.   We thought wow,  guess it sure is hot!  Then we heard some kind of shrill and then the darn thing moved. 

Turns out it was a very movable statue,  one that talks too.  He tried to get the boys to pick their noses but they were not so into that.  This guy was really fun to watch.  Much more interactive and fun than that other statue behind them!

New Orleans has a lot more to discover....  until then we are going back to our cozy camp.  Mom has one more blog on some Bayou nature if she can get to it!  Bye for now!

Happy Birthdays!

Well Hello dear friends! Its been so long since we blogged, I will be amazed if anyone will even read this. But here's to a new house, finding our camera cord, and figuring this out on a Mac! Many things have changed for us but many things are still the same....Like our kids, playing hard and making new friends. Into sports and school and still helping mommy...

(This is how we entertain ourselves at brother's soccer tournaments. Jo fancies himself to play football next year...)

Our newest addition, "LIl Rebel" saying "I like the new house"....

Our first big hoo-rah in our new house was hosting Grandma Sue, Bob and Traci (and their little tongue dog....) to celebrate our March birthdays.

Cheryl is still rejoicing in her big kitchen and took her turn in whipping out some cakes....

(Good thing Sue helped!)

While Sue was down we went to Baton Rouge for a soccer tourney. It was fun to have a mini adventure with Grandma!

But most of all we loved getting the family together and reuniting. And for the rest of you, we are happy to get back in touch with you too..... We'll have more catch up blogs, but until then...
Happy Birthday Grandma Sue, Greg and J0!

(Thanks for the great visit!)

Hi folks. Still looking for the camera cord! But here are some pics from my phone. Above is Shayna and her friend Kai holding the team championship trophy from the Rankin County CC meet. They finished 2nd and 3rd and were leading the race at one point until they got a little off course. Below is the "All Rankin County" team. This race qualified them to run at the State Cross Country meet as 8th graders! Proud of my Shayna!