Jojo kaler

Hello this Is jojo kaler reporting from the Winnebago chalet. A.K.A. Winnie I am sorry I haven't reported in a while but I have been busy so this is going to be a long blog so sit back and relax. What you need a potty break go ahead ill wait............. Ok anything else before we start? Yes you may get water. Go ahead and got some food also. Alright I'm starting now
Day 5: you have to go to the bathroom again well I have to go to so I won't judge.
Ok let's try this again. Day 5: i woke up by the power of mom to see some place called jellystone. What is it now I spelled jellystone wrong? What I did it again oohhhhh your supposed to spell it Yellowstone well how was I supposed to know that I mean I've only been to the place it's not like I looked it up in the dictionary. Geez okay where was I jellystone ok fine Yellowstone. anyway, the first thing I woke up to was a bison out the window. Yeah not the best way to start your day after that we went on to see some pretty lakes burnt and pine bettled trees, and snow in June!!??!? Crazy huh soon after we went to a little station where we got our junior ranger worksheets. We did that until I found a page where we had to find scat and if you don't know what that is look it up. So we searched around and eventually found some elk scat which just my luck is the stinkiest scat in Yellowstone. Next after fabreezing ourselves which when looking back wasn't the smartest idea because right after we went to old faithful an got stinker up again but this tome not bad enough to fabreeze ourselves. Old faithful was really cool though. We had a little trouble getting back to the rv though. After that we went to some extremely beautiful and colorful steam pools some dark and muddy boiling mud pots. Then on the way out we had to find a ranger station to get our junior ranger badges but oh know we couldn't find one. What now I no how to spell know what they're homophones oh well you no what I mean. Anyway we eventually found one got our junior ranger badges and headed for Seattle Days 5-10 these days were filled with lacrosse games and World Cup watching. Also we we're thrown a party and went to JJ's would be graduating class if he hadn't moved we also went by and said hi (rhyme intended) to all our old teachers. Along with that we went to our first mariners game in a long time, toured UW, reconnected with reed and aunt patty, and went to Kingston island. When we hit the road on day 10 we met up with Chris and Brownwin. Who showed me my dream car the tesla and watched a very small 3D clip of my favorite movie the avengers. After that when I was asleep the soccer ball tooled out when mom opened the door onto a steep hill which got darker and darker as the ball got faster and faster according to mom. She eventually gave up when it was out of sight. Day 11 I woke up at bob and Liz's housemate breakfast there played with their bearded dragon then left for onienta gorge once we arrived we hiked into the gorge which was aboulutely beautiful finally when we arrived dad actually ended up jumping into the cold water of the falls. All in all onienta gorge is the most beautiful place I have ever been to and I have been to the Grand Canyon, mt Rushmore, Niagra falls, and other national parks. After that we left to meet some old friends of ours Nathan and Collin in Portland. We talked and caught up with each other. After that we went to Cathy's house where we met quite a few goats and chickens and a lama. We also played some wii with cousins. Day 12: when I awake we are in Monmouth Oregon. First thing we did was tour Western Oregon Wniversity or WOU. Which was where mom and dad met so we revisited some of their favorite sites there. We also met up with mom's old friend and went to a restaurant with kombucha on tap which was awesome for mom. After a 2 hour drive to Odell Lake we met up with my great aunt D and some other family. We also went on  hikes to the one armed bridge and around the lake. We also learned how to skin and clean a fish. Day 13: we headed off to Cherea's wedding which much to Shayna's happiness was quite short ceremony and to everybody's happiness very good cake. Afterwards we went to aunt Denise's house where we swam and slept. Day 14: I wake up to the smell of cinnamon heaven which turned out to be a so called cinnamon roll which I thought should be called cinnamon roll cake and arrived uncharecteristicly early to aunt Judy's house where we watched the USA vs Portugal game which if you didn't see it tied with 15 seconds to go in injury time. Such a heartbreak because if we won we would have automatically qualified for the round of sixteen. Never to fear we are in good shape to move on. After a wonderful dinner we were served cookies, drumsicks or torte which is fancy crust with cream cheese filling and fruit on top. She also bought us a new soccer ball.

Day 4 by Jojo kaler

This is jojo kaler reporting to you from inside what I believe is called "Winnie" STOP selfie time dunununuh. I'll be darned my selfies won't load. I will have to resort to using emojis 😁😃😁😃😁😃  today we went to 2 mountain carvings crazy horse and Mt Rushmore. When we arrived at Rushmore we ate breakfast and set off. First we went to the grand view terrace which was basically a platform with a straight on view of the faces of Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt, and Jefferson carved into the mountainside then we hiked along a small trail and got different views of the presidents. We then received junior ranger booklets that when completed we would get a badge for it. We watched a 13 minute film about the making of the carving and answered some questions about it then we went through a few exhibits and read about the presidents, sculptor, workers, etc. here are a few fun facts. It took 14 years to complete the project
90% of the carving was done by dynamite
The sculptor was Gutzon Borglum
The original model only had three presidents
There was controversy over wether Abe Lincoln should have a beard or not
After that educational stop we went to crazy horse an Native American chief who is a hero.this project is not yet finished but is a big one. It will be the biggest statue on planet earth. Now I'm sure some Martian has built seething bigger so I refrained from saying In the entire universe. Anyway the monument is not government funded at all in fact they turned down 10 million dollars in potential funding from the government twice. Chief crazy horse was a chief known for his quote look to the graves of my ancestors that is where my home is. We also enjoyed some Native American culture and craft.

By jojo

Hello this is jojo kaler reporting from inside what is called"Winnie"where five members of some group called the Kalers are traveling cross country ad high speeds of 60 miles an hour. But first let me take a selfie


We are currently 2 and a half hours out from Mt Rushmore can't wait to see that at night. On day 1 of traveling I went into work with the on they call "mom". The we took off and stayed in a rest stop bout an hour out of St. Lois. Once we arrived in the city we realized how much it looked like DC it even had a free zoo that we went to after a wonderful college tour and watching Shayna eat her free lunch we ended up meeting about half of the colleges police force because no one knew where we should park. The zoo was quite cool it had some really awesome monkeys. My favorite was a monkey that we called the twitch monkey because every time it moved it's head it looked like it was twiching. After that we took off towards Owensville and stayed at one of my top 5 favorite RV parks. The next day and also the current one we started off towards Mt Rushmore a thirteen hour drive the stops included a cool park with a pool that required swimsuits!!?!???!!? After that disappointment we were off again. And that is where we are now I will report back to you tmw but for now jojo out.
~jojo

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!

San Diego, CA

Greg says... please, can we move here??!!

Hello friends! It's been so long since we've posted... not really because we are busy (though we are...) but because we can't seem to find our camera cord to upload pictures to the computer! You'd think with such a small living space we wouldn't lose things, but...

ANYWAY, we are on a little west coast vacation and wanted to send a shout out. These pics are from LaJolla, CA- just outside San Diego. This city is Greg's "favorite place on earth"... I just can't imagine why!!

More soon!

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

Welcome back, to the Grand Bahama Island! We took a short cruise to spend the day out at our favorite little spot from last year: Paradise Cove. It's where JJ met the Eagle Ray last year, and where we decided would be the best place to celebrate 15 years!!

It was low tide for most of our day out here... which meant when we snorkeled out, we had to be extra careful not to step on or accidentally touch any of the coral.

Like a dork, Mom forgot her underwater camera. So you only get land shots this time.

We did see lots of fish, and got to swim amongst a pod of sea turtles!! One of them turned to look at us and looked like he was trying to say something. Only bubbles came out of his mouth. We think he was inviting us to follow along, cuz he didn't seem one bit bothered that we were there with him. He took us along where we got to see a bunch of his friends!! They are graceful and cute, going from eating the sea grass on the bottom to taking a breath up on top. Their big front flippers circle around in arcs and makes it look like they can fly!!

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

Ft. Lauderdale

Ft. Lauderdale is quite the contrast after coming from Stumpy and Peace River. Welcome to tourism, and a blast of big city squished right up as close to the water as possible!!
There are draw bridges going out to all the barrier islands and beaches. When we first arrived we caught the draw bridge up.

The buildings are this odd part of the landscaping... but part of what makes this town itself, so beautiful in its own way. We decided to try to find a less crowded place to enjoy the surf, and headed out to a state park a little farther south.

The boys had just as much fun trying to surf down the sand hill as out in the Atlantic!

This one is working on becoming a runner. She's pretty good about keeping mom moving when we get out and about... (oh, I do remember the days......)

We still love learning about all of God's amazing creations as we stumble upon them in our travels. Here is our treat of this trip: we think its why there was a red flag on the surf warning sign (waves were ok but there was something about dangerous creatures.?) Its a jelly fish like we've never seen out on the West coast...

Beauty, ain't it?!!

Now we're heading off for some more beach time out in the Bahamas. See you there!!

Stumpy

Right before we left Peace River, we finally got a glimpse of Stumpy out catching some sun.

Just in case you thought we made her up, here she is!!

Bye Bye Stumpy!

Thanks for sharing your river for Christmas and not eating Shayna when she got baptized!!

"White as Snow"

Shayna has been thinking about giving her life to the Lord for awhile now, and decided she wanted to be baptized "out in nature" on Christmas day. Never mind now that most people around these parts choose to do it in the pool (in case Stumpy decides she's hungry while you're out in her territory)... Shayna would have none of that! It was to be in the Peace River on Christmas day, rain or shine!

Fortunately we had lots of shine, both from the warm winter sun and from our precious daughter. She gave her confession of faith on the shore, before her peers and several traveling comrades, and then she and Greg walked out to the middle of the river.

(she did give a little "brrrrrrr" as her bum sank down...)

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit....

Buried with Christ....

And risen with new life!!

Amen!!