Where are we now?

2011-10-13T20:42:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-13T14:46:00.001-07:00

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!!

2011-01-17T06:48:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-17T06:17:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-17T06:07:00.001-08:00

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"

2010-12-28T11:38:00.000-08:00

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!!

Winnie Christmas...

2010-12-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we are back down in Florida, enjoying the simplicity and several friends from the road... as well as the sunshine and taste of sabbatical life that is now in our blood. We hung mini stockings in Winnie...

Got some new jammies and started a tradition of making a gingerbread house.

The note to Santa said "Please enjoy some cookies but you may only admire the Gingerbread house."

(by Jo!)

JJ's Christmas Program

2010-12-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

JJ's 5th grade classes at his school put together a program called "Christmas around the World". (like his holiday baseball shirt??!!) They sang songs from various countries and learned a few international traditions.

JJ's line was about Austria. He said "Once everyone has gathered around the Christmas tree, they all sing Christmas carols and wish each other a "Frauliche Whighnatcen."
And here's a little closing song for you...

Merry Christmas!!

Nashville

2010-12-24T08:31:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving we traveled up north a bit and had an amazing time with our dear friends the Links... and got to check out lots of new territory. Here is a quick photographic journey of our time...

Seeing downtown Nashville...

Checking out some trails...

Oh, and then there's the feast...

(we did eat more than just pie.... didn't we?)

Nashville has some amazing houses..

Including this one where one of the Oakridge boys has retired.

(Shayna wants to learn to carve like that...)

We were sad to leave, but took an amazing drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway back "home" to Mississippi.

Even got a Christmas card shot out of the deal.

THANK YOU LINKS!!

Fall in Missippi

2010-11-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Mom....

It's a beautiful fall weekend out here- low 70's, the birds are singing, and we're looking at a week off for Thanksgiving break. So I decided first thing, I must do what I have had little time to do since we've been here... take you (via my camera) out on a walk around our campground. If there are ever moments where I feel cramped in Winnie, I just take myself out for a little walk and look out instead of in. And here are little bits of what I see!!

If I'm really energized I take a jog out along/across the reservoir, but the camera doesn't accompany me on those trips. The Saucony's do, however, so you are still with me!! I hope you enjoyed your little tour of our backyard. We are headed up to Nashville for Thanksgiving. We're bringing apple pie and Mush.

Love, Cher

P.S. Since I know you are a good spell-checker and noticed my last two titles, I better explain. This one, I am acclimating... down here they don't pronounce the state with four syllables, only three. As for Jo's, that's how he pronounced the gig: his "pre-formance".

JoJo's preformance!

2010-11-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

To kick off our Thanksgiving week, Jo's classes did a performance at school. He was so proud,

and the whole show was very good!! Surrounded by grandparents and the holidays, I caught myself missing family... but at the same time being very thankful for the opportunities for us here. Check out the videos below for some 3rd grade choral entertainment from the South, and Jo's solo!!

GOOD JOB JO!! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Mission on Halloween-eve.

2010-10-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a Man in Black, so don't mess with me. My mission was to seek out the alien C.A.D.D. After moving to Mississippi, we found out that everyone here goes trick-or-treating on Saturday when when Halloween falls on a Sunday. When transporting to earth, C.A.D.D. accidently brought Buzz Lightyear with a green mohawk, stopped by the 60's, and picked up the singer Slash and his drummer. I spent most of the evening by myself keeping them under control, because my partners got lost in the pitch-black maze. Hot dogs and cotton candy kept my energy up.

Mission accomplished.

Settling in, and Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T11:27:00.001-07:00

Wow, here we are at the end of October already!! Things have been busy here, all settling into our school routines. It is quite a different year for us, instead of exploring America we are investing in a new community... which is still a learning experience yet rewarding as well. We've uncovered some more interesting facts about the "deep south"... like they have only recently stopped "paddling" in schools (a huge shocker to us), and the other piece... that a good lot of the folks here really miss it. I am SOOO thankful for my multi-cultural training that has taught me to try to understand things from various world views!!

Here is my favorite world view lately, the one right from our patio at Winnie. I love the flocks of birds that are migrating down for the winter, and sing to me from the treetops!!

Meanwhile, Shayna is off on her own adventure for the weekend. She went on a Junior Highschool Retreat from church.... it was so wierd for me to see off my baby girl I had to take a picture of the bus. She did leave behind her pupmkin artwork for us...

And now, to tell you about Halloween, here's JO!

This is Cadd: "crazy alien dancer dude"!
Cadd was the champion jumper at the Fall Festival. Cadd's favorite game was the basketball game. After all the fun and games, the fireworks came on. It looked like blasting mars!

Cadd wondered if they came from his very own planet!

Before he knew it, Cadd was face to face with his enemy: a Men-in-Black agent. He jumped and danced his way back to safety. If you see Cadd in your neighborhood, contact the MIB!!

Happy Halloween!!

Moving To Mississippi By Josiah Kaler

2010-10-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is Winnie. At first I thought it was no big deal but I was all wrong.

I thought that we were only going to leave for a year and then come back.

I was wrong. Beacuse we moved to Mississippi.

In all times praise the lord!

Welcome to Mississippi....

2010-10-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Anybody remember Jo's sad little blog about leaving Gallaudet? He wanted me to take this picture of him while he was really, really sad. Well, I'm happy to say that he is now settled into Mississippi and though "the transition was rough", he has decided we must visit Gally regularly but live it up while we're here. So I'm going to try to catch you up on our transition....

After a flight to LA (that's still California to me) and a blazing road trip up the coast, we can now officially say we made it back to the "Deep South." We are fortunate that our classmate and friend Wendy took the job next door in Louisiana, Cheryl's best friend from high school lives three hours west in Texas, and the Links are right up in Tennesse. But for the most part, we are on our own trying to figure out, what does "deep south" really mean??

Honestly, we're not sure yet. We're collecting data. So far it means catfish, family friendly, everybody has a church, and we're the ones with the "really strong accents." The Kudzo vine that has "taken over the South" really is all over the freeways in most of the state, (like in the picture above, it covers up the native plants) but we are in Jackson, which is the largest city and the capitol, and we don't see much of it here. Apparently somebody thought it would be good erosion control for the highways (it came from Japan), but oops! They didn't know it would like the humidity so much. The best story I've heard is how in Tennessee they've hired a committee of goats to handle it...

Anyway, of course our main reason for being here is for Cheryl's new job at MSD. So far, it has been a lot to learn... from achievement tests to character education to crisis response and remembering names, it certainly keeps me busy!! Every week gets better as I learn the school, the staff and the needs of the students.... so far, so good. (breathe, pray, balance...)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the kids are all doing great in school. Shayna made the Cross Country team (though she'll wait to officially start in track) and loves middle school. The boys love their elementary 3rd and 5th grade classes, and can't seem to bring home enough homework. Greg had his first substitute teaching job last Friday, and already has three days lined up for October, all at the middle school. We are still in Winnie, as it is a cozy constant for us.... and we do still love the camp life. Oh! Have you met our new pet?

This is a close-up of Columbia- she is about the size of an oreo. Not quite a dog but we do love her so!! And we love and thank our friends out at Refuge of Hope in DC for the gift!

Now back to the camping... the weather here the first month was atrocious hot, but fall has arrived and we've already forgotten about it. Now the days are warm (75-80) and the nights are cool. We are making some friends at the campgound.... including the alligator Betsy that hangs out down at our end of the lake. We have braved our inflatable boat out their once (the lake is full of alligators, and people water ski all the time....) and I was only a little freaked out as her little eyes came up out of the water watching us paddle away. Just a little. Enough for me to suggest we maybe take our boat to the pool....

Where we had so much fun playing Nancy Drew and capsize and every other crazy game with all the kids in the camp, I couldn't believe we didn't think of this sooner. And keeping Betsy in mind, I know Gran would think that move to the pool was very...

We're planning on getting out sight seeing soon, and we'll try to keep you updated with our transition. For now, there's school tomorrow so...

Nite Nite Y'all!!

Welcome to the Jungle....

2010-08-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

At this writing, we have interviewed in two more states and accepted a job at Mississippi School for the Deaf. We are currently in California and planning our trip back to the South... with a slight detour through Seattle, just for the heck of it. Really because we owe it to our kids. As for our mental status, we go from "What the &(*#($ are we doing" to "GO GOD" to "Life is a highway... we're gonna ride it, all (life) long...."So rather than getting all wordy let me share with you some visuals. We're moving to the land of the Bayou... yes there are alligators... if you are having a hard time picturing me there, just imagine this!!"I went sky diving... rocky mountain climbing....

and I loved deeper.....spoke sweeter....

I gave forgiveness I'd been denying...

Yes I hope someday you'll get the chance:

to live like you were dying...."

Golf balls and Graduation....

2010-08-07T13:02:00.001-07:00

At the Gallaudet graduation last May a speech was given that went something like this (paraphrased)....

Once there was a group of golfers playing a round out on a course. As they were playing, they noticed everytime someone hit a ball, it could not be found at the place they thought it landed. This continued on for some time... a nice hit to the green, a ride to the green and... no golf ball. They began to search harder and noticed that some of the balls were off in obscure locations. Sometimes in the rough, sometimes even closer to the pin. Since this was such a persistent problem, they had several opportunities to decide what to do about it: do we start over at the tee? Move the ball back to where we think it should be? Or should we just hit it from its new location and continue the game?

The golfers agreed that for the joy of the game, they should just find the ball and play it from the new spot. It added a little excitement, not knowing exactly where the ball was situated. It added new challenge, hitting from an entirely new location. It added some humor and humility, for there was no way to know who was in the lead. They found that as they welcomed the new challenges, low and behold the game was even more enjoyable than their traditional way to play...

What they didn't know was that along the entire 18 hole course, groups of mischievous monkeys sat hanging out in the trees, waiting for balls to be hit near them. As soon as one landed, they ran down out of the trees, picked up the ball and tossed it wherever they felt like aiming. Then they climbed back up the trees and made a good sport of watching the golfers figure out how to play....

The point of the speech being: better to be ready to play your ball, wherever it may be tossed. Things don't always work out as we plan, and what good is it to fight the monkeys?? Keep the joy of the game.

I remember loving the speech as I saw it, and I think I like it even more now. You see, it seems as if some monkeys might have tossed our ball to Mississippi.... and we are going pick it up, and play it.

Love~Cher

VA-KY-TN

2010-08-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

We left Gallaudet with mixed feelings of relief, sadness, and anticipation... as the Graduation ceremony in May was the highlight of our celebrating the accomplishment, this departure was tinged with the prospect of not seeing our Gally family again and the closure of this "travel to DC every summer" chapter of our lives. Dear, dear friends and amazing growth.

We drove straight back to Kentucky, all crammed up in Toby, then jumped back in Winnie and are now traveling South for some job interviews and hopefully the West Coast. It's a little ironic, actually, as we were all pretty excited about the prospect of Sabbatical being over... yet in reality, it feels as if its truly just beginning. Gone are the days of picking our city, working VRS, and exploring America on a whim... days where we were very much still in control of our destiny...

"Leaving Gallaudet" by Josiah

2010-07-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

It's hard to leave a place that you've been going to half your life.! Every summer I've been coming here and it feels like home. I love gally!

There is the all famus G

BYE BYE GALLY

THANKS GALLY

i am very very very very sad

Update....

2010-07-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

well I'll be a fried egg on the sidewalk....

I did it!! We are DONE!!!

It has been a hot, busy month out here at Gally... with Cheryl forging through the last month of classes and Greg going from State baseball tournaments to as many free museums as possible. He and the kids were supposed to post pictures, by the way, and they just might get to that....
someday....
Meanwhile, the Kalers are packing up and ready to head out to phase GOD ONLY KNOWS. The job options in Los Angeles have not panned out, so we are keeping our eyes and hearts open for other possibilities. We just might take you through some of them if you hang with us awhile longer in the journey... we leave Saturday to reunite with Winnie in Kentucky, then are making our way South.

(Yes, its been 100 degrees and disgustingly humid in DC. And we are going SOUTH. Don't you wanna join us??!)

It is with great pride, gratitude, humility and wonder that we have made it this far, and now Cheryl (officially) has a Masters in School Counseling to show for it. I believe I feel a party in the air....

Love n hugs.... the Kalers

Berea and Bandages....

2010-07-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

We've been wanting to learn more about the Appalachian culture while we've been here, so we took a day to visit the artistic community of Berea. It is located in the foothills of the Appalachians and is a town that was built around one of the first biracial and anti-slavery colleges (founded in 1850.) It is a tuition free liberal arts college where students work 10 hours a week to pay for classes. A lot of them make Appalachian crafts, including weaving, brooms, wood working, and making instruments. We happened upon a log cabin porch where there was a group playing dulcimer music... they were super sweet and stopped everything to show the Kalers how its done.

We also scored on some crafty items and a glass bead making demonstration- pure joy for the crafters in the family.. definately a must stop for you fellow travelers out there!

Meanwhile, back at the baseball camp, we took a break from the Louisville Slugger routine and decided to work on our balance.

Guess who worked the hardest??

White Sox, by JJ

2010-06-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

JJ had a great season playing on the White Sox in Danville/Boyle County, Kentucky. He made it on the 10 year old all star team, and guess what!!
They won districts and went on to State!

Lugnuts, by Jo

2010-06-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

This season I played in the junior machine pitch team, called the Lugnuts.

That's me getting ready to field a ground ball.

At bat!

That's us after the game. I really like my coach, he's nice!

At my first at bat I hit a homerun!

Its really fun to play baseball in Kentucky,

even though we're called the Lugnuts!

~ jojo

But wait! there's more....

2010-06-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

So I've had some good revelations this week....one of them is that no matter what job God has for me this fall, it's gonna be a good one and exactly what I should be doing. For now, I am a proud and grateful mother....

in Kentucky!

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on your heart."

Proverbs 3:3

Long Run Farm

2010-06-18T07:39:00.001-07:00

This camera and its ameteurs are leaving the bluegrass state soon, so we are taking some moments to appreciate....

Thank you Julie Cooper for the lessons and permission to photo! You have helped us love and appreciate Kentucky, and we are grateful!!

"Humidity Heaven"

2010-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

So at the time of this posting its safe to say we are all tired....

The 95 degrees heat lately has us all a little bit "sideways!"

Really, we are all missing the west coast terribly... we miss our friends, we miss Madrona, we MIGHT even be missing that misty rain that never goes away in Seattle.... out here we have thunderstorms that blaze through in a fury.
But! At least we have swimmable waterfalls at our camp! Can't exactly do that at Snoqualmie or Multnomah!! sigh......

Visiting LA

2010-06-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Oh.... the waiting, and the limbo. For all of you who keep asking "so when are you coming back?" or "Do you know where you're going next?" to you we answer, welcome to our angst. We don't know, we are waiting, we are praying. (do join us!) Meanwhile, Cheryl had an interview in LA last weekend and had the momentary bliss of flying "home." It was great to see my family, the kitties, even drive the mini-van....(yes! we are getting sick of the five of us in the Honda!) I got to catch up with Wapshaw and spend an awesome day with my bro and his fam. The only time I whipped out the camera was at the beach... a cold June gloom evening, which was quite refreshing after this Kentucky heat.

Aren't we getting big and CUTE??!!!

P.S. The interview was quite the enjoyable experience, and I hope they take the risk in hiring a nut like me. If not, we might have to just come back to LA anyway! Ultimately we know God is in control, and there's no sense in doubting Him now!! Hugs

Hocking Hills, OH

2010-06-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend we met the Michigan Caverson crew at a convenient half way point, in Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio. We were blessed with amazing scenery and an awesome time with our friends!!

We got to hike around Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and a few other waterfalls that kept calling our names. We also learned about sandstone caves... they are different than limestone caves (with stalagmites), in that the water carves out the middle soft layer and leaves the upper and lower layers of rock.

They sure make for good climbing ground!

We also loved trucking the dogs along in this adventure...

Especially when we found those beckoning waterfalls!!

We couldn't have planned this weekend out better if we tried....

Thank you, Caversons, for our years of friendship

and the bond in Christ that is forever strong!!

Where to next year??!!

Update, Summertime....

2010-05-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

School is out already for this part of Kentucky, and the kids think they should get the "start with the West, end with the East" deal this year... but Alas! Their parents are smarter than that. We are finishing up some projects, mainly a hand drawn map of our travels this year and highlights from some favorite spots. They have been working on a "museum" that they are anxious to set up, as soon as we have a place to do that.

I know its almost summer as we are delighted to meet several travelers from the west coast at our camp... and its getting hot. We have a spotty cell signal at our camp (know you'll likely have to leave a message if you try to call). The boys are full swing in their baseball seasons, which is fun, but also a challenge to manage with one car (the "scheduled lifestyle" is so much easier with two cars!!) We are hanging here, working and enjoying baseball, until we head back to DC in July.

I'll leave you with a couple of Josiah's latest quotes.....

"Mom, how did you get the message from the sanitary police that all children had to take a shower??"

"I see that the popularity of random junk is rising on my bunk. Perhaps I should make a deduction."

"Wow, you've been married almost 15 years? Not that you can tell in your communication, no offense."

more beach fun....

2010-05-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

Oh, we loved our time at the beach so much... had to include a couple more classic shots...

JJ catching air on the wave board (oops) and later building his sand fortress...

Jo trying to be like his brother, only with the boogie board... (hmmm)

That's it, hope you were as refreshed as we were! Now heading back to Kentucky!!

12 good years....

2010-05-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

First of all, Shayna has grown so much this year (in more ways than just height..) it is an extra special joy to celebrate her birthday this weekend in the Outer Banks. She is thrilled to be here (healthy) and be able to walk (and run) along the beach!
But little did she know, we had a couple surprises up our sleeves, especially for her. First, we sent her off on our traditional birthday scavenger hunt... which included a clue that she would find in Manteo (thats a little town on Roanoke Island, the first English "lost colony"...)

It's also where they do parasailing. It's been her dream to do this all sabbatical, and finally it came true!! We were going to send up her and JJ, but the wind started picking up (do you love the hair?!!) and they were too light, so Greg had to go along to keep them from blowing eternally behind the boat (some good solid weight to bring them down.)

Getting ready to be harnessed up!

up, up and away!!!

Shayna says "IT WAS AWESOME!!!"

The next day, we kept the scavenger hunt going by doing an amazing race type challenge at the hotel. JJ was guiding her via the cell phone to his present for her.... he managed to get her there without dumping her in the pool, though she did bonk a few walls and got quite a few giggles from the hotel staff.
She loved the challenge as well as the gift (a jewelry drill).

As if that wasn't enough, later that afternoon we took her on a hard core treasure hunt at the beach... where Josiah had buried a little treasure chest and marked the spot with an "X".

She had a less than accurate map that took around the K team for quite some time...

She finally found it and was delighted with the shells, coins, fools gold and even a pirate coin....
(good job team!)

In her free moments she is always creating... here is her little sea turtle,

and a starfish birthday cake!!

Happy Birthday Naynee!!!

It's been 12 wonderful years!!

Kitty Hawk, NC

2010-05-18T07:44:00.001-07:00

Hey!! We made it to the Outer Banks, take two!! This time we are going to be full on tourists instead of hanging out in the hospital. Our hotel is in Kitty Hawk, where we drove out along a road with many bridges. We were happy to be back by the water!!

The Outer Banks are the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, and are known for the sand dunes, wind, surf, several shipwrecks and pirates treasures.

The wind and the sand of these barrier islands are why Orville and Wilbur Wright chose this place to test first their hangliders, and eventually the first motorized plane flight.

(The kids are tying to catch thier own air.....) This is "Big Hill" in "Kill Devil Hills".. the place where they would take off and try to get the most distance with the hangliders. To get credit for the first flight, it had to take off from the ground and land at the same altitude or higher, so they did that down on the flat part. It used to be pure sand, but sand dunes shift... so they've planted lots of grass to preserve it and erected a monument.

They had a nice museum and a metal replica outside.....

That front part of the plane is called the "elevator," its what makes the plane go up and down and was controlled by Orville or Wilbur's left hand. They hung on for dear life with thier right.

They made a lot of attempts and did a lot of problem solving to get the first plane off the ground!! A lot of the principals they figured out here are still used in modern planes (for example, the elevator functions are now on the wings.) And did you know Neil Armstrong took an original piece of the wood and cloth from this plane with him to the moon?

We owe these guys a lot!!

Now stay tuned for our own version of flying coming next!

McSquizzy sees DC....

2010-05-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

A little post graduation hop at our favorite duck spot, before we take McSquizzy out for her first tour of DC!!
Whadaya know, it started raining.

So we took in the sights from the car. Here is one of the Smithsonian Museums of Art...
and then it stopped raining! So we got out for the Washington Monument.

Go McSquizzy Go!!

And then, typical of all our wierd weather patterns this year, it started hailing.

We had a moment to enjoy the aftermath

(getting Daddy)

And then it poured, poured, poured, with a wonderful lightning show while we drove south through Virginia. We were actually going to tent camp tonight, but the rangers at Chesapeake had a better idea... they let us hang out in the lounge!!

(Don't tell but man were we thankful!!)

(We love Thousand Trails.)

Good night friends! Next stop, the Outer Banks!!

Graduation, at last!!

2010-05-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

This "summers only" progam really turned out to be four years of a life changing experience... and even though there is still one more summer, we took this day to celebrate!!
The kids deserve the party as much as momma, they have been so awesome and supportive!!

"We each got awards from mommy. Mine the very supportive award. That's me getting awarded!!" -Josiah

"Mommy got an award too. It's the MARRIED GRADUATE STUDENT award!!"

Really an award for the whole family!!

With our classmates Wendy (Salem) and Jim (Boston)... Wendy got the department "Fran White award." Both have been an integral part of our family over the summers, and it was awesome to share this experience!!!

Amen.

next step...

2010-05-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

We've had a whirlwind of excitement wrapping up our internship here at KSD.... between finishing up soccer (Greg and the kids ran an intermural soccer league after school, what a blast...), saying goodbye (much harder than Cheryl expected....), and a funky internet connection (the system crashed at the school and we lost our wireless...), well lets just say its been difficult to blog. Now we find ourselves packing up Winnie (wait! how did we get so many books?!) and also packing up Toby (who has a new rear end after his time in Kentucky, looking much younger...) for a little celebration trip to DC. Hopefully we'll be able to keep you up on the excitement, which is likely to include:

-Checking out Charleston, West Virginia (see that little hole on the map to the right? Its been bugging us this whole trip. We are gonna fill it.)

-Taking McSquizzy to the Nation's Capital (that Kangaroo needs some excitement before school is out!)

-Celebrating Mommy's graduation (even though she's not quite done, it calls for a partay... check out the hooding live Thursday May 13 at 4pm EST [that's 1:pm for you west coasters] at http://atweb.gallaudet.edu/videoevent/2010/hooding/source.asp )

-Outer Banks, take two... (those of you who remember our first attempt might be especially interested in the second attempt, for our appendix-less girl's birthday!)

All in all we are feeling so fortunate for our time here in Kentucky... but also quite excited for the "next step." We are going back into "mobile" mode and will let you know the fun along the way!! Meanwhile, we're packing up!! HUGS!!!

Training for the Derby...

2010-04-24T14:31:00.001-07:00

This is the "Long Run" horse farm where Shayna does her riding lessons every week..

And look who landed this Spring!

(pictured here, 4 days old)

And then there's Shayna...
working hard, ready to take Puffkins to the Derby...

Where they will meet in the winners circle and put a ring of flowers around her head!!

(They do really still wear hats like this at the Derby. See "Dreamer" if you want to get ready!! Coming soon.)

Natural Bridge, KY

2010-04-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break, we spent some time EXTREMELY HAPPY back in Winnie, checking out the scenery in Kentucky. Our first stop after Indiana was out to see "Natural Bridge"....

We were surprised to find out that there are hundreds of natural bridges like this in the area.... (people in Virginia think that big tourist stop is the only one....!) This one is accessible by hiking, so we took a couple trips up to the top and actually walked across it.

JJ took McSquizzy up for a special trip of her own!!!

(She is so brave!!)

We had a great tme camping, meeting other travelling kindred spirits and goofing off in the river.

We also got to hike around some of the caves.... another amazing geological feature in this part of the country. The caves are so cool..... you can just stand there and catch a refreshing breeze no matter how hot it is outside.

The limestone rocks make for amazing creations!

Everybody with us now, on three say "ahhhhhhh......"

(one, two, three....)

We love to be outdoors!!

We are back hanging in the Fred now, with several promising trips planned while we finish out the year. Thanks for checking in and all your support.... the NCE is done, and three more weeks til Cheryl flips the tassel!!!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year we got to join KSD with their egg hunt, which was a cooperative relay effort. As the intern I had the great idea that they should take turns and race out to get the eggs, like me and my brothers used to when we got old enough to need some competetive excitement. As the intern I didn't know that we had enough eggs for each student to get 25 EACH... which meant when the relay was finally over, each team had raced out on that lawn 125 times!! We modified the marathon toward the end, but it was good fun and everyone wondered "why is it so much easier to get exercise when you are chasing after candy?"

Then later we rejoined Winnie (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, welcome home.....) and got back into life on the road, even for a week. Amen for rebirth indeed... we are all so happy in Winnie, its kinda wierd. It's been almost a year! So we made it up to Indiana, stayed at a TT camp, met up with the bunny, did a little local church, soaked up Indy, and then made it out to the fresh air--- our next blog. Hey Ron, remember when you dressed up as the bunny for Jo's birthday party in Lynnwood? It's all we could think about when we saw this dude...
Thinking of you!! Love ya!

The Hoosier State

2010-04-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Indianapolis

Well, we are close enough to Indiana that we decided to start off our Spring Break catching some "final four" excitement. When else will we be able to do this??!!

The stadium was open to watch practices the day before the final four games- JJ and Greg went in and watched Duke, and then the all star game, which was "Recess Vs. Hershey Chocolate." We thought that was funny, because we've been to Hershey and we know they make Recess. How silly. But we liked the freebies.

The boys also got in on a little NCAA coached "clinic" action.... the score of the weekend, for sure, as it was free and now we've "been there, done that, got the t-shirt!"

We thought Kentucky was into basketball, Indiana is nuts about it. The camp we stayed at had someone on the court ALL THE TIME (All ages). And of course there was quite a bit of Butler excitement around here, it was easy to get caught up in it!!

But basically we just love basketball, and had a great time in "Bracket Town." Even Shayna got into it and had a good time.

So here we are, the latest family shot.... Shayna is not standing on her toes, however I do believe JJ is on his knees.

HUGS!!

PS, While we were here we tried to find out what a "Hoosier" is. Impossible task. Even the locals don't know, their favorite is that "everyone round here once came up from Kentucky, and it means "Whoosier daddy?" (sad!)

Happy Spring!!

2010-03-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

Check us out!! Awhile ago we went to a "civil war trade show" and got to learn all about making bullets, crafts, games.....

We let McSquizzy and Puffkins do most of the fraternizing.... (people like them, especially thier stories!)

And we also scored on a couple good tools. Ever since then Shayna has a new hobby (you'll see below...)

Meanwhile, it's Spring!! The Kentucky bluegrass is starting to grow (its what makes the thoroughbreds really strong, did you know?)

and the birdies like it too.

Here is Shayna's cool tool.... do you know what she does with it?

(Hint, she had to wait for the Spring sunshine to use it.)

She got the idea from a guy down in Florida who was at the beach making "it's five o'clock somewhere" signs. She's so creative. But I don't know if this hobby would survive in Seattle...

Meanwhile, all is well with the internship (four more weeks!) and we look forward to getting the crew out and about next week over Spring Break. Good ol' Winnie is ready to be de-winterized, if we can get her charged up! She is good and dead over in storage, ouch!! And we are going to try to get the kids out of thier books and into the woods again, catching fish. Look, they've spent so much time in the library with homeschooling over the winter, they are famous!!

Happy Spring, friends!!

March Madness!

2010-03-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well, if you're into basketball you know why everybody around here is going crazy....

It's those Kaler boys, ripping it up on the basketball court!
Of course the real March Madness is somebody's birthday...

The
BIG

8
!!!!!!!

We rustled up a few Kentucky friends......

(thank you everyone!!)

We played games, enjoyed the sunshine, and Jo of course appreciated all of his great gifts.... the highlight being-

his new jersey!! Which led to a confession.....

(sorry dad....)

He is officially a UK fan.

Happy Birthday Josiah!!!

St. Louis

2010-03-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

Cheryl had a counseling conference in Kansas so the Kaler's loaded up and took Cheryl to St. Louis for the day before returning to the dorms. We were able to visit three new states. The first was Indiana. Wait, wasn't Abe born in Kentucky and wasn't he really from Illinois? We learned more about Abe's childhood on the drive. He was born in Kentucky, moved to Indiana when he was eight and lived there until he was 21. It was then that he moved to Illinois. Each state likes to claim him as their own of course!

Cheryl was driving so Greg got the chore of trying to take the state sign picture while driving. You can see the result here. Personally, I (Greg) think the picture is very artistic. You can see the Illinois state sign in the background (sort of). Shayna thought that the States try to annoy the travelers by having the welcome signs in difficult locations to photograph.

Another "artistic" shot of a welcome sign. This time it's Missouri.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial otherwise known as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. Big thanks to our friend Barb for taking such good care of all the Kaler's on this trip. Barb and Cheryl continued to Kansas from here.

All the Kaler kids brought a friend along to see the sights.

Under the Arch is a huge museum that comemorates the westward expansion of settlers. St. Louis was considered the "Gateway" to the West. Scores of settlers began their trek westward here and across the state in Independence. Here we learned about the peace medals that the settlers gave the Native Americans to build peaceful relationships. Sadly they were often used as tools to rob the Native Americans of their skills, produce and land.

This is Pioneer Pete. He was great! He taught us what daily life was like for families on the trails. Here he is showing us one of the toys that kids often played with. He told us about the hand cart that some of the older folks like him might pull on the trip. They would pull these carts that weighed hundreds of pounds about 15 miles a day. This normally took all day. He also told us about the job that the kids had every day when they arrived at camp... collecting Buffalo chips to burn in the fire. In the picture below Greg is holding one.

He also taught us about the four major trails that went westward. Can you name them? I'll give the answers below.

Since the Memorial is ran by the National Parks Service, the kids participated in the Jr. Ranger program. They are being sworn in by the Ranger here after completing their booklet.

The brave Kaler's (and Barb) decided to go up the Arch this time. Puffkins and McSquizzy are getting weighed here in the waiting area. Looks like McSquizzy has few ounces on Puffkins.

The Arch stands 630 feet high and there is 630 feet between the two bases of the Arch. You have a pretty good view of the city and the surrounding area from this height. McSquizzy is looking down at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. This stadium just hosted the MLB All Star Game last summer. I wonder how many fans took in the game from this vantage point?

This is the Old Courthouse Building. It's part of the park so we thought we'd check it out as well.

A few more Arch pictures before we head to the Old Courthouse Building.

Do you see the reflection of the courthouse on the glass building across the street? We thought it was pretty cool.

View of the rotunda. There was some beautiful artwork

We were all pretty beat from the long day of travel and the excitement of the Arch so it was just a quick look around the courthouse and then back to the car for the trip home. This was the view from the courthouse steps.

So what were the four major trails leading westward?

1. The Oregon Trail. I hope you all got that one (especially our Oregon readers...Mom that's you). This trail covered 6 states and over 2000 miles. It took settlers about four months to make the journey.

2. The California Trail. Settlers on this trail followed the Oregon Trail to Idaho and then would head South from there. Many of the Settlers on this trail were part of the Gold Rush. They were often referred to as 49ers.

3. The Santa Fe Trail. This trail of 780 miles was used by traders and the military.

4. The Morman Trail. The Mormons used this trail in search of a place to worship in peace without persecution. They eventually ended in up in what is today Salt Lake City some 1,300 miles from Missouri.

If you want a little more details description of the four trails try this: www.mrnussbaum.com/history/trails.htm

Guess who got new glasses?

2010-03-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the "we're proud of our corrective lenses" dorm!

Play on!

Kentucky Horse Park

2010-03-07T13:39:00.001-08:00

Lexington is known as "the horse capital of the world."
It has the Kentucky Horse Park, where we got to visit several retired race horses, like Funny Cide (who once won the Kentucky Derby), Cigar (the second most winningest horse in North America), Da Hoss, and Staying Together.

They were all 15 to 18 hands high.

Everybody in Kentucky knows horse names. Especially the statue above, Man-o-War. He was a big Kentucky Derby Horse. Ever seen Sea Biscuit? He beat "War Admiral", Man-o-War's son. We've met quite a few families who have farms around here with descendants from that line.
(its a really big deal!)

We rode in a horse drawn trolley and got to visit with the ferrier...

(the guy who takes care of the horses feet. Or rather, their nails.)

He spent a lot of time with us and gave us horse shoes from a horse named Sandy.

The Kentucky Horse Park will host the 2010 Equestrian games this summer. Its like the Olympics on horses, and it's the first time its ever been held outside of Europe!

(Puffkins, McSquizzy and Joey were impressed.)

Meet McSquizzy!

2010-02-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

We finally got a weekend of sunshine, but more importantly, we got a visitor!!!
Meet McSquizzy!! McSquizzy came all the way from Australia, to Seattle, and then to Kentucky. In Seattle the SND class got her all ready for an action packed vacation with the Kaler family. For our first weekend of sunshine, we took her out to see a historic Shakertown village.

The Shakers are known for their craftsmanship and devotion to God and community.
This village in Pleasant Hill has been preserved for adventurers like us!

(look at the door at the top of the building. Its the highest point in the county, where Shaker villagers would watch for armies coming during the Civil War. They were neutral and helped care for both armies, but made sure they weren't there at the same time. Anyway, keep that door in mind for later.)

McSquizzy got to try her paw at stitching!

McSquizzy wanted to find out about this giant creature sniffing her, so she sniffed it back!!

She also got to taste some maple tree sap, which was being collected to make maple syrup.

She enjoyed checking out the village....

and seeing things from new heights.

and new temperatures!!!

The only mishap of the day was a three story headlong fall down the staircase bannister (in the tallest building of Mercer county.) McSquizzy really startled the Shaker woman in the rocking chair when she flew by her head and landed right at her feet!!

McSquizzy is liking the adventures and making new friends. Stay tuned!!

Home is....

2010-02-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

A fluid term, indeed. Last Wednesday I (cheryl) boarded a plane to squeeze in a work weekend in Seattle to help get us through the rest of the internship (which is going quite well, by the way!!) It was blizzard conditions in Kentucky, the kind where the snow is blowing horizontally and stings your face. After a brief de-icing, the flight was uneventful, and I arrived to Seattle in its normal, wet concrete state... thinking how wierd is that, to travel around the country for 9 months, taking our time, seeing the sights, learning to chill.... only to (ziiiiiiiiiiip) fly back in 7 hours.

It's got me thinking about home.... the physical one I'll check on in Lynnwood while I'm here, the Winnie one missing its inhabitants, the future one .... ???? I think about those without one at all, those that share with many (thank you Browns!!), and our ultimate Home. I'm thinking about my precious family hanging out in the dorms, while I galavant around and get to see some of their friends. I'm thinking of my precious hubby, home in my heart, who misses Florida and has done all the laundry all year....

Wow, I am blessed.

Let me send out some love to my precious family... Happy Valentines Day, you Kaler Kiddoes... Bring on the blizzards, I'll be 'home' soon! -Mom

Snowed in.....

2010-01-31T10:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, when the first flurries came it was all excitement!! Then last Friday night we were enjoying game night and it really started coming down. We made it back to the dorms in about four inches of snow...

Then the next morning we had about 7 inches and it was so cold, even Sherpa needed some protection. It was apparently getting to 4 with the wind chill, the official temps reading between 12-18. But it didn't stop the Kalers... we had been blessed with a couple loads of snow clothes, so away we go!! We are going for the full student experience so we went sledding on a cafeteria tray....

That plus some teamwork and a sled, and we were having a grand time!!..The next day, the sky cleared and the sun came out, and we were at it again. We even missed chruch cuz well, the roads weren't plowed...

Look Tina! Totally healed!! :)

Lesson number one: we must balance our desire to go next with the need to help the one who just crashed.

Or, you can all crash together!!

Tru biz... even Mommy and Daddy took a ride...

Final lesson: snowed in at the dorms, not so bad!! Here's some video if you want the full effect!! Now for me... back to the books....

The Kentucky Derby

2010-01-27T11:16:00.000-08:00

Imagine yourself going 35 miles per hour on a chestnut brown thoroughbred with 13 other horses jockeying for position. As you lean into the final turn, mud is flying everywhere, your heart is beating like crazy and you realize you're about to win. That is probably what it felt like for Oliver Lewis when he and his horse, Aristides, crossed the finish line of the first Kentucky Derby. It must have been exciting for him to win what is called the "most exciting two minutes in sports!"

Have you ever wondered where thoroughbred horses came from? "Historians say that it all started way back in the late 1600's and early 1700's. There were three kinds of horses, Darley Arabians, Godolfin Arabians and the Byerly Turk. In less than 100 years the lines of lineage crossed enough times to make an independent breed called the thoroughbred." Marsh, Carol The Mystery at the Kentucky Derby.

Horse racing has been around since Native-Americans roamed North America. In the late 1800s horse breeding in Kentucky became popular. Meriweather Lewis Clark Jr. established Churchill downs in Louisville. Does that name sound familiar? It should, he is the grandson of the famous explorer William Clark. In 1875 the first Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs.

The Kentucky Derby is one of three events that make up the "Triple Crown" of horse racing. the Triple Crown includes:

The Kentucky Derby held in Louisville, Kentucky in early May.

The Preakness Stakes held in Baltimore, Maryland in mid May.

The Belmont Stakes held in Belmont Park, New York in early June.

When Oliver Lewis rode to victory in the first Kentucky Derby it inspired many African-Americans to learn how to ride horses. It paid off because 15 of the next 28 Kentucky Derby's were won by African Americans. There has only been one African-American in recent history to ride however. Marlon St. Julien rode in the 2000 Kentucky Derby.

The Derby is referred to as the "Run for the Roses" because the winning horse is given a blanket made up of over 100 roses.

Post by JJ

Kentucky by Josiah

2010-01-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody. Here are some facts I learned about Kentucky.

Kentucky is home to of the longest caves in the world. Mammoth caves and Fisher Ridge Cave System. (Hopefully, we'll get to visit one or both of these and show you some pictures!)

The capital of Kentucky is Frankfort.

The largest city is Louisville. Below is a picture of downtown Louisville.

The total area of Kentucky is 40,409 square miles.

The highest point is Black Mountain that stands 4,145 feet high.

It is the 36th largest state and is about as big as Iceland or half of Minnesota.

US President Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Derby is the oldest organized sporting event in the US.

I really like Kentucky. My favorite thing so far has been the basketball. I've realized that the team that I'm on is really on focusing on learning more about Jesus. It's called Upward.

I also like the Kentucky School for the Deaf basketball team.

This is a pictures of Jacobs Hall on the campus of KSD. RJ, is this named after you?

See you later from Kentucky

Josiah

Kentucky!!

2010-01-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

Our arrival to Kentucky was in the middle of a cold snap... many of the hills and cliffs had icicles that made the kids think "we're in Narnia!!"
Since our arrival it has warmed up a bit and melted, and next few days have serious snow in the forcast, we'll see how it goes. We'll also be here in Kentucky awhile.... you're likely to get quite a few Kentuckian adventures. We are already enjoying the benefits of settling down for awhile, especially.... the library! The boys are also playing Upward basketball and loving that. We are in cultural encounter mode, realizing this state is serious about a few things: horses... and basketball. And cheerleading. The upward teams have cheerleaders (Gimmie a V! Dot that i! circle that C.......T-O-R-Y! too cute) And apparently Obama even called the UK basketball coach yesterday, congratulating them on thier Haiti fundraising... (but he messed up thier undeafeted record....)... anyway, we're in for some good learning and all is well. Mom is busy with her internship so kids will probably keep you updated about once a week. HUGS

Smoky Mountains, Tenn

2010-01-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

After our big Atlanta day, we continued on for a quick stop at Chick-fil-A (we had abandoned the headquarters in liu of MLK, but managed to find some nuggets just the same.....) and spent the night at Greg's brother's place in Chattanooga, Tenn. It was great to catch up real quick and realize how close we are up here... hopefully we'll explore a bit more with Bob and Tracy in the Spring. Perhaps we'll blog their dogs here soon!!
The next day we ventured on for a little detour to the Smoky Mountain National Park. It sits on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina... and we were happy to see some mountains again!! It is pretty darn flat down there in the swamplands, and now these really are looking like big mountains. I'm sure we'll be flabbergasted when we finally get back to Rainier!!

We had promised the kids some snow this year... and not sure how it will go in Ky, we made this our big snow day!

It was pretty chilly.... but fun to see the creek almost entirely frozen over,

and the kids throwing snowballs!!

We are happy to announce, Josiah has now officially outgrown his fear of snow. He would never touch the stuff in Seattle, but he said "this day is perfect and I'm actually having fun!!"

Carpe Diem....

next stop, Kentucky!

Atlanta, GA

2010-01-20T16:32:00.001-08:00

Our day in Atlanta turned out to be a day we'll never forget. We wanted to see the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr-- and we found not only his birthplace, but an entire National Historic site that includes his home, his grave, his church and an incredible museum repeating his message. The part of Atlanta where MLK grew up was a segregated all black neighborhood. His family was middle class, and every day he came out to see a block divided with low income workers who lived to his left, and wealthier doctors and insurance agents to his right. Inequality was ever before him. His father also would not support any institutions that were segregated, such as hospitals. Therefore Martin and his brother and sister were all born at home.
Most everyone knows the sad ending to Dr. King's life, but it was powerful for us to learn more about the beginning, and the middle. The wagon pictured above is the very one that carried his body during his funeral procession. It is a humble, simple wagon to signify his work and comraderie with the poor. Did you know that MLK served several years fighting for the rights of underpaid workmen? We were humbled by the extent of his work: the civil rights movement, the Southern Christian Leadership conference, political work, workers unions, the list goes on. While we were there we listened to his message given the night before he was shot. He said "We might not make it to the promised land together, but I promise you, we will make it...... and at my funeral? Don't tell them about my degrees, about my awards, about my nobel peace prize. And don't let them talk too long. Tell them if I did one good thing in my life, it was to love my fellow man...." (paraphrased)
Above is the church where MLK's father and grandfather preached. His first congregation was in Montgomery, Alabama- the same place where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, where MLK was voted the leader of that movement and started a year long political struggle to end segregated bus lines. He eventually moved back to Atlanta and co-pastored Ebeneezer church with his father. This original church is being restored and will be open for tours soon. Below is the modern Ebenezer church, that packs a full house every Sunday.
The kids did the work to become junior rangers for the museum. In the process, we got to meet a reverend who marched along with MLK, and is about to retire from the park service (pictured below with the hat) as well as receive some testing and encouragement from one of the younger rangers. While we were there, several homeless people came in-- I suppose taking a break from the cold. The back two rows of the movie theater where they showed movies of MLK's life were filled with homeless African Americans. A powerful message: is MLK's work done? Just because we have our first black president doen't mean "we have arrived." Racism, privelege, ignorance and poverty are real issues today and one that I myself am guilty of "forgetting." I hope I am forever changed by remembering and experiencing MLK's life and message this day in Atlanta.

Georgia...

2010-01-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

We left Florida with fondness in our hearts and a little chill in our bones.... heading north into the next phase of this adventure, called Mommy Doing Her Internship. Its actually the main thing that inspired this creative venture for the year, so in a way, its like we've just taken a really long scenic route to get to Kentucky. None of us really know what we are getting into. However, this year has taught us that no matter what it is, it will likely be amazing and we will surely learn a lot. So away we go.

We stopped the first night in Southern Georgia, where it was even colder, but Jo still got out and played mini-golf. He's doing research, you see, for a future Kaler RV camp where people can play putt-putt for a dollar a game. He wants to design the course. MAYBE they can play for free.

In Georgia they said we must leave the water running ONE PINKY thick so the pipes don't freeze.... none of this drip drip stuff we got away with in Florida. Welcome, rookie RV lesson number $%##*??. Its called pinky-thick water will fill up your holding tank in.... hmmm, judging by the water dripping down our steps and forming icicles on Steppie on the way down, must have been about 5 hours. But at least our pipes didn't freeze, and we got a bonus mopping out of the deal!!

The next morning we were blessed with a free pancake breakfast... at 7:am no less. Good to get us up and going. At breakfast we were asked several times Don't you know you're going the wrong direction? and aren't we going to stay til Friday? There's pecan pancakes on Friday. There's also a civil war prison camp we could see, and will you be here Sunday? On Sunday we could go see Jimmy Carter teach Sunday school, just down the road. (Seriously.. I checked it out... )

But alas, we had just enough time to find all this out and recieve bits of encouragement from our on-the-road comrades. We really could spend a week at each little stop. But we're off... heading north on the 75 and excited to visit the birth place of Martin Luther King Jr and learn more about the civil rights movement. And maybe check out Chick-fil-a Headquaters while we're there...

Til Atlanta, friends....

Linkin' up!!!

2010-01-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

Look! You can have really interesting visitors when you live in an RV park....

these are sandhill cranes, and they love to fly through camp and make really loud taradactyl sounds. They're actually another threatened species, so we are happy to hear them squak overhead, and (uhm uhm) see them mate in our backyard... http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/interactive/springscoast/sandhillcranes.shtml

We've had other cool visitors this week, some of you from Seattle might know them. You might even follow their blog, they are on a one year road trip (just like us!!). We were so happy to see our friends the Links, time went too fast and we could have spent a week. They are a little too popular though, even strangers were coming by and taking pictures of thier rig....

Yes, even RVers are impressed with a set up like that! Their kids sleep on top, and Troy and Katie sleep in the back. The kids loved giving "tours" of each others homes, and we sure did have a good time!!! We spent most of our time enjoying the warmth and each others company in Winnie... until Katie let it slip that is was actually her birthday, and then the girls got busy in whipping up the funnest little surprise party ever. With chocolate frosting pancake cake, sprinkles and all... and gifts, and food, and laughs, and games.... we sure love you guys!! Thanks for our time to "Link up" and may God ever guide our wandering vehicles, while our hearts stay on Him!!

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

follow thier adventure at http://timberwoodlinks.wordpress.com/

Freezing in Florida...

2010-01-09T18:01:00.001-08:00

Our last week here in Florida has been freezing... this morning we woke up to 28 degrees. However, the sun is still shining and the people are still friendly. Most of the natives seem to be excited to get to wear some winter clothes. All the snowbirds are wishing they brought some!!!

The weather here in Florida is kinda whacky. Just a couple weeks ago we went down to Key Largo and the Biscayne National Park on the Atlantic shore, and it was so hot we had to buy a fan to hang in our tent so we could sleep.

We were hoping to go snorkeling again, but the next day it was going to rain and was super windy, so we bagged it. But we did enjoy their indoor aquarium and saw a great movie that featured many of the same fish we had seen in the Bahamas.

And now here we are, freezing at night and getting up to 50-60 during the day. It was under these conditions that we went out to the Canaveral National Seashore (right by the Kennedy space center) to celebrate our anniversary. (we got the numbers right this time.....)

We loved this day of homeschooling which started out with our kids making us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and then learning about the land and water managment at the wildlife center and seeing all the cool birds that are wintering here. We got amazing views of entire flocks of birds taking off in flight from the water.... you know sometimes you wonder if that little out of the way drive the ranger suggests will be worth it? Well, they always are!!

The fish, however, are not faring so well. The extreme temperature changes had many of the fish in shock and washing up half dead on the shore. The rangers had rescued some juvenile turtles that were also in shock, and I'm sure they've gotten many more through the week as the temps have stayed so cold.

Our surprise of the day were these friendly looking wild hogs along the road!!

Happy Anniversary, baby!!

Goodbye Tampa....

2010-01-09T14:27:00.001-08:00

We are getting ready to leave our Tampa home base so we'd like to pay tribute to all her glory...

We've loved your scenery....Plus all your manatees, and birds....

We loved your treasures...

and all your surprises!!
We have loved your temperatures.... And your people.
Thanks to all the fun terps mommy has worked with, your lovely gulf shores, and the chance to call ourselves Floridian for awhile.Til next time!!!

(Sara says bye too. We'll send all your pics soon!)

Peace River Blessings

2010-01-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

First of all, we must bid our farewell... We have sent off St. Puffkins to the other side of the states, and heard he has arrived safely and enjoying some cold weather in Seattle. Don't freeze Puffkins!! We miss you!! (yes, we need a dog....)And now, we shall attempt to catch you up on the latest blessings of our lives, all happening in a little town outside of Zolfo Springs, Fl. I know it will be impossible to catch them all in one blog, but we'll try!!

First of all, Christmas was spent in the comfort of our now-well-accustomed and can't-imagine-being-anywhere-else Winnebago. And even though we are totally acclimated to Florida weather and freeze our buns off with the rest of Floridians when it gets under 60, do you know what Santa brought us?? SNOW!!

We had enjoyed a candle light service at the campground chapel, then came home to bake a birthday cake for Jesus. We added a new ingredient this year, crushed peppermint in the frosting (mmmm, mmmmm good!!) In the morning we awoke to find "snow" all over the floor and all over our presents, and we had fun having some snow ball fights (though the snowballs wouldn't stick together at all.) Here are the boys in their new t-shirts from Gran, having fun being twins.

(Santa apparently also brought Shayna a couple more inches.) Also pictured, Huskie with his new shirt from Santa, and Sherpa (the Himalayan mountain guide to Mt Everest. And guarder of Shayna's bed) After our gifts, we went to a potluck Christmas meal in the rec hall, where we enjoyed delicious food, and made even more friends. The people we've met along the road have made this travel adventure truly amazing, and especially here at Peace River! We are so blessed to have gotten to spend the holidays with a wonderful community of people. The time has radically changed how we view community and likely how we will live out the rest of our lives!!

Another thing we discovered at Peace River turned out to be one more cool sabbatical surprise: fossil digging. I didn't believe it at first, but more and more people kept telling us about all the fossils you can dig up right down in Stumpy's river. So mommy would go on gator watch and the kids would start digging away.... we found shark teeth, manta ray plates, armadillo and turtle shells, turtle claws....
Talk about amazing! And science for the month... plus nice craft projects for Shayna!! Check out more info at http://www.paleocurrents.com/docs/peace_river_fl.html and watch out for your shark tooth necklace coming soon!!

Being blessed by our friends Bill and Jennifer Smith http://www.hismercyseat.blogspot.com/ ... thanks for the fellowship, the laughter and for the encouragement of your traveling ministry!! Keep on rockin!!! (btw the kids are still laughing about the iddy-biddy-ladon teeth....) Bringing in the new year under a Blue moon in the bright Florida sky... with our friends (more like family) Judy & Ray from North Carolina, and Barbie & Orvin from Seattle. These four gave us soooooo much love and good fellowship (and great food too!! wowza!!), our hearts are still full. We also met another Family on the Road, the Showalters... what a joy to share stories and meet their teenage son, Austin! Crystal also got some cute pics of Josiah bustin a move, check out thier blog at http://showustheworld.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-new-year.html

Definately been an amazing year for the Kalers..... Thanks to all our Peace River friends for making life beautiful, and for all the hugs. Thanks to you all for checking in and for continual love and support!!

Happy New Year!!!

May 2010 bring you life to the fullest.
(and lotsa cool shells.)

Jingle Bells, Sabbatical style

2009-12-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

(chorus)
State to state, one more state
Honking as we go...
Oh what fun, it is to ride
In the Winnebago, oh!! (repeat)

Dashing down the freeway,
with the games flying everywhere...
Sunshine in our eyes,
Blue skies everywhere! (ha ha ha)

Watch out for that roadkill,
there's gators in the ditch...
No homeschool today, cuz,
the pencils rolled away!! (Yay!!)

State to State, One more state...
Honking as we go....
Oh what fun, it is to ride
in the Winnebagoooooooh!!!

(an original, by the Kalers. Wish we could sing it for ya but we are having video upload issues! HUGS)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

You know "Everything's mini in Winnie" this year, so before we do our Sabbatical style Christmas blog (which will be late, we have no sense of time....) here is a little bit of the holiday magic, Disney style!!
(nice big tree)

(and a whole lotta lights!!)
Merry Christmas from the Kalers!!
We have our own version of Jingle Bells that we will post for you soon...
Enjoy the last bits of 2009!!

Everglades National Park

2009-12-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

HI Friends!! We know its getting close to Christmas, and we hope you all are staying warm and enjoying the holidays. We are still soaking up the sun in southern Florida, exploring as much as we can until we move up to colder climates next month. Our latest little adventure took us to the Everglades National Park, which covers the expanse of Southern Florida. You know most National Parks boast great mountain peaks, but this one.... is more like a river of grass that comes from Lake Okeechobee all the way down to the Keys. It has an amazing array of wetland birds, and of course, alligators abound. We actually have a gator family that lives in our camp right now, and its been a little intimidating riding our bikes around, knowing there are gators in the river. Well this park was the perfect place to learn more about our friend Stumpy and all the challenges Floridians have forced on his habitat.
We went on a ranger walk along one of the many boardwalks in the park. Did you know that 800 people move to Florida a DAY? Might be an old statistic, but goes to show the growing number of people here and thus the need to redirect water from Okeechobee over to the populated coastal communities (Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, etc.). The result is a lot less water flowing over the grasses, and a lot less birds, and the entire habitat disrupted by unnatural water cycles. They are currently undergoing a plan to reestablish this as a natural environment, but it now survives on "life support" with water being pumped in.
This is a cormorant, one of the many birds that hang out here and make themselves alligator food!
We observed birds and especially liked the Wood Stork, one of the endangered species here. Did you know gators eat about once a week? They are cold blooded reptiles, so they come out to sun themselves warm, but if its too hot they stay down in the water. It was pretty hot when we were there, so we saw a lot swimming. They swim with their tail and let their legs just hang on the side. But if they need to run on land, they can go faster than a panther!!We also spent some time listening to sounds in the environment... which ones are natural? Which ones are the result of humans? You could try this at home... see how often you hear a wild animal versus how many times you hear a car.

Part of our learning included taking a pledge that we would be people who try to protect animals in thier natural habitats, and help educate others. Here is Jo, reading his pledge to one of the gators that he thought "liked him.."
"I will tell people about what I've learned, and continue to explore the natural wonders of our world!"

(Amen to that!)

Nassau

2009-12-11T14:59:00.001-08:00

So, The Bahamas are actually an independent country, part of the Commonwealth under Queen Elizabeth (just like Canada), with their own representative in government and thier own money. We were so happy to ask for Bahemian change, we got to collect some really cool bills and coins. They have ocean animals on all their coins and they even have a half-dollar bill!!
Our next port stop was in Nassau, which is the capital of the Bahamas on Paradise Island. Nassau is where many rich Americans have thier "vacation homes" and where there are tons of resorts. We spent the day out on the public beach next to Atlantis, where we enjoyed the laid back atmosphere, met more people from Seattle (who said it was in the teens, sorry guys!) and had fun playing with new friends.
Then we took a boat trip out to another snorkeling place. We had so much fun yesterday, we had to do it again!
We went out to a little cay that is supposedly owned by Eddie Murphy, though it is a deserted resort since the economic hard times. The water was a bit deeper here, about 8 feet.

Jo got in completely this time!
We all took turns playing with our ebay underwater camera. So....

(you know how that goes. )

The fish were really fun to watch! They were bigger out here...

After JJ's ray encounter, imagine our reaction when we saw this!!

(Just kidding). After our snorkel, we went and checked out the Atlantis hotel and aquarium..
Where JJ got to look at rays at a more comfortable distance!!

oh... sigh, good-bye, Nassau!!

Good times.

Freeport

2009-12-11T12:32:00.001-08:00

That's right, the Bahamas are part of the Carribean Islands, in the West Indies, and its all subtropical climate down here. Amen, SUNSHINE!! Man, if we haven't been spoiled yet on this trip, we sure are now!! The Bahamas are made up of 29 islands and about 2000 keys. The name might come from the Spanish "Baja mar", meaning shallow seas. Our first stop was at the Grand Bahama Island, which has the second largest city: Freeport. The ship offered several expensive "shore excursions" but we are way too wise (cheap) for that, so we made our way off to find a local taxi...

Funny, they found us! What, did we look like tourists or something? Was it the boogie board slung over our back, or the snorkels already donned on our children??
No matter. We got a great deal to a private snorkeling beach...

Where there was a lagoon about 2-5 feet deep all the way out to some rocks, or islets. The surf was breaking beyond the islets and it was like "the drop off" (much deeper), so we pretty much stayed in the lagoon. It was a perfect opportunity for our first real snorkeling adventure!! (you know we had been practicing.... everywhere....)

Jo: My mask was getting water in it so I used the goggles and snorkel. I liked being on the boogie board cuz I didn't have to swim much, just a little!

Shayna: There was coral, shells and seagrass all over the bottom. There were tiny bright fish swimming through the coral. I loved the blue ones with the bright spots, they looked like Christmas lights! Out toward the rocks there were larger fish and big schools of them.

This is "brain coral" that you could find on the bottom. Coral is alive, so we had to be careful not to stop and step on any of it.

JJ: When I was swimming out near the rocks, suddenly a ray swam up to me. I saw its bulging eyes and long wings out to the side. He was about 5 feet away, looking right at me!! I was yelling at my mom through the snorkel, when she looked she saw it swimming away. It was blue and had spots, it was an eagle ray!
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/SERay/SERay.html
After that I was ready to come back to the shore!!

We were able to find some "sea biscuts" and other cool shells. (You were allowed to collect them as long as they didn't have any creatures living inside!)

Jo: This is Bahama Bear!!! After awhile me and dad went back out and we didn't go very far, but we did see some cool things! At first we went over something bumpy and we thought is was a rock. But then we noticed it had eyes. So we went back and saw it was a ray! It was mostly buried in the sand so we couldn't see what kind it was. We watched it for awhile. The ray was probably thinking "that sure is strange coral!! Or really wierd fish!! Oh, its humans, better swim away!!"

JJ: I never knew the Rays would get me this far!!!

Bahamas

2009-12-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

HI! Happy Birthday me...!!

Look, here is Greg trying to age me even more by saying I'm 83...

(that would be backwards signing 38, uhm uhm....)

We took off on our cruise from Port Canaveral... it was a cool and breezy day, but after seeing more manatees, a sea turtle, and dolphins as we were pulling out of port, we knew we were up for a special trip!! It was rocky on the way out the first night, but a little seasickness was easy to forget, the silly boat had everything!.. restaurants, water slide, dancing, kids programs...

But of course we were really after the scenery and the EDUCATION of it all. I mean, we were so clueless we didn't know if the Bahamas was a territory, a country, did they have thier own money, or what? We were very soon to find out.... right after our first lesson: look at that sun!!

And that water sure looks good!

(more soon)

Updates...

2009-12-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

We are ready to wrap up our time in central Florida and move on to the West Indies... or close enough. Meanwhile we've learned that Joseph is really Josephine, and Buddy is definately not her grandpa. They do a little head bobbing greeting and go down and share the burrough for awhile. While this entirely grosses out our pre-teen, she admits it would be nice if we were gonna be around for the eggs...

The weather has turned to "flood watch" the last few days, and we've enjoyed some thunderstorms and a lot of rain. Sunday marks Cheryl's 38th birthday and our departure to the Bahamas. Again, it feels strange to be leaving this park... the friends, the Bingo, the shuffleboard, the pool... the woodcarving class where our new friends keep proving "old people really are quite nice."

Stay tuned for much more to learn about Florida. Did you know the Florida Keys suceeded from the union for awhile when our government tried to close down the tourist highway? We're gonna go find out what all the hype is about.

Til soon..... Kaler 5!

Meet Joseph!

2009-11-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

Guess what!! We are camping in central Florida and look who lives right behind us!!

We call him Joseph, because the pattern on top of his shell kind of looks like Egyptian artwork and Joseph in the Bible went to Egypt. His full name is Joseph Lettuce Burrow.

He comes out to sun himself or eat. He usually has a reason for coming out so we try no to disturb him.

He moves by lifting himself up on his strong paws and then walks along.

We think he's cute when he eats because he has a little pointed tongue.

He is actually a "Gopher Turtle" and is on the protected list. He is called a Gopher Turtle because he burrows into the ground like a gopher. When we first got to camp one of the other campers told us that he likes lettuce so we fed him a few times and even touched him. We later found out that feeding him is not a good idea because when we leave he may forget how to find food for himself. It's also not a good idea to touch them so that they lose their fear of humans because not all humans will treat them with respect.

Gopher Turtles live in colonys and are happy to share their burrow with other species in times of crisis such as wild fires or flooding. Joseph has some friends not too far from us. One day one of them came to visit Joseph. He was huge. We think it may have been Joseph's dad. Or maybe his grandpa. They do live to be 60-100 years old!

See you later Joseph!!

West Indian Manatees, by Shayna

2009-11-28T09:06:00.001-08:00

While we were up in Crystal River we met some wonderful new friends, who blessed us with a tour around the city and a trip to the Homasassa Wildlife Park (thank you Joyce and Barry!!)Homasossa Springs are one of the aproximately 600 natural springs found in the aquifer that covers all of Florida and most of its bordering states. Springs occur when an underground water system comes though a crack in the limstone bed. The water is a constant temperature and much warmer than the ocean, which is why Florida is an attractive spot for the migrating animals. Manatees come up into the rivers and canals and can be seen all over the Tampa area. Now here is Shayna, to tell you more!! (C)

Manatees are slow, gentle mammals, sometimes called Sea cows. These peaceful planteaters live around the West Indies, Amazon River, and West Africa. Not all know to migrate to warmer water in the winter, such as Florida, so many die from the cold water of the ocean. Unaware motor boats going thru manatee areas often hurt the slow moving manatee. Even though they are not prey to any species, they are endangered, as they only have one baby every two years. Like all sea mammals, manatees come to the surface to breathe. Their nostrils seal while they are underwater, and their lips can expand to eat. One of their relatives is the elephant, another is the dugong, which has a fluked tail like a whale, wheras manatees tails are rounded. Growing 10-13 feet long, manatees were mistaken as mermaids by sailors many years ago!
While we were at Homosassa, we also got to see other native Floridian animals- and one non-native Floridian resident, Lou. This Hippo was granted resident status and likes to scare people after he eats.
(We didn't get splattered, whew!) Great big hug out to Joyce and Barry for the trip, and please, turn off your engines, and don't feed or harm the manatees!

http://www.savethemanatee.org/manfcts.htm

Crystal River

2009-11-21T13:10:00.001-08:00

Greetings!! The weather report last week just said "another nice day" all week, so we decided to spend mom's days off on the gulf. We went an hour and half north of Tampa to a place called Crystal River, where the West Indian manatees hang out (next blog) and we took a day to enjoy the sun.

The boys are getting pretty good with their beach toys (impressing the locals, even....)
And daddy's got "his toes in the water....."

( Life is good today....)

Florida wildlife

2009-11-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

We're going to be in Florida for awhile so we wanted to introduce you to some of the critters we meet. First, our favorite....

The anole!!
These little guys are everywhere and they don't mind being held (though they do shed thier tail if they need to get away.) One even went for a bike ride with JJ.
Another common friend is the Ibis...
and lots of turtles.

Sometimes we find things we can't touch... like big fuzzy yellow caterpillars and
snakesssss!!

We also see lots of ginormous bugs, some prettyand some not so pretty. We also see these signs every which way we look...

But when we find them, they usually look like this...

and not this.

Can you imagine, swimming in the river and one sneaking up on you like this?
(no thank you.)

We'll stick to our anoles...

and the pool!!

Epcot

2009-11-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

Not to over Disney anyone, but we do want to tell you about Epcot. It stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. It was originally designed to be the place where all the cast members for the Magic Kingdom live, so its connected by the monorail. It ended up as this "place to showcase modern technology and the future." The big globe has a space ride that takes you through history according to the written word and language, ending up with the cyber world. Pretty cool. There are also environmental studies done here, and attractions that showcase the earth, the sea, etc. Very educational!

The there's the "World Showcase" where they have little mini versions of 13 different countries. Disney has an exchange program where those real countrymen come and work in their little "city." It is really amazing, hearing all the accents, learning from the people. We loved our long talk with the gal from Norway, and the overall effect of traveling through Europe in a day.

They had a kids program where you could make a mask, and get a stamp on your passport in each country. They got their names written in different languages and learned different ways to greet people. It was all very authentic, actually, or at least probably as authentic as we'll ever get!!

The boys loved making their masks and I went shopping for you in Norway, mom. And did you know William Shatner was Canadian? You probably did... anyway, we learned a lot. Hugs!!

Africa!

2009-11-20T10:52:00.001-08:00

Well! Little did you know that when you joined us on this journey we would take you to such far off places like Africa. Well, with Disney's help, we sure can....

Welcome to the Animal Kingdom, featuring Africa and China. We spent most of our time in Africa!

Where we even had school. This native woman from Botswana told us all about her country. Did you know Botswana got their independence from Britain in 1966? Since we had just been learning about American independence, we asked several questions about how her country got theirs. Apparently in 1959, the chiefs of their tribes got together and decided it was "high time to govern ourselves." So they asked. Apparently Britain thought about it, went and gathered all the diamonds from the land that they could, and granted independence seven years later in 1966.

We also got to play some African instuments and then went off to the Safari.

They let the animals out everyday to roam and make it look like a real Africa. They even have fake Bao Bob trees (below). They had a real one too, but then it became illegal to take trees from Africa, so these are fake.

We learned all about elephant poaching and even helped the guy on the radio catch the poachers in our safari car!! Each and every time we rode it!! (it was daddy's favorite)
Of course they end the day with a little safari boogie right before they take all the animals to bed for the night. All the kids loved the animals, Shayna's favorite was the Yeti ride (Everest-- a much improved version of Matterhorn) and the boys also loved the white water rapids.
Rock on!

Shuttle journals

2009-11-20T08:15:00.001-08:00

"When they loncht, there were 6 people on the shuttle. First the were powerd by them then they hand over to Houstin. When they come back they will bring home Nicole Fickler. The lonch was at the Kennedy Space Center. They will land after thanksgiving if there is knot any problems. After one minute we could here it. They are bringing some butter flys up there. Surprisingly, the lonch was different on what I thought. It was like thunder hole. We had fun!" -Jo

"A few days ago we went to a shuttle launch. The 6 people in the shuttle were bringing replacement pieces to the world's space station, and bringing back Nicole. Nicole has been living in the space station since December of '08. It took us an hour and a half to get there. I started to see smoke come out, then a rocket flying in the air. It took off at 500 miles per hour and when up the sky at 6,000 mph. It was a minute later when we started feeling and hearing the shuttle liftoff. After that we headed home and watched Appollo 13 and ate oreo's." -JJ

"So this, people, is my shuttle space blog. We drove for like 3 hours after we dropped mom off at her work to get to a good place to see the shuttle launch. We were off some road across the Indian river with a bunch of other people. We waited awhile, and listened to the radio, looked longingly at the oreo's, and waited some more. Then finally the radio said it was gonna lift off in 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Mom called us from where she was watching it on TV and let us know what was going on up close. The rocket came up from the second platform, but it didn't really look much like a rocket or a space shuttle. It looked like a big burning bullet shooting up in the sky!" -Shayna

"The shuttle launch was truly a beautiful sight!!"

"It was OUSEM!"

"OK. We're done blogging! Good bye!!"

News flash!

2009-11-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

We interupt the Disney Adventure Blog Series with an important announcement. The Kalers will be viewing the shuttle Atlantis lift off scheduled for Monday November 16 at 2:28 from the Kennedy Space Center. For more information check the NASA website at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html or for an interesting article on the mission, and especially how they get their drinking water, check out http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO129595/

Cheryl will return with all her Mickey Mouse stuff soon.

Kalers meet the Mouse

2009-11-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Well we are trying to learn ALL about Florida while we are here, so how could we pass up this one?

They even have an RV park you know....

where you can take a boat to the magic Kingdom.

we found it all dressed up for fall....

and full of its usual flare!
We actually did learn a lot this week...

really....

More Suwannee!

2009-11-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Look at this!! we went up river a little bit and found shores of white sand.... we thought the white sand was only at the beaches, but we are starting to think the whole state is made up of it. We are hoping to get really familiar with the white sand over the next few months.

Meanwhile, we are still checking out this Suwannee River. Not only is the Florida state song titled after it, it apparently was a big tourist draw before Walt came to town.

It is lined with Cypress trees, which are easy to distinguish by their root system that has "knees." Cypress are really common all over the south, we learned about them up in Virginia Beach at the "Dragon Run." Myths up there say that those knobby knees actually turn into little hobbit people when no one is around.

So why was the Suwannee so famous? At this point in the river, there are mineral springs that supposedly could "cure any ailment." Approaching the springs you can smell the sulfur, and the water sure feels clean and refreshing. I (Cheryl) decided to stick my chronically ingrown toenail in there and see if it would be healed.

(I'll keep you posted.) The springs were walled off, there used to be a hotel, and it was a big deal!! The hotel has since burned down and the springs are now part of a deserted park.

We decided to float our boat back down to camp.... and Jo again was the brave one. He wanted to tow behind and practice his snorkling. He is working on the breathing part.

Which he has apparently gotten down, but not quite to the point where he can hold the fishing net at the same time. We lost that in the depths of the Sweet Tea river, oh well!! We love the Jo!!

Daddy got over his grief by showing the kids how to scope out the river and see if its safe to jump off the side.

Home schooling is going well.

Way down upon the Swanee river....

2009-11-01T18:24:00.001-08:00

Hello!! We are back to some sense of normalcy after a week with the Mouse so we're gonna catch you up!! One of the first things we noticed about Florida is we have lots of opportunity to see Spanish moss.. (nice and up close).. (the stuff is everywhere, on the fences, electric poles... and it is actually not moss at all. Its an arial plant with seeds, we learned!)

Then we found this nice little spot along the Suwannee river... some inviting little ropes were just innocently hanging there. When we first saw the river we thought it looked rather UNinviting, kinda black, actaully it looked like Sweet Tea. We weren't sure if we should go in it, so we just swung for awhile...

Until Jo decided he didn't care!

Later we found out it actually is like Sweet Tea... the water gets that color from the Cypress roots and leaves. Its a spring fed river that is totally clean....At that point it was all over!

(yes, even the parents got in on the fun.....)

Welcome to Florida!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!! Our first camp in Florida is the Suwannee Music Camp....we are in the northern part of Florida right on the Suwanee River, it has been sunshiney and warm, and we are having a great time. JJ has been inspired in the atmosphere and practicing his guitar. He even wrote a song for you all, coming soon if I can get the video to upload! so here we are, JJ the cowboy, Josiah and Shayna snorklers, mommy was Bahama-mama and Daddy was a Mariner fan (huh). We started off the night with visiting the bat house...
(enter cool video here)

We dressed up Winnie with lights and paper pumpkins... went trick or treating (to two RV's: the first one had no candy, so we gave them some of ours. The second one gave us three big handfuls and we called it good.) Then we went off to the park Halloween party, it was a local country singer/band that started off with "you know I love my chicken fry...." and we were off to a jolly good time!! After much dancing, we ended the night with the Gator Chomp and the kids said it "was the best Halloween ever!"

It would be the best blog ever if I could get our videos to upload. Chomp chomp.

Savannah, GA

2009-10-31T20:29:00.001-07:00

Heading south... right when we were getting used to being in the "south", we came into Georgia... it was hot, and humid. We had been loving the cool fall breezes, especially at night... when we crossed the bridge into Savannah, I think we had already started to swell and had icecream on our mind!!

Savannah is the largest and oldest city in Georgia, it is on the coastline right across the Savannah river. We stopped at Forsyth park, where the live oaks are covered with Spanish moss and the police ride on horseback. We had never seen Spanish moss before, it was amazing... it draped across all the trees throughout the whole city and I surely looked like a tourist taking pictures of it.
Savannah was designed in squares, with wells at the center of each square. They have kept the original design and put fountains where the wells used to be. This fountain in Forsyth park is one of the more popular ones (its on a lot of postcards.)

We were also quite amused by the Spanish moss, until a nice passerby told us the moss usually carries mites...

(oops)

During the Revolutionary war, Savannah was held by the Brittish. During the Civil war it was under the confederacy. The above monument is a memorial for confederate soldiers.

We were surprised by all the butterflies roaming the park!! Evidence of the tropical climate, for sure. We were also intrigued by the wealthy display of architecture, below is one of the many houses you can find along the historical district.

Adios, Savannah!!

some facts about Georgia:

named after King George II of England

Nickname: Empire state of the South

State tree: live oak

Capital: Atlanta (also home of Martin Luther King Jr.)
4th state admitted to the Union

Greensboro, NC

2009-10-31T20:08:00.001-07:00

Our time in North Carolina was short but sweet.. especially memorable were the Carolina Blue skies, moonlit nights, vinegar based "Lexington style" BBQ, southern hospitality, pickle ball, tennis, our neighbor "Larry," and more pickle ball. Oh, and the hushpuppies. That and the fact that they serve sweet tea by the pitcher, its probably a good thing our visit was short and sweet!!

Each place we "settle in", it really does feel like home for that time. We usually feel a little sad to leave. That is, until we get to the next place....

Shenandoah National Park

2009-10-28T16:48:00.001-07:00

Wanna come along for a drive??!!

seriously, the air is cool....and you can see off the side of the ridge in both directions!! there are little patches of fog... and the Kaler dogs say it smells like maple syrup!!

Thanks for joining us for the ride!! Wait I think there's rain in the forecast....We're heading south now..... HUGS

Natural Bridge

2009-10-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our next little stop along the highway was at the "Natural Bridge." It is a limestone rock formation that rests above more caves like the ones we saw in Pennsylvania. Apparently it was once part of the caves, then part of it collapsed, then Cedar Creek made its way through and now rests as this natural bridge/limestone river bed. They say its stronger than any man made creation, by far, and it is 155 feet tall (50 feet higher than Niagara.) A freeway runs over the top of it, but you can't hear or see it from below. Check it out!

It was originally surveyed by George Washington back when he was a land surveyer, he carved his initials half way up (bad boy). Then the land was purchased by Thomas Jefferson, and it is supposedly still run by his descendants. The park has the bridge, caves, an Indian village, and a hike back to a waterfall.

At night they showed a dramatization (with lights, music, and reading) of the 7 days of creation, the lights went right up and around the natural bridge and a booming voice with orchestral music came down from above. It was a very unique outdoor theater experience. We were a little surprised that they had a nightly biblical show, so we ventured to ask the family in front of us if this kind of thing was more common out here. They replied, "well you do know where you are, doncha? Right in the buckle of the bible belt!"

Blue Ridge Parkway

2009-10-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings!! This weekend we took a drive out to the Blue Ridge Parkway... its a little scenic route that connects the Smokey Mountain National Park in Tennessee, to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We caught up with the route at the North Carolina border and headed north.
Craziness, right when we turned on the parkway, we came into thick fog and could hardly see cars coming at us. I was a little bummed, thinking the whole drive would be that way!! But then we got out and walked around a bit. Thick fog like that is amazing... its so quiet, and still...

(Bye the way, Hi Sara! look we took you with us!)

Right after I resolved that the fog was cool, a little further up the road it cleared up. Praise the Lord!

We stopped at this historical spot called Mabry Mill. It was an old fashioned water powered mill, used back before everything went electric. The kids were entrhalled with the water troughs, the mechanics of the wheel, and the plum old fashionedness of it. "They don't even makem like this anymore...."

You could walk in and talk to any of the historical representatives, (and try not to be totally distracted by their accent.) JJ asked all kinds of questions figuring out how the mill works, and I think he even understood them. I was in pure bliss, I felt like I was in the middle of a movie... the whole day was amazing!! Later that evening, we found another little stop called the Natural Bridge, and then camped out in the Shenandoah National park. So just wait, there's more!! -Hugs

What I've learned about Fall... by Cheryl

2009-10-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday friends!!
Before I show you some of our amazing fall pics from the weekend, I want to take you through my little lesson about fall. First of all, we've been traveling from the North so we keep seeing fall start over. In all these environments: New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina- I keep re-learning to appreciate the subtle yet magnificent changes that take place over time.

I learned to appreciate the colour waking up along my commute as I drove to work, and the sunrays shining through in the morning, or the moonlight at night.

But I think the best thing about fall for me has not really been the color, its been the chance to experience it with my kids. Shayna and Josiah have both learned to ride a bike on this trip...and these camp grounds all have lovely little bike paths. I love blazing over bridges with them,
and having the leaves crunch under our wheels.

Now we made up for all these subtleties with a road trip for you last weekend... I have more pics than you might care to see, and I'll post them all, baby! Once we get my blasted little picture reader working on my computer. Til soon. -C

Future marine biologist...

2009-10-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

You see, it all started with a frog....

And then she started developing marine sanctuaries...Before we knew it, she fell in love with lobsters...

(this is Bouy). Next thing you know.....

Our new friends are showing us how to catch crab!

And Shayna, on her own....

is catching eel!! (and jellies....)

Now whenever we hit a new campground, its out to the lake we go...

catchin' critters!!!

And now that you've seen these blogs, Mom has a story for y'all. A few days ago Shayna was out with her bucket catching little minnows (pictured above). After much observation and investigative handling, she was very distressed to find that one had gone belly up. All the kids were feeling responsible and pretty sad. "Awwww, that was Coral!!"

After exactly 2 minutes, JJ made an announcement:
"All right, Coral is gone. I'm done being sad. Let's use her as bait!"

We are now camped out near Lexington, North Carolina... the BBQ capital of the world. This is our backyard view from Winnie, we are apparently right in the middle of an old tobacco and cotton plantation. It is a laid back, friendly, sweet tea loving area that we will tell y'all about later, sugar pies....

Sitting on the dock of the Bay.....

2009-10-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

In case some of you were wondering why its taking a little longer to get to the blogs, JJ would like to explain.

This is a lake.

This is a lure.

This is a fish on the lure.

Any questions?

George Washington (By Shayna)

2009-10-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

George Washington was a great leader in the Revolutionary War. He was able to keep the starving army together during a harsh winter at Valley Forge, he forced the greatest empire on earth to surrender without the "Honors of War" and eventually helped bring independance to the United States.

Washington was the first to sign the Constitution. In 1789, he became the first President of the United States in a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. He didn't even run for office. After his first term as President, he reluctantly served a second term. He died December 14th 1799 at his Mt. Vernon home in Virginia.

The United States Congress built a tomb for him in Washington DC but his family honored his wishes and buried him at Mt. Vernon. His unused tomb now lies beneath the United States Capital building.

This was a project that dad wanted me to do so that I could learn to summarize information.

George Washington (by JJ)

2009-10-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

George Washington was born on Feburary 22, 1732 in Popes Creek, Virginia. As a young man he became a Land Surveyor. When his half brother died, Washington inherited his land and home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

He loved the Army. He eventually became a General for the Continental Army and was one of the most important figures during the Revolutionary War. As General, Washington made most of the decisions, kept his army in high spirits and led them through difficult times. He made a huge difference in the war.

After the war he tried to retire but the colonys needed to form a new government, and he was elected the first President of the United States of America. It was a unanimous vote! Washington was President for eight years and died two years later on December 14th 1799. Just a few days before the start of the 18th century. He was a very important man and a great leader to this country.

An interesting fact: When Washinton left office John Adams, his Vice President, became President. When Adams left office, his Vice President, Thomas Jefferson, became President. The cycle was broken when James Madison became the fourth President of the United States.

Note: This was a writing project that worked on summarizing large chunks of information. If you want more information on George Washington go to:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington/