No pictures, please!

OK, so I'm afraid that you all are getting sick and tired of reading about the same thing going on in our family day after day but I need to be honest.  After a long and tiring night last night of Brock throwing up and various other children awakening, Henry got sick first thing this morning.  How do you go on when your fearless leader is out of commission?  In our 15 years of marriage, I've never seen (or heard) him so violently sick.  He and Brock stayed in bed all day and I took the rest of the kids with me to explore some more of the area, do some souvenir shopping and get some groceries.  We then came back here and went swimming at our campground pool.  We had plans to do an authentic old ghost town today complete with the gun fights.  Hopefully we'll get to do that tomorrow. 

Sorry, no pictures today.  You wouldn't want to see the mental pictures I have of what I've seen lately!  Seth was out with us today and had been doing great all day.  Then, around 2:30, right after eating a snack, he said he was going to be sick.  I quickly emptied a plastic cup of water into another one, and, sure enough, he threw up his snack.  Right after, he said he felt great, and went back to having fun.  I don't know what to make of that.  It is really hard when the kids are asking why God is allowing this to happen to our family during this trip.  We are still trusting Him, though, and realize that we might not ever see the answers to the "whys" while here on earth.  We are hanging in there but PLEASE keep on praying for us.  Everyone went to bed with a large bowl or trash can once again...just in case. 

We can't make this stuff up!

It is now Friday, and we are in the Phoenix area (Apache Junction suburb at the foot of the Superstition Mts. --who named those?) Anyway, Wednesday we drove like crazy to escape the cold in New Mexico. We were in the car for close to 12 hours driving through 25 degree weather. But, I've got to tell you, the drive was beautiful. We took smaller state roads as opposed to the highway and we were not dissappointed!

                                          

Natural arch in New Mexico

Salt Creek Canyon in Arizona -- Breathtaking!

We were all so excited once we arrived in Phoenix and, even though we arrived around 8pm, the temp was 63!  We were thrilled to be able to go outside without bundling up! 

Sister love!

Around 1:30am, we awoke to sounds of water pouring all around us.  Upon stepping out of bed, we realized it was coming from our RV.  A fitting came loose on the water pump and, since we were hooked up to the campground's water, it just kept flowing into here.  Henry went outside and stepped into a huge stream of water that was flowing from here into many other campsites.  Thankfully, the desert aborbed it quickly; however, the camper did not.  (Notice the theme with us and water problems!)  Henry went to Walmart (gotta love Walmart, again!) and bought a shop vac & 2 box fans.  So we spent the better half of yesterday cleaning & drying.  Oh, did I mention that, while we were cleaning all of this up, having the mobile RV repair man out, trying to entertain kiddos, Seth was throwing up?  Yes, he had it all day yesterday.  Finally, in the late afternoon, I took Henry, Brock, Claire and Colette to the mall just to get away.  Henry stayed here with Corinne, Camille, and, of course, Seth.  Since there was so much water, we had to remove the insulation from the underside of the RV and are awaiting word from the dealer on the necessary undercarriage fabric. They aren't sure when they'll be able to get it from their supplier. So, we are in Phoenix for awhile. We're not really complaining about that!  Everthing was totally useable and dry by last night so, things are back to normal on the inside of the RV.  We'll probably have to spend one night in a hotel when the RV goes into the shop. 

Seth was feeling much better this morning so we went to the Mesa Marketplace (flea market) for a couple of hours.  Lots of good stuff to look at & fun to be out in nice weather.  Then we went on a wonderful steamboat nature cruise around Saguaro Lake up in the mountains.  It was beautiful, interesting and facinating.  Once the cruise was over, we did a little 4-wheeling in our Excursion.  There are tons of trails going all over the mountains.

What a great day!  It would have only been better had it not ended with Brock getting totally sick and throwing up tonight after all the kids went to bed.  We can't make this stuff up!!!

Why we are thankful...

For knowing that prayer works (thanks lifegroup for all of the written prayers)

For a Savior who cares deeply for us

For His amazingly beautiful creation

For propane heat

For a truck that can pull a 10,000 lb. trailer through the mountains

For lysol wipes

For a 4 month old baby who sleeps through the night (anywhere we put her!)

For great family conversation (thanks Jill for the "starters")

For Walmarts in every small town

For the flu only lasting 24 hours per person so far

For coin laundry (even if it's costing us a fortune in quarters!)

For Mark loaning us his Sprint wireless access card so that Henry can work and we can do this blogging on the road

For Henry's boss who let him have a month away from the office :)

For the kids learning so much more by being on the road than they ever could by reading about it!

For Rick and Janalyn trusting us with their RV

5 down (4 to go?)

Yesterday I was sick in bed all day (thankfully we were staying put in Col. Springs).  It was just a day long flu bug for me and I never actually tossed my cookies.  Henry is quite an amazing man...I know you all know that but listen to this...he took the kids up to Pike's Peak & the Anazai Cliff Dwellings all by himself.  Then he came home and grilled a pork tenderloin, patiently instructed Henry how to make the mac-n-cheese on a gas stove, and had a fun time with the kids (I could hear all of this from the bedroom since it is only 5 feet away!)  Things like this make me love him all the more!  They took tons of pictures to show me their adventures for the day.  We have very slow internet access; we'll try to post more pics tomorrow.

I woke up feeling good this morning and we were on the road by 9am.  About a half hour into the trip, Colette threw up all over herself.  We pulled off the road and got into the camper, got her some clean clothes, the carpet cleaner, the Lysol wipes, the plastic tablecloth to cover her and the small trash can.  Good thing because, as I write this, she's gotten sick (thankfully into the bucket now) 3 more times.  What to do???  Just pulled off again to clean out the bucket, nurse Corinne, and get everyone else some lunch.  It is now 1:30 here & we've driven only about 100 miles (remember I said we left at 9am?)  We are planning on stopping near Santa Fe, NM tonight.  Do you think we'll make it???

OK, we made it and the poor thing was so sick the whole way.  I ended up sitting in the back to help her out and Henry V went into the front with Henry.  So far the sickness has only hit the girls...the strong men are illness free (although I sent all the boys to bed with plastic bowls just in case!)

Brock's Thoughts

Day 7:  Yesterday was a ton of fun.  First off, we went to the Garden of the Gods.  Our family went hiking on some huge rocks and had a lot of fun.  But when Corinne got a little fussy, my mom had to take her to the car.  Then Dad took us extreme hiking on some of the mile long rocks there.  Next we went to the trading post (gift shop) and we got some stuff like a dagger, a toy gun, and some fudge samples. 

Day 8:  First went to Pike's Peak Cog Railway Company.  We couldn't go to the top of the peak because the wind up there was 100 mph.  It was fun anyway, though. After that we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and had fun and went in them.

One of the highlights of my trip so far has been seeing Bigfoot monster truck.

Sickness and Cold

Let me assure you that RV'ing, the flu bug,  and frozen tundra don't mix. Here is our quandry. we are in Colorado springs and it is 19 degrees out. We would love to go somewhere warmer but Santa Fe, about 6 hours away, is getting ready for a cold streak. High of 40 lows in the teens for the next few days. The west(mountain area and south is going through a large cold front). We cannot escape this. For you novices, that means no water in the RV. All the piping is above ground and therefore freezes at night. So there are no RV parks open or if they are open, don't have water. With being a family of 9, we need water. Let us add to the fact that we have a major bug going around our family makes for alot of unpleasantness. You cannot escape it in a 32' X 10' box. Camille woke up two nights ago screaming in a pile of vomit.( I will not show a picture) Claire was throwing up most of the day yesterday with extreme diahrea, which happens while she is puking.

On to other things, Yesterday we went to the Garden of the Gods park in Manitou Springs , Co.

It was gorgeous. The boys and I did serious hiking, the kind you can die if you slip, It was awesome. I was so proud of them. No complaining. We had the attitude "I can and I will". At somepoint Brock said "Dad, I feel like a man doing this." It was a lot of fun.

We also took a 4 wheel drive trail for about 12 miles up into the mountains. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

I will include a picture of the deer that was about 10 feet from our car.

Pray for us as we battle sickness, fatigue, irritableness, weather, and impatience.

I will  add one more picture which is our life right now.

We are in the Rockies

Wow, I had forgotten how gorgeous Colorado is!  We are in The Garden of the God's Campground and here is a picture of Pike's Peak from our window.  We will be seeing all of the sights here in Colorado Springs for the next couple of days.

Bent's Fort was a really neat National Park we stopped at yesterday.  It was about 2 hours southeast of Col. Springs.  It was built on the Arkansas River which used to be the border between the US & Mexico in the 1830's.  This was the largest trading fort between the Mississippi River & the Pacific Ocean and it was a meeting place for the Americans, Mexicans, French and 4 different Indian tribes.  Later it was used as a military fort.  So much history and the kids thought it reminded them a little bit of the Conner Prairie Indian Camp since there were the original artifacts and people in period dress.

 

Santa Fe Trail

Yes, it is true, Mike, the owner of Casey's was a wonderful man that we enjoyed visiting with and he gave us a free sample of their world famous "Calf Fries" (as they were listed in the menu). Prairie jewels, Rocky Mountain Oysters, and, as Claire so elegantly put it yesterday, cow testicles, are all names for these delightful morsels of fried goodness!  This restaurant sells 100 lbs. a week!  He gave the kids all a quarter for the fun gumball machine & a ride on the denim buffalo. 

We have been traveling along parts of the old Santa Fe trail.  We could actually see ruts in the ground where prairie grasses have not been able to grow because so many wagons travelled the same path over 100 years ago.  The kids are calling us Ma and Pa and pretending that we are travelling in a covered wagon.  I told them to be thankful that we have juice boxes and Chex Mix while we're on the road.  We just crossed the border into Colorado.  We are stopping in a little while at something called Bent's Fort that we've heard from "locals" is a "must see".  We'll let you know how it is later on today!

P.S. - Now, anyone can post comments; no need to have an account.

Prairie Jewels at Casey's Cowtown Club (per Claire)

Today we ate breakfast and then went to Dodge City where there were a lot of old stores.  Then we got our picture taken.  

 We dressed up like the people back then. 

We went out to lunch with some friends of my mom and dad.  You will be surprised that our whole family except for Colette ate cow testicles - very good, they taste like chicken.

Turds and Water (per Henry my son) my comments in parens

Today(10/22/09) we woke up and packed up, but when we tried to move our truck(and RV) it sunk deeper and deeper into the ground.(it had rained 2in during the night) We finally got out and made our way to the RV dump station (a turd letter outer as Henry V calls it) We decided to not use the hose. So we let the turds go flying, but they ended up all over the parking lot. (
we scooted them into the hole with out feet than washed them off in the rain water. We laughed so hard, It was so funny to see the turds flying and plopping on the ground then the water would gush out after a big turd would clog it up.) Then we set out for Dodge City, an eight hour ride (actually 5 but takes a little while longer in an RV) in Kansas. When we got to our really cool campsite 

we connected the water hose and put on the lid but it wouldn't go back on.

So Dad stepped on the top and water starts gushing out. It ends up he snapped the water pipe( I barely stepped on it and it was 32 degrees out and 25 MPH winds) and nobody in the RV park had water for an hour( actually 2 hours) til we fixed it with the help of a neighbor next door. ( I can't believe I knocked out water to 88 other RV's within a half hour of getting here, What an adventure!!!)

Driving.Driving. Driving.

This update covers the last two days.  So we left the last RV park on Route 66 and we had a two and half to three hour trip to see frinds in Parsons, KS. So while we headed that way we stopped by the Fantastic Caverns, in Springfield, MO, where we got an underground Jeep Tour of the cave. It was pretty cool. Every time the tour guide started up the jeep to pull up to the next place to stop and talk, Camille would yell "I go cave ride, I go cave ride" so the other 20 people on the tour with us would laugh as she did it every time( around 8X's) .

From there we stopped at the Precious Moments chapel and museum. Do you all remember those hugeheaded ceramic figurines. It was a beautiful place that has certainly seen better days. We chopped the average age of a tourist in half.(for the year) the pic is of the door leading into the chapel.














We then finished the day and finally made it to Kansas. We travelled to Parsons, KS where we met up with some long-time family friends George and Carol Knox. They showed us around Parsons, KS and we had a wonderful meal with them. We then spent the night in a RV park behind the local baseball stadium. I will let Henry V(my son) tell you a little more about our adventure at this park in his blog entry next.

We took off the next morning for Dodge City, KS. I could not believe how beautiful Kansas is.The rolling hills and changing color of trees. it was gorgeous. It was good to see Gods amazing creation this day. The winds made this day especially difficult to drive the RV we were blown about at the mercy of the wind. It was actually quite scary at times. We finally got to Dodge City and I did some damage to this place. I will update more later. We will post some photos later.

Baby wipes are the best!

OK, we all know how great wipes are for wiping up the baby bottoms but did you know how well they can entertain a 2 year old?  They have become Camille's favorite travel "toy" as she will make wet marks on her car seat arm rests, play peek-a-boo, and, as you can see, stick them in between her toes! 

We didn't even tell them they had to hold hands!

Capybara - world's largest rodent.  So cute! Could he and Dash be BFF's?

Super dad!

Well, we never made it to Kansas today.  We had way too much fun at the St. Louis Zoo today & got on the road a bit too late.  Thankfully we found an RV park right off the interstate in Ozark, MO that is on Route 66.  It is beautiful here with the rolling hills & changing leaves. 

We are starting to all figure out our roles in this whole idea of setting up camp.  Henry & Brock are a huge help to their dad with all of the duties associated with the camper.  Everyone else just kind of runs around and, for the most part, does what we ask.  It is very strange living in such close quarters but, so far, so good!  A few tense moments but we are learning to love each other in a whole new way.  We had the kids break down 1 Corinthians 13 this morning and say what and how we can live out being patient, kind, not envious, etc.  With God's help, we can all do it!  (posted by Cheryl) 

From Seth day one (his words)

I'm very excited about the arch. It is very tall and very steep and the car ride. It was very long.