move in day approaching

I'm catching up with e-mail and blogging while Tristan and Calista are playing hide-and-seek in the motorhome, lol. You would be surprised at the hiding places they find in this little box. A little later here we are going to do a round of poker; Tristan's new favorite game.

We are starting to get things organized and cleaned up in the motorhome; getting ready to empty it out into a new house. I am excited to be in a house again as my nesting instincts are strong right now but a little sad to leave my simple motorhome lifestyle. Part of me wants to be on the road still but with five people to consider that just isn't in the stars for us.

Martin has passed his real estate exam and will be working for Kevin Crozier (Remax), as his buyers agent, starting in one week. Our income is probably going to be a lot less than what we are used to so we are going to have to learn to be frugal; a BIG adjustment, especially for the kids but it will be good for us. The office that Martin will be working in has a very nice environment which is a nice change for Martin.

We have had two weeks of solid rain but woke up today with the sun shining. It felt absolutely glorious. It is supposed to start raining again tomorrow so it was short lived for sure! One thing the rain has done for me (and the kids) is force us to get creative inside. We got the polymer clay out and did quite a few projects and I worked on some canvases that were really fun. I feel like my creative genius has come out of the closet and I am really liking her!!

polymer clay projects

Be the change you wish to see in the world.
~Ghandi

Tristans wish box. My prayer box.

This week has been somewhat of a quiet week. It has been a gray, drizzly week and it kind of makes you feel like hunkering down, which is exactly what we have been doing. I went and bought a bunch of polymer clay and we have been projecting away. We have been mostly covering tins and jars with it but it is quite addicting. The one directly above is Calista's.

I have mostly been blogging about the "surface" things of our lives and not much delving in to the more "inside" things. I thought I would start blogging more about what learning looks like in our family and a little more about the unschooling side of our lives. My sister, Ren, talks a lot about connections and how everything is connected, one thing leading to another. This is what it looked like for us this week...............................We met an individual who was transitioning from male to female and when we got in the car the conversation started out with how you could tell that she used to be male ( facial hair, big hands, and her "adam's apple"). From there it went to why an adam's apple is bigger on a male than a female (yes, it does cause a man's voice to be lower) and then talk about our bodies. That somehow went to talk of calories and what exactly does that measure (approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 °C.) A lot of our conversations and questions happen in the car which is why I keep a pad of paper handy to jot things down so we can look them up when we get home.

Something that was said in church this week led Kevin to wonder about the Dead Sea and why it is called that (there is no life in the Dead Sea, although scientists have found 11, I think, bacteria that live in the Dead Sea). And how cool is it that there is so much salt in the Dead Sea that you can float! Calista has spent much of the week with her Leap Frog learning her sounds, because she wants to learn how to read. She also wanted me to buy her a couple of workbooks, which she has been working on quite a bit. Her and Rylee have also been playing "store"; buying, selling, and dickering. They add and subtract on the calculator and use the Leap Frog for the cash register.

For me this week it started out designing a myspace site which led me to music, to Reggae (because I love Reggae), to Bob Marley and researching his life (11 kids and some interesting beliefs, a very interesting life), to Jamaica, to forms of government and some world history........................I will let you know where that leads to.

So many think that if you don't coerce a child to do these things that they won't do them on their own but my children (and lots of others) have proven that is not so. My children seem to learn some of these things much later than your public school kids but they are learning them on their own terms and without any coercive methods that are so prevelant in the public school system. They also don't associate learning with a chore. For them learning is all tied up with simply living; you can't be breathing without learning every day, it is an inherent part of our being. Discovering the world around them is fun!!

The other thing that is so fun for me to watch is some of the things that they dive into that public school kids don't have the time for and don't get in school. Kevin spends hours on his computer and it amazes me some of the things that he can do. Some people go to dozens of classes to learn what he has learned simply by tinkering around because he is passionate about it. They are learning the things that are relevant to THEIR lives and not wasting a bunch of time and energy on things that they don't need to know for their lifes journey. I am thankful every day to be living in that kind of FREEDOM.

Off that subject, Kevin is now counting down the days until his 14th birthday. He has two reasons for being so excited; he can get his learners permit to drive and he is able to get a job. He has been wanting to get a job for a while but the government doesn't allow it until 14 so he is ready to go!! He wants to apply at Coldstone Creamery; I think he just wants to be around all that ice cream all day :) ! He loves being a teenager and I just want to scream "STOP!". I have to admit though that I love a lot of things about the kids growing older. We can play with them and do things that we were limited on when they were little. They are fun to just hang out with and not quite so dependent on us. It is much more relaxing than when they were toddlers. Every stage has its blessings I suppose and I can't say any stage was my favorite. My favorite stage is whatever one they are in!!

My favorite quote for the week: Happiness is not a destination, it is a method of life.
This is something that I have learned over this past year and it has brought so much contentment into my life!!

Tristan turns 11

Well, time is marching on. It is hard to take in how old my kids are getting! It just seems like I can't catch my breath sometimes when I think about how it was just yesterday that they were little toddlers learning how to walk and talk. Tristan turned 11 on Tues. and what a great day we had. He is my child that HATES birthday parties; he doesn't like all the attention on him and he doesn't like to think that he is putting people out or that they are having to do something extra on his behalf. So here we were again, not wanting to do anything for his birthday but Mom wanting to make his day so special. I decided that I would set something special up so he didn't feel that all the attention was on him but still felt like it was his special day. A few years ago a friend of Richard's took him flying and he LOVED it so I asked Richard if him or his dad could take him flying and he said that would be great. We planned on going down to our favorite lake spot (just to play) and then have Ernie land on the lake and pick him up.

Last minute Richard told me he didn't think it was going to work out on his actual birthday so we were back at square one. Tristan thought it would be nice to take a couple of friends to H2Oasis, the indoor water park in Anchorage. But no party! We couldn't arrange it on his actual birthday though so I still had to come up with something special for Tues. Tues. morning came and I still hadn't thought of anything so for starters I thought I would make him his favorite dinner. He loves "family" dinners, which means at least five choices of dishes with his family sitting at the dinner table eating together. We made flank steak, chicken, green beans, salad, bread, and potatoes. He was in heaven! He has also been anxiously awaiting the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which all residents of Alaska get every year, and is usually around $1000.o0. He really wants an X Box! Instead of making him wait we went and got him one, set it all up and surprised him with that. He really thought he had died and gone to heaven!

I got a phone call at 5:00 from Robin saying that the flying was a go after all. Yeahhh! So we ate dinner and went down to the lake. Tristan had no idea what was going on so it was a great surprise. Ernie buzzed over us, landed, and cruised over to the beach. They cruised over Wasilla a few times and did a touch and go on the lake. When he got out he was so excited, I knew he wasn't going to be sleeping much that night. He exclaimed, "That was AWESOME!!" After his flight we went back to Merle and Lois', Martin's parents, house and sang him happy birthday and had red velvet cake, Tristan's favorite. I get teary just thinking about the day because it worked out so great. We made his day REALLY special, he was so excited and he was happy about not having a "party". I think we are still going to take him and his friends to H2Oasis on Sunday afternoon just to top it all off!!

It still looks like we are going to be able to close on the house August 25, although early occupancy is probably not possible. Martin is busy studying for his real estate test, not feeling overly confident for sure! He takes the test tonight and I hope he passes just so he can relax a little! He has been pretty uptight but I am sure he is going to do fine.

We moved the motorhome over to Lois' and Merles for a few days since we haven't seen them much since we got home. We will be moving to an RV park tomorrow morning. As much as I appreciate my sister for taking us in I just find myself craving my own space, privacy, and alone time with my husband and kids. My kids were really wanting wireless internet too so it was time to move on for a little while.

Back to "school"

Martin got home with all kinds of ideas for a job and all of those doors have been shut. The one that has remained open is an opportunity for him to sell real estate. A friend of ours, who is a broker for Remax, invited Martin to join his team as a buyer agent and Martin has accepted so............................he is back in school. Back to memorizing so he can regurgitate at test time and not use half of what they are shoveling in but it has to be done to get his license so here he sits memorizing away. He is excited for the challenge and I think he is going to be really good at it!! He has the right personality for it and he is a "go-getter".

We also had our home inspection this morning and all went well. There are a few things that need to be addressed but nothing too major. Our closing is set for Aug. 25 but we are hoping to get early occupancy; wish us luck with that! The kids LOVE the house so everyone is waiting with anticipation for move-in day. It is a very unique, cozy house and what I have been dreaming about for a house. It is good that the other house didn't work out!! I am anxious to be able to start having people come hang out with us and living the very relaxed lifestyle that we are used to. I miss our midnight hangouts where we talk about life and our dreams as a family. I miss gathering around the table for family dinners. I miss having wireless internet for our laptops. I miss having my own kitchen. I miss having our projects strung out all over the house and I miss being LOUD!!! I am SO grateful to my sister and her family for putting up with us for so long; I know they live very differently than us and it can't be easy to have our crew bombarding them. Family is a wonderful thing!!!!!

........next!

Well................................we had our home inspection and there were too many issues with the house so we backed out! The good news is that we found another house two days later and our offer was accepted! I am so glad it worked out this way because I am WAY more excited about this house than I was the other one! This is exactly what we have been looking for; cozy, homey, very unique!!! We should be closing by Aug.25 but we will ask for early occupancy with a rental agreement.

Robin and Richard have been off this week so we have been trying to enjoy the outdoors. Our weather has not been too great since we got home, 70 degree highs here and there but mostly cloudy and gray. We hiked the Butte last week; our favorite local hike. We have been playing a lot of badminton in the yard and walking to the lake down the street from Robin. We may go golfing today.

Tristan had a friend over last night and they spent the night out in the motorhome. Tristan came in at 8:45 this morning wondering if anyone was up because he was bored; he hadn't fallen asleep yet!! He may be a little tired today!! It is so exciting to see him making good friends and having a good time. We have our chipper, happy child back!! He has spent the last several days riding back and forth to the lake on his bike with his two friends, Dakota and Caleb and is so excited, which is why he is having trouble sleeping.

Kevin is spending every waking moment with Sarah and Kevin; hardly see him at all. He finished his Theatre Camp and did a performance on Friday night. They did so good! It was a little strange seeing my normally quiet child out there acting! I was getting a little teary watching him and realizing that my toddler is turning into a young man! He is such a good kid, easy to be around and very responsible and mature. We just love hanging out with him. The director came up to me after the play and complimented me on what a great kid he is and how grounded he is. It made me feel good that other people see what I do.

On Saturday night Robyn and John Harris (parents of another child and very involved in Valley Performing Arts) had a casting party at their house for the kids and their parents. We also know Robyn and John from church so it was good to go and get to know them a little better. I think the adults had more fun than the teens!! We met some wonderful people that we really clicked with and had a GREAT time! We spent most of the evening laughing our butts off; it is all those creative, drama people!

Calista and Rylee are still busy doing their thing. They take two hour baths every day playing with their Bratz and the rest of the time either doing crafts or playing outside. We had a church picnic on Sunday and she was reunited with her girlfriend Ella. They were so excited and played for hours!! Ella and her family go to the earlier service so we don't see them every Sunday but we are going to have a tea party soon!

All I can say is that it is good to be home. I have such a different attitude coming back and realize how full my life is here! And the mountains.........................WOW! I never noticed them quite as much as I am now. I do understand why people that visit here are in awe and we get to look at them all the time!! The weather is far from perfect but I am buying some good, warm long johns and lots of warm gear. I am also going to get cross country skis and snow shoes and really embrace winter. It is also good to see my kids happy and really thriving! This is obviously where they belong right now!! Life is Good!!!!

Chugging along

Well, things are starting to take shape..............a little bit. The third offer we made on the house we were trying to get got rejected so we decided to move on from that. This last weekend we found another one, a little older but fixable. It was built in 1984 and needs some work but it is all cosmetic so we will finish all of that before we move in. It should only take us about two weeks to get it all done and then we will have a couple more projects to work on as we can. The neighborhood is really nice and it is in a great location close to downtown. We will be closing on that on August 18............yeahhh!!

Martin still hasn't nailed down any kind of job or way to bring in some income. He is starting to get pretty stressed trying to figure it out so he hasn't been sleeping well but I am sure things will come together for him soon. We are still at my sister, Robin's house and will probably be here until we move in to the house.

Kevin has been attending theatre camp at Valley Performing Arts and is having a blast. They will perform for us this Friday as a closing to the camp. He starts Youth Court this fall and is REALLY excited about that. They take a class to learn our court system, take a "Barr Exam", and then are sworn into the court. They try real juvenille cases under the direction of a real judge. I think it will be an awesome experience for him and will look great on his resume!

Tristan has settled right in. He is REALLY enjoying his moments of solitude and sometimes has hours on end that he doesn't want anybody around. It has been good for him and I am seeing my regular happy, cuddly kid again. He has made a couple friends in the neighborhood and went bike riding last night with Dakota, who lives across the street.

Calista and Rylee haven't spent hardly an hour apart since we got home. They have been taking 2-3 hour baths daily (I have really clean girls!!) and playing Polly's and Bratz by the hours. They have also been crafting away. Rylee has been begging to go ice skating so we went yesterday and every five minutes she was saying, "Auntie, this is SO much fun!" I think we will be doing that on a weekly basis!

We celebrated Matt's (my stepbrother) 21st birthday on Saturday and also Nancy's 60th, even though her real birthday is not until Sept. We had a blast launching water balloons and playing other games even if it was pouring down rain. On Sunday we met Dad, Nancy, Matt, his girfriend Miki and her friend Suzie (I think that is her name) in Anchorage for bowling.

Good to be back to all that is familiar. It is good to be surrounded by my bio family and my church family again. It is exciting to start over again with a fresh outlook on life and a changed attitude about living in Alaska. I drive around town and just look at the mountains with a sense of wonder. They are SOOOO BEAUTIFUL and I missed the beauty half the time because I was too busy complaining about the weather. I am anxious to get out and hike those mountains again and Martin and I are talking about getting road bikes and taking that sport up. Life is good!!!

Trying to make lemonade out of lemons

Things seem to be falling apart around us! The transmission went out on the van...................................AGAIN! This is the third time in 13,000 miles, very frustrating. We found a shop in Anchorage that can hopefully fix it right so we borrowed Merle and Lois' truck to tow it in on our dolly. On the way to pick up the van, with the dolly in tow, Martin was in an accident and totaled the dolly. Luckily the truck was fine, just the dolly was destroyed. So now we have a tow truck coming to pick up the van and no way to tow the van with the motorhome.

We also made an offer on a foreclosure, here in Wasilla. It needs a LOT of work but it has a great floorplan. We made a very low offer because of the amount of work it needs and they rejected the offer. So we are back at square one, not finding much of what we are looking for. We are close to renting but afraid to get into a lease when we are so unsure of the future. Martin doesn't yet know what he wants to do to bring income in and things just seem very "up in the air".

I'm not feeling stressed.....................................really! Just kind of going with the flow but feeling like the answers don't seem to be coming to us. I find being in limbo a very hard place to be. I am also finding it hard to "get back into the swing of things" and start LIVING again. Our lives were so full on the trip and now seem a little empty, in that we aren't doing much besides errands and phone calls but, then again, maybe we just need some time to sit and let it all digest for a while.

Meanwhile, Calista is having a grand time with Rylee and glad to be back home. Tristan has made some friends in Robin's neighborhood and seems to be walking lighter on his feet. He is also enjoying the many hours of solitude that he is getting at Robin's, which he was so desperately craving while on the trip. Kevin has settled right in and I think is contemplating moving in with Kevin Sampley (just joking but spends most of his time there right now). He starts Summer Theatre Camp, at Valley Performing Arts, on Monday. He is pretty excited about it and is also planning on trying to get in with Kids Court this fall. I'm feeling like we are meant to be back home and just hope things start falling into place for us.

We are home!

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted because we haven't had much internet. We drove into Palmer almost two weeks ago, it is hard to believe we have been home for almost two weeks!! It has gone by extremely fast, I am sure because we have been so busy cleaning out the motorhome, looking at houses, and catching up with friends.

We left Rapid City, and our wonderful time with the Buxcels, on Sunday afternoon (June 11) and drove to Deadwood, which is only 45 minutes from the Buxcels. We parked at a KOA there and on Monday morning Karen and the kids drove up to spend the day with us there at the pool. We had so much fun and then we had to say good-bye again. We are determined to talk them into coming up to Alaska next summer!

Kevin and Martin went into downtown Deadwood and checked the place out on Monday (while Tristan, Calista and I were at the pool). On Tuesday we drove up to Polson, MT, just a few short miles from Craig Skinn's lake house on Flathead Lake, with a stop in Helena to have lunch with Lou (Craig's business partner) We stayed there for two nights getting caught up on laundry and planning our drive up the Alaska Highway. On Thursday we went up to Craig's lake house and spent the weekend four-wheeling, sea dooing, hot tubbing, and generally having a GREAT time!!! Craig also took us for a boat tour of part of the lake and some of the houses around it. His daughter, Malorey, gave us a four-wheeling tour of the hills behind their house on the old logging roads. We had a great weekend and it is definitely up at the top of the kids list for best times they had on the trip!!

On Sunday night we decided to go ahead and at least get to the border, which was about 100-150 miles from the lake house. We crossed the border at midnight and then found a rest stop to sleep for the night. Monday morning we started our marathon drive through Canada. We had 2500 miles to go and wanted to drive it in three days! The weather cooperated for us and those three days were absolutely beautiful. Some of the lakes apppeared to be in the Bahamas with their bright aqua colors. The kids were great through that long trek, probably because they were so excited to get home. We pulled into Palmer at 2:00am on Thursday and parked at Martin's parents. Calista said she was going to cry because she was so excited!!

I had some mixed feelings coming into town; feeling like I might regret our decision but when I started seeing the familiar and all my wonderful friends and family it just felt like we did the right thing. Robin met us at one of our favorite spots, Vagabond Blues, for soup and bread on Thursday. Rylee had no idea that we were back so I quietly walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulders and asked, "Do I know you?" She stood there for a bit just staring at me like I was a total stranger! Took a while for it to set in. I have been getting lots of "Auntie, I love you!" and lots and lots of hugs and cuddles!! I think she is afraid that if she lets me out of her sight I may leave again!

We have been going to all our favorite spots and seeing all our friends. Homecoming is great!! I really have felt how much I am loved and was missed and it is great to be back! One of our friends asked me if it felt different or the same and I told him that my attitude was different. It feels good to feel total contentment; something I learned on the trip. Being happy and content is a choice and I have made the choice to simply be happy, life is to short to spend it otherwise!

We have looked at a few houses, trying to decide what to do in that regard. Martin meets with our realtor (and great friend) this morning to make an offer on a foreclosure we found. It needs a LOT of work but it is a great floor plan so we will see what happens with that. If they don't accept our offer we will probably end up renting until we are a little more settled. Martin still doesn't know what he will be doing for income but he has a few things floating in the air, just has to decide which one to grab. We believe things will fall into place the way they are meant to and we are in no big hurry. If we get this house it will actually be good that he is not working because it will give him the time to finish the house so that we will have somewhere to live. Meanwhile, we are at Robin and Richard's camping out until they get sick of us.

This last 6 1/2 months has been quite the experience! We have had our highest highs and our lowest lows and learned so much! This trip won't soon be forgotten! We have learned so much about each other, a lot about ourselves, and seen and experienced things that we thought were only in our dreams. We wish we could have gone longer and seen more but now we have something else to keep our dreams alive. We have decided to keep the motorhome and possibly take a trip every year; focusing on a smaller area each year and in a shorter time period. Thank you to everyone that took us in for a night or two or just a visit. It was so good to see all of you that we hadn't seen in so many years and such a great reminder that the thing that is so important in this life is our relationships with people. We get so caught up in the go, go, go that we forget about people and our relationships with them. We love you all!

Powerful, Positive human beings

I'm laying here beside Tristan, rubbing his back and helping him go back to sleep. He stayed up late and woke up too early and is having trouble falling back asleep. My mind is just full of amazing thoughts about him and what an incredible human being he is.

My mind wanders to a comment that someone made about the unschooling article that was in People magazine a couple of weeks ago, that featured my sister and her family. The comment was that parents need to exert control over their children. Our philosophy is that we are here to keep them safe and to help guide them in their UNIQUE life journey, not to make them what we want them to be.

So, it got me to thinking...............................many of these comments come from far right, conservative Christians, which makes me very sad because I am a Christian and firmly believe at looking towards the example of Christ. The next thought was "Well, if we are to be following the example of Christ then it would do us some good to look at the relationship that he had with his parents", which brings me right back to my philosophy on parenting. Christ had an incredible purpose on this earth, for sure, but you don't read about his parents trying to "control" him. I think that would have lead to disaster for them. Their job was to keep him safe and care for him and then get out of the way and let him do what he was put on this earth to do.

Every single one of us was put on this earth for a purpose also. We are not accidents but planned out and put on this earth for a very unique purpose. My job as a parent is to bring as much joy into my children's life, to keep them safe, and to help guide them in their unique life journey and then get out of the way and let them do what they were put on this earth to do. I don't know exactly what that is for each of them but deep inside they know. THEY ARE POWERFUL, POSITIVE, HUMAN BEINGS!!!

I'm just so amazed as I watch each of them discover what their purpose is in this thing called life and I am so blessed and lucky to be able to walk beside them, for a litte while, as life unfolds for them! Thank you my little ones for bringing so much JOY into my life!!!

The Buxcels rock!!!

We just spent the last four days with the Buxcels; a very cool unschooling family that we met at the conference and really clicked with. Karen called me her soul sister today and that is exactly what it feels like. We parked in front of their house for three nights and just hung out, ate good food, had GREAT coffee, and just made ourselves at home. It just feels like we have known them for a lifetime! They live in an older, quaint, adorable house that just felt so homey! It was such a good reminder to me that, in our society, we think we need WAY more than we do. We made a comittment to simplify our lives when we took this trip and it was good to be brought back down to earth and be reminded of that comittment. Thanks Karen!! We love your family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday we drove into Deadwood and took one of their boys, Saylor, with us. He spent the night and then Karen drove up this morning with her other two boys, Stone and Sage, and hung out at the pool with us all day, at the KOA that we are parked at. Last night we played hide and seek with Saylor and Tristan, which is quite interesting when you only have a small space around your motorhome. It was great to see the places that the boys thought of hiding. The last hiding place was up in a tree near the motorhome ,which Tristan ended up getting stuck in. It took him a little bit but he was able to get down on his own. When it got dark we came in and had popcorn and watched TV.

It was so hard to say goodbye but we are going to try really hard to make it to the conference in September; it all depends on what our financial situation is. We will be moving on to Montana tomorrow and should be home by next Thurs. Seems weird because in many ways it seems like we just left to start our trip and it is already coming to an end.

Hi from Rapid City, SD -- Martin

Heidi told me that it was my turn to blog this week and when your boss speaks I have learned that it is good to listen, so here it is. I started at 2:30 am last night but I was way to sleepy so I had to quit and try again today.

Time is now offically flying "bye" , it is now about gone! It does not seem like we started this trip 6 months ago but you know what they say about time flying when your having fun. Then we look back through all of the pictures and realize that we have done a lot the last six months! We have also seen some real cool things along the way. This trip has definitely been a blessing for us that we will not soon forget.

The last couple of weeks have been a blast! We got to Estes Park in Co. two weeks ago today to visit my sister Becky. As we drove into town I looked over at Heidi and asked her why we were going back to Alaska. She reminded me that it was for our kids but at that moment I did not want to take them into consideration. I had found the place that I was looking for! That small little town that "I" could open up a coffee shop in and live "my" perfect little life in.

Estes Park is located in a bowl at about 8000 feet up in the rockies. It is a town of about 5500 full time residents and 3,000,000 tourist a year. As you drive into town you drop about 300 feet of elevation down to the bottom of the bowl. So as you are driving into town you look out onto a Lake directly in front of you. Off to the left is a beautiful 18 hole golf course and then nestled on the far side of the lake is another 9 hole golf course that butts up to the lake. What an awesome sight! When you get down in the bowl you look up on all sides at snow covered mountain peaks. The beauty is truly breath taking!

As you drive through town you can truly feel the charm of the place. People are happy and very friendly. There is a sidewalk that skirts a river that runs behind the businesses on one side of town. A truly peaceful setting that is calming to the nerves. The down town area is about a 1/2 mile long and is all along one street which is very quaint setting. Shops line both side of the street that, from 8:00am to 9:00pm each day, is busy with activity.

If you continue out of town about 3 miles you enter the Rocky Mountain National Park which is really an awesome sight in itself. The place is teaming with wildlife (We had deer and elk in the motorhome park where we were staying) and there are hundreds of places you can hike and enjoy its tranquility.

So yes, we did do what we set out to do on this trip! We found our little piece of heaven in Estes Park, Co. So now you are wondering why we are still going back to Alaska? That cold land that we left in our rear view mirror 6 months ago. Well those of you that have kids will understand, that sometimes parents do crazy things for there kids. So mark this up to one of those times. Even though it is the place we (Heidi and myself) were looking for, we have found that our kids do not share our dream at this point in time. Since we are a family that works together we are respecting their desire to return to Wasilla, Alaska. Also lets face it, we (Heidi and myself) do miss some things also, our friends being the main thing. So not everything is bad when contemplating our return home.

Also while in Estes Park my Aunt Joyce came up to see us from Colorado Springs. It was nice to see her and spend some time with her. The last time we had seen her was a few years ago. So it was great to have a couple of days with her.

So as we left Estes Park in our rear view mirror after 5 days, there was some sadness about leaving our piece of heaven behind but at the same time we were looking forward to the adventures yet to come, including the journey home.

Next we headed to Grand Junction, Co. to see my sister Lizz and her family. On the way we stopped at Water World, a water park in Denver. Kevin and me had a blast hitting every ride we could. After a day of playing in the water we continued across the state and arrived at 11:00pm in Grand Junction. Along the way we went through a bunch of tunnels, which Tristan got a real kick out of. Each tunnel we went through we had to hold our breath until we got through the tunnel. On one I about passed out as it was over a mile long. That would have been a real good one trying to explain to the police why I wrecked the motorhome. "Well it was like this sir. My son wanted me to hold my breath going through the tunnel and the next thing I know I passed out and wrecked!............................................. Here's my sign." :)

While in Grand Junction we went to Utah to the Arches National Park in Moab. A very cool place but the day we were there it was 100*F out so we did not do much hiking. In Grand Junction we also found an outdoor public pool that we all enjoyed, as the temp both days we went to the pool broke 100*F. The heat was great and will be the one thing we miss in Alaska.

While there we also went to the Mesa Monument above Grand Junction. What a sight! The sun was setting and the red rocks were gleaming in the setting sun. What a sunset! Tristan was in his element climbing on all of the rocks and we got some real good pictures. The next night we all went to the local rodeo in Fruita. When we first got there Tristan and Calista were bored with it but by the time we left we had to coax them out of there. Another new experience that they loved.

We left on wednesday morning for Mount Rushmore and after two days of driving we arrived! On the way we were bored out of our minds by all the wide flat open land called Wyoming. No wonder only 490,000 people live there.....YUK! It was as bad as Kansas in my mind. I know for sure that I'm not a flat lander.

Once we hit the Black Hills in South Dakota things started to change. More trees, hills and rocks. Then we saw the Crazy horse rock carving which is a neat thing but is unfinished at this time. Then onto Mt. Rushmore which was very cool. What an accomplishment! Something everyone should see with their own eyes.

When we left Rushmore we headed to Rapid City, where we are parked right now at John and Karen Buxcel's. The kids are having a blast playing with their kids and it has been nice for Heidi and myself to be able to visit and have some down time to relax. To top it off they like good coffee too! YES! It is so good to be on the west side of the USA!

So we will be here a few days before we head onto Montana and then home to Alaska. I hear the boss calling for the computer so this job is done for now! :)

Martin

Frustrated

This last few days I am feeling SO FRUSTRATED at the judgement, prejudice, and racism that exists in the world!!!! Why is it that some people feel more important, more intelligent, more whatever because of their skin color, their sexuality, their education, their religion, there mental capacity, there............WHATEVER!!!

All of us that exist in this world are connected; we were created by the same God, we are loved UNCONDITIONALLY by the same God, and we all NEED each other whether people realize that or not.

Just a little factoid.......................regardless of what skin color you are..........................your skin color, sexuality, religion, WHATEVER, does not make you more or less intelligent, it does not make you more or less likely to commit a crime, it does not make you more or less likely to make a lot of money, it does NOT make you special!!! And it certainly doesn't determine whether you are a more loving, kind, accepting, non-judgemental individual!!!

For any who say "I'm not prejudice BUT.................". Little tidbit..................YOU ARE!!!!

For any who are prejudice, racist, or judgemental in any way and claim to know the love of Christ, I would encourage you to do some serious reading about Christ and get to know him a little better!!!! Learn a little more about AGAPE love!!

Sorry, just venting!! I just wish there were a little more REAL LOVE in this world and a lot less judgment placed on other people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"You can't cure the world of sorrows, but you can choose to live in joy" I guess that is what I have to do. And to everyone out there.....................I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Estes Park; very cool town

Well, we made it to Estes Park on Friday afternoon after three long days of driving. The minute we drove in we knew this was going to be a place we liked; it just feels good. Cute, quaint town with a LOT of charm, tucked away into the mountains. LOTS of hiking and outdoor activities and not too many people. Now we are having doubts about our decision to go back to Alaska.

Friday night we ordered pizza and went up to a lake and did a little easy hiking. On Saturday Becky, Calista and I drove "down below" (we are up in the moutains and that is what they call the towns at the bottom of the mountain) to get some things from Loveland. Martin and the boys hung out at the motorhome and chilled. We had dinner at Becky's (Martins sister) and played games.

On Sunday we went to a little church service here at the RV Park and then went over to a rock shop and oooed and ahhhed over all the rocks and minerals. Calista and I bought little trees that had been made out of little rocks, Kevin got some carvings, and Tristan got a axe head made out of obsidian. After that we took the kids to this little amusement area and let them ride bumper boats. They got soaking wet so it kind of took the fun out of doing anything else since it was a little cool. We went back to the motorhome to get dry clothes and then back to Becky's for creamed eggs on toast and a round of Pictionary.

Yesterday Martin and I woke up really early, before the kids were even stirring and went and hiked Twin Sisters Peak with Becky. It is a 7 1/2 mile hike round trip and SOOOO worth it!!! We gained 2500 ft of elevation, 11,200 feet at the top!!! It was so beautiful and one of the most fun hikes I have done. My knees were killing me on the way down, but I am not in that great of shape so it wasn't surprising. I made it all the way though!!! I spent the rest of the day resting and then back to Becky's for dinner and Clue.

Tristan and I were needing a down day today so Martin and Calista went with Becky to the other side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Becky had some business over there and they were going to get some ice cream and maybe do a litte hiking. Kevin slept most of the day because he wasn't feeling very well and Tristan and I went and played miniature golf. We also did a lot of lounging today.

We will be here until Thursday and then on to Lizz, Kirk, and Emilee's (Martin's other sister and her husband and daughter). After that we will be headed to Montana.

Quick goodbye in Jonesborough and headed west

We had three wonderful days in Jonesborough before we had to say our goodbyes and head west.

Friday was Ren's birthday. We went to the farmers market in the morning for some fresh strawberries and awesome amish cheese and then she had to go on to work. After the farmers market I rushed home and grabbed some kids to go get some birthday presents. Sierra and Jalen were so sweet picking things for their mother; they knew exactly what she would want and were so proud. Jalen picked a stuffed toy skunk and then decided that he wanted it instead. I had to explain to him that it was a day to buy things for mom and he says, "Okay, she can have it." I told Ren she might not be hanging on to it :). After shopping I met her at her work so we could go to dinner, along with Mary and Mary's sister, Ann. We went to Ruby Tuesdays, in the mall, and then did a little shopping afterwards. Then I rushed home to whip up some strawberry trifle with those fresh strawberries. We turned all the lights off and waited for her arrival and jumped out screaming an awful version of happy birthday.

After she opened her gifts and things had calmed down a little some of them went out to jump on the trampoline. I heard some commotion and went out to see what it was all about and got a BIG surprise!!! The yard was twinkling with green lights from the fireflies. We have never seen fireflies so we were in awe of the magic. The kids were out catching them in jars and Calista had accidentally smooshed one in the lid. She stood there with alligator tears streaming down her face crying, "I don't like hurting things." It made me sad for her but it also made my heart swell up to see how much my kids value life, of all living things.

We had to say goodbye on Monday morning and it wasn't easy, knowing that we won't be back for a while. We spent 5 1/2 weeks there before we went to DC and it felt weird leaving, like we lived there.

We made it to Nashville the first night and spent part of the next day at the Opryland hotel. I was there with my mother almost eight years ago so I was feeling a little sadness that day. I was remembering sitting by the fountain eating beignets from the beignet shop with her, Ren, and the kids and I was 7 months pregnant with Calista. I was looking forward to having those again but the beignet shop closed down, bummer!!!

Yesterday we drove to St.Louis and had dinner with Ken and Cherry and her two girls. After dinner they came to the motorhome and shared a glass of wine with us while the kids rollerbladed and rode their bikes around the park.

So today we drove ALL day!!!! We made it to Wakeeney, Kansas. We are out in the middle of nowhere! The last 50-100 miles there were no curves in the road and flat, flat, flat! We will be in Denver tomorow.

Something I forgot to blog about....

I have told this story dozens of times and never blogged about it so I thought I would. Something that we have gotten a kick out of, during the course of this trip, is people's reaction to us being from Alaska. This took the cake though!!!!..........................

We were at Walmart getting our passport pictures done and just visiting with the ladies that work there. One of the gals pipes up and says (in her strong southern accent), "This may sound really stupid but down here they'all call us Americans, what do they call y'all up there?" Shocked, I replied, "Well, we are one of the fifty states you know, so we are Americans." Slightly puzzled looking she says, "Well, I guess I knew that, do they call you eskimos?" Totally unbelievable!! I said, "Well, if you are an eskimo they call you an eskimo!" I am amazed at the ignorance but I guess that Alaska is totally irrelevant to most Tennesseeans!! Martin said that it was all he could do not to say, "HERE IS YOUR SIGN!!"

We have laughed and laughed about it and told the story dozens of times!!!

getting ready to leave the east coast

Kevin and Martin had a great time in DC, they got to see most everything they wanted and it was good for Kevin to have some alone time with Dad. Tristan, Calista and I had the nice quiet day that we were really needing. We left DC Friday morning and drove into Williamsburg. We parked at a nice KOA that has a swimming pool that is opened! The kids spent the evening swimming, they had a blast since the KOA was full of kids!! Apparently the weekends are busy around here because pretty much every space was full until Sunday when things CLEARED out!!

On Saturday we went to Jamestown Settlement, which is a replica of the original Jamestown Settlement, and got to explore what it was like in colonial times. They had replicas of the three ships that originally sailed into Jamestown and lots of historical interpreters to tell us facts and tidbits about that time period. Kevin even got to sword fight (with a stick) and we got to learn about blacksmithing, woodworking, cooking, etc. It made history real which was fun for me.

We then went over the historical Jamestown, which is the actual site of the settlement. There are still some foundations there and they are constantly doing archeological digs at the site.

On Sunday we went to Busch Gardens to get a dose of adrenaline. Martin and the boys live for it but Calista and I have our limits; since Calista and I weren't really up for an adrenaline rushed day we opted out of the roller coasters and did the easy ride while the boys went off and did the crazy ones! We got rained on a bit but it was actually kind of nice because the park was not busy at all.

We were going to leave on Monday but we decided to stay for a down day and hung out at the pool. We cleaned the motorhome and finished laundry (always exciting!!). On Tuesday we decided to go to Virginia Beach; Martin felt like we had to dip our feet in the Atlantic Ocean since we had come this far. While we were on the beach a photographer came over and took a bunch of pictures of the kids and we were able to buy a package of them. She had all the kids laughing ,which we are never able to do in pictures, so we were excited about that. That night we headed towards Asheville and since we didn't leave Virginia Beach until 7:00 or later we ended up driving until 3:00 am, until Martin was so tired he couldn't see straight. We pulled over at a rest stop that didn't allow overnight parking but by that point Martin didn't care because he was going to have an accident at the rate we were going. When we woke up in the morning we realized he had parked in the area where people drive through!!! No one seemed to care that we were there all night so that was good!

We drove the rest of the way into Asheville that morning and parked at a quiet little park there. We were so tired from the night before that we ended up lazing in the motorhome all day recharging. Thursday morning we went to Biltmore Estate, the largest home in America at 127,000 sq. ft.!!!!!!!! It was absolutely amazing, you could spend a week there! We got to go do a wine tasting at the winery and ended up buying some fabulous wine!!! When we were through there we drove up to Jonesborough for a quick visit before heading west again.

Visiting friends

The last week or so has been a bit of a whirlwind! We left DC and headed for West Virginia to see Martins friend, Patrick Sauer. It just happened to be our 15th anniversary that night and Patrick and his wife, Michelle, treated us to dinner at a local restaurant that is in an old historical house downtown. Calista made friends with their 15 year old daughter, Emily who was kind enough to keep Calista entertained for the evening. They also have a 12 year old son with a killer bedroom!! The boys hung out with him and played video games, their favorite thing!

We had a good nights sleep, parked at the end of their driveway, and the next morning went to Harpers Ferry where the Civil War started. All the buildings in downtown Harpers Ferry have information and historical artifacts to look at. We have certainly learned a lot of history on this trip for sure! We said our goodbyes around 5:00 pm and headed toward Towson, Maryland, to visit a highschool friend of mine, Ezra Gollogly. Ezra and I worked on the Alaska Railroad together after our senior year in highschool and hadn't seen each other since our wedding day, fifteen years ago. Funny that our reunion would land a day after our anniversary!

We got into Towson around 7:00 and were able to park at the Masonic Temple right next door to Ezra's house. We ordered pizza for dinner and sat around chit chatting until 10:30 or so. It was a short visit but so nice to see him again. He has an adorable daughter, Mina, that Calista was quite happy to keep entertained. His wife was out of town on business so we didn't get to meet her, which was a bummer, but I am sure we will meet again some day.

The next day we took our time getting going, went and did some grocery shopping, and then drove a little north to Bel Air to visit Curt and Tina Wade, some other friends from Fairbanks. Curt dated one of my good friends in highschool so we spent quite a bit of time together back in those days. Tina and I worked at the Fairbanks Clinic together, before I had Kevin, and her and Curt ended up getting married several years ago and now have two boys who are 7 (Cooper) and 17 months (Hayden). Curt and Tina actually attended highschool together at North Pole High. They got some Maryland crab and we spent the evening cracking crab and visiting. Curt recently bought a Mustang convertible so he let Martin and the boys ride along when he picked up the crab, with the top down. Now I have Martin dreaming about a Mustang again! It was one of the most enjoybable evenings and so good to see them again too. It has been such a privilege to see people that we thought we might never see again.

We left Curt and Tina's around 11:00 and headed to Pennsylvania. Some more Fairbanks friends of ours (Kevin and Claudine Jones and their kids Kyla and Brent) live in Carlisle. We parked at a local campground there as we were needing ammenities by this point. Calista woke up the next morning rather sick with a nice case of pharyngitis. Her throat was pretty nasty and she was running a fever. We stopped by the Jones to say a quick hello and then back to the motorhome to nurse Calista. She spent the next night puking so we couldn't do much the next day either. Tristan hit it off with Brent quite well so I took just him over to their house with me to visit for a couple of hours. That night we took Calista to the hospital because it was looking like strep. Four hours and $225.00 later we were told that she just had pharyngitis. The next morning she woke up all perky and ready to go! We had dinner with the Jones' that night and stayed and visited for a while. Brent and Tristan had a great time playing basketball in the driveway and games on the computer while Kyla played with Calista and showed her a little how to bead. Kyla makes beautiful earrings and, of course, I had to get some!!

The next day (Tuesday, May 9) we went to Hersheys and stalked up on chocolate. It was fun to see how chocolate is made and to get a tour around Hershey; the whole town smells like chocolate! We went back to Carlisle that evening and said our goodbyes. We woke up yesterday morning and drove to Gettysburg. We went to a museum there; the National Cemetery, where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address; and the battlefield, where that battle was fought. Then last night we drove back down to DC. Martin and Kevin had a few more things that they wanted to see before we head to Jamestown so they are in DC today while Tristan, Calista, and myself are taking a down day in the motorhome. It is raining today so it seems fitting anyway!

leaving Washington DC

Well, after three days of this place I think we have had enough! The only one that does well with the big cities is Kevin and the rest of us survive it. It just seems like a production to get anywhere and I just prefer to hop in my car, go where I need to go, and come home!

Yesterday we mostly walked and looked at all the memorials and monuments so it was a little hard on Calista but she made it through the day. The kids really wanted to use the metro, since none of us have ever been on a subway, so we parked at the Largo Center and rode the metro in. All was well until we headed back to the car at 11:00 pm, dead tired and totally drained. We were on the right side of the track but we failed to read the sign on the front of the metro; we were supposed to be on the blue line but accidentally got on the orange line. We didn't even realize our mistake but Tristan had the map in his hands and was reading the signs at all the stops and comparing them to the map. He said "Dad, we are on the wrong train, that last stop was on the orange line!!" Martin said "No way, there is no way!" The guy behind us asked what line we were supposed to be on and confirmed that we were indeed on the orange line. So we had to get off, get on the orange line going the opposite direction, get off again where it crossed with the blue line going the other way and get on that one back to the Largo Center. They got their fill of subways for sure!!!!

We are going to spend the next three days visiting some friends that now live in this area, two being friends from highschool. We are almost done with the touring portion of our trip and then will be slowly making our way back to Alaska, visiting family and friends on the way over and up.

Washington D.C.

Well, we made it through our first day in DC!! LeaAnn and her kids met us at the Air and Space Museum and we spent the rest of the day exploring with them. The kids were so happy to have the company and it made the day a lot more fun for all of us. We were also able to visit the archives, where the documents are, the Natural History Museum, and a brief glance at the Holocaust Museum. Kevin and I were most interested in the documents and I would have stayed there for hours reading every word but we didn't have much time and wanted to see as much as we could. We ended up buying copies of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. Tristan and Calista, of course, were completely in awe of the rock, mineral, gem collection!!! Tristan expressed that he was pretty overwhelmed at the enormity of the collection. They would have bought everything at the gift shop had they had enough money!!

Our plan is to go back today and visit all the memorials and monuments. None of us do very well with the more "touristy" sort of thing and being in a large city where it is a production to get where you want to go is not our idea of fun so I think we are doing pretty good. The hardest part is when we get back to the motorhome and all Martin and I can think of doing is reading a book, catching up on our e-mails, or relaxing in front of the TV and the kids are still needing us for things. They also get energized, where it zaps my energy, so we have had some challenges the last couple of days but all-in-all have been able to get through it without any major meltdowns.

It has been so fun to see some of the kids interests taking shape, I have learned so much about them on this trip and that has been really exciting for me. They have been exposed to so many new things on this trip and it is fun to see what puts a sparkle in their eyes or gets them excited! One thing that has really sparked Kevins interest is photography. We have taken hundreds of pictures on this trip, many of them taken by Kevin. He wants to learn all the tricks of the trade so I think it is time to start saving to get him his own camera and get him some books so he can start playing. He has also developed a pretty strong interest in anything old, from his Aunt Ruth's antiques to the Declaration of Independence. Tristan has been really intrigued with how people lived long ago but it is when he can see it, touch it, smell it that he gets excited about it. We were able to get another computer on this trip so Tristan inherited our Dell, which is only a few months old, so now he can start learning all things computer. When we approached Washington DC he said, "Hey look, there is the Washington Monument!" I didn't even know that he had heard of it so I asked him how he knew that. He replied, "Oh, I learned that on Simm City 3000." Computer games are great! Calista has spent hours collecting rocks and shells EVERYWHERE we go!! Yesterday she was collecting pretty white, see-throughish kind of rocks off the path in front of the Capitol Building. She has quite a collection to bring home. Tristan joins right in on that one, of course.

On to the east coast

I think that I need to get in the habit of blogging at least once a week because my memory has a hard time recalling everything that happens over a three or four week period of time!! We had one more day in Chattanooga and we went to the Tennessee Aquarium, the largest in the US. My favorite was the butterfly garden where there were dozens of different kinds of butterflies flitting around. I was able to take quite a few close up pictures of them and both Tristan and Calista had them sitting on their fingers.

It was on the way back from Chattanooga that we had a little break down. I have mostly blogged about all the fun stuff that we have been doing and the positive part about the trip but there has been a negative side................Tristan has a very difficult time with lots of change, stimulation, and lack or routine and it often produces quite a bit of anxiety for him. We knew going into this that he might not fair well but felt it was worth the chance. Even though he has had a lot of fun and has many fond memories he is having a very difficult time emotionally. It has also been difficult, for all of us, to be together 24/7 and nowhere to go when you need to be alone. Because of this, combined with the fact that we have yet to find anywhere that is just calling our names; no where that has given us a sense of peace as far as living goes, we have decided to end our trip early and head back up to Wasilla. Even though there is a part of me that is a little disappointed, it does feel right. At first it felt like we were giving up on our dream but really it has been incredible! We have seen lots of this country, had so much fun, and learned a ton! We are going to speed up our east coast part of the trip, head over to Colorado to visit Martin's sisters and aunt, up to Montana to see Craig Skinn, over to Oregon, Washington, and back home. We should be home sometime between the end of June and the first week in July. So now Martin just has to figure out what he wants to do. He is pretty sure that he wants to get into real estate; he gets excited thinking about it as a career so that is a good thing.

Anyway, we got back from Chattanooga on Friday night and Sunday was Easter. We were at my sisters for lunch and an egg hunt. We hid 120 eggs, 20 of which had $1 bills in them. We hid them so well that 19 didn't get found, including 4 with $1 bills in them, so us adults got a good easter egg hunt too. We did find all but one and it was only one with candy so I am sure the the mower will eventually find it.

Since then we have mostly just been hanging out at Ren's. Leann Hood and her kids came this last weekend and we went up to Bay's Mountain; kind of like a really small zoo but it was fun. The kids got to pet a possum and since we don't have possums where we live it was fun to get that close. On Wednesday we celebrated Sierra's birthday. Since her mom doesn't have much time, now that she is working full time, I took her and Calista out for a girls day. Her and I got our second ear piercing (that was what she wanted for her birthday) and we hopped around town finding stuff for a cake. She wanted a puppy cake so I whipped up a cake with a little scene in which there were lots of little puppies. She decided that she would like to eat the cake like a puppy so we let her stick her face in it and take a bite; it was hard to get anyone to eat any cake after that!

We left Jonesborough yesterday afternoon and are headed towards Washington DC. You would have thought that there was a death in the family; lots of tears and pretty solemn for the next couple hours after we left. Calista seems to be having the worst time with it as she and Sierra stuck pretty close. Kevin went as far to say that he would be willing to give some things up to spend more time with them.

We stopped at the Natural Bridge last night and parked at a KOA here. We visited the bridge today, very cool!! Along the nature walk there they have set up an Indian village, as close to what it would have been like in the 1700's that they can gather from research. There were Indian people there, dressed in the clothes that they would have warn during the clash of the cultures (1700's) when they were beginning to trade with the Europeans. They showed us how they would have made tools and even had some that they themselves had made, how they cooked and we got to try cornbread cooked on a stone over a fire, what there houses (wigwams) were like and a little about there family culture, and how they dried bones, etc. It was really interesting and when we walked away Tristan said "I could have stayed there all day listening to them!" We had encounters with two snakes which Martin didn't think was very much fun. He jumped so bad when we stumbled on the second one that he made me jump. We are just hanging out in the motorhome watching Deal or No Deal and planning on going to bed early. We leave early in the morning to go all the way to DC to spend a few days exploring there.

At the Chattanooga Choo Choo

We decided to take a little side trip down to Chattanooga for a few days. We are staying at the original Chattanooga Choo Choo Railway Station which is now the Holiday Inn, restaurants, and shops. The station opened in 1909 and ran until 1970 when they had to shut down due to faster modes of transportation. In 1973 they reopened as a hotel and tourist attraction. It has been fun to be around such rich history, all over Tennessee.

We went up to Rock City Gardens today, what a COOL place!! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far!! Paths, crevasses, tunnels, caves and big boulders that you wind your way through to the top of the hill where there is a lookout point with one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. Hypothetically, you can see seven states from that point. The trees have just budded out and it was absolutely beautiful!!!!! Hard to describe.

We stopped in at Applebees for dinner and then back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel the kids decided they wanted to go swimming (there are three different pools to choose from). The one we went to was an asian style outdoor pool with a little gazebo over the hot tub. We were just sitting there when I noticed a dove sitting in a nest in the eves. She had at least two babies in her nest; that was a treat!!

It has been a wonderful day!!!!

Having fun with family

We have been here, in Jonesborough, for two weeks now and having a great time. It is nice to have somewhat of a routine and to just putt around. The kids have been having so much fun with their cousins and I am sure when it is time to leave it will not be easy. Calista and Sierra are the little diva, fashion designing, dancing, chit chatting girlfriends and the boys are all little (and big) computer geeks. We were having a hard time sharing computers so Martin bought his "dream" computer and gave Tristan our Dell. Now everyone is happy and engaged!

Jalen has been keeping us all in stitches with his funny little antics. Last night both girls come out of the bedroom angry and screaming because Jalen ate their gum that they had just bought at the store. When asked if he had eaten it he originally said "no" so Ren asked him, "Well, how did it disappear then?" He replied, "Because I didn't eat it all." Ren asked again, "Why didn't you ask them if you could have some?" and he said, "Because they said all no!!" We got a good laugh and the girls didn't think it was too funny.

The last few days have been warm in the early 70's so the kids have been out in the sprinkler and chalking on the driveway. Mark and Ren are getting some landscaping done and we are all enjoying the beauty of the area. On Saturday we went hiking up Buffalo Mountain and when we came back home the Lovejoy's pulled up to visit on their way home from a 480 mile bike ride that Ben and a friend did. The Lovejoy's are some fellow unschoolers that Martin and I met at the conference but Ren has known for a while now. They have two boys, Cameron and Duncan that are fun and interesting, like all the unschoolers we know!! On Sunday Martin got the chance to take a 13 mile bike ride with Markus, Ben, and Stuart (a friend of the Lovejoy's). He really enjoyed it and might just take up biking when we get settled.

Last night a couple of storms passed over and, for fear of the motorhome awnings being damaged, Martin raced back to the motorhome to close the slides. We sat at the window and "oooohhhhhed and awwwwwed" over the lightning. We have never experienced such a grand lightning show and it was a real treat!! It continued well into the night and Martin and I had a hard time sleeping, as it is very loud on the motorhome roof.

Martin leaves for Vegas on Wednesday to meet some buddies for five days. It will be a little weird and quiet since getting used to having him around 24/7. I am sure I will get a lot of reading done!!

Tennessee

Martin has been doing such a good job of blogging but I suppose it is my turn this time. We were supposed to head to Ren's (my sister) in Tennessee on Wednesday or Thursday, as we were going to do a little exploring in South and North Carolina before we got there, but we were so burned out after Disney that we decided to surprise them and head up earlier. We left Orlando Sunday morning and drove to St. Augustine. The plan was to spend the day at the beach but even the kids were needing to rest after Disney so we ended up hanging out in the motorhome and catching up on our e-mails.

We left St. Augustine the next morning. We were really missing Trader Joes groceries because they have all the healthy organic stuff that we like so much; Martin had found one in South Carolina so we thought we would go out of our way just a little to stock up on groceries. As we were getting closer to the highway turn off I told Martin that he should call and just make sure they were still open because our GPS has been known to lead us to places that are no longer in business. He called and it ended up being a furniture store! Good thing we didn't go 60 miles out of our way for furniture!!

Since that was out we thought we would go all the way to Jonesborough and surprise my sister. We got in around 8:45 pm and crept up the driveway with the lights off. I called and told my nephew that UPS was trying to deliver a package that I had sent and that they had just called me because they couldn't find the house. I told my nephew to open the door so that UPS could see what house he was supposed to go to. He opened the door and we jumped out screaming! They were really excited and it was fun to surprise them like that!!!!

Markus and Ren showed us around the area yesterday and we had to stock up on groceries since there are 11 of us!! The kids are having a grand time with their cousins and it is nice to just be hanging out and living somewhat of a routine. We were getting a little tired of touristy stuff and needed a break from it. We will be here for 5 or 6 weeks so we will get a really nice visit. We will start feeling like we live here!!

Florida

Yes we are still doing ok! We lived through our Disney World experience, just barely! Also since we were without the Internet for the whole time (Disney is so cheap that they do not have Internet service available but they charge you like they do), I was sure that Kevin was going to die but he made it. We are now in a park outside of Orlando and Kevin is still up getting his Internet fix, as am I!

Tuesday we left Texas and headed to Orlando as planned. We stopped in Galveston to see Ryan (Heidi’s Cousin) and Stacey. They are in the process of building a cabin on the place they have there. It was great to see them. We stayed for about 5 hours and went to dinner with them. I ate Crawfish for the first time! All I can say is they were great and I can’t wait to eat them again. Tristan even liked them although he was not to hip on sucking the juice out of the heads.

We left at about 8:00pm and then headed back down the road. We made it to the east side of New Orleans that night. As we went through New Orleans we got the weirdest feeling. The neighborhoods right off of I-10 are all dark and abandoned. No lights are on for miles, street lights have been turned off and intersection stop lights have also been turn off. Houses and buildings have been destroyed and abandoned. Trash is still piled in the streets and the whole area for a 40-mile stretch sinks of mildew and mold. Off in the distance you can see some of the lights of New Orleans but along I-10 it is dead. How they will ever get back to normal is beyond me. What a mess! We were glad to be leaving that city in the dust as we cruised on down the road.

The next day we got up and drove about 3 hours into Pensacola. We then took the day and went to the beach. The kids needed to have some fun and Heidi and I needed to relax a little. The next morning we headed off to Orlando and arrived about 5:00pm. Craig Skinn and Lou were in town for some meetings so I was able to see them. On Friday I went golfing with Craig (note to everyone at Slayden P&H, the golf clubs are great, Thanks again!) at a nice course right by his hotel. After golfing he took us all out to dinner and then to the Cirque Du Soleil. What a cool show!

On Sunday our Disney World experience got under way and for the next 7 days we went non-stop starting at the Magic Kingdom, although I’m not sure where the magic was. Next was Typhoon Lagoon (an ok water park), then Animal Kingdom (Everest is a real cool roller coaster), Blizzard Beach (this was the best day we had in Disney World, awesome water park), EPCOT (we ate our way around the world and the fire works show was very cool) and then the last day we did MGM Orlando (three words, “Tower of Terror”, it was a great ride). By the end we were fried though and ready to get the heck out of Disney World. It was exhausting and I was really getting sick of giving all my money to a Mouse that each day was feeling more like a conniving rat! That place has a way of sucking money out of you. We did have a lot of fun though so all is good. One thing is for sure though; Florida is not on the list of places to live. They can have that state!

That brings us to the here and now. We are on the way up to Tennessee to see Heidi’s sister and her family right now. As I write this it is 2:30am in the morning and it is time to call it quits for the night. I hope all is going well for everyone one up in Alaska and we hope to see you all soon. We are all missing our friends and family up there. Take care…..

Texas

Wow…it has been awhile since I last did this! We have been rather busy the last couple of weeks and have not had much Internet service either. We had a great time in Texas and found a couple of towns that we really liked but before I get to that let me tell you how we found them.

We left New Mexico and headed to San Antonio on a Friday morning about 9:00am. ….670 miles later we got to San Antonio at about 10:00pm that night. What a long day! The kids were not too happy about it either. Long days do not go over very well. We went through El Paso on the way and quickly check that place off the list. We will not be living there! As we in Alaska say, “Bethel is the arm pit of Alaska”, I would say, “El Paso is the arm pit of Texas”. We did not like it although I do have to say we did not spend any time there.

The next few days we spent getting a new leveler ordered for the motor home, as one broke in New Mexico. We also took time and drove all over San Antonio looking for the perfect place to live. The first couple of days we did not find anything that jumped out at us but on day three we found a little college town by the name of San Marcos. What a cool place! There is a river the runs right through the town and the kids had a blast playing in it with all the college students. The only down fall we found were fire ants. Heidi found a hill of them and before she knew what was going on they were biting her foot and leg. At first I thought she was doing some kid of new dance but I quickly figured out that was not the case, as new dances are not usually followed by shouts of pain. It was our first run in with them but now we have learned to look where you are standing! They are viscous little bugs!

We also found that the San Antonio River Walk is something everyone should see. What a cool place. It is located in down town, right by the Alamo. There are many shops and restaurants located along the walk. So if you ever get to San Antonio make sure that you check out the river walk.

By the end of the first week we had figured out that we liked the hill country north of San Antonio but really did not like the southern part (too flat and a little more run down then the northern part). That next Friday we went to stay at my Aunt Clara's and Uncle Neil's place at Pipe Creek, north of San Antonio. The kids fell in love with their place as they have some cows that they got to feed each day. I did not know that Kevin’s alarm actually worked until we got there. He always told me he could get up in the morning if he wanted to but I did not believe him. To top that off Tristan and Calista were getting up with him. I was shocked!

Each morning at 7:00am his alarm would go off and all three kids would jump up and get ready to feed the cows. I’m telling you it was the most amazing thing too see! I now know that they can get up when they want to. They also had the chance to feed wild deer and wild turkeys at a neighbor’s house while in Pipe Creek. At that same time another neighbor had some baby goats that were only 3-5 days old, all the kids fell in love with them. We are now doomed to have many animals wherever we end up. I’m not much into lots of animals but I might not have a choice.

It was while in Pipe Creek that we found the second place that we liked. It is a small town named Boerne. That Saturday we had driven to pick up our new leveler for the motor home and were told about this town by my cousin Lavonne. It has a very old down town area that has been restored that we liked a lot. So it is on the list as a maybe. Then on Monday we drove to a town named Kerrville that we also liked a lot. It is also a small college town and farm community among other things. If I had to compare it to another town I would say it is a lot like Fairbanks but WARM!

So as you can tell we have found some places that we like. We are not sure if any will work out at this time but we do know that they have some potential and that is a start. We do know that we like the weather in the San Antonio area. It was nice the whole time that we were there. We are now getting ready to head to Orlando on Tuesday. We plan on getting there by Thursday night, March 9th.

What a day! We had this feeling that for some reason we needed to go sledding. Why? Well we were not sure. So we went looking for sleds and found them 50 miles north of Las Cruces, NM. We entered this little store and in the corner were sleds just calling our names. Can you beleive that? It is shocking I know. I'm not much of a snow person and Heidi is....well you know. Snow to her is a bad four letter word. Well after we picked out three sleds we headed off to the white sleddding hills. Yes we were going sledding and guess what? It was 65*F and sunny out! Oh ya! Now this was the kind of sledding that I could get use to. Did I mention that the hills we were sledding on were Sand? Yes, pure White Sand! What a blast we had! We raced each other, jumped off the dune edges, piled the sand high and rolled down the hills. After 3 hours I decided that sledding is not all that bad when it is warm out and you don't get cold and wet! As Tristan would say, "This is the best day yet"!

Well tomorrow we are off to San Antonio, Tx. We will be in that area about a week or so. Then onto Orlando, Fl.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

We made two stops in Phoenix and Sierra Vista to visit two different people that Martin used to work with, at Alaska Pipe and Supply, Donna and Vic Lajiness and Esther (Frederickson) Harman. It was nice to see them again and the kids had a great time picking citris in Donna and Vic's back yard and rollerblading on Esther's driveway. We visited Tombstone and Kartchner Caverns while we were in Sierra Vista. Everyone loved Tombstone, it is pretty incredible how they have preserved the town and the re-enactment of the gunfight at OK Corral was great! Kevin really liked Boot Hill and reading about how the people died.

The kids also really enjoyed Kartchner Caverns. They were pretty incredible size wise. After our tour of the caverns we drove to Las Cruces. We are going to go to the White Sands in Alamagordo, which is just 40 miles up the road. One of our levelers broke last night, after we pulled in, and we spent a bit of time today trying to find a shop that had a new one with no luck. It looks like we are going to have to wait until we get to San Antonio to get it fixed so we will have to make due with wood blocks to get it level enough to have the slides out. We really like Las Cruces and this town is definitely on our list of places to live. We love the sunshine and the mountains surrounding this place. It seems very laid back and not too crowded, just something about it that we can't put our fingers on.

This was an e-mail that Martin sent to his friends and aquaintances and I thought it made for a good blog so..........

Just want to let everyone know that all is well. Motor Home living is treating us good and we all are still friends. :) We are in Show Low, Arizona right now. It is a little cold, around 20*F last night and 45*F during the day, so we are again remembering why we are on this trip. It is also a reminder of how much we love warm weather. We feel for everyone that is in the cold and as we hit warm weather we will try to send some your way. We got held up in Desert Hot Springs for a week longer then we expected as the newly rebuilt van transmission took a dump on us. So into the shop it went and a week later we had it back with new transmission #2. We like to think that this one will last longer then 3500 miles. (Note to everyone in the Wasilla area...Do not have any work done at "The Transmission Center".) We finished what we could do at this time on my sisters/brother-in-laws house (ground work, house addition pads, driveway and some concrete pads for the new entry gates) and left Desert Hot Springs, California on Saturday the 11th.

From there we went to Las Vegas to show the kids the sites and to ride the rides. We then went over the Hoover Dam and headed for the Grand Canyon. We spent Tuesday on the South Rim of the Canyon. What a site! We hiked about a mile into the Canyon and passed the pack mules with riders on the way out. That was a site! Not sure I would want to ride one of those things when one side of the 4' wide trail drops off about 2000 feet over a cliff into the Canyon! Crazy! Hiking was just fine.... as far as I was concerned. Kevin is wanting to go back before we end the trip and hike all the way down to the Canyon bottom and camp overnight. So that is now in the planning. We are hoping to do it sometime in September if possible.

We then moved onto the Meteor Crater. It was blowing about 40 to 60 mph, with gusts up to 90 mph when we were there (biggest gust registered was 92 mph). The power went out while we were in looking at the Crater so we left and headed down the road. The Motor Home was being blown all over the road and it was a nerve racking trip to Show Low in the wind but we made it. More then once I thought we were done for but we did make it in one piece. We had a part on the motor home that broke and we could not find the part in Show Low so I fixed it the best I could and will try to find the part down the road somewhere.

On Saturday we are headed to Tombstone and then on to New Mexico (White Sands) and Texas. For anyone that does not know, Heidi now has our family web page up and running for all of you to view. She will be updating it weekly (or when we have internet service) with new pictures, so you can check back every so often for updates. The Web address is www.5freebirds.com. She loves to mess with it and will soon be adding the "Freebirds" song to it. She has built the site on her own as she got tired of waiting for me to help. I'm accused of being a little lazy lately......not sure what I'm going to do when I have to go back to work. :) Kevin has also helped Heidi some with the web site, as he is our computer tech at this time. Computers are his life right now and we have figured out that three days without internet, makes Kevin a very unhappy camper. Because of this the site is updated with new pictures often, as we are never long without internet service. Time to go for now......take care until next time, Martin

We THOUGHT our time in Palm Springs was coming to an end!!

Well, we were supposed to leave yesterday morning but here we sit!! Early Thursday morning we drove over to Carlsbad and went to Legoland. What a wonderful place!! Incredible the things they build out of legos. The kids had a great time, especially the rides! Even better, we got to spend the night in a hotel, as we just drove the van over. On Friday we drove into LA, spent a little time on Olvera St. seeing the historical side of LA and then drove around Beverly Hills, Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Blvd, etc. to show the kids a bit of LA.

We drove back to Palm Springs that evening and just about the time we crossed the highway over to Desert Hot Springs the van makes a weird noise and lurches. Something was definitely wrong with the transmission and we just had it rebuilt before we left!! We were almost to John and Jenettes house when we remembered that we promised the kids rootbeer float stuff so we went to turn around and reverse and drive wouldn't work, but neutral allowed us to move forward. So we decided to skip the rootbeer floats and try to make it to her house in neutral. Just as we pulled into the driveway the transmission went berzerks and we had to shut the engine off.

The van was towed over to a shop this morning but they haven't opened up the transmission to see how bad the damage yet. We will know more in the morning. Unfortunately, we won't be able to leave here until Friday, at the earliest. It kind of messes up our plans to see two of Martin's friends but there is nothing we can do about it. We are stuck in nice weather so that is one plus!! And we love hanging out with John, Jenette, and Jolene so it is not entirely bad, just a little inconvenient.

Our time in Palm Springs coming to an end

We have five days left in Palm Springs so our time here is coming to an end. We have had a really wonderful time and it has been great to spend time with family and get to know them a little better. This last week has been pretty quiet, haven't done much. We took the kids to a movie this week, went to lunch at a Thai restaurant with Jenette and Jathan (everyone knows that is our favorite!!!), and did more normal day-to-day things. Sunday we went to church, Thai (again), and then took the kids to this really cool park to rollerblade. This park has sidewalks running around and through it, a pond with bridges across it, a playground, pavilions, etc. It was a very fun place to rollerblade. Yesterday we went to the Living Desert, which is pretty much a botanical garden and zoo but it all has to do with the desert. We learned a bit and saw some very interesting plants and animals.

The kids had been wondering about the Palm Trees and wanted to know which ones, if any, were native to California. We found out, at the Living Desert, that only the Fan Palms are native to California. Martin and I were thinking that none of them were but we were wrong. Now we want to do some research and find out where the other ones came from! I am saying somewhere in the middle east and Martin is saying somewhere in Africa but not necessarily the same area so........................we are going to find out.

We are taking it easy today, we may go rollerblading later but mostly just catching up on things around the motorhome. On Thursday we are going into LA. Martin and I aren't really that thrilled about it because we have both been there and we don't feel that there is anything worth going back to but the kids really want to see what it is all about. We want to save Universal Studios for Orlando so we may just go down to Venice beach or something. The weather has been fairly warm, around 75 degrees and it is supposed to be 80 the rest of this week so the beach doesn't sound too bad, definitely a lot nicer than the 62 degrees we had when they were boogie boarding in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.

Still here in Palm Springs

We are still in Palm Springs and will be here for another 12 days or so. We have been up to Joshua Tree to climb on rocks (Tristan enjoyed that the most), antique shopping, the date place to try date shakes (not my favorite but Martin loves them) and to learn about how dates are grown and , of course, lots of trips to the grocery store. There are 11 of us here so it is constant cooking and doing dishes, Jenette does most of the cooking and Lois has done most of the dishes. I am not sure how helpful I have been :). The men have gotten quite a bit done on the yard work, poor Jenette's house is getting tore up so hopefully that addition will go up fast! We have been attending a wonderful church here that makes us feel like we are home and makes us miss our church family in Wasilla! We have received a warm welcome though and people are always so impressed when they find out you are from Alaska, it is a great conversation starter.

Here in Desert Hot Springs (Palm Springs)

We arrived in Desert Hot Springs around 2:00 pm on Friday to even warmer weather (70-73 degrees). Can you tell I am concerned with temperature? It is such a relief to be able to spend time outside without a jacket!! Jathan invited Kevin to go snowboarding on Saturday and, of course, he accepted. They left around 5:30 am (can you believe Kevin woke up that early?). He gets along so well with adults and older kids (young adults) so it was good for him to be able to go with them. He had an absolutely wonderful time but was quite sore over the next few days. He didn't hardly leave the motorhome for two days because he was so sore. He is feeling much better today and getting out and about.

Lizz and Kirk were here for the weekend because they had a wedding to attend in San Diego area. Kirk and the rest of the guys started helping John with some of the yard and dirt work that needs to be done to get their addition started, on Saturday, while the women went shopping. Sunday we went to church and then had dinner and desert to celebrate Lizz's birthday.

It is nice to just be parked and be living a somewhat normal, day to day life. Jenette and John have two dogs that have been keeping Calista quite busy and Tristan really likes hanging out where they are doing all the "construction". Today they tore up the patio and stairs, leading up to the house, so you have to walk through a big sand pile to get to the door. They are making quite a bit of progress though!

down the coast

We toured the Redwoods in California, unfortunately, our kids weren't as impressed as we were. I remember them from when I was a child and, apparently, I made them sound more impressive than my kids thought they really were. Now, the beaches, that is what impresses them!! I have a feeling that we are going to visit every beach that we pass!!!! When we left the Redwoods we made it as far down as Petaluma and stayed the night at a KOA there. We awoke to sunshine, which we hadn't seen in 5 weeks!! We were quite excited and energized! We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (the kids were in awe of that) and through San Francisco to Santa Cruz. We were going to just stay overnight and spend one day at the beach but we loved it so much that we ended up staying three days. We decided that we could definitely live there if it weren't so expensive. It was only 60 degrees but our kids boogie boarded for three hours!! I think the locals thought they were OUT there! We took a day trip back up to San Francisco and walked through China Town and took a ride in the cable car. The boys bought swords and Calista bought a Kimono. They could have spent much more time there! We also spent an evening, in downtown Santa Cruz, looking at the shops. They have lots of homeless people and some very eccentric people; our favorite was a man dressed a little like a clown, all pink, who walked about 6" every 10 seconds with a cheesy grin on his face. The kids were a little creeped out but he made us laugh. The kids also gave some of their pizza to two local, YOUNG homeless boys who inhaled it. It felt good to help someone but makes a person very sad.

It was hard to leave Santa Cruz but we were also ready to get even warmer weather so we continued south to Santa Barbara. We decided to take Highway 1 down, very scary in spots and extremely curvy but we made it and it was definitely an incredibly beautiful trip down. Several miles before we hit Santa Barbara there was an area on Hwy. 1 where the elephant seals hang out on the beach and you can walk right up to them but you are on a little embankement so it is safe. It was really neat to see them that close. My aunt's twin sister Barbara, and her family live here (we are still in Santa Barbara) so we had dinner with them last night and breakfast with Barbara this morning. This is another place we could probably live but talk about EXPENSIVE!! Median house price here is around $800,000!! We spent the day at the beach today, a little warmer here at around 68 degrees. The kids boogie boarded for another 2-3 hours and then we walked up and down State St. looking at the shops. Lots of import stores, my favorite!!! We will pull out of here around 9:00 tomorrow morning and will get into Palm Springs around 12:30 or so. We will be parked there for about three weeks visiting with Martin's sister, Jenette, and helping them out a little with their remodel project. It is a few degrees warmer yet there so I am getting happier by the day!!

Another great day!!

We left Newport this morning. We were able to stay at a lovely RV Resort where individuals own their slots and it is set up much like a condo. They had an indoor pool, small arcade, and were right on the beach. We had a great time swimming and it is so peaceful being on the ocean!! It was quite windy last night so we brought the slides in, which makes it a little cramped but we survived. We headed down to the bayfront and went to the Underwater Sea, Wax Works, and Ripley's Believe it or Not; all very cheesy, touristy things but the kids thought it was all GREAT so I guess it was worth the money. I have to admit that I enjoyed the Ripley's.

We headed towards California around 4:00 pm and made it into Crescent City around 10:15 pm. We are going to tour around the Redwood Forest tomorrow morning and then head towards San Francisco. We don't expect to make it all the way tomorrow but within 100 miles or less. We are all still doing great, so far! No major bumps or anything! We are all settled fairly well and having a good time!

We haven't had internet as much the last week so I have some catching up to do. We had a wonderful visit, in Ferndale, with an old highschool friend of mine, Crystal (Pike) Johnson. We then moved down to Arlington to visit, a couple days, with an old highschool friend of Martins, Roger Kehler and his family. Christmas Eve landed us in Seattle and we had a lovely evening with all of my mothers first cousins and their kids and grandkids. Christmas day we spent the morning doing laundry, went to my cousins and hung out in the afternoon and then went to Cheaper By the Dozen II that evening. We definitely didn't have a traditional Christmas but, then again, nothing we are doing right now is traditional. Monday, the day after Christmas, we did the Underground Tour in Seattle. We all found it very fascinating to learn how Seattle got started and to see the shop windows a few feet below the sidewalks that you walk on downtown.

We left Seattle and headed down to Milwaukie (Portland) to visit with Martin's aunt (Lois' sister) for a couple of days. We went over to McMinnville to see the Spruce Goose (The Aviator). The air museum had a great kids learning center; I think the kids could have spent the entire day there. We then headed up to Manning where my grandparents, on my dad's side, live. They have 40 acres of forest and we had a great time walking down to the creek, playing card games, and helping out a little with some chores. While we were there we took a day trip over to Seaside and Tillamook to splash in the ocean and see how cheese is made. The kids splashed in the ocean for about and hour and I think were really close to frostbite. Of course, we forgot to bring dry clothes so we had to rush around downtown trying to find some dry clothes for them.

We are now in Corvallis visiting some fellow unschoolers that own a coffee shop here(John and Mary Gold and their two kids Casey and Conor). We have spent quite a few hours in the coffee shop tasting all their delicious coffee, food and treats. We also got to join them for the unschooling gym day so the kids got their exercise today! We had a wonderful time and if they didn't get so much darn rain here it might be on our list of places to live. We are headed to Newport in the morning!

So far, the trip is all we expected. We have had a few hiccups but that is to be expected when you are traveling in a motorhome. The kids have settled into the motorhome and claimed their "spots". Tristan has taken to sleeping on the floor so we don't even have to take the bed out at night and Calista has claimed the space under the dinette bed, her "cubby". They all seem quite happy and it looks like we are going to have a good year!