It's Allie giving you an update!!!

Hey guys, it's Allie!

I wanted to get y'all caught up on what we've done the last few days.
On Saturday we got up early and went to visit the St. Louis Arch. We had purchased tickets to ride to the top of the Arch, so we decided to make the trip up. The small, claustrophobic car that we rode up to the top in was soooo tiny!!! It looked like an egg so we called it the "itty bitty egg". Somehow, all five of us fit in the "egg" for the 4 minute ride to the tippy top. Once we got way up high, we took a few pictures and looked out of the small windows. From the windows we could see Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals play. We also were able to see the skyline of downtown St. Louis, and the Mississippi River. The arch is the highest National Monument in the US - over 600 feet high! It was cool because you could see really far since it was a clear day. On the ride down, it felt as if we were free falling but of course we weren't. I tried to keep the conversation going so I wouldn't freak out too much. After our experience to the top, my family decided that we probably wouldn't go up again another time since it was so squishy and tiny... At the base of the Arch is a Lewis and Clark Musuem. Wow! It was terrific. We spent some time walking around the museum, and watched an IMAX movie that outlined the journey of the Lewis and Clark expedition. We had a quick picnic lunch and we were off.... We visited the courthouse where the infamous Dred Scott took place, and where he was finally given his freedom. We had heard about a great Children's Science Museum so we decided to check it out, too. We had fun with all of the hands on exhibits! I also bought a beautiful bracelet there!

That evening we met our friends the Tucker's for frozen custard--Yummy!! The Tucker's moved from Southern California to Illnois two years ago. Mr.Tucker is training to be a missionery pilot and he just graduated from flight and mechanic's school. Yay! They hope to be on the missions field by next year. I spent the night with the Tucker girls-how fun is that!?!! On Sunday morning, we went to church with them and enjoyed it. After church, Mrs. Tucker made us a delicious lunch! Thank you so much Mrs. Tucker! We spent time with the Tucker's and really had a nice time seeing them again. We left last night to make our way down to Northern Kentucky to go to the Creation Museum....

Also, I wanted to give you some facts on the Laura Ingalls Wilder Musuem in Walnut Creek, Minnesota that we went to last week. We were able to see the Ingalls Plum Creek Dugout that they lived in in the book "On the Banks of Plum Creek". The sod roof was caved in, but it was still awesome to see what it was like where they lived. The Ingalls children waded in Plum creek so the Miner's also had fun wading in the refreshing water.

Here's a few facts: about what I learned at the museum:

-Laura didn't start writing the "Little House on the Prairie" series until she was in her middle sixties.

-She was a school teacher at the young age of 15.

-A replica of Pa's fiddle was on display.

A quilt that Laura slept with was at the museum.

-The TV show "Little House on the Prairie" was filmed in Simi Valley, Ca.

-Every few summers, some of the actors from the TV show come to Walnut Grove and participate in the annual Little House on the Paririe pageant.

Hope y'all enjoyed hearing about our adventures!

Miss you all!

Allie

Quick Update..... Sorry for the delay!

We hope this posting finds you well.... A quick update on where we have been - we will add pictures a bit later... Sunday, we went to church in the a small town in Minnesota, and then spent the afternoon at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove Minnesota.... She was an amazing woman. I am going to have the kids post their comments on the museum, so please look for that.... We spent Monday driving (alot) so we could get to Chicago and tour the City Tuesday. Tuesday morning, we have a quick breakfast, and then took the train into Chicago from Elgin, where we were camping. Chicago is such a great city! The kids enjoyed the sights and the hustle and bustle of the big city. Nancy and Allison did some shopping and the boys and I went to the top of the John Hancock tower. What views! And history!! It was very cool.... We decided to drive most of the way to Springfield, Illinois Tuesday night, hit a Walmart so we could get some sleep - and then spend the day Wednesday with my family here outside Springfield. Well, the best laid plans..... We got up yesterday morning and the motorhome would not start..... So we spent part of the day in the Walmart parking lot.... We waited for AAA to come and give us a jump to get us going.... As it turns out, one of the batteries failed, so we have replaced the batteries so this won't happen again. My cousin Steve and his wife Rita came to Bloomington, Illinois - about an hour from Springfield - .... and surprised us! We were so happy to see them. There were a few highlights from our visit with Steve, Rita and their daughter and son-in-law Tyler. First, we got to see our newest family member, Beatrice, Betsy and Tyler's daughter. And Allison got to get he "baby fix"! She was thrilled. And spending time with Steve and Rita is always enjoyable - Rita is the epitome of the perfect homemaker-very creative and always making something. And Steve is an accomplished woodworker. He made a cradle for his new granddaughter and it was beautiful! Lots of love went into that beautiful masterpiece! Then Steve and Rita took us over to visit their friend' Mike's working farm - a pig farm! It was amazing, and very smelly. I am going to have the boys tell you about that later.... That's it for now. Thanks for taking a few minutes and getting caught up with our travels. God Bless! Eric

Mt. Rushmore and the move East.....

So, last time we connected, we let you know that we were going to spend some time in South Dakota..... And we did... Wednesday, we spent the day at Custer State Park and visited Mt. Rushmore - twice... I will explain in a moment.... Custer State Park was really beautiful. We mainly drove the Wildlife Loop and there was plenty to see. We saw the wild Burros, many Pronghorn Antelope, and of course, hundreds of Buffalo. And the views were spectacular. We had a picnic lunch, and then ventured out of the park to see Mt. Rushmore. WOW!!!! What an amazing sight! Having the benefit of seeing this for the first time with the kids was really special. The kids were able to connect the movie National Treasure 2 with Mt. Rushmore and the neighboring Sylvan Lake. We actually watched the movie again last night and got a kick out of seeing the very places that we just visited.... We ran back to camp and quickly barbequed some buffalo burgers, and went back to see the evening lighting of Mt. Rushmore. They have a tremendous evening program where they show a movie about the 4 presidents and why each of them was chosen for the sculpture. It was a spectacular movie that reminds us of how our country was founded and the principles our nation stands for..... After the movie, they invited all past and present military service people to come up to the stage and be recognized - among them was our new homeschooling friend, Clay, who is a Captain with the Navy. He was asked to assist in lowering the flag. After the flag is lowered and folded, all on stage pass the folded flag to each of the military service people - there were over 150 of them - it was really emotional and patriotic. Our family loved it.... Then, the finale is the illuminating of the presidents - what a moment - it was terrific!! We said our goodbyes to Clay, Loralee and their kids since they had to shove off early Thursday morning and make their way to Boston by Sunday. We got up Thursday and puttered around camp for a while and then decided to tour the neighboring cities of Deadwood and Sturgis - via the Needles Highway. The Needles Highway was absolutely the coolest - rock formations that "spire" up into the air, looking like needles raising up to the sky. And some of the tunnels that we drove through we so narrow, that you could put your hands out of either side of the car and touch both sides of the tunnel - which the kids did! As for Sturgis and Deadwood??? We were not too impressed - lots of Harley Davidsons - not that I have anything against them.... Deadwood is primarily a gambling town, and Sturgis? Again, the Harley Davidson factor was too high for us.... We got up yesterday and started to move East. Nancy and the kids really want to go visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder home in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. She wrote the Little House on the Prairie and Little House in the Big Woods, and many other best selling books. So we travelled most of the day yesterday. We stopped by the famous Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota, since that's what all good tourists that travel on Interstate 90 do! We also went to Badlands National Park and found it very interesting..... We spent the night last night at a Walmart - yes, a Walmart in Pierre, SD, and worked our way towards Walnut Grove today. Our main stop today was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota - google it - it has a very interesting history:) We will attend church locally tomorrow morning, and spend some time exploring the area of Walnut Grove tomorrow - then on to Southern Illinois to visit family and friends.... By the way, it is Matt's Birthday today, so we tried to make it fun by letting him choose our dinner and dessert locations.... We are staying tonight in a town of about 1,000 people and his options for dining were few - like 3 "restaurants" - he chose Dairy Queen for both! Yummy!!!
So, here are a few things we thought you might want to know about our trip.......... Matt's favorite thing so far was going to see the play Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in Yellowstone (he wants you to know that it was a comedy and he is not a dork). Allison's favorite event so far was the Cody Rodeo, and Kevin's favorite was the River Rafting Trip on the Yellowstone River. For Nancy, it was the lighting of Mt. Rushmore.... For me, it has been the pleasure of waking up to the family every morning, knowing that I get to be with them all day - it may sound trite but it's true..... We will keep you in the loop on what is happening. Also, thanks for the comments! We are all a little homesick and it is so nice to hear from our family and friends:) May God bless you!!! Eric

Let's get you up to speed.....

Where have we been???? Well, we have really been on the move the past few days. And we are still wi-fi and air card challenged, so our opportunities to post have been few........ Anyway, here is a quick re-cap of the past few days of our adventure.....Saturday morning we left North Yellowstone and headed East towards Cody, Wyoming... We took the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway - it was the most beautiful 60 -70 miles of road that I have ever travelled on! The sights were beautiful, and every turn brought another reminder of how great God's creation is!!! We arrived to our camp in Cody Saturday night and tried to get to bed early, since we knew the next day was pretty action-packed.... Sunday morning we got up and attended an informal church service in our campground - the pastor was terrific! He spoke on Phillipians 4:4-8 - what a great reminder to rejoice in the Lord always and be anxious for nothing! After the service, we spent the day at the Buffalo Bill Museum. Buffalo Bill was quite a showman, and he left a permanent mark on Western History. One of the exhibits was Natural History - we all really enjoyed it. We went out for a quick dinner and onto the Cody Nite Rodeo! The Rodeo runs every night - rain or shine - June, July, and August. What a show! We enjoyed the entire event, but what struck us most was the patriotism and the reverence for God. They pray, to Jesus, yes Jesus, and are not ashamed and are not worried about being "politically correct". It was very cool. Monday we got up and went back to the Buffalo Bill Museum so we could finish seeing all of the exhibits. The boys and I really liked the gun collection. They had over 2,700 weapons on display - some from the 1500's. I took a couple of hours while the kids were schooling and went fly fishing on the Lower Shoshone River. I caught several trout - and was able to get my "fly fishing fix"!!! Our plan was to leave Cody in the afternoon and make our way to Mt. Rushmore..... well, that was our plan.... I had a few work items that needed to be tended to, and we were not able to connect to the internet - no wi-fi, air card, nothing would work.... So after a few hours working with my computer guy Ted, and a couple trips to the wireless store and Walmart in Cody, we were able to resolve things and get back on the technology track..... By this time it was late, so we stayed in Cody at the Walmart.... What a bummer - however, we met a nice Christian home schooling family while there. We decided that since they were going the same way as us - to Rushmore - that we would try to connect with them - and we did. We stayed at the same campground last night and we had them over for S'mores.... We will be hanging out with them today as we go exploring the area.... That's it - you are officially up to speed on what has been happening in the lives of the Miners. Thanks for travelling with us and God Bless!!!

Where have we been?????

Hi there,

We wanted to update you on what we have been up to over the past few days....... We are sorry for not getting more entries onto our site, but we have two things working against us. First, the wi-fi and cell services have been pretty spotty and slow, so getting things done on line takes an extraordinary amount of time. Secondly, we have been out most nights touring and seeing the sights, so we don't get back to the motorhome until late..... OK, on to the past few day's events... We spent all day Wednesday in the park seeing all you can see in a day!!! We went to the middle part of the park and hiked down to the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone". We saw the Upper and Lower Falls - they were amazing. We then travelled through Hayden Valley, which is famous for the large Buffalo population. The valley was not disappointing - we saw hundreds of Buffalo. In fact, we were stopped for over an hour waiting for the masses of Buffalo to cross the road - many times over! What an amazing animal!!! On Thursday, Matthew and I hired a guide and went Fly Fishing in the Park. Our guide, Chris, worked with Matt to help him improve his casting skills. The fishing was slow due to the weather, but Matt pressed on, and managed to catch a couple of nice trout - I was a neat moment for Matt and me. I was very proud of Matt, and his perseverance....One more step towards manhood (grunt, grunt!)..... Last night, we went to the local playhouse and saw a performance on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - it was terrific!!!! Nancy and I laughed our heads off, and the kids made it clear the this was the highlight of the trip so far....... Until maybe today... We left West Yellowstone and made our way North to Gardiner - the North entrance to the park. We planned to go Whitewater Rafting today, but the weather was dicey - cold, rainy, and windy. We discussed whether or not we should go, but after much debate, we decided to GO FOR IT!!! We got bundled up and prepared for the worst.... But as we got to the river's edge, the rain stopped and we have had no rain since. The trip was great! Just the right amount of rapids, mixed with some easy glides where we could enjoy the scenery. We have been talking about it all evening. We are leaving Yellowstone tomorrow, and will head East to Cody, Wyoming. We will keep you posted... On a side note, we have our little friend, Tait Goodman, who has a rare kidney disease. He has fought hard, spending the first several months of his life at Children's Hospital. His hard work has paid off.... He is going home - today - to spend his first night with his mom and dad, Scott and Amy. Please pray for them and this transitional time in their lives..... May God bless you!!!!

Yellowstone Bound!

Good evening,
We have had quite the eventful last couple of days..... Matthew got married on Sunday, and on Monday, we hit a tremendous thunder, lightning, and rain storm. And then last night we nearly got the motorhome stuck in the mud at our campsite..... But other than that, it has been pretty boring (Ha-Ha). Here's the scoop... Matthew did get married (joke) at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Montpelier, Idaho. He did this so he could double his land share from 320 acres to 640 acres when he reached Oregon..... Obviously, this was a mock wedding, but we have had a lot of fun ribbing him about being married.... Her name is Kim and she is 14... They make such a cute couple!!! We spent Sunday night in Idaho Falls, and got up yesterday and leisurely made our way to Yellowstone - Yea!!! We did get caught in a nasty summer storm that provided the mountain trifecta - lots of rain, thunder and lightning - what an amazing display! God treated us to the most beautiful rainbow last evening - the prize for waiting out the storm... We spent today in Yellowstone, visiting Old Faithful and looking at many of the geothermal sights here at the park. We really enjoyed the day and the weather was absolutely perfect - lots of sun and "Big Sky" clouds... We also wanted to thank our many friends who came by last week to visit us and wish us well for our trip-we really appreciated it:).... That is it for tonight - eric

HIT THE ROAD JACK

So yesterday morning we left the comfort of our home and hit the road!!! We figured that if we didn't have it on board, we could either buy it while on the trip, or we would get along without it..... We stopped and said our goodbyes to my sister and brother in law and my two nephews. We also stopped by and saw my mom in Pasadena and gave her one last hug before we left. So we pulled out of Pasadena about noon, and headed to Las Vegas. It was hot and windy, but we powered through. We stayed just outside the City of Lights at a nice campground called Sam's Town RV Park. We got up this morning after a great night's rest, and headed to today's destination - Salt Lake City. Today the wind was nasty and we got pushed around at times - no big deal... It was also threatening rain all day - we lucked out and only had a few sprinkles.... Lots of laughs so far, and we are looking forward to getting to Yellowstone National Park! We will get up early and make our way to our next stop..... Blessings! Eric