A Few of our Favorite Things!!!

Hi it's Allie!

Here are some of my highlights of the trip so far...

-Boston - because of the old buildings, the history of the city, and that it's by the harbor.

-Mount Rushmore- I have seen so many pictures of it, but it was really neat to finally see it in person. The President's faces were carved in great detail.

-Washington D.C.- D.C. has so much history about our presidents. The Lincoln Memorial, White House tour and seeing the original copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were awesome!!

--We have been to several cute towns on this trip. My favorite town that we went to with our cousins is Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The town was adorable! Very cute shops and the architecture is beautiful! It was also right across a bridge from Maine that we walked across! **(The best part was being with our cousins!!) :)

How's it going! It's Matt! My highlights so far are...

-Seeing the changing of the guard of the unknown soldier at the Arlington Cemetery. Because the Marine that was on duty never flinched- for 1 half hour!

-New York city because there were so many people! You could barely walk! And we went to the top of the Empire State Building!!!

-Gettysburg because you can see real entrenchments and cannons.

**Salutations, Kevin here. I enjoyed...

<>The Cody Night Rodeo in Cody, Wyoming, because of the bull riding and the Rodeo clown.

<>Cincinnati Reds Baseball game because we saw Aroldis Chapman pitch his first inning ever in the major leagues. His pitches were 102mph and 105mph!! Wow!!!

<>Seeing the company headquarters of one of the insurance companies that my dad works with-Mass Mutual. The Mass Mutual building was built in the 1800's and it is spectacular! Lots of Marble and beautiful columns. We also met the president and CEO of Mass Mutual! :) He was very nice!

New England Highlights

We spent the last several days in New England visiting Boston, Cape Cod, Plimouth Plantation, Lexington and Concord. The weather here has been terrific! We took the subway to downtown Boston and walked the 2 1/2 mile Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail includes sites and buildings of the critical events in Boston and the nation's struggle for freedom. Do you remember the history when the colonists were getting taxed and not being represented in the parliament? The colonists finally had enough and stood up to Great Britain. And most of the action happened in or around Boston... We saw the graves of John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. We took a harbor cruise out to the USS Constitution - Old Ironsides - which was one of the first American Navy ships. After that, we saw the Old North Church where they hung the famous lanterns (one if by land and two if by sea) and the house of the midnight rider Paul Revere. There were so many interesting things to see, but these were a few of our favorites...

We then went back in time, to the founding of our country, and met the English colonists and the Wampanoag Indians at Plimoth Plantation. They were all in full dress from the year 1627. The colonists stayed in character and talked and acted as if they lived in 1627. When we asked if they would take a picture with us, they would stare and ask us what a picture was. We asked them questions about what life was like back in 1627. We were able to look inside their homes and work places and see how they did things. We watched a blacksmith make a nail by fire and another do beautiful carving in wood with 17 century tools. The guy who did the woodworking used absolutely no power tools. We all really enjoyed the plantation and learned more about our Pilgrims. They worked very hard and endured so much to come to America for freedom of religion. We finished the day by going on the Mayflower II, which is a replica of the original ship that our first settlers traveled on. It was so amazing to visualize how these brave men and women traveled in a ship this small - there were 130 people on this small ship!! Small beds, tight quarters, little food, and livestock only a few feet away - WOW!

Another day was spent in Lexington and Concord where the first shots were fired between the colonists and the British. It was also the place that Paul Revere and two others rode at midnight to warn the Minute Men (farmers and other men of the town) that the British Regulars were coming. It was amazing how our forefathers left their homes, came out to fight for their freedom and to save their land. It was very heroic of these men to stand up against the well trained British Army. They were able to force the British back to Boston. It gave the colonists great encouragement to continue the fight for independence. One of our favorite places to see this day was the North Bridge, where "the first shot was heard around the world". There is also a beautiful statue commemorating the Minute Men.

We wrapped up the day by visiting "The Wayside". This home gained its fame in the 1800s through three literary families: Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Whitney. The home way pretty run down, but it was interesting to see where all of these great writers lived and created their literary works....

That's it for now. Thanks for checking in on us... Blessings, The Miners

A quick update on Nancy...

For those of you who did not know, Nancy recently had an accident where she fainted and fell off of a horse. By the grace of God, she is doing fine, though she is still a bit sore. Here is what happened.... We were riding horses on the battlefield of Gettysburg last week. What an amazing experience!!! We stopped because one of the women on the ride wasn't feeling well. We waited about 15 minutes for this woman to feel better, and as we were ready to go, Nancy said that she wasn't feeling well... That's the last thing she remembers - she fainted while on top of the horse! We all watched this unfold, but no one could react quickly enough to help her... She more or less "slid" off the back end of the horse, and fell to the ground - gently I might add... It was as if God cradled her as she fell... It was a miracle! And all that witnessed it said the same thing - it happened in super slow motion-she should have landed much harder, but she didn't - really a miracle. She could have gotten tangled up in the stirrups, the horse could have spooked, etc... I jumped down from my horse and ran over to her... She looked at me when she came to, and said - "did I just fall off Sadie?" She got up after a minute - thank you, Lord - took a quick inventory of her body, and said that she felt something coming on and before she could act, she went out... We had her checked out and the X-rays were fine - just bruised up a bit and sore. The doctor said that she was lucky to be alive, and that these types of accidents usually have an unhappy ending. We thank God for his mercy and care - He is awesome! And we thank all of you who have been praying for Nancy!

So, we will fill you in on our trip to Boston in the next day or so.... Thanks for keeping an eye on us! Blessings! Eric

The Big Apple - New York City!!

Hi all, it's Allie again!!

Yesterday we spent the day in bustling New York City. Wow! I never knew that so many people lived and visited NYC everyday!! When we walked through Times Square, we could barely walk! We took a bus tour around the city so we could see more of the it than our feet could take us. The bus took us around China Town, Little Italy, downtown, Ground Zero and more. On the tour we saw lots of shopping stores. One of the department stores, Macy's, is 3 blocks long! We got off the bus and boarded a boat to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Once we were at Liberty Island, we took a few pictures and enjoyed the sights. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty is made of 300 pieces of copper and she is 350 ft.tall? It is amazing that she still stands because she was built in 1886. Ellis Island was our next stop on our boat ride . A few of my mom's relatives came to America through Ellis Island in the late 1800's. We tried to find a plaque where their names were listed, but we couldn't find it.

In the early evening, my brothers and I wanted to walk in Central Park because of the movie "Elf", and several other movies that had a scene or two filmed there. Once we walked inside the park it was quiet and peaceful compared to the city. There were so many people at the park running, cycling, and exercising... As we walked through the park, we could hear the city, but the farther you walked into the park, the more quiet it became.

That night, we went up to the top of the Empire State Building. WOW! It was so beautiful! It was a clear night, so we could see for miles and miles. We were able to see the lights of the city and clear across the river. It was warm and breezy and surprisingly nice - I thought it would be much colder up there at night! I was amazed, that at 10pm, the restaurants were crowded, and it seemed that there were more people out than in the morning. Newbury Park is not like that because everything closes early. We ended the evening with a soft serve ice cream from the Mister Softee Truck and it was so yummy!!! That night, we figured that we walked about 4 miles. Over all, it was a great day and we experienced quite a bit of the busy city.

All for now! Pictures will be up tomorrow:)
Allie--xoxo

Adventures in Gettysburg

Over the past few days, we have been exploring the Gettysburg battlefield. Did you know that Gettysburg goes down in history as the deciding battle between the North and the South??? And that the battle on Little Round Top in Gettysburg was the most important few hours of fighting - probably of the Civil War??? We purchased a self-guided audio tour that we listened to while we drove around the battlefield. The Civil War historian was so knowledgeable, and we learned so much while listening to him, driving around the battlefield. We spent about 2 hours one day, and 2 hours the next day driving around, listening to the audio, and getting out of the car to check out the monuments and important sites. There are several hundred cannons - most all of them are real, but there are a few replicas. All over the battlefield are monuments and plaques that told of the losses of each brigade, regiment, or of where men died. There are over 1,200 plaques and monuments displayed in the middle of farms, in front of houses, and in the fields. We watched the movie "Gettysburg", and it helped us understand the battle in more detail. We saw all of the different parts of the battlefield where brave men from both sides fought for what they believed in.

We also were able to take a horseback riding trip, and ride onto the battlefield. It was really fun!!! We had another audio historian lead us through the battlefield while we rode around on horseback. It was so much easier to understand how the battles were fought each day, looking at the battlefield from the actual battlefield instead of the car.... It made it easier for us to understand why some of the ideas that General Robert E. Lee had were going to fail. Our favorite spot was visiting Little Round Top. This is where the South nearly took the North, but the brave men of the Union Army's Twentieth Maine held the ground. The were tired, and just about out of ammunition, so Lt. Colonel J. Chamberlain led the famous bayonet charge against the South and held the ground. The South retreated. This, according to the historians, was probably the most important battle fought in Gettysburg, and maybe the entire Civil War.

See you soon! Allie:)

Our Nation's Capital-WOW!

The last couple of days have been "history heavy", with visits to the White House, Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, World War II Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, etc.... Also, We have had many opportunities to learn about the Civil War, and how important this war was to the future of our young country... A couple of nights ago, we had the opportunity to go to an event at the National Archives Museum, hosted by Retired General Wesley Clark - the Democratic Presidential candidate in 2008. He moderated a panel of authors who wrote biographies on the great Generals of the Civil War - Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Sherman. We were tired, and had a long day of Museums and walking, but after a little bribery (frozen yogurt) and convincing, we all decided to stick around and check it out. We were so happy that we did - the evening was absolutely spectacular! The panel helped make these great leaders come alive, and shared things about these men, giving insight to their character. The struggles that these men faced, and their ability to overcome personal and situational obstacles, and persevere, was the common theme of the evening-a great lesson for us all. The kids had the chance to meet all of the authors after the event, and spend a few minutes talking with them about these Generals. They loved it. Also, we had the chance to talk with Gen. Clark - what a nice guy... The author who wrote about Gen. Sherman is a history professor at Texas Christian University-a home school dad with 7 kids!!! He was so kind and gracious....

Washington, DC on 9/11 - what an emotional day. There was a Tea Party rally at the base of Washington Monument, and we wanted to go and show support for our country. It was great. A pastor from New York gave a great message about how our country was founded on Christian principles, based on a love and reverence for God, and how we have fallen away from this simple, yet, critical fundamental ....

Our family has been struck by the morals, values, ideals, convictions and drive our Founding Fathers possessed to see their visions and dreams realized. These leaders worked tirelessly, usually not caring who got the credit, to make sure that the fundamental truths of our country would be preserved for generations to come.

We hope that all of you are doing well. Thanks so much for your comments - we look forward to reading them. May God bless you!

A day at Fly Creek Cider Mill

A few days ago we visited a cider mill. At the mill, they showed us how they made yummy apple cider. The first step is to grind whole apples into eight baskets-each basket weighed 275 pounds!! The second step involves laying out the crushed apples on to the wood slats on the press. After all 10 layers were put down with fabric over them, they pushed the magic button to start the press. The press squeezed all of the juice out of the crushed apples and made cider. As the apples got squeezed smaller, the press went from really tall to pretty short. The fresh cider, as it was pressed, was packaged into 1/2 gallon and 1 gallon cartons. All of the machines are powered by the water of Fly Creek, and the cider mill has been around for over 100 years! The process was very efficient because they ground whole apples and didn't waste any of the apple. They also use the left over apple pulp as compost to fertilize the apple trees. So nothing is wasted. We bought a jug of cider. It was so delicious!!!
allie :-)

Washington, DC and Welcome Coastline Christian Academy

We would like to welcome Mrs. Underwood's 5th grade class from Coastline Christian Academy in Goleta, Ca. Mrs. Underwood is a family friend, and her class is following our blog and studying United States Geography/History with us. We are so happy to have the 5th graders traveling around the United States with us!! Kevin is also in 5th grade so they will be learning together. Mrs. Underwood's class and Kevin are going to be "pen pals", and Kevin is sending the class post cards.

Today we traveled by the Metro train/subway to Washington, DC. The kids were so excited to take their first subway ride. We visited the National Air and Space Museum. It was amazing!!!!!!!!! Some of our favorite exhibits were the Wright Brother's 1903 Flyer-the first successful manned aircraft , Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of Saint Louis, the Apollo 11 Command Module, and a space suit with moon dust on it worn by Buzz Aldrin! We also saw Amelia Earhart's plane. We also loved the great hands-on exhibit, with many great learning stations. The boys enjoyed the WWI and WWII area with lots of planes! We spent several hours there, and we plan to go back for another walk through before we leave!

We needed a change of scenery, so we went over to The National Archives Museum - which unanimously proved to be our favorite stop of the day. We saw the original Declaration of Independence, and the original United States Constitution! To see the very documents that our Founding Fathers battled and agonized over was very emotional for us two adults.... The kids thought it was great to see these documents, since we have studied and read so much about them. It really made history come alive! As a side note, they have armed guards on both sides of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and other security roaming around - very cool.... The National Archives Museum also has a Public Vault section - we are going to go back in the next few days and explore more of this area.... Thanks for checking in with us! God Bless!

Cooperstown - Play Ball!!!!

We went to Cooperstown after Niagara Falls on our way to Washington, DC. As you might know, Cooperstown is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. We enjoyed seeing original balls, bats and uniforms used by all of the sport's greatest players. Some of the boys favorites artifacts were the oldest baseball (1854), Babe Ruth's bat, Sandy Koufax's glove and uniform, and old and rare baseball cards. We also saw Lou Gehrig's Yankee locker, and a whole tribute to Hank Aaron - that was really special! They also had some more recent museum pieces--we loved Curt Schilling's bloody sock from Game 4 of the 2004 World Series - eew. We enjoyed walking around the cute downtown. We found it interesting that the town of Cooperstown basically shuts down for about 5 months once kids go back to school... And Upstate New York? Wow! This is some of the most beautiful countryside we have seen on our trip. Green fields, quaint farms and farm houses - we absolutely loved it!

Niagara Falls! Wow!!!

Greetings from the state of New York!

Here is the latest on where we have been and what we have seen...

Niagara Falls was absolutely amazing! This is one of the places I was really looking forward to seeing! And I/we were not disappointed.... What an amazing display of God's power and might! It was much better than any of us imagined. It is huge! And the amount of water that comes over the falls is unimaginable! We took the Maid of the Mist tour, a tour that takes you, by boat, to the foot of the falls. We wanted to use our passports so we went to the Canadian side for our tour.... Needless to say, we got soaked - even with the rain ponchos that were provided.... Later that afternoon, like gluttons for punishment, we went on the Cave of the Wind tour. This tour allows you to get right next to the Falls on the American side. We took an elevator down 175 feet - yes 175 feet - down through solid rock to the bottom of the falls. Once we got down there, we walked along a "boardwalk" of sorts and could get right next to the torrential waters flowing from the falls! It was amazing! As you can see from the pictures, we were literally as wet as a person could be - we loved it! It is now on the top three places that we have been so far.

Our trip has been a blast! We have been fortunate and blessed with great weather, and the campsites have been good on the whole. Aside from the few mechanical and technical issues, things have gone pretty smoothly. We have managed to find some great ice cream stores, and as you can see, Allie has really enjoyed our desserts the most! HaHa....

A Day at the Pig Farm

Hi there, it's Matt,

My family and I recently went to a pig farm in Southern Illinois. In this part of Illinois all you can see from the road is corn and soybeans. But you can't eat the corn because the corn is grown for the farm animal feed and other things - it is not sweet corn. At the pig farm we saw 25,000 pigs and a few cattle! The farmer told us that the pig buildings would smell bad. I have smelled some pretty horrible things but nothing compared to this. Our clothes stunk of pigs for hours. All pigs do is eat, poop and pee! The floor had slats for the poop and pee. When the pigs walk on the slats their poop drops through. Some lucky person gets to clean up after the pigs - yuck!!! After that we walked to the feed processing room. That is were the feed is made for the pigs and the cattle . In the center of the room their was a huge generator. When we asked the farmer what it was used for, he told us that if the power goes off for 15 minutes all the pigs would be dead! They would die because of the ammonia and other vapors from their pee and poop. Then he took us to a shed with huge tractors in it. Many of the tractors and other farm equipment can hold up to 400 gallons of fuel. In the harvest season, which is about six week, the equipment uses several thousand gallons of fuel a day! The farm is 2,500 acres which is considered a mid-sized farm. We learned that farming can be a risky business. There are many natural factors that can create problems for farmers. These factors include locusts, sleet, a freeze, not enough rain or too much rain. The farmers do not water their crops, so they rely entirely on rainfall. Also, farmers work really hard, and start working at sunrise and quit at sunset....I really enjoyed seeing what life was like outside of California. I hope to go back and work on a farm one summer. Matt

Here's the latest from the Miners....

Howdy,

We hope this entry finds all of our family and friends doing well.... A lot has happened in the past few days - here is the scoop on our latest adventures.... The Creation Museum is located in Northern Kentucky and is bordered by Indiana and Ohio. It was one stop that we really wanted to visit - so many of our friends have visited and said it is "a must see".... The museum uses the Seven C's to illustrate God's eternal plan. These are the pivotal events from the beginning to the end of time. They are Creation (God created a perfect creation), Corruption (Adam and Eve disobeyed God), Catastrophe (Noah and the Ark), Confusion (Tower of Babel), Christ (Jesus was born), Cross (Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for mankind's sins against God), and Consummation (God will come again). The boys enjoyed the many dinosaur exhibits including fossilized eggs to help explain biblical history. They had a wonderful construction zone of Noah's Ark with several interactive exhibits. We have studied Creation throughout our home school years but we felt the kids received so much extra knowledge that will stay with them and help them when others have questions. We enjoyed a talk titled - Is Genesis Relevant Today? The woman who spoke is a Molecular Biologist and she did an terrific job explaining the simple truth of God's creation. They have an amazing planetarium where we watched two shows about planets and the solar system. Outside they have a beautiful lush tropical garden with streams and bridges and a petting zoo with many of the animals being from Australia. A special treat for the kids was taking a ride on a one hump camel named Gomer!

Tuesday night we decided to catch a Cincinnati Reds game. We had a great time! We also had the chance to see the newest addition to Major League Baseball - Aroldis Chapman. He is a young man from Cuba, who has been clocked at throwing a 105 mph fastball!!!! It was his Major League debut, and he pitched just one inning - the 8th. He threw several pitches in the 100-102 mph range. It was awesome!

Also, we wanted to mention that on our way to the Creation Museum, we made a "pit stop" in Indianapolis and went the the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. How cool! Though we were not able to get on the track, we could get super close. We also spend some time at the Museum at the Speedway, and it was spectacular! Most of the winning cars from the Indy races -old and new - were on display. It brought back many memories for me (Eric) as it was the tradition for my dad and me to watch the races together....

We miss our family and friends and talk about you often - in a good way! Our time together as a family has been fun, and we can't wait to see what is around the next turn....

May God richly bless you!