States

USS Alabama Battleship

The last 2 times we passed through Alabama we stayed in Gulf Shores. I had wanted to visit the USS Alabama battleship but we didn’t make it either time. So this time through Alabama we stayed right in Mobile, only 5 minutes away from the battleship which made it easier to make sure we got around to touring it.

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Our good friends from Fernandina Beach, the Norstrem family came to join us for the weekend and we all toured the ship together.

USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park is a really neat place to visit for the whole family. You can tour almost the entire ship and climb on everything which is lots of fun for the kids. They also have a naval aircraft museum and a submarine to tour. It costs $15 for each person aged 12 and up, $6 for ages 6-11 and 5 and under are free. Although we all enjoyed our time there, we weren’t excited to have to pay for 3 adults now that Jake is 12. It would be more affordable for families if the children’s prices applied to all children, not just under 12.

Anyway, we still enjoyed our time there exploring this ship which served in World War II.

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Charlie got the award for the most excited of the day, he is really interested in battleships!

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The interior was really cool to walk through. We saw living quarters, kitchens, laundry facilities and even an ice cream parlor! It was hard to imagine what it must have been like for those living on this ship during such an important time in our nation’s history.

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They have rooms like this for scouting troups to spend the night on the ship. That would be quite an adventure!

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After touring the battleship we walked through the naval aircraft museum.

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And then toured the submarine.

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I have to say, if I was in the military I think I would prefer living on the battleship over the submarine. I can’t imagine being underwater for so many months in such cramped quarters!

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We stayed at Meaher State Park right on Mobile Bay which was so beautiful, and enjoyed gorgeous sunsets most evenings. Chris & Ken wasted no time in getting into a cribbage game as soon as they got there.

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It was a nice surprise to meet my friend Doug’s brother and sister-in-law Ron and Brenda who were also staying there that week. We had fun playing dominoes with them one night and Ron is very good at entertaining kids with trick questions!

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One other fun thing we did that week was to visit the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center. We were able to get in free with our reciprocal zoo and science center membership. We met up with another family there that we had met 2 years ago at a Jellystone Park.

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After a great time in Mobile we spent a few days in Louisiana and then headed to Texas.

Categories: Alabama | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Fulltime Families Tally Rally

We attended our 5th Fulltime Families (FtF) rally in Tallahassee, FL at the North Florida Fairgrounds. Affectionately known as the “Tally Rally”, this was the biggest rally we have attended so far at approximately 85 families. I have to admit, being an introvert, I was quite overwhelmed by this many people at first. When we first pulled into the giant field where we all camped for the week, I really had second thoughts about whether or not we should have come. But I needn’t have worried about that. Within an hour or so some good friends from previous rallies stopped by and we got out and about meeting old and new friends. We ended up having a blast!

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Here is a cool video that a rally attendee made early in the week:

The rally week started with a field trip to the Mission San Luis where we were transported back to the year 1703 and learned about how the Apalachee Indians lived.

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The next day we had a field trip to the Tallahassee Museum and Tree to Tree Adventures. The boys had their first experience on a ropes course. Jesse was not yet tall enough for us all to do the larger ropes course with zip lines, so Jake and Jesse did the ropes course for smaller adventurers. The larger one looked like lots of fun so once Jesse is a little bit taller we will look for a place for us all to do this together.

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Besides the ropes courses, the museum was fun to explore. It was more like a zoo and gardens.

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One of the really fun activities for kids at the rally was building a box city. Many thanks to the mom who came up with this idea! It was a big hit with all the kids. They built a city out of boxes and then had to sell stuff and earn “money” to spend at other businesses in the city. Some of the kids thought it was funny to commit crimes so they would be arrested and brought to the city jail. 🙂

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One afternoon some of the adults played bubble soccer. This was hilarious to watch! Chris played, but I did not. It looked pretty dangerous and painful, and you even had to sign a waiver in order to play because you could get seriously hurt or even die. No thanks, I’ll just watch. 🙂

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One evening the moms attended a Pampered Chef party, other evenings were spent having potluck dinners followed by games or dancing. After all the other festivities, we usually could be found at one of many campfires around the fairgrounds while the kids ran around and played until they crashed from exhaustion.

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We had such a great time at this rally! If you are a fulltime traveling family or planning to be, I would highly recommend attending one of these rallies. For us it has been a great way to get to know other families living this lifestyle.

 

Categories: Florida, Fulltime RV'ing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

St. Andrew’s State Park – Take 2

Last year I wrote a post about the not-so-great experience we had at St. Andrew’s State Park in Panama City Beach, FL. The manager offered us 3 free nights if we would come back again sometime, so we took him up on that and I am so glad we did! This time we ended up with the best site in the park and it was amazing! Our site was on the end so we didn’t have a neighbor on one side which gave us so much space, and it was right on the water. I was up early our first morning there and was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise. It was like God was painting the sky before my eyes that morning for about 30 minutes. The colors and reflections in the sky constantly changed while I watched the Master Artist at work.

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Our campsite was on the lagoon side, but the state park is also on the Gulf of Mexico so in the evenings we went over to the ocean side to watch the sunset and play on the beach.

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We were surprised to find out that our friends Kym and Galen from Fernandina Beach were in Panama City at the same time as we were. We kept missing them in Fernandina so it was so nice to finally catch up with them somewhere else.

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My parents came to visit us there too which was lots of fun. The boys got Grampa out playing football on the beach with them. These pictures mean so much to me because my dad is 72 years old, and it’s so awesome to see him so energetic and playing on the beach with his grandkids. Just before Jake was born (over 12 years ago) my dad had quintuple bypass heart surgery. Every time I am reminded of that time, I am so thankful that he is still around to play with his grandkids. He is such a blessing to them!

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Jake and Grampa walked way out almost to the end of this jetty before they had to turn around because it was getting dark.

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I stayed behind on the rocks and watched the boats and birds.

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We went on a short hike at the campground on Gator Lake, but we didn’t see any gators.

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My sister always likes to pose my kids in front of signs like this to make it look like they’re breaking the rules, so we took this one for her. 🙂

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Chris got to do some fishing while we were there too, but it was all catch-and-release since every fish he caught was so small.

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We had a great time at St. Andrews and I’m so glad we came back to give it another try. Next up another Fulltime Families rally in Tallahassee!

 

Categories: Florida | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

Disney’s Fort Wilderness

While we were in Florida last winter we purchased Disney annual passes. We got some use out of them last December and January and then headed west. Now that we’re back on the east coast again, we headed back to Disney to get some more use out of those passes before they expired.

We stayed at Disney’s Ft. Wilderness campground for Halloween and went back again a few weeks later to enjoy the sites decorated for Christmas. Ft. Wilderness is still my favorite campground ever. Disney just knows how to do everything with excellence, and their campground is awesome. Of course you have to pay for that awesomeness. Ft. Wilderness is definitely the most expensive campground we ever splurge on. For us it’s worth it to stay right on Disney property and take advantage of the bus, boat and monorail transportation to all the parks as well as all the amazing amenities this campground has to offer.

Our first stay started the day before Halloween so that’s where our kids went trick-or-treating this year. Many people decorate their campsites for Halloween and give out candy. This was such a fun place to go trick-or-treating!

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Sorcerer Mickey and the Storm Trooper

Some nicely decorated campsites.

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Can you tell which storm trooper is Jake and which one is a decoration?

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Ft. Wilderness has so many fun things to do that you could really stay there and not even go to any Disney parks if you don’t want to. They have a really nice bike trail that goes between the campground and the Wilderness Lodge Resort Hotel.

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The marina beach area on Bay Lake is really nice. From there you can catch a boat to Magic Kingdom or to the Contemporary and Wilderness Lodge resorts.

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At night you can watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the Bay Lake beach and also the electric light parade passes by every night at 9:45. Both are awesome to see!

The pool at Ft. Wilderness has a water slide, a kid’s splash park and a hot tub. Every day they have a pool party and games for the kids.

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One weekend while we were there some really good friends from our Nassau County Homeschool Group (NCHE) came to stay with us. Our homeschool group had planned a Sea World field trip which was perfect timing so we could attend and see lots of friends from where we used to live.

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We took a break from Disney (as if we ever need a break from Disney!) and went to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Atlanta and then my parents in Charlotte for Thanksgiving. Then it was right back to Ft. Wilderness for my favorite time of the year to be there. The way some campers decorate their campsites is something to see! We like to rent a golf cart whenever we’re there in December so that we can ride around the camping loops at night and check out all the decorations. Ft. Wilderness is huge! Having a golf cart to get around is nice, but certainly not necessary. They have internal bus transportation to take you all over the resort if you don’t have a golf cart. Disney charges way too much for golf cart rentals so we rent from someone off property for half the price Disney charges. Keep that in mind if you go, there are other options. 😉

This campsite was right in our loop and it’s amazing. They come every year I think because we’ve seen this set up many times and it’s one of the best.

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Another one that seems to be there every year is a site that includes a lighted walkway and they allow you to walk through their site and check out all their decorations. It’s pretty amazing and super nice of those folks to let a bunch of strangers wander through their site.

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And lastly, Cinderella’s castle at Magic Kingdom is stunningly beautiful at Christmastime. Although I really miss the Christmas lights they used to have at Hollywood Studios.

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I love traveling all over the country, but I will always love coming back to Disney whenever our travels bring us back east.

If you need advice or tips on traveling around Florida, please check out my friend’s blog over at Crazy Family Adventure for the Ultimate Florida Road Trip. They put together a great post with ideas for visiting many different places in Florida. Their post also contains some helpful links for visiting Disney World.

We’ll be spending the remainder of this year with friends and family in FL and NC. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2017!

Categories: Florida | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

50th Anniversary Celebration

When we left Montana at the end of August, we had exactly 6 weeks to make it back to Charlotte, NC for a very special occasion. We covered a lot of miles in those 6 weeks! The special occasion was a party for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. Not many people these days can say they’ve been married to the same person for 50 years. That’s quite an accomplishment and I’m so proud of them.

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The party was held at the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail and we couldn’t have been happier with the excellent customer service we received there. Many friends and relatives came in from out of town and we appreciate all of them so much, as well as all of the local friends and family that came out to celebrate with us! It was so much fun spending time with people that we haven’t seen in so long.

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Pre-party festivities at Mom and Dad’s house

My amazingly talented brother-in-law Chris and my sister Cheryl put together a really awesome video highlighting my parent’s story beginning from their dating years. There were a lot of really funny parts to the video and I love the pictures Chris captured here of everyone’s laughter.

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We had wonderful food, dancing and lots of laughing.

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My beautiful Mom with Cheryl and me

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Group picture with my mom’s sister Jackie and her brother John with wife Patty

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Lifelong friends: Jim & Beverly and Fred & Rita

After the party we went back to Mom and Dad’s house for some more family time. Yes I’m wearing pajama pants in the picture below. After a fun-filled day I was ready for “happy clothes”. 😉

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My Aunt Jackie… I love her!

After the action-packed party weekend, some of us went to Hilton Head Island to continue the celebration for a few more days. We stayed in a really cute rental house together and had lots of fun playing games and just spending time together.

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My Chris (my brother-in-law is also named Chris so I have to distinguish by saying “my Chris” and “Cheryl’s Chris”) prepared a fabulous dinner one night for everyone including crab legs, salmon and steak.

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One day the guys played golf while Cheryl & I took the boys for a bike ride, and the rest of the ladies went shopping.

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One thing that made this trip extra special is that Chris & I were celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary that week and it just so happens that we were married in Hilton Head. We visited the Westin Resort where we were married and showed the boys the “scene of the crime”. 😉 Our wedding took place to the left in the picture below where the green roof is.

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Westin Resort, Hilton Head Island, SC

The week-long celebration was such a wonderful time for all of us! Next we headed back to Florida.

Categories: Fulltime RV'ing, North Carolina, South Carolina | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum

We met up with some other Fulltime Families at the Indian Springs Campground in North Bend, Ohio to go on a couple of field trips to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum.  The ark and museum are in Kentucky, while our campground in Ohio was across the street from Indiana where we ate dinner twice that week.  It was kind of funny being in 3 states several times that week.

We had a beautiful campsite on a lake where many ducks visited our site daily for food.

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Fat Cat loved watching them.

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Since we started traveling my bucket list included visiting the Creation Museum in Kentucky, and then I heard they opened the Ark Encounter in July which made it even more appealing.  When we lived in Florida we used to attend the FPEA Homeschool Convention every year where I would attend Biblical Creation talks by Answers in Genesis.  I have missed that since we moved away, but I was excited to be able to finally visit the Creation Museum by Answers in Genesis.

I don’t have a lot of pictures from the museum other than pictures from the outside petting zoo.  They had these strange looking animals called zebroids.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  It’s a mix between a zebra and a horse (a zorse) or a mix between a zebra and a donkey (a zonkey).  Jake is a huge fan of zebras so when I first saw these animals I was about to say, “Hey Jake, look at the zebras!”  But then as I looked closer I wasn’t really sure they were zebras.

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The kids liked the petting zoo.

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And the outdoor botanical garden with the suspension bridge was really fun.

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Most displays at the museum include a lot of reading.  That was fine for me, but kids quickly lose interest.  The museum is done really well with displays on evolution, Adam & Eve, the Fall, the Flood, all the way up to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It very clearly describes human history from a Biblical perspective and explains the origins of various people groups, racial differences and languages.

There were some interactive displays which were great for kids, and the outdoor area helped to burn off some energy.  Below is a picture of an interactive game for the kids to help design the ark.

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The Ark Encounter was really amazing and very hard to describe.  It’s something you really just need to see in person.  It’s so huge!  It is built according to the specs in the Bible, so you really get an idea of just how they could fit all those animals on it.

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Inside there were many displays to show you how Noah and his family might have stored food.

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There were also many displays to show how they could fit all these animals into the ark and how they would feed them.

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There were displays to show how they may have prepared food.

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And what their living quarters might have looked like.

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This display shows Noah and his family praying to God.

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This one shows Noah and the dove returning with the olive branch.

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There was even a display showing these crazy, wild looking animals, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. 🙂

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The door to the ark was huge!  Touring the ark gave me a better understanding of just how large it was and how there was plenty of room for the animals (large and small).  Of course large marine life like whales did not need to be on the ark.

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This sign really spoke to me.  I firmly believe in the Bible, the Holy Word of God, but I know many people do not.  Heaven and Hell are real places and my prayer is that all of you reading this would not be deceived, but know that the Bible is true.

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Visiting the Ark Encounter answers all of the skeptic’s questions like “how did they fit all those animals on the ark?”, and “what about the dinosaurs?”, etc.  The museum and ark encounter scientifically lay out all of the answers to these questions and more.

If you plan to visit, keep in mind that the museum and ark are about 45 minutes apart.  When you buy a combined ticket, you can spend 2 days at the museum and 1 at the ark.  Because they are not right next to each other, you should definitely plan on a separate day for each one.

A week after we went there, another Fulltime Family went and wrote an awesome blog post about their visit.  I wish I would have had their post to read before we went.  If you plan to visit, please read this first.  It is a great post about how to plan your visit for kids of all ages: Faith Takes Flight.

 

Categories: Kentucky, Ohio | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Wisconsin Dells

Wisconsin Dells is known as the Water Park Capital of the World.  When someone first told me that I thought they were crazy.  I mean seriously, Wisconsin that might only have a few weeks of summer, known for water parks?  Then I found out that many of the water parks are indoors and they really are amazing!

We passed through this area during the week of Jake’s 12th birthday.  Another fun birthday on the road!

We parked our house at a nearby RV park for the week, but spent a couple of nights at 2 different water park hotels.  Since it’s the off season we were able to get really great rates for the hotels and the cost of the hotel includes water park access.  It’s actually cheaper to do that than pay admission for 4 to a water park.

The first hotel we stayed at was Wilderness Resort.  This place is huge!  They have 4 indoor water parks and 4 outdoor, but the outdoor parks were closed for the season.  And only 2 of the indoor parks were open while we were there, but that was plenty.  That also may be why it’s so inexpensive at this time of the year.

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Klondike Kavern

Klondike Kavern has several slides, a large lazy river, an indoor/outdoor hot tub and our favorite the Hurricane slide.

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Wild WaterDome

Wild WaterDome has a giant wave pool and a fun family slide.

Wilderness Resort also has many other non-water indoor activities like a go cart track, mini golf, laser tag, a ropes course and a huge playground.  We did not spend the money on all of those extra activities, but I was impressed by how many fun things they have to do there.

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The other hotel we went to was the Great Wolf Lodge.

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This place has one indoor and one outdoor waterpark, but both parks are huge and all in one place instead of spread out around the resort like Wilderness.

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This was one of our favorites where all 4 of us could race on toboggan style mats.

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We enjoyed both of these resorts very much, it’s hard to say which one is better because they both had many fun things to do.

And again we had both places almost to ourselves with very short lines if any.  September birthdays are lots of fun, and Jake said this was his best birthday ever.  Jesse said the same thing about his birthday celebration 2 weeks earlier at Mall of America.  It looks like I have my work cut out for me to try to come up with something just as fun for each of them next year.

Categories: Wisconsin | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The North Shore of Minnesota

After driveway surfing in Wisconsin we headed back into Minnesota up to the North Shore.  We stayed at Burlington Bay Campground in Two Harbors right on Lake Superior.  Do you see a Fat Cat on the fence?

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She’s easier to see close up.

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Lake Superior is amazing!  I swear this seems so much more like the ocean to me than a lake.  It’s enormous and on windy days the waves were just as big as ocean waves.

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One evening we went to visit beautiful Gooseberry Falls State Park, and enjoyed riding the bike trails.

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We heard that when you’re in Two Harbors you must stop and try Betty’s Pies.  So after walking and biking around Gooseberry Falls we stopped there for dinner and dessert.  Delicious!

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Another evening we checked out Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.  Wow, this was absolutely gorgeous!

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We also enjoyed walking the trail across the street from our campground.  I loved watching the waves crash against the rocks!

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That’s our home back there, parked in between several other homes with a view.

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We found a nice playground down the street for my little monkey.

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On Saturday my boss and his wife and daughter came up to visit us for the day.  We went back to Gooseberry Falls with them.  It was a lot colder that day than when we went earlier in the week, but lots of fun to enjoy this with Mike and his family.  They have been here many times before and were able to show us around to other areas of the park that we missed when we went the first time.  It’s always nice to have locals to show us around!

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We got to see an eagle on the trail!

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I’m so glad we took this trip up to the North Shore.  It was a little out of our way since we were on a tight timeline to get to North Carolina by mid-October, but it was worth it.  Such a beautiful area and definitely a place I would like to go back to again when we have more time.

Categories: Minnesota | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Driveway Surfing in Wisconsin

One of my co-workers lives on a beautiful farm in Amery, Wisconsin.  She invited us to park on her property so we went there after Minneapolis.  I recently learned that parking at someone’s house is called “Driveway Surfing” or as another friend put it “Mooch-docking”. 🙂

Whatever it’s called I like it!  I need to find more friends that have room on their property for us to park.  This was really fun, and just look at this beautiful spot!

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Jenna and Scott were such gracious hosts and we really enjoyed spending a few days with them.  We especially enjoyed evenings by the campfire!  We surprised Jesse with a birthday cake after dinner one night even though it was now past his birthday.

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Jenna took us kayaking one evening.  That was so much fun and the lake was so peaceful and beautiful.

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This was the first time Jake kayaked on his own and he did great!

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The Amery Fall Festival was that weekend so we got to attend a small town parade and carnival.

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As if the kids really needed more rides after Mall of America!

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They tried to help Jenna win a goldfish with no success.

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Jenna had a temporary roommate from Mexico living with her, a very sweet lady named Rebecca.  She made us a real authentic Mexican dinner one night that was so delicious!  What a treat that was!

We are so grateful to Jenna for inviting us to stay with her for a few days.  We all really enjoyed our time there!

Categories: Wisconsin | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Mall of America and Birthdays on the Road

Last October I went to Minneapolis for work for a few days.  You can read about that post here: The Smokies with a side trip to Minnesota.  While I was there I went to the Mall of America and later came home and showed my kids pictures of the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park that is inside the mall.  Ever since then they have been wanting to go there.

After leaving South Dakota we headed to Minnesota.  I was able to go into the office one day while I was there.  It’s always nice to see people I work with face to face sometimes.  I feel very blessed to work with some awesome people that I really like to spend time with.

Jesse’s 10th birthday was that week and guess where he wanted to go for his birthday?  Mall of America of course!  Sometimes people ask me how we do birthdays on the road.  Actually we were never really into the birthday party thing when we lived in our sticks and bricks.  We always preferred to celebrate birthdays by taking a vacation to Disney World because that’s just how we roll.  So now on the road we just try to plan our travels through an area with something fun to do as a family.

We went to Mall of America twice that week.  One day I took the kids to the Crayola Experience in the mall.

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I found a Groupon for 50% off and I was able to get in free with my homeschool teacher ID.  What could have cost $60 (it’s normally $20/person) ended up only being $20 for all 3 of us.  Score!  I wasn’t sure if my kids would like this place because they are getting older and I wondered if it may be a little too young for them.  But they loved it and we all had a great time!  We spent about 4 hours there because there was so much to do.  I was really impressed by all the activity stations and how much creativity is involved.

At the first station you make your own personalized crayon.

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Then you make a coloring page featuring your own picture!

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At another station you make something out of clay.

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In this section they could color with markers.  Jesse’s sign shows his love for his family, Jake’s on the other hand shows he could use a little humility. 😉

After the Crayola Experience we went to the Lego Store where the kids could play with lots of Legos.  Check out the amusement park in the background!  That was for the next day.

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So the next day my baby turned double-digits… 10 years old!  How can that be possible?  I can’t believe how quickly they are growing up on me.  Chris took the afternoon off work and we spent the day at the Nickelodeon Universe inside the mall.

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First of many roller coaster rides

The log flume ride was my favorite!

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I think the kids liked the bumper cars the best.

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This ride was pretty fun.  With your controller you can make it spin or go upside down.  I’m not a big fan of spinning, but it was still fun.

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I love roller coasters and this one had upside down loops and corkscrews.  It was really fun!

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My cute birthday boy!  He kept telling me several times throughout the day how thankful he was that we took him there for his birthday.  He is so sweet and it melts this momma’s heart to hear him express such gratitude.

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Ferris Wheel

We were all pretty amazed at how many rides they can fit inside a mall.  We bought the unlimited rides wristband that my boss was able to get a great deal on.  And we sure got our money’s worth!  We stayed until they closed and only took a break for dinner.  And since it was a weekday we practically had the place to ourselves and never had to wait in any lines.  That’s a nice benefit of homeschooling and September birthdays.

Jesse said this was his best birthday ever.  Now how am I going to top that next year?  Hmm…

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