A little of this A little of that

First things first, I am already to get back to my family. I miss them so very much! I am caught in a tough spot, leaving my sister here in Michigan and coming home without her and yet so excited to leave so I can hug my kids/hubby. It's been a fun crazy and road trip across the country. And we've had many many good laughs and cries. I will be out here to see her as often as I can. I have to just to keep up with my hair....LOL Sorry honey it's going to be an expensive haircut...lol Just know sissy I am always a phone call away. I love you and miss you already and I haven't even left yet.....

Then secondly, when I get back home I will not have Internet again for who knows how long. I have to take my computer in to get fixed...ugh!! So there won't be much from me here in blog land or even my other sites as facebook and myspace.

And finally I wanted to show some pictures that we took at Paul Bunyan days carnival. I don't have many pictures of the older two because they were on their own to enjoy the rides. The picture of the girls singing is Trinity and Morgan (Tristian's girlfriend in his pirates hat). They did a great job for their first time. Anyways here is what I do have. Enjoy!!!

MY CROSS COUNTRY TRIP

• IDAHO
  
• MONTANA
  
• WYOMING
  
• SOUTH DAKOTA (first stop 865 miles 10 hours)
  
• IOWA
  
• ILLINOIS
  
• INDIANA
  
• MICHIGAN (second stop 1300 miles 13 hours)
  
• OHIO
  
• PENNSYLVANIA
  
• NEW JERSEY
  
• NEW YORK (third stop 650 miles 10 hours)
  
• THEN:
  
• NEW YORK (same day we turned around and headed back to Michigan)
  
• NEW JERSEY
  
• PENNSYLVANIA
  
• OHIO
  
• MICHIGAN.....

FLY TO COLORADO, SPOKANE AND HOME!!!!!

*computer is not working well at all and when I get home it will be taken in to get fix, so sorry no pics right now*

Sister Fun

So what do two girls do after going to the salon.....yes even on a Monday evening???? Have a drink of course. Thank you Dale for the Apple Martini's. Here's to you sis and your new start in Michigan. I will miss you terribly and love you bunches. I wish you all the best lord knows you deserve it!!!

New doo....short and spiky in the back and long in the front....LOVE IT!!

Our travels across the states Part 1

Day one of our road trip as we cross into Montana. And just to let everyone know we hated the state of Montana and think it should be given to Canada....LOL Just kidding. It was just really long and boring. We stopped off in Butte and oh boy I can now see why it's called Butte. But anyways here are a few pics, but don't get to excited there really isn't much to look at.

By the time we got to South Dakota I couldn't get my camera out in time to get the state sign so here is my picture for the state....lol it's of the first rest stop we came to. Oh yeah and their rest stops are so nice I was quite surprised. As for our trip through SD, it went pretty well. We got a room in Rapid City and had a late start the next day. We went to a small town of Wall and was looking around for one of my favs....black hills gold jewelry...fun fun fun. Then we hit the road again and oh boy we have never driven on such a straight flat road. And then we came up on this vehicle with their either road kill or actually hunted. It was so funny to see that I just had to take a pic.

Next is onto Iowa and unfortunately it was to dark to get their state sign....bummed. This is the only picture I as able to get. We like Iowa it was actually kinda cool to drive through that state.

And then there's Detroit, we finally made our first destination. So we drove none stop from Rapid City to Detroit.......holy cow is all I can say. We got here yesterday morning. Today was the first time that Dale drove us around and showed us all around. It was really neat to see some of the places around here. And scary at the same time. The first pictures are of the good ol' Hitsville U.S.A which was really neat to see. Alot of great music started there. And then the last two pictures are of one the bridge to Canada and then of St. Clair.

I will be doing a big update in a few days. Tomorrow we are onto PA and then to Jersey
and New York City baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO HOOOO.

A Small Summer Recap

I don't even know where to start. We have traveled around small towns in Northern Idaho, ended up being Camp Ground hosts. The kids loved it and we met some really great interesting people from all over the US. The only thing that really was trying was the fact that the mosquito's were so bad that the kiddos started having allergic reactions to the bites. That's when we decided that was enough of the Rving for now, plus it was getting cooler now. So with the RV backed up and found a rental for the time being and don't get me wrong I really liked Rving but it is going to be on the back burner until the kids are older and/or out of the house.

Here are a few pictures of the kids from this summer for now. Enjoy!!

Tristian and Zachary loving the quad, we can't keep them off of it.

Zachary on one of the mini horses. The kids all want one of their own. Go figure!

Here is Zachies 3rd birthday party at the Camp Ground.

Done with the Drs.

Its Friday and I am relaxing still with my Trinity at my sisters house. We're watching a movie, eating Watermelon and sipping on Lemonade while we wait for Dave and the kids to come pick us up all while trying to stay cool. It is suppose to cool off after today, thank goodness!!

Trinity had her Ortho appt yesterday that was 2 1/2 hours by the way...long long day. It wall went good and her teeth are coming along great. She has already had a big change in little over a year she has had them on. I am so happy for her. I made dentist appts for cleaning for all 5 kids, that will be a little later this month. I can only pray that we have another visit without 1 single cavity like the last time. Boy that felt so good. And as for today with her ENT appt, it went well, as well. She still has one tube still in so the doc wants to see her in 6 months and maybe by that time it will have fallen out by then and he can see if her hearing loss is coming from the inner ear bones. So for now her right ear is good and the left the same but at least its not worse.

That's pretty much a summary of the last two days. Now when we all get back to the RV the kids will be catching up on schoolwork because they have all had an easy week.

wordless wheelin' wed......

Back to Cda

For a few days that is. My oldest daughter and I are staying in town until Friday evening with my sister. It seems a bit strange for me to just have one kiddo with me, but it's nice to have some one on one time. Trin has a two Dr. appts on two different days so my sis said for us to stay here in town instead of driving 4 hours each day after talking with Dave. Thank You Sis!!! Her first appointment tomorrow is with the Orthodontist and she is finally getting her metal "appliance" out of her mouth, she has had it in for about 10 months. We are all so excited for her and then she has about another year then she should be done with braces and onto retainers. Fun fun. Then on Friday she has another follow up visit with her ENT for her hearing. I am hoping and praying to God that her hearing has gotten better or at least not worse. I would hate to have to go back into surgery again.

As for the rest of the family they are all doing good! Yesterday we all went to the local pond for the kids to swim (the river is to swift and high for them to swim in) and for Dave to fish and we ended up staying there for about 4 hours. 20 plus Trouts later (catch & release of course) and 5 very warn out kids later we headed home for hotdogs by the fire. It was a great day with a bit cooler weather. And today my sis came out for a visit and we thought we'd go fish again and let the kids play again.....well..... 90 plus and absolutely no trees was a little to much warmth for me and my sis. So we packed up and headed back to camp. We have had almost 2 weeks straight of 90 degree weather here.....omgoodness I want a break. Gotta love A/C!!!

So besides trying to stay cool and getting some quiet time with one child, there's really nothing new going on. I might be adding some more pictures soon....

Nature update

Once again long time no blog. We are hanging out here still in Avery. We all have our own jobs to do around here at the lodge and it’s pretty fun. From time to time we get cabin fever but when that happens we go for a nice beautiful drive of the St Joe’s River Rd towards Montana. Or up into the mountains and look for sheds. My new favorite hobby is to find photograph waterfalls and there are sure a lot around here! The wildlife around is so abundant here. We have seen Bears, Mountain Goats, Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer, herds of Elk. The one thing we have yet to see while we’re here is a Moose, but I know there here. And oh my goodness the Humming Birds are everywhere, I have never seen so many, you can actually be filling up the feeder and have the birds swarming around your head. And Butterflies too……just beautiful. The kids are loving it!!!

Another beautfiul day in paradise

The weather has so turned the other directions and now is warming up and not a cloud insight. LOVE IT!! As do the kids, that means they can get out more for bike rides, hikes and fishing. Yesterday the girls were making friendship bracelets to send out to almost every female they know....LOL And our little Scientist Savannah has been nothing but trying to come up with new inventions on paper over the last several days.....it's cute to see but on my goodness she is getting obsessed with it and asking everyone for something that could help here.....funny!! As for Tristian he has been working for Jamie doing lawn care here around the lodge and we have been cleaning up the cabins for the upcoming visitors. This next weekend is Memorial Day Wknd and there is a very large breakfast called "The Fisherman's Breakfast". So we are getting things ready around here for more grounds. Also my sis will be out here that weekend as well.....WHOOO HOOOO we all miss her very much and the kids are super excited to see her! As for Trinity and Savannah they are still waiting for the Coffee Shop to open so they can help out there but for the meanwhile they were helping up wipe down the cabins. And poor little Sierra kept telling me as I was cleaning..." I don't have a job"....and she was so bummed I told her not to worry soon enough she'll have a J.O.B. "Your job is to be a kid and to go play". She said "ok mom, I'm going down to the playground". It was pretty cute and on she went along with her little brother who is almost 3......OMGoodness that's another story.

This is pretty much all for now, I am going to try to just upload some pics onto another blog here....bare with me....lol

I'm still here!!!!

Hi Everyone!! It's been so long since I have been able to get on here and update so I will do my best today to sum up our trip to date.
Let's just say it's been alot of fun and has also had it's challenges. Let's go back to the day pulling away April 29th. For one we were very loaded....even more then we should have been. The neighbors across the street where we lived had to come watch us hook up and then pull away to make sure we could do it....LOL!! Well we did. Our first stop was to Kellogg Idaho and the Mine Country. When we got on the highway leaving Coeur d'Alene we got about 3 or 4 miles up the highway (mountain) and we lost power on the truck.....YES we did!!! I thought I was going to puck. Dave did very well we got it pulled over and it started right back up. Come to find out when he puts his hand threw the steering wheel to turn on the flashers he bumped the keys and turned off the truck while driving. THANK GOD! We were all praying the whole way up to the pass. But as we kept driving we found the suburban having a very hard time getting up the hills and pulling the trailer. So when we got to the top Dave pulled over again made sure the electric breaks were plugged in right because when we were coming up the highway the breaks kept kicking in. So come to find out that there was something wrong with the flashers and the connections to the trailer breaks.....they as in the flashers kept putting the breaks on when we were trying to get up the mountains. Just imagine that....it was fun but it all good now!!

We finally got to the Campsite that we were going to stay at. It was great there and the kids had alot of fun. Toured mines and learned alot about the mining community. We took them down to the Sunshine Mine where the worst Mine accident happened in the US back on May 2nd 1972. So as for schooling the kids they have wrote essay's about Mining, Gold, Amethyst and Garnets. Which we found all of those precious stones. Dave was quite proud of the Gold Mining, he did very well. We stayed in Kellogg for 3 days then headed down to the St. Maries area.

There was no big excitements with pulling the trailer this time...again Thank God!! We got to Huckleberry Camp Ground and stayed there for a full week and for the whole entire week (not joking) it rained and stormed the entire time. So there was a lot of close bonding time and schooling.....we were able to do some fishing with the kids here and there but not much. Then after staying there for a week we packed up and headed East towards Montana but not after a bunch of mishaps, first one of our cats got lose and wouldn't come back, then as we were all hooked up ready to pull out our oldest son found something on the ground and threw it in the trailer but NEVER SHUT THE DOOR and we didn't notice it,....(bad parents on our side) then about 5 miles down the highway we blew a tire on the trailer....omgoodness does it ever end......that's what we were all wondering. But Dave did his magic and now are at Avery. A very small mountain/river old logging town. It is so beautiful here that Dave now doesn't want to leave. We are staying at http://www.averyid.com/ if you would like to check it out for yourself. We also got a system going here, we don't have to pay the rates here because we are going to help him with the lodge. Dave is going to work with him to get the cabins finished. So we have full hook ups plus no fees.....so for those who don't believe God does answer prayers!!! Not sure how long we will be here we just know we're in no hurry to pack it up again any time soon.

Sorry these pictures aren't in order off the blog but at least you get something to look at....lol

I am posting a bunch of pictures or as many as I can. And in no particular order because I don't know how much longer I'll have this Internet connection. I hope you all enjoy and I will be back on here just as soon as I can.

Been a busy week!!

Omgoodness I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted anything. We have been extremely busy here with cleaning our house up, renting a moving truck so we didn't have to run 100 trip with our suburban and then a number of trips to the dump. S if all goes as planned we will be pulling out of here tomorrow early afternoon. We have one more trip to the dump and one more trip to the storage unit and then we're DONE!!!! It's been a lot of work but will pay off at the end.

I was down for the count yesterday spending almost 7 hours in the hospital with you guessed it another migraine. They did the usual "Carol Cocktail" which I hate because it makes me feel extremely yucky on top of being in so much pain. I was vomiting so much and wouldn't let my husband leave the room like he usually does but I was for some reason scared. I just felt very weird. So they finally knocked out all the pain and I started to feel better came home and started right back into the cleaning mode. First starting with the windows...then moving on. Today we have been on the go since about 6am and Dave has finally got me to stop and said enough...... Yes I finally listened to him. I am now sitting on our air mattress typing this and watching TV.

I still have more homeschooling things to do online. I don't know how much Internet connection we will have so I am copying and paste as much as I can. The first place we're going is going to be in Kellogg which is only about 35 mins from here but we have yet to tour the Gold and Crystal Mines there, so that's what we're going to do. Then from there we will probably head towards Central Idaho...more to come on that later.

The kids are all so very excited about our new adventure. They keep putting in there opinions with where we should go and what we should do and yeah and of course Savannah is telling me what she wants to learn about. It's fun to see the excitement from them. I just wish other people that mean the world to me would support us in this......maybe in due time.....

Still going strong

Everything is sold that we needed to sell. A wal-mart trip today and got all the cleaners that we need to clean this big ol' house. We started in on the kitchen all is done in there except the floors. The bathroom is all packed up just needs to be cleaned. I don't know why I feel like I have to post our chores and our to do list here on my blog........Maybe it is so I feel organized or helps feel like we're actually getting somewhere with this adventure. Whatever it is I feel like I have to document so I will do it on here. We got a storage unit and this weekend we're getting a big truck to take all our stuff to it. Then the big cleaning starts. Meanwhile our Suburban is hopefully getting fixed this Friday. We have been waiting days now for the parts to fix it. It really stinks because we can't travel or even pull our travel trailer until its fixed.

The kids are all so very excited. It looks like the first stop for us will be in Kellogg to the Silver Mines. We are planning on staying there for a week or so. I'll keep you all posted as I know more. And of course pictures will be posted!!!!

A quick update on all the kiddos. Tristian is feeling and sounding much better and is just finishing up his meds and Savannah her ear is all better now she to is still on her meds. As for Trinity she is still having some trouble, she has a followup appt with her dr. this Friday and they are probably going to refer her to the specialist here or at Childrens in Spokane. We've been blessed that the younger two haven't gotten sick so I think we're all over the crud. Off to bed for the night.....well actually going to get ready for American Idol!!!!

Its gorgeous out today....blue sky, warm and the sun is out birds are singing. I am pretty sure that I have our Kitchen Nook sold along with our Couch and Loveseat. People are coming by this evening. Please say a prayer that they sell and soon. We first were selling them so we could by a generator for our trip on the road but now it is going to the Suburban. We just found out that its going to cost over a $1000.00 dollars to fix it. So here I sit bummed and stressed out. I should be out enjoying the wonderful day that it has turned out to be. Why does it seem that when things seem to be going good for us something bad always happens??? It makes me wonder why I even try sometimes.
We have another kiddo sick, first it was Tristian twice, then Trinity and now Savannah. I was hurting so bad from my head last night that Dave ended up taking Savannah to the ER for me. She had another ear infection which I think this makes number 3 in 6 months. The only two left to get sick is the youngest too. I hope that they don't!!! It has been a rough Winter in our house with colds and the Spring hasn't been very nice either. Hopefully we have seen the end of the yuck around here.

Well as I keep thinking of all the bad crap that keeps going on. I need to realize how lucky and fortunate I am to have what I have. There will always be challenges in life and I need to learn to live with them.

As I sit and finish this blog up I am watching one daughter paint my toenails and another daughter waiting to paint my finger nails. Even with all of this crazy unpredictable life I still love it.

Counting down the days and more......

So we have just over a week left to get everything done before we hit the road. Its coming along pretty good, but still seems like there is a lot more to do. I have a long list of items for sale on Craigslist and we have been having great luck with selling our things. We have a stack of boxes that are ready for the storage and we're filling up the trailer. Its fun decorating and finding where everything is going to go.

The weather has been starting to be more and more like Spring around here. Its just beautiful here with the blue sky especially after a long cold winter. Its to bad that all the kids cant go outside to enjoy it. I was back in the ER with Trinity last night with a very bad kidney infection. So she has been in her room relaxing for the most part today. The Dr's have sent her urine out for more cultures at an outside lab. We have been very blessed that she hasn't had more kidney issues then she's had. When she was born we found out that her kidneys were different from each other which means she is more prone to infections. I have prayed that this is just a regular or so called normal infection and that it doesn't lead to more problems with her kidneys.

I tell ya what it's always something going on here either good or bad, its always something.

To you know who........

Why does one not care enough about himself??

Why does one not want to change things that are slowly killing him??

Why does one not care enough for his family to stop his addictions??

Why does one not care to stop??

Why does one not care??

What will it take for him to realize......

To realize what he has to lose......

To lose what truly matters......

What matters is that he should care!!

Does this ever end??

Another bought of sickness is going through our house. This time its Tristian again....well I should say still. Almost 2 weeks ago as you might remember we had one of dear friends kids and they had the crud the first couple of days they were here. Well Tristian got a nasty cough and a a high fever as well but it went away for the most part. A little cough remand but nothing that we couldn't manage. So this last Friday he was complaining of having a really bad headache. This continued over the weekend and this after not being able to sleep much, he was in the kitchen holding his head and just started crying. So I ran outside and caught up with Dave before he pulled out of the driveway. He stayed home from work so he could watch the little two while I took Tristain straight to the ER. After tests and xrays we found out he has Pneumonia and strep throat. So needless to say he's taking this week easy and I hope his fever will go away very soon.

I can only hope and pray that this doesn't hit all of us. Since we have so much to do this month.

Little of this a little of that.......

How do you tell a 2 year old that his infant Seahawks hat doesn't fit him anymore???? He just doesn't get it and won't give it up.

He keeps trying and trying to squeeze it on his big ol' head.

Now on to the cleaning and packing. As I go over my to do list I wonder how its going to get done on time..... It always does it just seems a little overwhelming. After a great weekend selling a lot of stuff and running trash/garbage to the dump and then bags and bags of clothing that went to Vincent St. Paul and the Goodwill. It felt so good. We have started on the very bottom floor and cleaned the carpets and taking everything out of there, except Trinity's bed. Next will be the next level of the house (for those of you who don't know our house has 4 levels to it)....so there's still a lot to go. I got my China cabinet all packed up and all pictures off the walls throughout. I find myself not able to do a lot at one time or in a one day period. My headaches really start in full force, so I do what I can do.

empty China Hutch...that was a chore in its own.

Empty empty walls......

Our pile starts to grow......lol

As for the travel trailer we have cleaned it all out and have started putting things in there right places. Getting everything in order for schooling. That in its self is a lot of work but way worth it!! I am hoping to get the fabric this week so I can start making the curtains. Everything else is going good and the getting things done. Dave has been going over the travel trailer with a fine tooth comb, making sure everything is in working order. All is good!!!

New adventure!!!

Here's to our new adventure!! Some of you may know this but for those who don't, Yes this is soon to be our home! Scroll down to see. We have plan to be in this one for a year or so then upgrade to a new larger travel trailer or a motor home.
We have sold alot of our belongings, everything except all the beds, our bedroom set and furniture that was in our family (sentimental things). We did great in our moving sale last weekend. All the things that didn't sell we donated to our neighbor who is having a fundraiser for her church, so it went to a good cause. It felt so good to get rid of stuff that I just packed around with us from move to move. Awwww

We just picked up our trailer traveler this last week. And oh boy was that a trip of itself, from North Spokane through till I-90 then to Cda. The highway wasn't bad at all. It was the city streets and turns but we made it. Our big ol' Suburban looked like a hot wheel once the trailer was hooked up to it.....LOL

Here it is outside our front door, all 30 feet of it.



These are what I am going to make the curtains out of.

So this is where I will be posting blogs about our travels. For the first year we are going to be around this area (WA. ID & MT) because of our daughter having braces, her appts. are every 5-6 weeks so that's why we're staying close.

We will also be homeschooling all the kids which we are all excited about!! So please join us as we start our adventure on the road.

Also I am taking ideas of what I should rename my blog!!