Huntington Family Adventure

Transitions

2011-08-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

It's good to be home, and it's still bitter sweet. To live a year without deadlines and community commitments is refreshing to say the least, but all are glad to be home....

.....hanging with friends...

...hiking near Nakusp...

...camping in a different way

...down sizing....

...and more.

Here is the property we've been blessed to live on for nearly 8 years ( the one with the bush and the field). You can see one reason we looked forward to being back home. Our year was truly amazing! We saw and did so many once in a lifetime type things, and we met so many wonderful people. We are humbled to think of how blessed we've been to have taken this journey. I know we've grown closer as a family, and I thank God for how he's kept us through this time.

From here to Cape Spear, and fairly far south, what a wonderful land

Thanks for following our blog.
Brent

Vancouver Island

2011-07-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

Jake's birthday was at home and friends were willing to party on short notice.

We got taxes finished and headed for Vancouver Island.

Waiting in line for the Nanaimo ferry we met a techno gull.....We thought it was a male but then it read the instructions and blew our theory.......

and on the back of a moving truck there was a guy with a skin issue.

We met with Yvette's brothers family, and all of us were invited to the Hollenbergs' for supper.

Their kids entertained ours with their potato canon.

We had a great visit and lots of good food before heading out.

The mountains near Campbell River look like they belong to the island.
Token favourite car.

It was great to see Yvette's bro and family.

They were able to come with us to our legislature....

which is definitely one of the most beautiful.

The gold guy is Captain Vancouver. I vote for him as the new captain for the canucks.

Janna got to meet Queen Victoria...

...and Sir James Douglas.

Cousins wait patiently while siblings fight to the death for the first drink at the fountain.

The man from Grenada was fine on the steel drums

Meanwhile over in Costa Rica....

Tori was enjoying a whole different culture.

And not enjoying the jellyfish stings.

But enjoying a good torrential downpour.

and rush hour traffic

and sunsets

and feeding crocs.

and avoiding potholes.

and seeing leatherbacks come up the beach to lay their eggs.

We finally got complete as a family again on July 10th.

We checked out Siwash rock, met with several old friends including Maria and Tina....

... and then home again home again jiggety jig.
But not before getting a little car in Nanaimo.
We go back to the farm tomorrow (July 29th) and we do finally feel ready to live in a home with no wheels again. We've gone from 1 to 4 insured vehicles at present. Anyone want to buy a great truck and trailer? Isn't it high time you took a year off?

About one more entry to come.

Through Jasper and Mt. Robson

2011-07-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

We got to visit old friends in Hinton, and then it was on to Jasper for some sights and light hikes.

Jasper the bear is not the original.

A walk at Maligne Canyon.

Is this cable really safe?

We feel such liberty being in the mountains again!

Inukshuks are easier to build dead than alive.

The original Jasper bear is at the bottom of the tram.

We stayed overnight at Mt. Robson so we could get in a walk to Kinney Lk.

Rainy, but beautiful.

Lots of dogwoods welcomed us home to BC.

Camping at Barriere Lk.

We got home on July 1, 15 minutes into the parade. The kids didn't want to miss our own Canada Day thing.

I have to admit I enjoy it too.

Jake got to play hamster and try to knock over his mom.

I've got a couple more entries because we're not quite there. I'll be blogging about our own Vancouver Island, Tori's side trip to Costa Rica, and transitioning back into real life. This is a bitter sweet time.

Winnipeg and flood plains

2011-06-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

We got to visit old friends and new in the Winnipeg area. It was great to deliver sand from Nova Scotia to a rock hound named Martin. The first thing he did was check out the sand. Then he invited us in, played a little fiddle for us and showed us his collections.

Martin would not let us leave empty handed

We saw three snakes (2 dead) where just 4 weeks ago there were thousands.

Leaving Winnipeg on Friday, we spotted the Thunder Carts and had to stop...

....and wait...

...and go!

We got to Neepawa

where the White mud River is still flooding.

This site was under water 1 week ago, and we saw 100's of flooded fields today on the way here.

At Lions Camping in Neepawa you can get a shitszu-beijon cross puppy for $300. We made it out unpuppied.

The nicest metal signs we've seen are made in Shoal Lake Manitoba.

We stopped for burgers in Russel Manitoba and got bogged down.

The best part of this mud bog was that the trucks could get through the bog easier than they could get back to the parking area.

On Sunday we went to Batoche, where the Riel rebellion was centered.

Janna got to play the harmonium

Jake got to see how to build Red River style.

This is a metis rifle pit used during the battle

From Saskatoon it was off to Ponoka where Yvette's little sis and family are living.

We got to see Linda Seagrave (Hodges) and ride three of their 28 horses.

We actually got an evening and a morning trail ride with George, and in between we took in the Ponoka Bullarama at the stampede grounds.

Janna is with cousin Alissa

This West Ed birthday party is for Justin and Alissa.

Alissa thought the icecream cake was nice and the gifts were ok....

but what she really wanted..

...was some purple cardboard.

A little harnessing...

A little high roping...

And it's time to say goodbye to Monique and family.

Tomorrow we'll see Tori off as she goes to Costa Rica with my sis and family. We hope to be at Mt. Robson tomorrow night and then home through Kamloops.

Ottawa revisited

2011-06-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

We left the Gaspe Peninsula and headed over to our friends the Massicottes. We got to help out getting wood into the basement for winter, and it was a treat to do some physical work with more purpose than just to stay in shape.

Monique freaked the kids out with her hitchhiker thumb.

Carl and Lee stay in this Ottawa RV park most of the summer. The day we pulled in they hosted us for icecream in the evening. Carl's great grandpa came from Ireland during the potato famines, to Isle D'Orleons and then to the Gaspe. Carl also grew up there with a jack of all trades dad who was also a cod fisherman. It was extra neat to hear about this because e were just there learning about the codfish economy of the area.

We had to do the tour again because Janna and Jake skipped last time.

From the peace tower we spotted a mazzerati and went down and took a picture.

We watched the parade of honour by the speaker of the house. They don't even throw candy.

We spotted 4 criminals right outside the supreme court, and they got away.

It was hot. 32 C and muggy in Ottawa today, but a city worker let us get hydrated here.

We got to have supper with the Kennedys and then watch the canucks lose game 4 together. ( I'm bitter, but not riotous ) Janna stayed overnight with her buddy, and we picked her up the next morning to head for Sudbury.

Sudbury has the second best science center we've seen. You can even hold African snails and pet porcupines and skunks if you're there at the right time.

You can make your own race car and then race it.

You can nearly be taken out by a bowling ball.......

....among other things.

After a while too many butterflies bug you.
We drove to The Sioux and then to Thunder Bay with a failing fuel pump. That meant we climbed some awfully long hills at 30 kph and we stayed in Thunder Bay 3 nights instead of 1. The next hill proved our problem was solved.
I like places of geographic signifigance

We made Winnipeg from Thunder Bay and set up at Bird's Hill Park for a few nights.
It's here that we got to witness the final nail in the canuck's coffin.

NB to Gaspe

2011-06-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

One more visit with our friend Michael Wilson and his mom before heading out of New Brunswick.

The bridge from Cambellton, NB to the Gaspe Peninsula.

Camping on Chaleur Bay's North shore. with Lobster fishing in full swing.

Perce Rock

That hill in the background was a 14% climb in spots. There's lots of this at the tip of the Peninsula.
In Forillon National Park we had a couple of awesome hikes.

489 steps on this hike.

Tons of cod fishing history here from the mid 1700's

Gaspe's coast is full of scenes like this.

We watched whales for 10 minutes at this fairly tight section of road, and having left the lights on, the truck was dead. Jake and I stood with the loose ends of the jumper cables hoping to tug at the heart strings of passers by. Within 4 minutes Don stopped to help. He had taken off from our campsite this morning 1hour ahead of us. We must have passed him while he was kayaking. We charged his camera battery in the trailer last night and thought we'd never see him again. That was a cool little appointment with destiny.

Sunset at Cap Chat.

We celebrated 11 months on the road with french dinner out. The food was far better than our french.

Now it's heading through Quebec City and on to Ottawa.

PEI

2011-06-05T04:59:00.000-07:00

We took the ferry to PEI after a snack and walk in the park.

We got to see a few porpoises on this crossing.

It was a beautiful 27 C in Charlottetown today.

This is the site of the 1964 conference that led to Confederation in 1967.

The smallest legislative chamber in the country is one of only two where the government sits on the left of the chair. It's all about having the nicest part of the room because of where the sun comes in.

This is a beautiful little city with...

...beautiful little girls.

I parked in a bit of a soft spot today, but I was kind of glad for the photo op.

It's hard to just drive by all the horses.

At the Northern tip of the island there are a bunch of wind generators. One of the biggest has these blades which are about 30 m long.

Any more north and you've gotta be in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Today was also lobster day with Dad and Mom.

Sunday after church we took a drive up to Cavendish.

In 1874 Lucy Maud Montgomery was born here.

(that's a joke)

Green Gables

Raspberry cordial anyone?

Lover's Lane

There really are forget me nots in the Spring.

At Cavendish Beach there's great scenery and big air.

Leaving PEI via Confederation Bridge.

On our last night with Dad and Mom we celebrated Mom's 81st. We didn't bother with the candles.

Then it was off to Halifax one more time to drop off my parents.

We should have zoomed in on Lambert's head. That's why we took the picture after all.

We left Dad and Mom at the hotel and drove off into the sunset.

What a blessing it's been to have grandparents with us the whole month of May! We have gotten spoiled.

It's kind of strange. Now we are really heading for home, even though we turned around in west Texas.

Newfoundland 2

2011-06-03T05:39:00.000-07:00

We picked up G&G Huntington in St. John's and they came with us back to Signal Hill in the sunshine.

St John's Harbour

This was about how we saw us on the evening news.

Today was the first noon firing of the cannon, which booms every noon of the summer.

This is a no smoking area.

The last of the famous White Fleet of Portuguese fishing boats.

Back at Cape Spear we got a tour of the lighthouse.

and we did a little balancing..

...and battling..

..I almost won.

Deer Lk NFLD road sign.

Green Point in Gros Morne National Park.

The tunnel systems under the branches used to be used by a lot of sheep.

On the road of the Northern Peninsula.

At St. Anthony's we got to see our iceberg, just not the 4 mile long variety.

At L'anse aux Meadows.

This is where the Vikings settled for a few years about 1000 AD.

Here come the Vikings!

Site of archeological dig and rebuild.

Being here off season allowed us to try some models on for size.

In this re-enactment Jake narrowly escapes with his life.

He chooses new gear for the next round.

The weight of the world.

All along the road you can see sleighs and wood piles just like this.

At Rocky Harbour.

Our friends, the O'Farrells, hosted us again on the way back the same night Watoto was in town.

The return ferry ride to Cape Breton was much more fun with games abounding.

Cape Breton is prettier 2 and a half weeks after the last time we were here. Everything is turning green.

Next stop PEI.

Newfoundland 1

2011-05-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

Friends from Smithers now live in St. Andrews, NL so we had a nice visit and a tour of one of Canada's top 5 largest dairy farms, where they milk over 1100 cows.

Rob and Maren gave us the tour of the heifer farm.

Paul showed us around the milking farm.

At Cornerbrook we were introduced to trail systems. I think NL cities have more walking trails than in any other province.

I sang I's the by's lots today. We almost went to Fogo too.

We came to see icebergs and we saw wind, fog, and some beautiful women...

...and scenery.

Janna and Gramma V made us anticipate desserts.

Cape Spear is the furthest point east in North America. It was cold and windy, but....

...it had some soft grass.

The oldest lighthouse in NL is here.

The place is well fortified with bunkers.

We did a "Run for cover! She's gonna blow!" drill.

We weren't allowed to go out on the rocks so the kid with the longest arms got to reach the furthest east.

Hwy 1 and TC trail start here.

St. John's tries to make new blend with old.

Eastern dogs and western kids.

I got my 10k run in on Sunday morning. There were at least 3 others from BC in the run.

Camp fire was a favourite time for us with Gramma V.

St. John's from Signal Hill.

This is where the first trans atlantic wireless signal was received about 1901

It's hard to keep a good man down.

The colonial building was the parliament for the Republic of Newfoundland and continued as the legislature until 1960.

We went to Linda's place to be skreeched in as honourary Newfoundlanders. Her bar was closed, but the mailman said, "Just knock on her door."

Linda was a hoot

We were there for over an hour ....

..and left with the paperwork.

Quidi Vidi is a tiny town right by St. John's worth seeing.

The legislature is not the prettiest on the outside, but it has two special features. Elizabeth Gallagher, the only female Sergeant at Arms in Canada, gives the tours, and the provincial motto is 'Seek first the kingdom of God'

NL's Supreme Court is right downtown.

What some people will do for a view of St. John's Harbour.

It was an early rise to send off Gramma.

Thanks for being with us Mom!

On to Cape Breton with Grandma

2011-05-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

We picked up Grandma Vandermeulen and spent one more day in Halifax checking out the citadel and more of Pier 21. Then it was off to Cape Bretton where the best chinese food is in Port Hawksbury.

We had a stroll at Battery Park near St Peters.

This ruin is from about 1750.

Water is clear and trails beautiful.

We camped near a small port at Big Bras D'Or ( bigbrador say it as fast as you can to sound Cape like).

Fort Louisbourg near the tip of Cape Bretton.

Being there out of season meant we got to drive where most can only walk.

The second oldest lighthouse in Canada was on the foundation to t he right, and the current one was built in 1912.

Everyone do not take two steps back.

We had a drive around the northern loop called the Cabot Trail......

......and found some squatters on a beach at the Bay St. Lawrence.

They mean it.

At the A.G. Bell museum in Baddeck we learned Bell was most into teaching the deaf to communicate...

He was also responsible for the first Canadian flight and a hydrofoil built with this hull in 1918. Since the war was over the hydrofoil never got off the ground. That and the fact that it was only meant to stay on the water anyway.

We took a misty ferry ride to Newfoundland on Mother's Day, but monopoly was good.

More of Nova Scotia

2011-05-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Kejimkujik National Seashore was a gorgeous walk with some fun sights on Easter Monday.

A nice place for bouldering.

These are all harbour seals and grey seals waiting for the tide to finish coming in.

Jake's collection had to stay at the beach on the south shore.

We drove to the north shore, parking at Bridgetown, and then took a drive out west. This is part of the Acadian Shores and one of the furthest points west in Nova Scotia.

At Digby we had to try world famous scallops. They don't hold a candle to lobster.

Houses this bright fit right in at Digby.

Many old churches in these landscapes.

At Bridgetown we stayed at Ken Fraser's RV park. He is still the world record holder for largest blue fin tuna caught with rod and reel. It was 1459 pounds. The record has stood for 31 years and he has an excelllent book about it which you can google with his name. You would not guess this guy is 75.

Near Wolfville we camped at a Wal mart and headed to Baxter's Harbour to see the world's most extreme tides at the Bay of Fundy.

The difference from low to high today was about 9m or 30 ft., but back at the full moon the difference was 12m or 42 ft.

Here are two view of the same rocks.

Mars bars at low tide.

Where the kids are standing gets to be under 10 - 12 ft of water.

Carl and Heather McCulley came down at low tide to set their herring net for the first time this season.

We offered to help and before you knew it we had wonderful new friends who invited us up for hot chocolate...

....they taught us about rocks and jellyfish....

..they brought us to their home...

...and showed us around the area including this little known cove where Captain Kidd hid some of his pirate's booty back in his day....

Carl pointed out the rocks that he has been down to, where initials of several pirates are chiseled.

The McCulleys had us back for breakfast and lunch the next day. Lunch included three kinds of fish and was incredible. Carl is the last fisherman in Nova Scotia licensed to use shore nets.

We got to take in Kate and Will too. They prayed with us to send us off and
then it was off to Halifax where four of us went in a fun run.

James took a wrong turn, but had a great time in the 5 k.

Tori out sprinted her mom at the end.

Janna was first in the 1k so she won a cool prize.

After the run we went down through the park to the water and there were youth races going on. Janna and James got to run another 1.5 k just for fun.

These are some of the fortifications around Halifax.

Lunch at the waterfront market was fun.

This has been a great place to be and we plan to be here another couple days with Grandma V. with us.

Coservatives just won their majority! Yahooooo!

Hunts Point Lobster and Easter Sunday

2011-04-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

We got into our new campsite on Saturday afternoon just as the lobster boats were coming in. You can see them from our site on the hill. Lobster for supper was not in the plan but it was a fun experience.

We ended up only getting 3.....

....which came to 5.5 pounds and cost $25.

I never got to play lobsters as a kid, but it looks like fun.

Posing with supper.

Janna would rather have let them go free.

Tori was the master sheller.

Everyone enjoyed the first few bites. Yvette had a claw worth, and James and I kept going.

This one was really caught in this bay and would have weighed about 25 pounds.

Easter Sunday we started with a sunrise service, breakfast and then an 11:00 service. In the afternoon we went walking from our campsite. We called it a rock walk because it was all scrambling over rocks along the coast. We were basically in the front yards of million dollar houses..........

..................like this.

Just watching the flow of the tide is a fun way to pass some time.

A potential soaker is on the way.

Hunts Point bobsled team.

Keeping lobsters alive and stored for market.

This crew would love to get out on another boat. There may be a chance.

Good Friday Sight Seeing

2011-04-23T04:06:00.000-07:00

We had beautiful weather on Friday, so it was perfect to go for a drive.

Mahone Bay has one steeple for every 30 people.

On the scenic route to Peggys Cove there's lots of this.

Peggys Cove (Jake calls it Mrs. White's Cove)

We stopped at a walking trail 3 km. before Peggys Cove where you could run around without bumping into people.

It's me who has the thing about getting kids to raise their hands for pictures in grand places. It's the kids who love to get ocean spray in their faces.

The memorial behind the girls is for Swiss air flight 111 which crashed just off this coast in Sept. 1998.

Nova Scotia sun bather

"This is the light house at Peggys Cove"

.....in case you miss it in the other pictures.

It's very difficult to get a picture without anyone in it around here.

Getting on the wave at the Halifax water front is a challenge......

..........but not unattainable.

Jake wants to wait here till he can tie up a boat.

Pretty close to Halifax.

Ugly close to Halifax.

Happy Easter to all of you.
Christ is risen.............
........He is risen indeed!

Lunenburg, NS

2011-04-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sticking at Little Lake RV Park for over a week has allowed us to have great internet access which helps with finishing our school.

There has to be time made for boat racing with a creek this good right out your door.

Lunenburg's colours come alive in the sunshine.

There are lots of places like this.

We spent s bunch of time at the library, and near the end found out I could get a library card for a week. We loaded up and have been enjoying lots of reading.

Lunenburg was founded in 1753, and is a World Heritage Site because of the streets which have never changed layout since they were first made.

Canada is cold but it's good to be home.

2011-04-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

We wondered how we'd do getting back into the country, but we were at the border a total of about 2 minutes. Our first stop was St John, NB. It's the first incorporated city in Canada.

This is what Yvette saw at the St. John Walmart before she pushed Tori back saying, 'boys boys boys boys...'

St. John, the Hollywood of the maritimes.

We like art we can interact with

At the Legislature in Fredericton we got to park closer than you can at any other legislature.

The old architecture is beautiful.

This chandelier fell in 2001, and took quite a while to be restored.

The first meeting of the NB executive council happened around this table in 1784.

Sussex, NB was an important stop for James, as he's out grown his bike. He found a really good deal on this Rocky Mtn, Fusion. The bad deal was Janna trying it out and going head over heals because of the sensitive front brake.

We drove to Magnetic Hill in Moncton with Michael Wilson, the principal who hired me 18 years ago. The best part about magnetic hill was that it was closed and we got to drive around the gate.

Michael and his mom, Mary are two of the most gracious people on earth. They showed us around, hosted us for supper, and let Tori, James and I come over to watch the canucks game 1 which started at 11 p.m. here.

This old baptist church was phenomenal.

Nice little organ.

We toured out to Lunenberg near Halifax after saying goodbye to the Wilsons. This is the only campsite open in the maritmes this early in the year. It's good to be plugged in and have good Wifi again.

Some sights near town.

Blue Rocks is a gorgeous fishing community.

Lunenberg is the only place that packs high liner food, so we're having haddock for supper tonight.

It's also where the bluenose II was built and is now being refurbished.

Wow! I caught up to where we are! I almost forgot to tell you, I got pulled over in New Hampshire for a right turn on a red against a posted don't do that. The State Patrol man seemed quite irritated by me, but he let us off. That was the second best thing about New Hampshire.

heading home to Canada

2011-04-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

I promised a few more pictures of the beautiful area of Panther Creek.
This was the view from part of our Sunday afternoon hike. Cherokee Lake.

Red Bud was everywhere beautifying Spring

Jake spotted the dino-dog rock.

The trail system around here is excellent for hiking, biking and running.

We found a cool little limestone tunnel, which when you pass through.....

...you turn into Janna

This State Park is one of the nicest we've seen. They even have sword fighters,

and tennis courts.

I don't know what kind of tree pod this is, but the star below is the seed ball of a sugar gum tree.

We were under the impression that only Texas could fly their flag on the same pole as the stars and stripes, but it is also done in other states like Tennessee.

We headed through Virginia on Hwy 81, and it's all beautiful rolling farm land.

We camped in a sea of trucks at the Pilot in Northern Virginia. We're glad for the place to camp, and more glad that this is not a common view out our window.

We enjoyed another visit with our West Virginian friends, Charles and Mary, before heading for the North. On Thursday, April 7th, we drove from W.V., passed through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, where we had to see Boston and some late evening sights..

including this little known bar,

and Faneuil Hall, where Sam Adams helped plan the Boston Tea Party riot,..

And the court yard of Harvard founded in 1636...

... before we carried on to New Hampshire.

The 20 mile coastal part of NH. is beautiful,

and they've got this cool sub at Portsmouth.

"Tell the Captain I see cars coming over a bridge!"

"CAp'n! there's cars coming over the bridge.

..and can we get some better sleeping arrangements?"

The best part of NH for me was 0 sales tax. Perfect time for a new set of tires.

Maine seems to be quite concerned about our physical well being.

This is what I see on any long drive day.

At Blue Hill we went to church with Paul and Ginger Doyle, who we met at Mustang in Texas.

They had us over for chili after church...

and we got to play with Jada again, too.

Monday, April 11th it's on to New Brunswick.

Nashville to Panther Cr.Park

2011-04-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Getting your propane filled at an RV park is way more fun when they let you run the golf cart yourself.

It's been cool but sunny and the trees are breaking out in colour.

This park has miles of the nicest trails and Janna decided to wipe out right at the trailer.

I had the worst wipeouts though. One on some wooden stairs and another falling sideways onto my shoulder before I could even get my hands off the handle bars. Janna bounces back from these things much quicker than I.

I hope to add some more pics of the views here and of some of the locals that let James and I join in a game of soccer.

We're paying the most we've paid anywhere for gas. Premium is $3.70/Gal which is 3.5 L. so it's still cheaper than at home.

Game Day

2011-03-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

There was school before heading to town.

That's handy parking.

We got here early enough to walk around for a while and enjoy the sights before going to the game.

This is the cleanest city we've seen.

Jake knows Elvis as well as anyone else on this walk of fame.

There was jubilant anticipation in the air today as Paraguay was in town to take on USA. This group of fans is making their way to the field in the back ground. We met Paraguay fans who'd driven 11 hours from Maryland to watch the game.

We've gotta back track! I forgot to get pictures at all the hard Rock cafes in the other cities!

The Ryman is the hall credited with the dubious distinction of the birthplace of bluegrass in 1945.

This group of guys from home flew to Detroit, rented a van and followed the Canucks on this road trip. They made watching the warm up very fun. We felt like we were with family.

Guess which Sedin.

Hint #1

Hint #2

If you still don't know, I'm sorry for bothering you, but they'll probably be 1,2 in the scoring race this year, and for me it was the biggest honour to see them up close.

The equipment manager called Jake and James over to the glass at different times to reward their fanaticism with an Ehrhoff and a Salo stick. A great day just got way better!

Game on!

We won 3-1 with an empty net goal, and the third period was worth the drive.

On our way out we joined the crazies in a rousing rendition of our anthem. I heard one of the preds fans say, "I hope their bus crashes."...........What fun!

It's nice to be able to blog without talking...

...I may not have my voice back for a while.

The Road to Nashville

2011-03-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

Louisiana: At Chicot State Pk there was lots to do and see.
These are the two main trees that grow in the swamps and give the landscape a very distinct appearance. The twisted one is the tupelo, and the one on the right is the cypress.

There's enough poison ivy in this forest to keep you from enjoying frolicking off the trail.

We had hoped to see a rattler or a cottonmouth, but this little non venomous dude will have to do. There are lots of these lizards here. I walk right by them, but James spotted five of them this morning.

The bike trails at Chicot were better for running than for biking, as this ride turned out to be more of a bike hike. 22 mi. around the lake, but we bailed out early.

There were plenty of these harry little guys around.

Chef Janna making Saturday's breakfast......

..pancake ala caterpillar.

When you meet the right kids you may get an electric scooter ride. I told Jake it was pink so he couldn't ride it.............. That didn't slow him down.

Frank gave gator rides to the kids.

On to Vicksburg, Mississippi, the site of the most costly battle of the Civil War. This fort was on a high point above the Mississippi River, which was a major supply route helping the Confederate war effort. The blue signs on the 16 mile driving tour show the Union positions. The red signs show the Confed's.

If James were a Union soldier he would have succomed to friendly fire early on.

There are monuments everywhere in this park, but none are neater than this one for the Illinois regiments who fought. Echoes bounce around inside for more than five seconds, so we felt like we were in a monastery, so we sang the doxology because it's the slowest song we know, and when there's that much echo you've got to do something.

It was here that the first black soldiers were recognized as more than capable. A law was finally passed to allow them to formally enlist, and within a short time 20 000 men were added to the Union's forces. Major Gen. Ulysees S. Grant led the Union charges and was turned back time and again from December 1862 through June 1863.

On July 4th General Pemberton surrendered because his men were dying of starvation and sicknesses. 20 000 Americans died here and 13 000 had to be buried as unknown. This national cemetery holds soldiers who died in battles right up to the Korean Conflict.

On a lighter note, Vicksburg is also the place where Coca Cola was first bottled in 1890 something.

It's a cool museum where we only stayed long enough for a few pictures.

Tupelo, Mississippi.

Elvis at 13. If I was holding my guitar this picture would be way cool so pretend with me.

This was the actual home Elvis was born in in 1935.

His first church was pentecostal........ I think He'd have been better off in an eternal security church.

Trace State Park near Tupelo has amazing sites and sights.........

......and 18 holes of frisbee golf.

All of us hit the water except Jake today.

We always check out the play grounds for a game of grounders.

We drove north to Nashville on Sunday after church. On that 4 hour drive we left late spring and arrived in late winter. It's not quite freezing, but whoa does it feel cold. Whenever I feel this cold I phone Edmonton to keep things in perspective.

Tomorrow night should be good. We get to see our league leading Canucks take on the Nashville Predators. Six can go in Nashville for the cost of one in Vancouver. We'll probably check out the Grand Ole Oprey while we're here too.

Leaving Houston

2011-03-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

We took way too few pictures in Houston, but we got to mountain bike, play tennis, volleyball and soccer, and just generally have a lot of fun with Trevor, Jodi, Emily and Jade. We went to the Houston Rodeo on Wednesday night and it's quite a production. The Reliant Center is an indoor stadium which seats 75 000 people, so we were a little further from the action than in San Antonio, but it was an excellent rodeo. We headed out Thursday to Louisiana and we're enjoying the state parks here.
Pictures won't load at this site, but there will be a bunch on the next post.

Back to Houston

2011-03-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

On our way out of Big Bend we stopped at Del Rio and we got to watch these planes practice landings and take offs for about half an hour.

The men doing a little trailer maintenance.

Cardinals become common place, but they're still very difficult to get close to. Over in Luling the animals were not hard to get close to. This was the most amazing mauling, I mean petting zoo we've ever seen.

Janna had a knack for holding the little squealers in a way that they would settle down.

James became a safe barn for at least 10 animals, and other kids started bringing more to him.

We stayed at Palmetto State Park which was full of these Dwarf Palmettos. It was a beautiful place for running and biking trails.

On to Brazos Bend State Park. We counted 50 alligators during a walk along two little lakes. There are almost 300 alligators in this park, and they're only counted once they are over 6 ft. because under 6 ft. are still considered prey for other alligators.

Running around the lake one warm muggy morning, Yvette and I heard two alligators roar. It was much like hearing thunder in the distance.

This 3 footer was hard to spot.

This 7 footer was easy to spot.

It's a lot more comfortable to walk by one of these guys in the water than when they are facing you on the path with their jaws open.

What ever kind of ducks these are, they carry on like monkeys and make you feel quite like you're being laughed at.

Back at the campsite we were treated to a little Romeo and Julliet. Jake was the nurse and had to say, 'Oh lamentable day'.

At the visitors center we got as close as we'll ever get to an alligator and a tarantula.

We were invited to a crawfish boil in Houston. When Jake saw the pork his appetite failed, so he mostly watched the rest of us pig out.

My nephew, Trevor, did the carving.

Jodi, Emily and Jade showed us how to eat crawfish.

It's almost time to move on, but first I must tell you about hunting blinds.

You can buy these at most hardware stores in Texas. Hunters climb into these to become invisible to the prey they are after. This raises a few questions for me. Do blinds have air conditioning? What are they trying to blend with? Are deer blind? Are deer armed? Why are some blinds bright pink? Can you get a blind with indoor plumbing? If you put in 3 hunters how long will the oxygen last?

At least in Big Bend this has to give the deer a sporting chance. If the hunter does not die of heat exhaustion and the deer does not recognize the outcropping as something unusual, then the deer deserves to die.

We are all having lots of fun on the road still. Everyone in missing our friends, but we're looking forward to meeting our folks in the Maritimes.

Big Bend

2011-03-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

On our way South from Study Butte.

We hiked the Lost Mine trail in Big Bend and the mine is still lost.

Lunch at 7500 ft.

There are 24 mountain lions in this park. Can you see the one in this picture?

I got right carried away with pictures here, but it's so beautiful.

Where Tori and I are is a little edgy.

A little song and dance.

In the 1920's a farmer planted cotton right along the Rio Grande and this machine was part of running his cotton gin to separate out the seeds to make bails of clean cotton. Ruins like those below are strewn throughout this park.

This is St. Helena canyon, one of our favourite places in the park.

You can easily wade across the Rio Grande into Mexico here, but it's against the law, so we just threw rocks into Mexico.

Up in this part of the canyon the echos are incredible. I let out my best yodel, and a lady who I didn't know was there got startled quite badly. She was a good sport about it though, and after that it was hard to get the kids to stop yelling. Jake was just trying to make scary canyon sounds.
This place feels like your in an Old West movie.

The Mule Ears. End of day one.

Day two started with a lesson on weather from Gail.

We finally got to see another kind of cactus than prickly pear. James saw a prickly pear without any prickles so he decided to grab a leaf off and chuck it at one of us to scare us. He quickly learned about blind pear, which has thousands of tiny prickles which you can see better once they're causing the pain in your fingers. He paid for that failed prank for about the next 7 hours.

I don't know what this cactus is, but James did not grab it.

At Boquillas Canyon the local Mexicans cross over to leave stuff for us to buy by leaving our money. A nice walking stick is only $6. Needless to say I was nearly tempted beyond what I'm able to take them all and make a huge profit selling them again.

On the path down to the Hot Springs.

We should have come to the 105 F pool earlier. This morning the air was near freezing, but by noon it's about 85 F today. Yvette didn't want me to dip into the Rio Grande because of the microorganisms in the water, but I jumped in anyway, and I just promised not to get any in my mouth. James jumped in too, and neither of us got sick.

We've been asked to pray for rain in this parched land. they need it desperately.

It's strange to think we are at the turn around point on our trip. Now it's to head East again.

....We never saw the mountain lion either.

Fort Davis and McDonald Observatory

2011-03-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

We got to play some ball with new friends. It was like having a regular PE class with a swim to finish, and then off to Fort Davis.

In the Davis mountains we can drive on the highest paved road in Texas, at 6500ft. The hiking was beautiful and right outside our door.

The trees are mostly for my mom's sake, but I like them too.

The McDonald Observatory has about 5 domes with the big scopes plus lots of other scopes.

This one is 107 inches across the lens. It is number 37 on the size list in the world. It weighs 160 tons and the movable dome over it weighs 409 tons, and

......each of the kids got to take a turn moving them with electronics. This is Judy, the amazing tour guide.

This is the dome we were in.

This one is called the Hobby-Eberley scope and it is number 5 on the largest in the world list. We are at about 6600 ft so there is less atmosphere and pollution to block good star gazing. Also 2 out of 3 nights are cloudless in the Davis mountains.

We came back for the star party, which was amazing. The most amazing part to me is how anyone could look at the heavens as their job, and try to insist how it can all be without God. The favourite sight we saw out of seven scopes tonight was the Orion Nebula where new stars are being formed. I said to the telescope operator, "Did you know God's word says he speaks these things into existence? It's amazing to be hearing God's voice with our eyes." She never said anything.

What we actually saw was more blue than this and further away, but just as awe inspiring.

This is the sundial that we wish we got a picture of during the day. It doesn't work that well after sunset.

Palm tree on a post.

These are all over the Chihuahua High Desert.

We saw lots of cool stuff on a trail ride including this cactus tree.

We all got in trouble from the x marine boss on this ride, but none as much as me. (Janna never got in trouble). I rode at the back and stopped a couple times allowing gunner to run to catch up. When we got near the barn I went for one more quick run to pass the others, but this time General Trail Leader caught me and let me know in no uncertain terms, how unsafe a practice this was......then he took this picture for us.

Tori rode Red, and they got along well.

Off to Big Bend next.

Balmorhea and San Solomon Spring

2011-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

A few blowout pictures just because...

Hey! Not bad. It's only flat on one side....

..this side.

We got it back good enough to travel.

Left too long to themselves and our kids always revert to honking the trucks.

The best honker came from a truck like this one. It was carrying a nascar from Daytona to Arizona, where the next big race is. These guys drive 10 months of the year on a circuit to all the races.

Here's another reason God is good. If I didn't need to change the tire, I wouldn't have noticed that the spare under the trailer was only being held up by three screws instead of four, so one of its frame pieces was hanging down a bit. If that tire broke free at 70mph we could have had a lot more damage than we got. Thanks to some friendly neighbours at this park, it's all fixed now.

This is the same hill from far and then close.

The channel that runs behind our campsite carries water from this pool at 1 million gallons per hour.

The water is crystal clear and fed by an artesian well. It's 75 F, which felt a little cool today as it was about 82 here.

A fish pedicure. That's a catfish in the middle.

Style....

....No style....

...style

Mckinney and Austin pictures

2011-02-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

McKinney Falls State Park, right by Austin.

Red shouldered hawk

The Capitol at Austin

Higher than any other original dome in the States....even Washington. The star is 8 ft across......

...that's way up there.

They're right into Texas Patriotism, with every chandelier spelling Texas.

This is the only state where they are allowed to fly the state flag on the same pole as the national flag.

This very fancy water fountain just needs water pressure.

At the visitor center we met these two cowboys from the XIT ranch.

The girls can have this jag. The guys will take the Dodge truck in San Anton.

At McKinney Falls we had lots of space to set up and play.

The limestone at the falls gives a sort of moon scape.

A good place to challenge your balance.

Fishing at the upper falls.......

.....and just above the lower falls.

Jake gave up on modern methods and tried the more traditional gaffing.

The lower falls

Some great bouldering rocks.

The guardian of the fort.

Lots of cool limestone formations here.

Just 1 hour drive from Mckinney and we were at another beautiful state park.

A 20 minute hike to the top is well worth the effort.
This batholithic rock has over 200 acres of exposed surface, as the tip of a 100 sq. mi. iceberg, so to speak.

We carried on toward South Llano, where everyone seems to know the GPS will mess you up every time.

Sunset at South Llano, which has a lot of closed trails, so we only stayed one night.

Yesterday, travelling on the 80mph I-10, we had our first trailer tire blow out at 70mph. It only caused minimal cosmetic damage, and gave me something more to do today. More pictures to come.

Austin, Sunday

2011-02-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

I'll get pictures on again at the next stop, but for now I couldn't help but brag little. This morning we went to church at Promiseland West. The pastor is Randy Phillips of Phillips Craig and Dean. He simply led in communion. The worship was wonderful. The guest speaker was Tony Campolo, and his message was classically riveting and challenging. We had an awesome day. The other highlight was finding a goodwill outlet store where they sell almost everything for $1.39/pound. I got a decent Prince tennis raquet for 75 cents, and we were only there 10 minutes. A good investment even if I didn't need the tennis raquet.
Pictures of Austin and McKinney Falls State Park will follow soon. Everyone is well and really enjoying staying out in nature again.

San Antonio Stock Show/ volunteer hours

2011-02-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

Only one of us got our own new hat.
Guess who?

OK some of these kids are right into their hogs.

Ultra short legged Brahma cows.

The boy in the center front won a $10 000 scholarship with his grand Champ Angora Goat. Every livestock category will have the same for the champion shown by a school student. Also any money raised by the animals at auction goes straight to the kids. This Stock show will give away about 8 million dollars each year for the youth of Texas.

This is a rodeo horse. This barn has around 500 stalls like this one.

Nose bleed section for the rodeo.

Our favourite is the bulls.

This is Reba McIntyre on a rotating stage after the rodeo. Everyone but Tori and I were too tired to enjoy the concert, but it was good.

Tori and I went again the very next night for the rodeo and Mercy Me concert. It was way better than Reba. One well led worship service.

Back to work. Most of our time was spent helping in the hog barn for the largest hog show in the States.

This is where the pigs line up and pee before going in the ring.

T and J helping guide a pig out of the ring.

Can someone help me with this hat?

Another rodeo horse.

More play than work for sure. Some take bumper cars way too seriously.

Tori and Janna upside down in the sun.

On our last day helping we actually broke a sweat. It was great!

Jake went up and down as well as anyone.

Iron Mike, the boss of all things hoggish at the show, and our good friend.

Bill Jerman, chairman of all the stock at the show besides horses. This is one busy man who still took the time to make us feel at home. He is a gentleman who still removes his hat to meet a lady.

These volunteers are the heart of the show, and do they ever give a lot back to the youth of Texas.

More play

OK we usually are above the trucks around us, but not today.

It's actually for sale

Now that's cool.

It even has automatic steps that come out.

A little singing before bed on Saturday night at the Kareoke.

Making New Friends at San Anton

2011-02-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

Jon and Jennifer became our new neighbours and good friends when we parked right next to them last week. We have a lot in common, but we didn't bring a dog to play with Tootsie. Jon and I played guitars, sang and visited. Yvette and Jennifer visited and visited.

Elizabeth and Tori baked cookies...

James and Ethan flew kites, but I didn't have the camera over there.

Janna and Grace made necklaces....

Jake and Eli played tackle monopoly.

Jake the architect/ builder.

We said goodbye to the Andersons on Sunday, and we're hoping our paths cross again.

We were on TV here last night as a human interest story at the Stock Show. We were not ready for an interview, but when I find out how to look at it on line I'll post that, unless it's way too embarrassing.

Back to San Antonio

2011-02-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

We got back to San Antonio with freezing cold weather, but we avoided the snow Corpus is getting today. We're supposed to get up to 2 in. tonight. In fact it was supposed to start at 6:00 pm and really snow around 10:00. That's why we didn't stay at the stock show for tonight's all bulls rodeo. We are volunteering at the Stock show for the next week and a half, getting free parking and entrance for it. Today we got our tickets for Tuesday night. Each rodeo has a half time entertainer. We get to see Reba McIntyre on Tuesday, and we're trying to decide which other night to go. A great texas band is playing on Thursday next week, but Mercy Me is playing on Wednesday. We just may have to go three nights in a row.
It's gotten no higher than -5C with the wind chill today. Every tap at this RV park is frozen or turned off. I'd say we're feeling right at home, but we are kind of wimping out and looking forward to Sunday when it's supposed to reach near 20C.
Will be sending more pictures soon.

Mexico the reasonably safe way and Port Isabel/South Padre

2011-02-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

We headed South to get down near Pharr, Tx. We wanted to say Hi to Kenny Toews' parents, but it turned out Mr. Toews was baching it for a week. We stayed at a seniors only park for 2 nights in La Feria, where everyone welcomed us warmly except the manager, who wasn't there when we called to reserve. The South is called the Valley for no apparent geographic reason (except the map). It's totally flat here, with the largest cultivated fields we've ever seen. We got together with Ben (Mr. Toews) on Monday afternoon and proceeded to be spoiled. He offered us more sweets in a 20 minute span than you can imagine unless you're Brayden or Ethan. Yvette went into shock and Jake went into overload mode (not really).

Here's the pool at the seniors park.We were mostly quiet.

Here's how to hold an angry tarantula when it's just been swept off a neighbour's porch.

Ben took us to see the border fence. This fence is meant to help stop the flow of illegal traffic of people and drugs. It is about 3.5m on the US side and 6m. on the other side. It runs along the US side of the Rio Grande River, and the long range plan is to extend it the whole way to the west coast.

These border guards cruise all day and night. They have a check point about 80 miles North on each major highway. On our way back up they asked us two questions. Are you all Canadian citizens?, and Is there anyone in your trailer?

Then Ben took us to the border crossing at Progresso so we could see the drug lords shooting everything up for ourselves........... Actually it was so we could see the security and safety there is.

Ben treated us to supper at The Junction. Jake had chicken noodle soup. That's the chicken rising up out of the middle of the bowl. This is actually Jake's second look. His first look was one of fear! We all ate heartily.

Ben is a realtor from Steinbach, MB (that's mennonite brotheren) He'd be my realtor for sure. It was no easy task selling Yvette on going across the border Tuesday morning, but Ben did it without even trying. The kids and I did the convincing.

The Rio Grande is the border of Texas and Mexico. We stopped in the middle of the bridge, holding up traffic for a bit. You don't even show a passport going in. You just put your quarter in the turnstyle and walk through. I guess about 1000 seniors cross this border on foot everyday.

Ben and us.

Protectors

Indigenous peoples.

This kind border guard has his machine gun right behind Janna. It's pointing at the ground.

Bye to Ben and Mexico and on to Port Isabel.

Glad to meet you.

Cool sand castle

Dolphin tour.

Falcon pulled up a dragnet and showed us a bunch of sea life.

A hands-on experience.

We think we saw about 15 dolphins, mostly in twos and threes.

Shrimper heading to the Gulf.

That's the Gulf of Mexico ahead. The Jetties on the left and right are break waters for channel traffic. It's about 400m across the channel or you can drive around (about 160 km).

Nobody Janna's age on the tour.

Time for a little flying.

You can't see the line, but Jake is flying his P-51 Mustang.

James and Janna's are those steering kind. Next weekend there will be a kite festival at this site. Teams come from Oregon and around the States to compete doing kite choreography to music.

Right behind our trailer in Port Isabel there was a channel with docks for the fishing boats. On Saturday morning James, Tori and I got up at 5:30, ate, and went out with our lunch packed. At 6:20 we asked Captain Jimmy if he would like 3 volunteers on his boat for the day. He was happy to have us, so by 6:30 we were sailing out into the channels for bait shrimping. Jimmy has been at this for 30 years. He works 4-8 hours 7 days/week. We were on the Don Vito. At 40 ft. it was one ft. shorter than this one, which is its sister ship, the Captain Vito.

We helped Richard throw out everything except shrimp, and put the shrimp in the black basket for measuring.

Flounders are really hard to hold.

Robert explained how to hold a ray.

This shrimp is too big for bait, but good eating. You can see its antennae.

Cap'n Tori

This Sea Life is mostly finished eating its shrimp.

Captain Jimmy and crew. He's wearing the blue hat.

We were back in by 10:00, and they all welcomed Janna and I back on Sunday morning.

This bull fish is like a table ornament. It is hard with only its fins and eyes able to move. Its bottom surface is flat and about 5cm wide. The birds do not eat these.

A squid and a sea cow which has just inked.

Cap'n Janna

Jimmy headed 15 good sized shrimp for us and gave us as many live crabs as we'd like. (we took two) We said our thanks and goodbyes, but we returned to leave some baking and a note on the boat before we took off on Sunday afternoon to head back North.

More at Mustang

2011-01-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we attended Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus, which is a church of about 8000. It's basically like going to a Sunday morning rock concert and then hearing God's word. It's an awesome church where God is moving as the people reach out.
We got a few more pictures of activities around Corpus and Mustang Isle.

On the USS Lexington.

18 m above the water felt sketchy.

Of all the planes onboard, we liked the Tomcat best.

James is looking back to ask Janna to bank hard to the left and Jake to let up on the throttle.

Not everyone takes their posts seriously.

Tori's Socials test.

Janna's math assignment.

James' math lesson.

Sometimes it's difficult to keep your student awake for a whole lesson.

A good place for windy past times.

We made some great new friends here. We got to take Jada the Collie for a walk almost everyday. Her owners, Paul and Ginger, loved seeing the kids have fun with her.

Shrimping

We borrowed Paul's shrimp digger to get a bunch for the fishermen. We got pretty efficient and soon packed about 70 shrimp down the beach with a big smile, and then learned the rules.

We could have 20 each if we were fishing, which we had no intention of doing, thus rendering our shrimps worth $10 each in fines emphasizing the need for us to offload the goods quickly. I called to one fisherman who was quite hard of hearing, "Would you care to fill up your shrimp stocks?" As I was finishing my query I slipped on the black scum of the rocks, tumbling sideways and scattering over half of my illegal catch on the rocks. James jumped to the rescue! We hurriedly picked up all we could, gave away all the handfuls we could and then put the rest back on the sand to burrow their ways back to safety. There are less nerve racking ways to feel like you just saved $700.

Two views from the deck at the restrooms.

Chase and Robyn are helping make sure the moat works.

Ken and James are gearing up with whatever they can find to go fishing.

On Saturday we were given permission to use a church parking lot to host a car wash...

The kids raised $172 in 3 hours and tithed back to the church.

That's all for now. We sure like it when you post a comment if you get the chance.

Choke Canyon and Mustang Island State Parks

2011-01-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

We headed South for warmer weather. So far we've gotten rain with the balmy 16 C days, and as cold as 8 C during the day! It's supposed to get better this week.

Choke Canyon.

This is the first place in 6 months that we actually set out our hammock and swing chair. It was beautiful, with large sites and a paved walkway right to the showers.

This manmade lake is the site of the largest ESPN bass fishing competitions. The largest to be pulled out was almost 22 lb. The county is Callaham. If your family has lived here 15 years and you graduate at their only school, the county pays for up to an 8 year university full ride. It's all ranches and oil here, and one of the ranches is Nolan Ryan's. Apparently he and some other high rollers will be at the annual kids stock show auction on Jan 22, where the grand champ will go for around $180 000. We may drop in to watch, but I'm not bidding. You don't even get to keep the COW!

Clouds are better in real life.

Now South and to the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Tx.

Karate Kids At Mustang

This sea sponge has done its last syphoning.

Trophy Catfish

From this Jetty you can see an oil rig out there. We counted 10 of the over 300 in the Gulf.

You can smile, but you might get wet standing here.

This Sandhill Crane is appropriately posed in front of the sand hills that separate our campsite from the beach.

The real Mc Coy Pufferfish

This little guy was washed up along with a lot of Portugese Man O Wars. They get pushed into the shore with really turbulent waters sometimes. The jellyfish were up to 25 cm across, and had tentacles that were usually balled up, but some stretched out to almost 2 m. long. Tori picked one up but I didn't have the camera at the time. Blowing sand seems to bury them in a matter of hours.

On Thursday night, 4 young guys (20's) were very fortunate to get away with their lives. Their 16 foot aluminum boat capsized on what they called 10 foot waves about 1 km straight out from here in the dark. They were in the water about 1 hour, but got no hypothermia. Friends of ours took them into their motorhome for warming up with some hot chocolate. Their boat washed up on this shore by 8:00 pm, shortly after they got to shore. One of them had been under the flipped boat for a moment as it started to sink. I'd say if you've got wits enough to get out of that situation, you should have wits enough not to get into it in the first place. I'm glad God had his hand on them.

The Alamo

2011-01-08T18:27:00.000-08:00

We got to see the Alamo at San Antonio. It's a good place to learn about why Texas had six flags. Spain, France, Spain again, Mexico, Republic of Texas ( which is why it's still called the Lone Star State ), United States, Confederate States, and again United States. Word is Mexico is gearing up to take another run at it.

It was so nice to be with family for the New Year. We really appreciated our niece in Houston, and my sister, Gaydene and her family for coming down to be with us. We had a wonderful time together, and on Thursday they left to head back to Edmonton.

Davey Crokett was here

The Alamo was a fortified church

Don't fall forward!

Don't fall to the right.

The river walk was closed for cleaning. We got to see what millions don't get to see.......... because they don't want to. Very cool dump trucks though.

Bill and Gaydene treated us to supper at Mi Tierras, the most famous restaurant in town, open always.

On Wednesday we went to the Natural Bridge Caverns North of San Antonio.

Down 180 ft you get some gorgeous limestone formations

See a dog?

Gotta have a sunset every now and then.

Heading South to try to get warmer. It's supposed to freeze two nights in a row coming up Monday.

Texas New Year

2011-01-07T07:03:00.000-08:00

We descended upon my niece and nephew's place in Houston along with my sister, Gaydene and her family. Trevor and Jodi were most gracious hosts, and had 25 people for dinner on New Years eve.

Trevor had this great idea to go paintballing. Who you may not know are Danielle, Trevor, Emily, Abigail ( who we didn't let play because she would have an unfair advantage being such a small target ), and Bill - the reluctant, who played so we could get a group rate.

We're pumped....

We're psyched.....

We're ready......

....We're seriously bruised and we don't trust anyone. I'm not smiling here, I'm wincing.
Whatever people tell you, a paintball hit from inside of five feet really stings, and the bruise lasts for 9 days and counting.

Now it was time for some golf.

Jade, Emily and Janna vs Trevor, Jake, James and I in a best ball 9 holes.

We used 4 or five of Jake's putts and one T shot, and we shot par!.....

but the girls were up for the challenge and they beat us by two strokes.

Paintball hurts way more than losing at golf.

We have the opportunity to attend Lakewood church with Pastor Joel Ostien. This is the largest church in America. I got to visit with a grounds administrator, and he's one of the 3000 people on staff at the church. So far we're not really planning on going there, but it would be kind of cool to worship with over 12 000 others at once. Tori did go with Bill and Gaydene and assures me there were about 15 000 in attendance at the middle morning service. She said it didn't really feel like a church because it was a huge stadium and they were near the top. She did enjoy it though and there was one song she knew.

On a completely different note, Herc needed a new window, and when you know Trevor, you can find out where to get the job done well for $120 plus tax. I tella you what....WoW!

Bye to new friends in Louisiana

2011-01-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

We stayed in Louisiana till December 29th. We wanted to get over and see the only place in the world where tabasco sauce is bottled. There is also a salt dome here on Avery Island. Confederates used the salt to help make gun powder during the Civil War.

John and Mary gave me some Mardi Gras

beads for my birthday. They also taught James and I how to skin and fillet a channel catfish.

John and Pat & Beezer from Detroit.

It was nice to meet someone else who was a fan of hockey. These people provided us with the Zatarains mix that was the base for our first pot of Gumbo.

Nolan and Roberta Pellerin are locals and they have the real recipe for gumbo, which starts with making reaux. ( pronounced rue and probably spelled some other french way.) They gave us so many spices for spicing up catfish and gumbo, as well as 4 types of oranges and grapefruits from their own trees.

Nolan taught me how to make his championship gumbo, and they gave us some of theirs so we could know how it's supposed to taste. Jake was the only one of us who thought the Zatarains was better.
Nolan is a true Acadian. His great great grandmother was banished from Acadia in the 1700's. Nolan's French is still a lot better than mine.

It's off to Houston, Texas next!

Christmas Day Fun and Grossness

2010-12-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

OK the gifts got a little out of hand, but the tree was very compact.

On Christmas morning Janna came in to our room to say "Merry Christmas and get up please", but instead she said, "Eeeeeewwwww Dad, what's that on your back?" I said, "I don't know. Does it look like something I can pop?"

It turned out to be a tick about half finished getting inside of me. Here is most of him.

OK so you're looking at the whole thing except the head which is the hard part to get out. The right thing to do is heat a pin and zap the little sucker in the rear end. He then opens his mouth to say OOWW!, and he backs out of his hole to see who was rude enough to burn his backside just when he was having a good burrow. We tweezerd his back end and I nearly lifted off the bed before his body broke. Then it was a simple operation of sliding a needle under him, lifting hard and slitting him off with a little bit of my back. Burn me with some high power peroxide and I'm good to go.

One more gross thing.

This is called a grub worm. There are lots of these or at least pieces of them in the dry firewood you can chop up around here.
Christmas was really fun, except for missing family. James and I finished his birthday with a campout about a mile out in the swamp. We got to see a possum up close while he was pretending not to be there. We went to sleep to the hooting of barred owls, and woke up to cardinals chirping. We also got to play 4 uninterrupted games of chess. Good night!

Loving the Slow Lane This Christmas

2010-12-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

When you stroll in the jungle it's not surprising to encounter monkeys.

James is better at this than me.The vines hold him.

We like these guys.

The local weather.

About 25 people showed up for our carol sing around the fire. They didn't drink enough apple cider. We had 8 gallons left over, but we had a wonderful evening with lots of worship and lots of laughs.
We all sang happy birthday to James and to Jesus.

Christmas in the Bayou

2010-12-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention, one week ago Sunday we went to Church in Destin, Fl. and this wonderful board member treated us to lunch the next day at his Chick-fil-A restaurant. Jake OD'd on cherry coke and doesn't care for it anymore.

We arrived at Lake Fausse Point State Park South of Lafayette, Louisiana via Fountaine Bleu State Park, where we all got to pet a baby alligator. We've set up here for Dec 19 to 27th, so we could have a place to call home for Christmas. We're in the sticks of the sticks, but we've got the best WiFi yet. These wetlands are full of Live Oak, alligators, snakes and armadillos, with waterways everywhere.

The kids got creative and built a nativity scene for our Christmas decorations.

After the stable was built it was time to work on gingerbread houses.

Tori definitely won the award for most detail and for making the gingerbread from scratch.

James actually touched this little fellow on the back.

Can you spot all three geckos?

We spotted an alligator here after we were on shore. This is the dominant landscape in this region.

I'm sure I saw this guy in Enderby once.

Both boys needed their turn at pulling up this night line with its catfish.

We asked if we could host a carol sing around our campfire on Christmas eve. The lady at the registration center got the permission and proceeded to print up nice invitations for us to give out, as well as posting it several places around the park. The camp host delivered firewood to our sight today, to help. We're expecting to give out around 40-50 cups of hot apple cider.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thank you Jesus for being Emmanuel.

New Orleans

2010-12-19T05:59:00.000-08:00

We had to practice a little juggling before heading into the city this morning.

James owes his mom $90

This is Canal St. It's the historic trading zone between the French and the Spanish. James and Janna are just trying to get a trolley car to stop.

On the bank of the Mississippi River.

New Orleans traffic jam.

I got to harmonize with Willy doing a jazz style Silent Night. It was the best part of New Orleans for me.

This is where to buy beignets

This is where to get a guitar lesson.

This is where to shop.

This is where to honour the Yanks.

This is a typical view, but what it doesn't show is the struggle this town is having in recovering from Catrina two years ago. There is a lot of sin and brokenness in this town. Some people we met put their hope in Jesus. Almost everyone puts their hype in the Saints. (NFL for you non sports types)

OK it's worth stopping for beignets again before leaving.

Buildings marked with an X usually had dead body or dead animal issues after the hurricane's flood.

This bridge leaving town is about 5 miles long, but the one going straight North is about 25 miles long.

Sweet Home Alabama

2010-12-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

Sweet Home is on most of the license plates around here, but just leaving Florida, on the beaches near Pensi- Cola, you can see some cool houses.

They plow sand like snow here.

December 13 - 14 we weren't thinking much about snow, but I guess it's still cold for around here.

At Johnny's RV , near Theodore, Al. you can use the boats for free, but the paddles aren't much.

This piece of conduit worked pretty well.

James tried a seal launch and got about 4 gallons of water right in his lap.

Time to head for New Orleans.

North of Orlando again

2010-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

We headed back to Wekiwa Springs, which we heard about the last time we were in Orlando. This place is beautiful, with over 30 miles of running trails and a natural spring that makes it worth the stop.

This Spring pumps out 42 million gallons per day and it's always 68 - 72 F.

We also took in a Dino (pianist) christmas extravaganza...........

It was a mistake...............
Voyage of the Dawn Treader was way better.

Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center

2010-12-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

After the Everglades it was back up the East coast to a campsite at Mims, Fl. just 25 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center. We looked at the web on Sunday night having already planned to go over to the center on Wednesday. To my delight there was to be a rocket launch on that day, between 9:00 and 12:22. The shuttle launch we hoped to see has been scrubbed till Feb. so this was by far the best day for us to go to the NASA. We got video and everything.

These were wonderful oranges.

Yvette stayed home for a quiet day today.

The very ramp Armstong, Aldrin and many more entered their rockets from.

This is the Falcon 9 rocket.

We got to hear the live countdown. The launch pad was about 4 miles away.

Here's atsronaut Jake crashing a simulator.

The real mcCoy moon rock

Astronaut, John David Bartoe flew one shuttle mission. His favourite space movie is Star Wars.

Everglades National Park

2010-12-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

We did not want to see an alligator farm, but we wanted to see alligators in nature. This was the place to do it.

The Anhinga trail is named after this bird which stands with its back to the sun to dry its wings. You can see them swimming up to three feet under the water after their prey.

Sunning alligators were plentiful.

This guy was about 10 feet long and still enough

to be a bit unnerving. You have to be careful when you're close enough for your shadow to be holding claws with an alligator. They can lunge at any instant.

A park ranger stood fairly close to three alligators along the path here, to make sure we kept a safe distance.
This was certainly a highlight of Florida.
It's a Saturday school day today, and we plan to head up to Cape Canaveral next.

Cruisin'

2010-12-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

We left Miami on Sunday, Nov. 28 aboard the Norwegian Dawn.

We had a day and a half at sea going around the west end of Cuba, which is quite rugged on its coast.

We spent a wonderfully hot day in George Town, Grand Cayman. This is the beach right in front of the governor's house on 7 Mile Beach. He's the equivalent of our Prime Minister.

Our ship held about 2000 passengers and 800 staff and crew.

The owner of this little yacht could probably afford a regular cruise, but they probably wouldn't let him bring his two extra boats and helicopter on board.

In Cozumel, Mexico it rained and was too choppy to enjoy snorkelling......

....so we enjoyed shopping and seeing the island in this wet little jeep.

Back at the boat they were making sure our towels welcomed us back to the cabins.

Just before we left Cozumel.

One more day at Sea and back to Miami.

Last Disney Days

2010-12-04T05:25:00.000-08:00

We really enjoyed the animal kingdom.
It has the safari, the log ride, and the everest roller coaster.

Here's us after the Cali River Rapids. Guaranteed wetness with 50% chance of soaking.

At Epcot we loved the singing, juggling, Chinese acrobats and......

........dancing with the band at the Canadian place.

Back at Hollywood and a picture with a best friend.

We got up close with rays at this animal rescue place in Daytona.

Then we were ready to head South for the cruise.

Bye to Disney World (no pictures)

2010-11-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

Hi All:
I've got to try and get some new pictures on soon, but I forgot my camera tonight.
Tomorrow we plan to head further South in Florida. From Miami this Sunday, we'll be setting sail in the Caribbean for 5 nights. The cruise has day long stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We are very excited and looking forward to the experience.
Sunday was quite the experience. We went to a full on word faith church called the Master's Touch International Church. The whole production was televised somewhere I guess with all the cameras boogying around. I was really happy to be able to look at my bible and expose the lies that were being mixed in with the truth. I was also really glad that none in my family were sucked in. We all just know there was something not right about what was being taught. We thought we were just going to a mainline evangelical church, but we were mistaken.
Disney is a really fun place for families to hang out, but if we had to choose, this family would take the beach. Still we had a lot of fun at the parks and we even went a 7th day so Tori and I could do the American Idol experience auditions. Tori was really nervous, so she didn't get to go on. I got to perform, but I lost, but it was lots of fun.
All of us are enjoying our time. We are missing family and friends, but we are happy to be where it's about 24 - 28 C everyday! We hope all is well with you and your families too.
That's all for now.
Mr. H.

Some Disney Fun

2010-11-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

Day 1 at Hollywood Studios

The lady on the left asked if it was ok for her to be in the picture with James. We said as long as she stayed off to the side.

Mr. Covey never told us he'd be here at the same time as us.HEE HEE

Red eye reduction.Very important after 10 hours

Disney Day 2 at the Magic Kingdom

The view arriving by boat.

Dangerous drivers!

The view 1 second before plummeting on Splash Mountain.

Favourite rides for our family are Splash Mountain and Rockin' Roller Coaster.
Favourite Show: Beauty and the Beast live production.
Favourite occurrence for Mrs. H. and I: watching our children take the arm of another mom or dad in the crowd. We're trying to figure out how to get the whole thing on video.

Romance.

Main St. USA.

The view leaving by boat.