Visiting the Fricks

We also got to stay at my brother Mark's place in Ogilvie, MN.  I scored some clothes for Genna and Jake, and of course, we had more good times visiting!  More cousin time, more partying.  My nephew Evan turned 16, so we had a get-together with food, campfires, tag in the dark, and party lights. :)  Ha, ha....the kids (& I) always wanted party lights for the rig because they make it look so festive and inviting, but somehow, Steve just wasn't into it, so I was never able to convince him to splurge for them.  Wouldn't you know, my brother had some, so he put them up on the rig, and insisted we take them with us, so now we are proud owners of party lights. LOL :)

Jake and Cole spent a lot of floor time playing.

Julia and Alyssa had a blast together!

Wrestle time

More play time

The Gjesvolds came over for a cookout on Friday

Jake watched Dad and Uncle Mark move the firewood, and jumped in and grabbed a piece to help.  As he carried it, he kept saying, "Hard, hard," but he kept at it and carried several pieces.  So precious!

Nothing spells girl time like makeup & nail polish, right?  You can always count on Serena to have an assortment of both!

Fun in the sun

Steve successfully used potato chips to get Cole to warm up to him.

Mark gave us some party lights for the festive RV look.

Happy 16th Birthday Evan!!!  Super yummy cheesecake for the birthday boy--we're glad he shared. ;)

Visiting the Lindholms

Now that we know where we're heading, each time we pack up & leave, it feels a little more momentous.  The driving days have been long, and Steve has pretty much figured out his limit--500 miles in a day.  When we left Fort Wayne, we drove to Black River Falls and overnighted at a Walmart there.  They have you stay over to the side and back on their concrete pad where the trucks come in and unload.  It was actually perfect; we had the place to ourselves, and since it was away from the rest of the parking lot, we didn't feel bad at all about sliding out.  Great stop.

Chantal and her sippy cup ;)

Jake was really funny with this mirror; he was delighted with the "bebee" in the mirror.

Great times were had!

Great to see Uncle Mark and family!

These rides were very intense, the look on Linda's & Donna's faces say it all.

Lots of fun was had playing ping pong.

Genna is very fond of her cousin Serena.

The next morning, we drove to Becker, Minnesota to my oldest sister Hope's place.  The kids love coming to visit them out in the country!  They had a blast jumping on the trampoline and swimming in the freezing pool.  We also had a get-together with all of my family there on the second night before Hope and her crew left town for a wedding.  Lots of good sister time, lots of good cousin time!  And the most memorable thing would have to be the crazy ride on the dirt bike track....oh my, it was much smoother than a roller coaster, but it still made a roller coaster seem kind of tame!!!  Memories...

It was great seeing our friend Nina, who we haven't seen since we worked together at summer camp in 2001.   She has all the glow of someone about to be married!

Visiting the Dunlaps

I love, love the fact that we know people from all over the United States!  The truth is, I married a guy with awesome friends that have stood the test of time, and now I can wholeheartedly say they're my friends, too! We had a chance to stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana and visit with the Dunlaps before continuing our trek further west.  There was an awesome little city park called Johnny Appleseed Park just a few miles from their house, which made it so convenient to visit!  What a blessing, too, because we wouldn't have fit in their driveway or on the street!

We had a great time at the zoo! Jake got up close and personal with this giraffe.

Loaded wagon

Corban and Genna became best buddies.

It wasn't long until they were holding hands.   It is cute now, but we will probably feel differently in ten years.

Caleb the jungle adventurer

Alyssa and the Orangutan.   Alyssa is on the right.

We had such a great time visiting with Adam & Julia and their two boys, Caleb & Corban.  We visited the zoo, great zoo, though our visit was on a Saturday with perfect weather, so it was crowded, for sure!

After the zoo. we stopped by the playground.

It is a little blurry, but I love this shot of Adam and Julia sliding together.

They took us to a place that has been serving Coney Dogs for like a hundred years--the kind of place that you'd see on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  We also went to a splash park where the kids got thoroughly drenched and had a blast.

We had to hit this Fort Wayne landmark.

It is so nice when we can send the kids off to their own table.

Apparently this place is always packed; we timed it well getting there at 3 on a Sunday afternoon.

Other than that, we hung out at their place and feasted!  Seriously, they spoiled us with Thanksgiving in August--fried turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, homemade biscuits, and cheesecake for dessert!  They kids jumped on the trampoline and played with legos. Jake fell in love with the boys' tractor trailer trucks.  And we enjoyed Adam's stories of college days.  Last but not least, we sat around and watched some of Adam's videos, including footage of my brother Mark that made Alyssa say, "I'll never think of Uncle Mark the same again!" LOL  We also watched video from when Steve & I got married almost 15 years ago!  Wow...we looked sooo young!!  Sooo fun to reconnect and reminisce with friends!

After Coney Island, we went to the splash fountains and burned off some energy.

We all got pretty wet.   Steve had fun swiping Shanan's "wig thing" and running around with it.

Jake loved playing with all the boys' toys!

The classic "sofa shot" family photo.

Adam showing off a more natural pose for him.

Thanks so much for your hospitality and generosity, Adam & Julia!  We all had a great time, and can't wait to do it again some day!

Berlin Center, Ohio

On the road again...

As we left Steve's parents, it was a bit sobering to realize how many miles lie ahead!  We drove to Berlin Center, Ohio to stay at a COE park on Berlin Lake.  It's been a while since we stayed at a COE park, but I was reminded how nice they can be!  There's always more space between sites, and they usually have a playground.  This one was no exception....there were awesome playgrounds.  The only bummer was that we were only here one night, and we arrived about 30 minutes before a big storm with pea-sized hail hit, and the rain began again the next morning before we even left.

Jake wants his snacks in the bed of his truck.  Hubachers, does this truck look familiar??  Jake LOVES it!!

Seeing Steve's parents one more time before we head west

Even though we'd stayed with Steve's family for three weeks already before heading to Maine, he really wanted to come back through one more time and take his brother Jon to Philadelphia Eagles training camp. He convinced the big girls to go, too, and although I don't think they exactly enjoyed it, they did enjoy going out to lunch for pizza and getting to meet some of the players at the autograph session that they were randomly chosen for.

Shady McCoy looks bigger in person.

Brian Dawkins is my favorite player of Eagles past

The girls read the whole time.  We had to stand up to see well due to people standing at the fence in front of us.

There is QB Michael Vick waiting for the next drill.

WR Deshawn Jackson, one of their star players.

Jon and LB Demeco Ryans

The girls thought the autograph session was the best part.

Since Steve's dad has a dealer's licence, he also wanted to go with his dad to a car auction to see if he could get a second vehicle for us at a great price.  He did go, but auctions are crazy, and he ended up not coming home with anything.  And that was okay...one less vehicle to drive another couple thousand miles west.

Other than that, the kids watched the Olympics, and we gathered a few more books from the great library that Steve's mom has. ;)  I think they soaked up about as much grandkid time as they possibly could manage....probably a good thing since we're moving so far away.

Steve's mom treated us to lunch after church at Perkasie Pizza and Pasta!  Yummy!

Cheesesteaks are on the way!

I know I am biased, but I think that food in the Northeast is the best in the whole country.   I don't mean healthy, I mean best tasting!

The girls finally got their cheese steak!

Shanan saves her biggest smiles for cheesesteak.

After lunch, we saw this covered bridge, which was moved to this park in the 50s in one piece.  All the covered bridges we passed nearby in Vermont were damaged from Hurricane Irene.  

Our unintentional 7 state travel day

We left Bar Harbor, Maine and headed south.  After leaving Bar Harbor, Steve was looking for a convenient place to pull over for another lobster roll and maybe blueberry pie.  We did find a place for lobster and crab rolls (okay but not as good as the first one we had) and some super yummy haddock chowdah...and in the parking lot, Steve negotiated the terms of the offer for Salt Lake City and accepted!  Momentous day...now we know for sure our "final destination" for this adventure.  Somehow we missed getting a picture of the joint where all this went down.  We must be getting lax!

We continued south to Biddeford, Maine to overnight at a Walmart there.  By the way, this is a totally awesome Walmart to overnight at---sooo friendly to RVers that there was a picnic table on the outskirts of the parking lot, and we were told it was okay to stay a few days if needed.  Needless to say, we leveled and slid out here, definitely makes Walmart stays not just tolerable but comfortable!

We left Maine expecting to drive to Sturbridge, Massachussetts, stay at a Thousand Trails park there for a night or two, then drive the remainder of the way back to Pennsylvania to stay with Steve's family again.  It sounded like a reasonable option.  There were some warnings that it might not be a grand plan, however.  Margie McCloskey & Kimberly Travaglino did their best to dissuade Steve from staying there, but it was soooo conveniently located along our path, that he just didn't think it could be that bad.  They were right...he was wrong.  Sites packed in like sardines, crowded (only 4 sites open & 1 of those was handicapped and we weren't allowed to use it), smelly everywhere, and staff.that wasn't very helpful (tried to tell us to park next to the power poles which isn't an option considering our double slides in the back).  Sooo...we discussed what to do and decided to leave and press on.....

I don't think I was expecting him to drive the whole way to his parent's house...driving through 7 states...I was kind of thinking we'd overnight at a Walmart and then arrive in the morning, refreshed.  Hehe...not so much.  We skated in just before sunset, and Steve was exhausted from the drive.  He attempted to back the rig and get it parked, so we wouldn't block their driveway....but in the dark, all he managed to accomplish was being unable to move forwards...or backwards.  Quite a dilemma, really, and one that he's not been in before, thus far!  And somewhere in the middle of all that, his parents' power went out.  Sooo....we went to bed, and decided to worry about it in the morning.  Fortunately, in the light of day, we were able to see well enough to remove a few more items from in front of the truck, enough that he could unhitch, then change his approach and rehitch from a different angle.  Success!!!  Whew!!  That was a better option than having to work on stump removal. ;)  His parking woes weren't exactly over at this point, but he did eventually get the job done such that we could slide.  Sooo...success was achieved eventually. :)  Thank goodness not every parking job is so complicated!!