Day 7 Mammoth Cave and Jellystone Camping

 Day 7
Again... Too hot. It was over 86 degrees. Ugh.
We tooled around here at Jellystone, playing mini golf. Beca got a hole in one off of Zacks foot!
We ate our picnic lunch at a gazebo by the lake. The lake was stocked with fish, for a catch and release. Sam tried everything, bread, steak, and hotdog....nothing, no fish. He tried a lure and a giant fish ate the lure, bait, and sinker! The big boys and Geoff went on a mammoth cave tour that was by lantern for 3 hours. The campground is big, and finally on the last day we rented a golf cart. It is fun!
We also have been jumping on this big inflatable, hard canvas. It is a giant jumping pillow!
 We also met the people next to us. They have snakes at home! They showed me the pictures. They were so fascinated by our kids juggling the diablo, devil sticks and pins. We were the strange creatures to them !

Day 6 Mammoth Cave, KY

Day 6
It started early and hot! That was the theme for the day. 86 degrees..felt like 100 degrees with the humidity! We discovered again that only Geoff was destined for this weather!
We set our clocks for 7:30, and promptly forgot we are in Central Time. We essentially woke up at 6:30 am and it was HOT and HUMID already. We managed to get breakfast eaten, and painfully do the dishes in the sun. That was horrible! We arrived at Mammoth Cave just in time for our tour at 9:15 am to escape the heat! It was an amazing tour! The cave just blows away Howe Caverns! Howe just seems like a dumb, bricked, handmade cave after this amazing visit to a truly wild cave. There were originally 19 caves along time ago. People discovered they were all related eventually. There are only a few miles open to the public. The total mileage of the cave system is 390 miles!
The most terrifying part was actually the thousands of cave crickets. They were overhead, hanging on walls, crawling...and they were huge! It was a truly beautiful cave.
We came home for a hot lunch, cold swim, mini golf, and almost a nap that was foiled by a thunderstorm. We went back to the caverns in the afternoon for a different tour. It was all about how huge the spaces were. On the tour they showed 1910 graffiti which is now considered historical art.
Zack kept asking for a smaller cave, because everyone had to duck, but he never had to duck his head!
The civil war might not have been won, if not for the saltpeter from Mammoth Cave, it was for ammunition. The signs there said they are missing millions of years of rock layers. Apparently, it says hundred of millions of years passed without leaving a trace in the geological record.
After the cave tour, we came back again for the best hamburgers we have ever eaten. We were obviously hungry! The kids had s'mores by the campfire, some had showers, and then we all ended up in sleepingbags in bed!

Day 5 Petersburg,KY to Mammoth Caves, KY

Day 5
The day started out in air conditioning!! We got up at 7:30 am and ate and packed up. It took us about 2.5 hours to do that. It was getting warm, but we had no idea what we were in for later! We drove 3 hours south. We arrived in the early afternoon, after a time change! Yeah!
It was HOT here! 90 or more. We have almost no shade on our HUGE triple sized campsite. We do have one tiny tree, we crowded under. It took us 3 hours in the heat to unpack and have a super hot lunch! Ughhhh. Afterward, we took the kids to a cold swimming pool, a hayride with ridiculous singing with yogi bear, and a 300 foot water slide! We all cooled off!! Finally! We had steak and potatoes from the fire, but our knives were dull! Haha! Doug plans on sharpening them, and as usual we expect Martty to cut a finger. Doug is still hogging most of the driving, but he is doing a great job. He is the best at backing up the trailer anywhere he wants to put it!  He was really hot today. We joked about the fact that only Geoff does okay in the high heat, the rest of us just melt away and slowly stop and can't think anymore. We just turn off! After we had cooled off,  we played at the campsite for a bit. Of course we attracted all sort of kids, because my kids were juggling everything they could find or brought with them! It almost stormed, a few drops came down, and then a rainbow appeared! A good ending to a REALLY hot day! Don't forget, if you click on the pictures they get bigger!
Martty bought a dragon at the creation museum, for Sam to copy out of clay for her. It ended up front as our mascot for traveling today.

Day 4 Petersburg, KY Creation Museum

Day 4 Creation Museum
Just to let you know, please click on the pictures, if you click on them the pictures get bigger. You don't have to look at the tiny pics in the blog.
We had a great time today! We left the beautiful house we are staying in to go up the road to the Creation Museum. Now I have tell you, we have seen almost every video, own nearly the whole gift shop and we still went and learned something! The museum is worth going for, just to see what a museum could be like! There were animations, videos, animatronics, full blown walk through dioramas and it was all really well made. The whole time I kept thinking it was too bad our museums back home could not just get their act together and make fantastic exhibits like the ones here.
We saw a ton of dinosaurs!
We went to the grocery store afterwards, Geoff decided to run the opposite way and meet us back at the house....apparently he has a very bad sense of direction, as usual!!! He got lost! We all laughed so hard. He ended up ahead of us in our direction, near the grocery store. Good thing he called to admit he was tired of running and lost! So we picked him up. We didn't want to leave him in Kentucky!
Everyone is tired, we just finished a great dinner and I am putting everyone to bed early!
We leave early in the morning for Jellystone campground at Mammoth caves. They have a 300 foot water slide, jumping pillow, and tns of fun things to do....oh yeah...plus camp!
Did anyone guess the blue bungee cords yet? Geoff and dad want overboard. They installed a 24 inch tv monitor in the SUV  for the trip. They used the blue bungee I cords to extra hold it from wiggling, to make me feel better! I will post a photo about that too soon...don't forget to look at the pictures and see the big CRACK in the road!!!

Our family JUMP picture at the museum...

Day 3 Seville,OH to Petersburg,KY

Day 3 started REALLY well. We managed to fit everything back into the trailer...it was a tight fit though. We started on our way...sorry to leave Ohio. My parents visited a dear friend to them and a special Uncle to me. We all had a great dinner together too. We hope and pray Uncle Tom and Sue will keep reading our blog, and know that we are glad we stopped on our trip to see them. Our trip is memorable, not just for the sights, and places we see, but for the special people we can see in person again, like Uncle Tom and Sue!
Our day began so well, we did several bible devotions( we decided to 4 days in one day). Geoff read great passages from the Bible...and then as were driving...the alternator for the SUV went wacky! We were able to find a dealership. They said they could not help us for three days! The second dealership took care of us for free in under 2 hrs! They even gave the kids candy and had wifi, so the kids could get online. They replaced the under warranty alternator for free, showed Geoff and dad tips for the trip too! So God is good in all things, even getting stuck at a dealership waiting room with EVERYONE!
We were delayed, but on our way...we managed to get to Boonschoft Museum and have a hot picnic. What is with this hit weather? We just came from cold, wet weather in NY! The museum was awesome! Go there sometime with kids! The kids started their collection of squished pennies there! Zack got an otter on his penny! We hit grandpa up for coins! We crossed into Indiana, then Kentucky, then over a really cool bridge! We are now in a very old, but TINY town. We rented a house in Petersburg, KY. It is so cool, with nooks and crannies! It is old and so near to be in. Everyone got a bed, no kids on the floor here! Big kids are in the loft, getting a break from little brother. We went for a walk, in this small town. It is exactly one mile to walk around the town. One road in and one road out. We went down by the Ohio River and saw people fishing, realized we had fishing poles, but very little clue what to do with them! Kids are in bed and very tired so far. I think the heat gets them the most...

First dealership...they sent us away...

Second dealership...they fixed us and gave the SUV a car wash! No more bugs!!

Finally a new state!

Cool bridge over the ohio river!

Grandpa Doug talking about something, but there was a really cool power plant behind 

y, while crossing the Ohio River

Day 2 Seville,OH to Columbus Zoo and back again

Day 2 Seville, Ohio to Columbus Zoo and back again north to Seville, Ohio.

First off any guesses why there was a blue bungee cord in the SUV?
Today was our first day doing more than driving. Actually we did drive 1.5 hours south to the best zoo ever! We stood like flamingos, as you can see on the photos. We stayed for a long time petting stingrays too. The zoo trims their poisonous barbs every three months, so they are safe. We saw an animal show that had cats doing tricks?! It was so strange to see the impossible! Cats, really? Geoff had a starng contest with a flamingo...that was strange too. It was also HOT! It was in the 90s, we were so not ready for that! We had our second picnic lunch! Thankfully in the shade! We just got back to the hotel, and it is late! Almost 11:30pm. Everyone is cranky and getting ready for bed. Long day...but filled with so many animals and fun things...and HOT!

Day 1 Syracuse, NY to Seville, OH

Day 1
We are on the road!
We left LATE! Even with friends helping get us off, we still left late. Oh well!
We had a picnic in Rochester area, drove a ton, and now we are almost at our hotel! W are having a nice dinner out at our favorite place...BOB EVANS!
Everyone is crammed in the SUV. So far...so good! We are mostly messing around with what plays on the radio and how loud! We have votes for 50s, 80s, Christian and NOTHING on!
We decided to to jump pictures as we go along and mom and dad are taking lovey dovey pictures!
Enjoy!!

Sunday we leave...

It is Saturday night at 10:35 pm, but I know you will get this in the morning!
As of tonite, 99% of everything is packed in the trailer and SUV! We could not have done it without our friends Trina and Scott coming to help support us with foods, helping hands, watching the house, getting the cars in the garage, and doing EVERYTHING for us! Thank you!! It was a sad day, the baby hedgehogs left (to a good, warm, cuddly, loving family), we said goodbye to friends and neighbors. We said hello to family moving into our house at the same time....it was strange to explain the quirks of our house!!! Like... Don't use the dishwasher, open up 2 windows to use the house fan, internet passwords, how to use the lawnmower, don't use the ice maker ...."
We leave in the morning early on Sunday. We will not be back for 10 weeks! It seems so LONG!!
See you August 3!

Countdown

Countdown begins! It is Friday....we leave Sunday morning for our trip cross country.
We are almost packed...the trailer is stuffed to the gills! We arrive home in 10 weeks on August 3. Come along with us! The kids had a great time tonite saying goodbye to friends one last time. The house is crazy, we are crazy...and it should be a memory for a lifetime!

Video

Wendy, a photojournalist, followed us around, as we prepared for our journey.
Enjoy her talented video, click on the link below at Vimeo!
http://vimeo.com/95707676
It was great to share our trip with her and to get ready to be on our way!

Our Journey

Our family has decided to go on an adventure! We are going to pack all 8 of us into our SUV and head across the country, to see what we have only read about in books!  At the end of our trip, we hope to have closer relationships with each other, with Jesus Christ our Lord and to learn more about the great USA that we live in! So ...come along for our journey!