The Time Is Now

As I mentioned previously, our church is in the process of building a facility after 14 years in various rentals. We have just grown beyond our capacity to rent anymore. A few months ago, Greg and I were interviewed along with several other people for a video about the new facility. It was posted this week on our church's website. So... if you'd like a good laugh (well, not really), you can go watch it. Once you get to the home page, scroll to the bottom. You'll see a screen with a changing picture. When it gets to "The Time Is Now Updates", click on the screen (or I think the second little button on the right will freeze the screen in the right place so you can click on that button, also). On the next screen, click on "Watch 3D Virtual Tour Here" on the word "Here". That will take you to the video. The first voice you'll hear is Greg's and we're the first people you see. Let me just say that it's amazing what editing can do! LOL!

Be It Ever So Humble....

...there's no place like home, and we are finally here. We arrived home around 5:40 pm. The kids and Greg unpacked the van while I threw a load of laundry in. Then Greg and Landon headed to Civil Air Patrol. Gerren and Chase helped me unpack. Then I began wading through a tremendous pile of mail. Wow! I have it all sorted but it will take me awhile to deal with it. I planned for tomorrow to be a day off from school, and we will need it!

Well, I must get back to dealing with this mess on my desk, but I wanted to let you all know that we arrived home safely.

Day 17: Vicksburg

We spent most of the day in Vicksburg. The Vicksburg National Military Park was awesome. If you've ever been to a large Civil War battlefield, you know that all of the states with soldiers who fought there will put up a large monument as well as many smaller ones at the spot of any major action during that battle. The large monuments are incredible. The Illinois monument was the largest at this site and was modeled after the Parthenon. It was beautiful. You could actually go inside, and this seal was on the floor. I took this picture since I am originally from Illinois.




The state of Kentucky dedicated its monument in 2001. It is pretty neat. Both Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky. So statues of both of them are part of the monument (along with a few other people???).


The cemetery in the park contains the gravesites of the Union soldiers who died at Vicksburg. Interestingly, the Confederate soldiers were buried at a private cemetery in the town. There are both flat and tall markers. The flat stones mark the graves of unknown soldiers.



This picture was taken from Fort Hill, which was such a formidable Confederate stronghold, that the Union forces never attacked it. The scenery throughout the park--hills and valleys and trees--was so beautiful!


The park also contains the U.S.S. Cairo Museum. The U.S.S. Cairo was a Union ironclad ship which was the first ship ever sunk by an explosive mine. It was resurrected from its watery grave exactly 102 years, to the day, from when it was sunk. You can walk right onto this ship. It is incredible!




There were some nice picnic tables outside this museum where we ate lunch.


Before leaving Vicksburg, we drove a mile or two to the Beidenharn Coke Museum (I hope I spelled that correctly). This was the first place ever to bottle Coke. Yes, it was first made in Atlanta, but Mr. Beidenharn, a candy shop owner, had the idea of bottling it. When he asked for permission, the Coke company gave it to him thinking that it was a hairbrained idea. Before too long, they realized their mistake. However, it took them a long time and a LOT of money to buy the bottling rights back! Ah, the power of a good idea!

Gerren and Chase look at the machine that bottled the Coke.


The boys pose in front of a 1902 soda fountain.


Carys "smiles" in front of the high chair.


There wasn't much to this museum, but it was a fun diversion. After leaving Vicksburg, we drove 4 hours to Daphne, AL, right outside of Mobile. We had dinner at a great place called Baumhower's Wings. There are 7 of these restaurants all over Alabama, and it was wonderful!

Well, it is hard to believe, but we are headed home tomorrow. We have a 6-hour drive ahead of us, not including stops. We also lose an hour going from Central to Eastern Time, but we hope to get back in time for Landon to go to Civil Air Patrol at 6:30pm. This blog will be awfully silent when I get home and have to catch up on everything! LOL!

Day 16: A Day of Dreary Driving

I had hoped to leave Dallas around 9:00 am this morning, but it is tough getting the kids away from a place they love. They had a blast with Carson and the doggies at the Taylor's house and really enjoyed everything else we did and everyone else we saw in the area.

We managed to leave by 10:30. It was warm and just slightly overcast in Dallas. It became more overcast as we drove along, and we rain through ran off an on. We arrived in Vicksburg at 4:30 pm, too late to visit the Vicksburg Military Park. This turned out to be okay, though, as we have some time just to relax, read e-mail and blogs (me), watch Survivor Man on the Discovery Channel (the boys), and get a head start on bedtime showers (the girls). We plan on heading to a local family restaurant for supper. I have been craving pie since we saw a reproduction of Pensacola in the 50's at the Naval Aviation Museum which included a diner window full of homemade pie! :-)

Day 15: Dallas - Frontiers of Flight & The Bureau of Engraving and Printing

We tried to get an earlier start today. Carys was up at 7:30am, but she was so crabby. She is wearing down. The lack of a regular routine and enough sleep are getting to her. Anyway, we headed to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth. You aren't allowed to take any electronic equipment in, so I don't have any pictures. It was a really cool place to visit, though.

After lunch, we headed to the Frontiers of Flight museum at Love Field in Dallas. The docents at the museum are all veterans. We had the privilege of having the undivided attention of Charles Mohrle, who was a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot in WWII. He was an awesome guide and really gave us a unique experience.



He taught Landon how to "fly" this PT-22.


Gerren and Chase got a birds-eye view.


Carys looks at the plane display.


There were tons of other planes there, too, including this Beech Staggerwing.


The actual Apollo 7 capsule was also in the museum.


After leaving the museum, we headed to Cedar Hill to meet up with my cousin Jennie, whom I haven't seen in 8 years! Kids really slow you down. We then headed for Babe's Chicken in Burleson to meet Julie and Carson Taylor, our hosts for our stay in Dallas (Mike, the dad of this family, was out of town on business). Anyway, the restaurant was awesome! Really, really neat. If you live in this area and have never been there, you must check it out. We had a fun waitress who did a few "tricks" for us. Gerren snapped a picture of one.



We had such a great time here, but we didn't get to do half of what we would have liked. We must come back soon!

Day 14: Pioneer Park, Dallas

We all slept in this morning. When we finally got ready to go, it was 11:00 am. We didn't get to many places today, needless to say, but we needed the rest.

First, we went to Pioneer Park which is a small park by the Dallas Convention Center which was created to commemorate the cattle drives. It was really neat and a short stop.

Chase made friends with this guy.


It looks like Landon and Chase are driving the steer, too!


Gerren was actually with us but ran out of this picture at the last minute. Then he came back over and wanted me to take another picture. Tough luck, buddy!


This was really a neat place smack in the heart of downtown Dallas.


We attempted to visit the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, but it was $17 to get in and we only had 30-45 minutes. So we skipped this in favor of the American Girl Store at the Galleria. I had been promising this to Chase, so it was a must see. Her birthday is May 5, so we did a little shopping.

Finally, we arrived at the Mays home in Allen around 3:30pm. Our kids (who are second cousins to one another) get to play together once or twice a year, but they pick right up where they left off. They had a blast! We are definitely going to have to come back to Dallas soon and spend more time.

I just had to include this picture taken in the morning of Carys "talking" to the Taylors doggies through the door.

Day 13: Amarillo to Dallas

Today we drove from Amarillo where we spent the night to Dallas where we'll stay a few days. Before leaving Amarillo, we went to see Cadillac Ranch, a pop art phenomenon.

It was a quick but quirky stop! Here are some pictures:



As you can see, the sky looks rather ominous. We drove in and out of rain all day.




Chase pretends to spray paint the car. It is actually against the law.


We arrived in Dallas around 5:30 pm, actually in Mansfield which is south of Dallas. We are staying with our friends the Taylors. Tomorrow we'll visit with Greg's cousin, Bob, his wife Elisabeth and kids, Robbie and Morgan. Then, Friday, we'll visit with my cousin, Jennie. There is so much to do here and so little time!

Day 12: Driving Again

No pictures to post today as all we did was drive. We left Holbrook, AZ (note to self - skip this town on the next trip!) at 8:00 am to take Greg to the airport in Albuquerque, NM. He needed to be there by 12:30 for a 1:30pm flight, but we also lost an hour to time change. We were there by 12:15pm, so he made it home just fine.

We hate to see Greg go home and miss all the fun, but we also have a routine when he's not around that sometimes makes it difficult when he IS around. It's kind of like trying to have a normal school day when he's home. Nevertheless, I miss having him around to take some of the parenting load off me!

We are hoping to do a couple of things around here tomorrow before heading to Dallas. Hopefully, there will be some photo ops.

Day 11: Grand Canyon

Wow! Actually that's too trite a word to use, but it's hard to come up with anything else. I am the only one in my family who's been to the Grand Canyon before and that was 30+ years ago. I don't remember much. It was a truly awesome sight! It gave my stomach butterflies to go up to the guard rail at first. We didn't go very close with Carys.


The pictures really can't do it justice.




It was windy with a high of 52 degrees. I had on four layers!


Gerren took this picture of us from the Powell Memorial.


It's against the law to feed or even attempt to attract the animals. Everybody was doing it anyway. The squirrels seemed huge to us compared to our Florida squirrels and did not seem afraid of the people at all.


This guy was walking beside the road leading to one of the points along the Desert View road.


I won't even tell you what Greg had Chase do to take this picture!


I do not know what Landon is pointing at!


Even though it was cold, it was bright and sunny. We seem to be squinting in all these pictures!


This picture was taken at the Tusayan Ruins. Only 3% of the park has been excavated.


What a view!


This was taken from the observation deck of the Watchtower. The plaque quotes Psalm 66:4: All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name.


We taught Carys the word "canyon"; then I asked her, "Who made the canyon?" She thought a minute and said, "big truck". Good guess. Her next answer was, "Alex" (her best buddy from church). We finally have her convinced that God made the canyon!

This is another shot from the observation deck of the Watchtower.


In the words of Psalm 8: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise, because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?