Thursday in Oshkosh

Today I have been a little grouchy. I'll admit that the "bzzz" sound at 6am in from the tent wasn't exactly appealing. What sounded like a neighbor weed-eating too early was really planes taking their morning flights. Tons of them. By 7am I was already sweating and we lathered up the sunscreen and headed out to the airshow grounds. What happened to all the cool weather? I was thinking it was going to be in the 70's but obviously I am so not tuned into the weather channel.

We went to this huge indoor museum and my first secret thought was "yeah, a real bathroom (and no porta potty) and air conditioning! Jeff was almost hyperventilating seeing all the planes hanging from the ceiling. They did have a cool children's area with all kinds of hands on things they can do like simulate flying a hot air balloon, glider plane, etc. Then we headed over to an outdoor kids area for the next part of the day.

Let me back up to the Dells part of our trip and tell you about my little excitement because it further explains my grouchiness. We were at this big indoor wave pool area and all four of us were playing in there when I randomly whacked myself in the eye! I said I hurt myself and needed to get out of the pool quick. So, Jeff looks at it and says "oh, you scratched your eyeball." Am I'm getting pretty nervous since I just had lasik surgery in January and did NOT want to mess that up. Then to the first aid and she said "yeah, I'm seeing part lifting up a little, you should head over to the Urgent Care clinic." So-I'm trying really hard not to freak out as we shuttled over across the street in our bathing suits. Imagine this: Jeff is guiding me across the street and I have a big bag of ice and a towel over my face. Meanwhile, he's trying to keep the kids from getting run over. Anyway, a couple hours later it turned out I did not hurt the cornea or the lasik and just poked the white part and it bled. So in most of my eye it is all red from bleeding under the skin. It's looks hideous and is very sore. Said it will probably be that way for up to 10 days. So, am not getting much sleep and camping in a tent...well I'll just not say anymore, lest I get in trouble from the grouch police!

Cameron finally spent his money and bought a remote control helicopter and has been flying it around. I am sitting outside the little shower hut with the laptop plugged in waiting on the boys to take a shower. I'm all clean-praise the lord!!!

Wenesday at Oshkosh, WI

Hello All!
Well, we made it to Oshkosh, the biggest air show in the world. Man, this is really something else here. There are rows and rows of all kinds of airplanes and tents woven in between. I can tell finally feels like he's with His People. I am definitely one of the minority, just being female. There are little shuttle buses that take you over to the main airshow that goes on all week. We went over there after we got here around 1pm. Cameron gets what I call "fixated" on certain things. Yesterday, he was fixated on a new pair of sox. Another story. Today he wanted to visit the big "flymall" where there's all kinds of things to buy. We never made it over there but I never thought I'd here my son begging all day to go shopping. His spending money is burning a little hole in his pocket. He's bought a couple things but has been saving most of it to spend here.

We went into a big vendor/tent area and boy did I feel like a fish out of water. I know now what it feels like when a man goes to a big Country Peddler show! There were booths with all kinds of aircraft polishing oil, metal parts all over the place. Needless to say I lost interest fast and brought a little book along for the times when I sit and wait. I'm earning points but I'm sure I'd earn more if I gushed something like,"That is the sexiest aircraft I've ever seen."

So we got our little tent up and have set up camp. Elliot and I are sitting in our chairs. You might be wondering how we had room for the camping gear? Well, we didn't. With the four of us and all of our bags for 16 days of travel, we didn't have room for the camping stuff. So Jeff packed it all into two boxes and actually shipped it to the post office here. We picked it up when we got here. Fortunately he got a ride on a little cart back to the campsite. Remember, we are without a car and hoofing it.

Let me back up a couple days and tell you guys about the awesome resort we stayed in the Wisconsin Dells. It's called the Wilderness Resort and it is a water park on steroids! Seriously, there are about 6 different water areas, some indoor and some outdoor, plus indoor playground (remember it snows here) and lazer tag and even a pottery painting place. Anyway, we were there for three nights and had a great time. That was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most. It was nice to relax and play in the water. We splashed, did water slides and lazy rivered it. Funny how every place now has a "lazy river" modeled after the real lazy rivers near San Antonio.

till tomorrow!

Sunday Trip to the Dells

Today we flew from Rapid City, SD to Wisconsin Dells stopping in a little town near Minniapolis for gas. We had to deviate north to go around a storm system, but had smooth sailing with a nice tail wind most of the way. The water park resort here is huge, with a half-dozen water parks on the premisis. Some are indoor and others are outdoors, so there is fun to be had regardless of the weather. We are going to hit it hard tomorrow.

Here's a photo of Elliot, the 5th president....(Written by Jeff)

Saturday in South Dakota

Wow-I'm thinking it feels like Texas here today. It was 90 degrees here in South Dakota. We went swimming in the hotel waterpark this morning and even mom did the water slide a couple times. Then we packed our backpacks and headed out for the day. It was beauiful and sunny again. Seems to be the norm here and then gets cloudy by around 5pm or so. We stopped at the store for some drinks and snacks and then headed to this cool place called "Bear Country." It's a drive through wild animal park. At first we didn't see much and I was thinking we might have wasted $45 bucks, but then saw some huge 12 point elk, which is ok impressive. And THEN, we saw the bears-I'm not just talking about one or two but like 20-30 of them! All over the place. They were mostly taking siestas but we got all excited when one lumbered right in front of our car! I got a picture of it right outside my car window. It was amazing.

Then we headed back to Mr. Rushmore because we didn't get a chance to see the museum and learn more about the sculpturer. Plus the boys had these Jr. Ranger books they were filling out so they could get their badge. So I can say we "did" Mt. Rushmore.

Another big deal around here is the big Sturgis motorcycle rally. It's in two weeks and people ride their harleys from all over the place. We were going to cruise by the town today but decided to head back to the hotel early-Jeff wasn't feelin up to par. Anyway, there have still be lots of bikes around. Today we saw the funniest thing-two people on a bike with a little black DOG! The driver was one handing it and holding the dog in his lap. It was hilarious. We also saw two people (no one wears helmets of course) each with a cigarette in their mouths as they were going down the highway. Yeah baby!

Time to get packed up for the next leg of the adventure.

Friday in South Dakota

It's only been two days since I wrote last and already I have a lot to report. Wed afternoon was nice in Colorado. It was raining so we just stayed around the house and I got to sit out on the deck and read my book and listen to the thunderstorm. My kind of relaxation. I was even wearing a sweatshirt! We are settling into vacation now and the boys are enjoying having us around 24/7 with non-stop chatter. They are getting along well. We went over to the community rec center in Idaho Springs and played in the pool there. Their new thing is diving boards and they had one as well as a rope from the ceiling. Now, my husband even had to do some show off dives off the diving board and all the local kids were like, "woaa!" and I was like "wow, what a big splash!"

Thursday we got up early and headed about 2hrs west with Kevin to an area called Glenwood Springs. We went on this awesome hike for 3.5 hrs (ok, so I was counting by the end when my muscles were aching!) and even Elliot was a trooper. At the top of the mountain, there was a lake and huge waterfall coming out of a rock. You could actually walk behind the waterfall-it was very cool. The water was crystal clear. The weather was perfect blue sky and 70 something. But we were all sweating after that. So, then we went to this hot springs place for the rest of the day. It is a big pool that is fed from natural springs. They had once again and diving board and water slide. After watching his dad AND uncle showing off foretting they are NOT 18, Elliot decides to do "front flip cannonball" I guess he made up that name, but it still looked pretty good. We didn't roll in until 10pm and got all our stuff packed up for the next leg of the trip.

I was happy to be in the car and ready to go by 8am this morning. Kevin had to drive us to Denver to get our plane and that is a good hour drive. So, we got there and made potty stops and mosied out to the plane and Jeff says,"Are you missing anything...like YOUR bag!" I had left my bag at the top of the stairs at Kevin's house an hour away. I know you all feel my pain and can understaind that I was really wishing it had been Jeff's bag that got left! It worked out because my nephew drove it halfway down and we only lost a hour.

A short 2.5 hr flight later we are in Rapid City, SD! First time for us all. Another beautiful and sunny day and no bumps or barf! halleueah. We got our rental car (I had reserved a midsize) and they bring over this brand-new-only-900-miles surburban. I was like "sweet." And it even has a dvd player that still had the plastic on it. So it is perfect for our little 2 day visit here. After checking into the hotel, our first stop was "Reptile Gardens." Remember I have boys...but seriously, it was pretty cool and interesting. We saw an alligator show where the guy was in there with about 20 crocs and even layed on top of one and showed us his teeth. INcredible. It is very pretty here with lots of green, rolling hills. Then we went to view the lighting ceremony of Mr. Rushmore. Very moving and they had veterans go up on stage after the lighting and we sang "America the beautiful." We didn't get to see everything so we're going back tomorrow.

Well, I snuck out of the room while Jeff was taking a shower and the boys were going to bed so I had better head back.

Wednesday in Colorado

Things are looking up here in the cool country! Yesterday we had a great time white water river rafting in the Clear Creek. The four of us went on a 2.5 hour guided raft trip and it was so fun! There were 6 of us in the big raft with a guide and boy am I glad we had a good guide because she told us exactly how to paddle and when. Two times she even said "lean in" which meant we were hitting a rough rapid and we all leaned in instead of falling out of the boat! Of course we all had helmets and life jackets on. Elliot sat by me with a special strap latched to the raft that he could hold onto. We all had our own paddles. It was sunny and warm except when I got doused by a very cold splash. We took some pics on a disposable water camera but I will have to wait to post those until the end. Hopefully I can play with downloading some digital pics on Jeff's laptop soon.

Last night we had a big bonfire and roasted some marsh mellows and chatted with my sister in law and some neighbors. The boys have gone to hog heaven because their 18 yr old cousin has a PlayStation with big speakers and a big screen to play it on. They play that thing each night and hoot and holler while they race, battle, etc.

This morning we got up early for a horseback riding trip. It was so beautiful-about an hour and a half long. Wow-there are some reallllllly tall trees here. There is even some snow on some of the mountain peaks. Cameron and Elliot were especially concerned over when and where each horse was pooping. I'd be like, "look at those cool mountains over there, boys" and Elliot would say "Cameron, I think your horse is ready to poop! Ohhh, he just stepped in it" etc. etc. That's what I get for having boys. They are upstairs playing ping pong now. It's kind of neat because the last time we were here was three years ago and Kevin and Cindy have lived in this house for close to 20 years I think. Anyway, it was a small 2br place and last time I was here they were dreaming about how cool it would be to add a second floor. Well, they had just bought a 3d home design program that I know how to use, so I drew them up some plans with a whole second floor with a double deck and they actually did it last year with much sweat and labor. It looks awesome! So, we have completely taken over the second floor with bags. There is this little cool loft above the bathroom that the boys like to throw stuff from!

till tomorrow!!

Monday in Colorado

I'm sitting here in Idaho Springs, Co at my brother in law's home listening to the creek run right outside their house. It's so pretty here-sunny, dry and cool. We just went on a little hike around their home-they live at the base of a mountain-and we saw lots of paint ball set up stations where my nephew and his friends have wars. The boys went for a ride in the 4wheel truck up the mountain while I have a little time to myself!

The flight to Denver went pretty good I guess. Uneventful the first 5 hours and 50 minutes. We made one stop in Dumas, TX for fuel and back into the plane. Most of our flying legs will be 3 hours or less total in one day, but for this first day when we're fresh we did the long stretch. Let me explain some airplane dynamics...there is no air conditioning in the plane and it seats 4. Inside it is the size of a Honda Civic. We have a dvd player where we can play movies and it is very loud, so we wear headphones or earplugs. There isn't a lot of talking going on-Elliot and I don't like wearing the headphones. They're hot and I feel like my head is squeezed, so I just wear earplugs and so if someone wants to say something, they have to yell! One other tidbit about the no AC part: once you are high in the air, like 9000 feet, it is plenty cool with the air vents. But, take offs and landings are hot, especially in the summer. This is usually the first and last 20 min of each flight. Well, Elliot and I were in the back trying to pass the time snoozing when we are about to land in Denver and I hear yelling. I am hot and had noticed in my slumber it was pretty bumpy. I open my eyes and see Jeff scrambling and Cameron is in the front seat totally barfing! He has been flying since he was a baby and never gets queasy. Elliot and I are the ones with weak stomachs and we always take a Dramamine. So, Jeff is trying to keep the plane stable with it bumping all over the place, there is barf all over his charts in his lap, Cameron is comatose, Elliot is sleeping through the whole thing, and I'm digging in the cargo area of paper towels. I glance at the computer on the dash and see that we are landing in 8 minutes. So, I am just trying to breath hot, stale barf air for another 8 minutes and suddenly Elliot wakes up and says he doesn't feel well. I snag the Delta airlines barf bag from Cameron and shove it to Elliot for round #2. I glance again at the dash and see there is 3 minutes to landing. So we all just sit and wait until we land and I'm so embarrassed when the airport guy drives up in his little cart to help us with bags because I know it must REEK! And Cameron is covered in it-he even has the analysis to say "I think this is the beef jerky I ate, mom." Nice. So, we pile out of the plane like some hobos and fortunately there is a shower in the pilot's lounge where I get everyone cleaned up.

We ran to the store and bought some cleaner and came back for a quick tidy on the plane because remember this is only day 1 of the 16 day trip in which we will be flying in the plane several more times! Needless to say, I may need a nose plug to wear for the next flying legs of the trip!

The Moores are Heading on Vacation

We are about to embarck on our tour of the central US tomorrow and I wanted to create a new blogspot to document our family adventure! Where are we going? Well, all over-really-but we head out first to Colorado to see Jeff's brother and fam and hopefully will do some horseback riding, rafting and whatever else floats our boat. Then, we head out to South Dakota to view the famed Mt. Rushmore and Black Hills forest. Then over to the Wisconsin Dells to a water park resort for 3 days. Then onto Jeff's favorite part, which is the big Oshkosh airshow. We shipped camping equipment that we will pick up there and camp under the airplane wing for 3 days. Oh, did I mention we are plane-hopping this whole trip without a car?? We are flying ourselves on this whole adventure for 16 days.

After Oshkosh, we plan to head to St. Louis for a night and then onto Branson, Mo. This is my first try at a Blog, so I am hoping to journal my thoughts as we are on the adventure and maybe even put some pics on here as well.