West Sand Lake, New York

Today we are at Poppa’s farm with our cousins. About two days ago, our cousins left for Canada. Now it’s just our family, Poppa, Uncle Clipper and Aunt Wendy. I like being here because I always wanted to live on a farm. Also, we got horses about four days ago from Uncle Eric! The horses are staying here for a long time. Their names are Ricario and Willow.

We’re done with our journey and the tour of America! I’m happy to have more space than living in the RV. Also I’m kind of sad because I miss Disney World and the lifestyle of going to lots of places. Another favorite place was Ontario, Canada. But we get to go there in a week! Nappanee, Indiana was one of my favorite places because the Amish people are really nice, and I liked going to Mrs. Marlene’s. I really liked going to Key West because of the good snorkeling. Michigan was fun because we have family there. I really liked going to Europe because of all the old castles. Niagara Falls was a cool place too, and I liked seeing the Daredevil Museum.

We’re going to live at Uncle Fred’s house. It’s like one mile from here so I can ride my bike to the farm to play with my cousins. There’s going to be a lot of chores like mucking the stalls and getting eggs from the chickens and painting the fence. That’s the bad part. The good part is we have horses to ride, and we get to see our cousins. Dad grew up here a long time ago. Also, we get to see Nana and Poppa almost every single day! Poppa gave me a tractor trailer truck to play with!

New York, Indiana, Illionios, Iowa

July 15, 2009

Today we went to the waterfalls called Niagara Falls. This one’s a lot different because it’s a lot bigger and wider than most waterfalls. The water is pretty clean and also there are dare devils who go down it in barrels. Not all of them live doing it. Some people die. One lady went down it in a wooden barrel and she only used 2 cushions and a pillow. She went down it with her cat. The cat died, but she didn’t. A 7-year old boy slipped off a boat and went down the Falls without any floats. He lived! One man was trying to commit suicide, but he lived. There’s a big whirlpool further down the river. I want to ride my boogie board on it!

Before this, we stayed at a Sam’s Club parking lot. Yesterday we were in Nappanee, Indiana. We stayed at the Newmar place again. We saw Ms. Marlene, and Princess the Pony. Also, we went in an outside buggee without a top. It was warm, and I sat in the very back with no seat.

And we saw Ms. Sara again! We went to this really awesome Mexican restaurant, but I drank too much soda and ate too many chips so I didn’t have enough room for the other food.

I helped out with chores at Ms. Marlene’s house. I mucked the horse stalls and swept the barn. We rode ponies, and had a water fight.

Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado

July 11, 2009
Today we drove a long ways. Yesterday we did the same thing. Last night we stayed in a Walmart parking lot. There were not too many campers, but there were a lot of tractor trailers.

Yesterday we were in Wyoming. We went horseback riding, but we didn’t get to gallop. My horse’s name was Hoss and it was a boy. It was pretty fun and we were in a big field. It was this little ranch and there was a baby horse, a baby llama, and there were cows and ponies. We also saw ostriches!

Now we’re in Nebraska. We see fields of crops like corn. Right before we left Colorado, we went down a river on boogie boards. And it was a white water river. There were these little waterfall things. Kayaks would do tricks on them. My board was facing up the river, and it was going kind of diagonal. It would make like a whirlpool that pushed me up the river! I felt like I was just sitting on the water!

We saw the Galvins again and went for a walk. We also spent the Fourth of July together. I was crying the whole time because I was just so annoyed by getting bullied by Will. We ate angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. It was really fun seeing all the fireworks.
Then we went to a giant beer place named Coors, and I got as much soda as I wanted. I learned how they make beer, and you have to be 21 to drink it. Also we went to Buffalo Bill’s Museum, the cowboy. The reason he was called that is because he was really good at hunting buffalo. I wore a cowboy hat and sat on a fake horse. Colorado is a cool place, and it’s fun to be there. I hope Dad gets a job at Colorado!

Also we went and saw the police department for my Cub Scouts. Police are very special because if there were no police, bad guys would run around and kill people. The officer showed us tasers and guns. I got to sit in a police car and make the siren go.

Ben got a big puffy eye and he had to go to the Children’s Hospital. They did surgery on him, and he looks fine now. He was in there for five days. I want it to be the end of his eye problems.
We saw Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen. It was really awesome because they did big fights.

Air Force Academy, Colorado

June 27, 2009
Today we are in Colorado, and yesterday we finished all of our school. My brothers are all done. Now we’re on summer break!

Today we went to the stables and went horseback riding. My horse was named Peewee, because he was so short. I liked Peewee because he was a fast runner. We went riding in the woods on trails and it was really fun. We went on narrow trails and big, fat ones too.

We went to a place called Royal Gorge, and it’s a deep crack in the mountains. The Arkansas River cut through the big mountain. We saw the highest suspension bridge in the world, and it’s over 1,000 ft. above the river. We went on a tram. Then we went on the Skycoaster. It’s this big thing when you go up, and then the man says, “3, 2, 1.” Then I pulled this little rope, and it dropped us for a free fall. We went 50 mph! Will and Ben went with me. It was really scary, especially when we were hanging over the cliff. I want to do that again.

Next, we went to a cowboy place where they did a draw and they were fighting over a girl. About 5 or 6 men died in the shootout. They weren’t really dead, but they used black gun powder. It sounded just like a real gun. We went to a movie theater and we learned how they made the bridge.
Then we walked across the suspension bridge. We dropped pennies, and the wind blew them different ways. We heard about a man who flew over the bridge with a jetpack in just 19 seconds. Next, we went down on an inclined railway to the river. We saw river rafters come by. There were a whole bunch of hummingbirds too. They were so cute. Oh, and we saw a black bear running today! We were really close, like 10 feet away. It was awesome because we were in our car.
Yesterday, we went swimming and I did dives off the high dive. It was 3 meters high. Also, we met 2 kids named Tiger and Trevor at the RV park. We had a pinecone fight for fun. Also, we went to the pool with Spencer and Clayton. We went bowling, and it was really fun.

It’s kind of hard living in an RV. We’ve been living this way for a year. It’s a small space. But it’s good because we’ve been seeing a lot of friends. We saw state parks, Disney World, went surfing in Florida, and visited Europe.

Colorado Springs, CO

In Colorado we went on a camping trip with the Bailey’s. We hiked up to a reservoir in the mountains and it was steep and hard to climb. We spent one night up there. We had a big campfire, and we went swimming, and it was awesome. It was Spencer’s first hike in his life! We found Fools’ Gold all over. Will got a twisted ankle pretty bad by falling off some steep rocks. I puked in my sleeping bag because I ate way too many marshmallows.

We’ve been doing a lot of school. Most days were boring at the library for me. I got to watch movies while my brothers were doing school. I finished my school already, so I can play most of the time. My brothers have less than 2 weeks left.

Last Sunday we thought it was Father’s Day. But it was too early. So we had Father’s Day on the wrong day! Then we went to Zach’s house and it was really fun. Their house is pretty big, and we played outside and in the basement. And Amen is about three, and he’s a lot bigger than the last time I saw him.

Also we went to the Bailey’s house for a sleepover. That was before the campout. We watched The Dark Knight and played Rock Band and had the best time. We ate a really good dinner that was lasagna. Mrs. Bailey is the best cook. She made this awesome dessert. It was a whole bunch of layers with cream and cake and fruit. It was so good! It was sugar-free except one part.

We went to Garden of the Gods. It’s like a whole bunch of sandstones stacked up and you can climb on them. They’re over a thousand years old. Some are a million years old. We went on a bike ride and it started raining. There’s a really cute town called Manitou Springs. It has a really cool park because it wasn’t normal. It had a merry-go-round that’s tilted. When you walk on it, it spins. We had ice cream, and they had a natural spring with soda water. It tasted horrible.

Colorado is almost like Alaska but not as cold. It’s really country. And the mountains are huge. I’d really like to live here. I shot a bird with Will’s BB gun. It only lived for a day. It was blue and really small. It fell out of the tree, and I felt bad. I named it Flapper. I spent a lot of time with Flapper and I gave it water, but I couldn’t find any food. When it died, I buried it and made a cross for it. Now it’s outside. I’m going to shoot cans from now on.

Colorado

Today we are in the Air Force Academy and the state is Colorado. Our campsite is pretty cool because there’s a park that’s really big here. Also I bought a paper airplane. There’s this little stick with a rubber band on it. You pull it back and shoot it and it goes over 100 yards!
We visited our friends named Spencer and Clayton. They just moved here from Alaska, and their whole family is here. We went back in the woods and played Cops and Robbers. There’s a train on the train tracks.

We saw Carmen Bowen. Today she’s having her birthday and she’s turning 8. Carmen was my neighbor back in Alaska before Colonel Hildreth moved in. Carmen’s mom and dad are really, really nice. We went to their house and it was an awesome house. They have a greyhound and her name is Polly and she’s really fast. The fastest she went was 49 miles per hour! She used to be a race dog and then she retired. We played Monopoly, and also I gave her one of those rubber band planes. She really liked it!

We went to a really awesome ranch and Mr. Roger and Ms. Sue own it. There’s a Bobcat and I got to drive it! There are two levers on it. One’s for steering and the other’s for moving the bucket. We planted 100 strawberry plants for Ms. Sue. First, there was kind of a big hole. We had to smooth that out. We put these heavy railroad ties on it. We put wire there so the ground hogs won’t eat them. We put dirt down, smoothed it out and planted it.

We got to drive a 4-wheeler, and a horse named Dusty. They have another horse named Ladybug. Ladybug is all black. Dusty is all black with a white strip down his nose. It was pretty smooth riding the horse. When we got hungry, Mr. Roger cooked up a huge bucket full of food with shrimp, corn on the cob, and potatoes. He boiled it and then dumped it on the table! We put the butter right on the table to butter our corn. It was a fun, messy dinner. It was a dream come true. Then we went in their house. My brothers and I changed into our underwear and went in their hot tub! They have 3 dogs. One’s Annie, one’s Red, and one’s Corky. Annie went under the cooking pot and she singed her hair and almost caught on fire! I love their ranch!

We saw Ms. Ronda and Mr. Gene at a really small church. We wanted to see them again and they’re leaving today to move to Alabama. One person started crying because Gene is leaving.

Liberty, MO and Ft. Leavenworth, KS

June 3

Next we went to a person’s house, and their names are Mac, Christine, Mr. Mike, and Ms. Susan Conge. And they have a dog, and his name is Duke. He is a Yellow Lab, and he’s one year old. Their house is pretty big, and they have a big trampoline in their back yard! We played with water with Duke and everything. We all got soaked, and it was really fun. We slept over at the Conge’s house two nights, and one night at our RV. We played a lot of games with them.

And then we went to Dylan’s house. Dylan is another boy and he’s 12. He lives there with his brother and his sister and his mom and dad. We played with their dog named Leo, and then we went to this play. It was really cool but I didn’t really get it. It was written by Shakespeare about old-fashioned stuff. We all played in the woods.


After that we left. We went to this campground on a giant river. It’s called the Missouri River and it’s all brown because of all the sand and dirt. It was humongous, and we couldn’t swim in there because it would swoop us away. We went to the Haney’s house, and caught a tiny little frog. Then we let it go. Then Ben caught another thing. It was a lightening bug, and he let it go.

Then we went to visit Olivia’s family. They’re really nice! Shelby and her parents live there too. We had a sleepover and it was really fun. We found a little bird that was alive. It could barely fly because it didn’t learn how yet. We put it in a little dirt hole, and then we went to a museum. When we came back, it was still there! Then we taught it how to fly.