Great Rapids, Michigan and Nappanee, IN

Today we are in Michigan, and we’re going to fix our RV. We have an oil leak that’s tiny. It is going to take a day. Michigan is like a rain forest because it’s all green and there are a lot of hills. The weather’s really nice and sunny. We went to a skateboarding park. We brought Ben’s scooter and Will’s ripstick. The first time we went there, we watched a whole bunch of guys do really cool things on BMX bikes and skateboards.

At Newmar, we went there again. I liked this time more because we went to Ms. Marlene’s house 3 or 4 times. They have ponies, and we had fun playing with their kids, Kari and Michael. We had a silent prayer before supper. That’s when nobody talks, and we think about God. It’s like praying but nobody talks out loud. The dinner we had was bread, salad, noodles, meatloaf patties with ketchup, and the dessert was the best thing ever…peanut butter pie! It tasted just like peanut butter and whipped cream mixed together. Our friends Sara, John, Jonathon, and Katie came too.

We did our school at the library once again. The library was boring, but Mom liked it because we did so much school. We went to a restaurant we really liked and it was called Corner Café. It was pretty cheap, the food was so good, and our favorite waitress was Amish and her name was Amanda.

At Newmar, we made friends named Joe, Anna, and Sam, and Mr. and Mrs. Wahl. I really liked Sam. He was all the same as me. We are both 7, and we have the same name! They were there to do the same thing as us. They were searching the world for a new home, just like us. They are going around the United States and Canada. They are going to go to Germany. We actually got to see kids! We taught them how to shoot Red Rider BB guns and air soft guns.

We went to the horse auction. It’s where Amish people go to buy horses. They need horses to pull their buggies. There were a whole bunch of horses lined up in order. People run around with the horses in a circle and that shows how well the horses listen. They have an auctioneer who was talking really fast (faster than I could ever talk). It was cool because there was another guy who looks for people to buy the horse. There were a whole bunch of buggies. I got to stand up on a post. My Dad held me and I took a picture. There was this stallion at the horse auction that was jumping up, and a man was whipping him to settle him down.

At this Amish restaurant, there was a fish fry. They gave out chicken and fish and mashed potatoes. It was really good. Our friends the Wahl’s came too. The Amish people are really nice and I want to be one when I grow up!

Chicago

May 9, 2009
Today we are going to Newmar again because they ordered parts for us. So we’re driving back to Indiana. We’re going to an Amish farm again for dinner in 2 more days.

We were just at Chicago, and we camped at a Navy base. There were a whole bunch of sailors who worked out and jogged at the campground. We went swimming at the pool, and I did really bad dives off the diving board. My brothers did a lot of school.

My Dad was in Chicago at a big wind turbine job fair. We got to go and see it. There were a lot of people there, and no kids. It’s a giant room full of advertisements about wind turbines that they were trying to sell. Wind turbines are really high and tall, and they have a big propeller that spins and makes electricity. I got trinkets and candy.

We went to a museum before that, and we went to Harry Potter’s place. We saw Harry Potter’s wand and clothes. At the gift shop, they sold wands for $40, and the wand that’s most popular is Voldemort’s!

The weather here was rainy, and some days it was really nice. It’s 58 F outside now and it’s daytime.

Nappanee, Indiana

May 2, 2009
Today we are in Indiana and I really like it because there’s a whole bunch of Amish people and they’re really nice. Amish people don’t use electricity. Also, there are a whole bunch of horses all over the roads and the towns.

Mom talked with an Amish lady in the laundry area. Her name is Ms. Sara. She is super duper nice. She let us go in her buggy, and we went to her farm. Buggies are like the carriages in the old days, and that’s what they use. I really like their home and they have a 2-week old calf (that’s a baby cow). They have a whole bunch of chickens. They’re not nice because whenever you go in the chicken coop, one rooster tries to run into you. We got 10 or 15 eggs in a bucket and Robby brought them to Ms. Sara.

We rode in the buggy to a guy’s house who takes off the old horse shoes and puts on new ones. He sands down the hoof because it grows like finger nails. He puts in nails and uses a hammer to do it. Boots was standing there and seemed a little nervous. He pooped at least three times, and Ms. Sara said whenever they get scared, they poop a lot.

He had a whole family and I got to use his pedal tractor. He has a farm and I got to pet the pony. Their girls wore dresses and they had white scarves on their heads. The boys wore blue shirts and pants with overall straps. I really liked their family. We went to a really cool store on the way home. There were clocks that went apart and songs played when it was a new hour. They had a whole bunch of toys too! After that, we got in the carriage and went back to the farm. We went in the top of the barn and we jumped into cushions. It was fun.

We’re at the Newmar place because we have some dents in our bins, and some of our electricity doesn’t work right. The Newmar people built our coach, and they’re going to fix it.

President Lincoln grew up in Springfield, IL. We went to the museum, and it’s the best place you can find out about how his life was. I learned that Lincoln was a very good man. He liked slaves and wanted to stop the slavery. He got shot by Booth in this theater. Booth didn’t get caught running away, and he broke his leg. Dr. Mudd helped Booth. And then Dr. Mudd went to Dry Tortugas because he helped Booth and so he was a prisoner. Booth died in a shootout. Also, we went to Dry Tortugas about a month ago and we saw Dr. Mudd’s cell. It was really, really dark. Dr. Mudd helped people there with Yellow Fever. Then they let him out and he went back to his family in Maryland.