Today we visited Garden of the Gods. It was very interesting. Gary remembered it from when he lived in Colorado Springs as a boy for a short time and wanted to see it again.

Ellie took our photo. She did a good job. I think we are sitting in front of South Gateway Rock.

This one is called Steamboat Rock.

This is Balanced Rock.

The kids didn't find it all as interesting as we did.

We packed our lunch and planned to stop at the picnic area. The was a great plan, the rain foiled us again. So we ate in the car.

We rested some at the site and readied ourselves for a Colorado Sky Sox baseball game. The kids did fairly well for a while, but it got to be too late for them. We ended up leaving early, missing the fireworks. They were losing when we left, but they pulled off a win in the 9th. We found it on the radio.

Up by 6:30 again. Josh and Ellie need to work on sleeping in later. We were up, so I figured I give Ellie her bath. She does not care for showers (and that's all that you find at campgrounds.) And I don't care for all the crying that goes with one. By the time we were all ready, and our stuff all gathered and in the car, we missed our free continental breakfast. But since the lady wasn't completely finished putting food away, we got some cold cereal and oatmeal. Just one more thing on our list of things that have gone wrong.


We made our way back to our campsite. We moved the camper to a better position in the site and realized we couldn't level the camper right. Gary cut off the other lock, and I wedged my arm inside the camper to unlock the door. We then discovered the metal bracket for the propane tank was broken. So, we all got back in the car and set off for the local RV store. They couldn't fix the bracket, nor did they have any to buy, but they did give Gary the name and directions for a place that could weld it back together.





Here is our old lock.










So, we mostly spent our day doing errands, shopping and not seeing much of the sights. We did have our first (and so far our only) campfire. We have been toting wood across the country but haven't gotten to burn it.

Up and at 'em by 8:00 AM, thanks to our two little alarm clocks. And since we didn't have to make breakfast or pack up anything. But of course we can't have an outing without some sort of drama. It seemed that Josh and Ellie woke up on the we-are-going-to-give-our-parents-grief-about-everything side of the bed. If my memory serves me correctly (and I am trying to forget,) we literally dragged two kids back to the car kicking and screaming, cutting short our day at Dodge City. Now mind you, not every moment was a battle, but probably 80% was unfortunate. Ellie did get deputized and learned the Can-Can. We had Sarsaparillas and popcorn. We took a stagecoach ride. We looked at an old steam engine. We watched a little video about Dodge City. We walked up and down the recreated Front Street. We walked through Boot Hill Museum. And we tried to watch a gunfight, but that was were the children thought it meant kidfight.










A great place to stick the misbehavin'!










We got the heck out of Dodge around 1:00 PM. Made the kids wait to eat lunch (they actually fell asleep, so we kept driving.)

NOTICE TO ALL BEEF EATERS:

THIS IS WHERE IT COMES FROM, AND WE'VE SEEN AND SMELLED WORSE.


Pulled into Colorado Springs in time for the skies to pour down the rain all night, throwing in a little thunder and lightening. We headed to the campground with intentions of setting up. As it continued to pour, we thought maybe not. We could not decide on setting up or dry hotel. The main issue was already having paid for our campsite. We ended up getting soaked getting the camper situated, then driving to the hotel. Even in their parking lot, we thought maybe we should go tough it out and set up. We opted for the hotel. Unfortunately, we paid double that night. Our soggy camp site and our dry hotel room.

We decided to go to Dodge City instead of the Pony Express Station and ghost town.









But on the way, if it could go wrong, it did.

First, we were again late leaving Tuesday morning (nearly afternoon.)

Second, at our stop for lunch, two hours into the drive (doesn't that say something that only two hours into the drive we had to stop for lunch,) we discovered that I lost the camper keys at the KOA in Lawerence.

Third, the nice rest stop workers' hack saw did nothing to cut the lock on the camper.

Fourth, we packed up to head to Wal-Mart to buy bolt cutters. Once there we realized we left Josh's seat at the rest area.

Fifth, although the seat was still there, some other things stuffed in it were not.

Sixth, Wal-Mart was out of bolt cutters.

Seventh, went to True Value to buy bolt cutters. (They did have them, and they did cut off the locks.)

Eighth, forgot to buy new locks, had to go back in to True Value. Couldn't actually get into the camper at this point. Just cut the padlocks off.)

Ninth, back on the road to Dodge City. We decided to drive there anyway, even though our trek put us into Dodge after 9:00 PM. Since it was so late we stayed at Super 8 Motel. Once there we remembered we needed to plug in our refrigerator. Well the motel staff hooked us up with an extension cord, since we couldn't get into the camper, and an outlet. We happened to park next to the pool, which happened to have an outlet. Some good news.

We arrived in Lawrence, Kansas today around 5:15 PM. We are enjoying our trek across our great land. But it is so stinking hot and humid. I don't know for sure what the temperature was today, but I venture over 100 with the heat index. There has been no reprieve from the humidity, just the heat, as the sun goes down. We thought we'd relax and cool off in the pool. The water was warmer than the air. So much for cooler. It did help to have a breeze to blow on my wet skin. And then when we got to take our showers, the bathrooms, though they claimed to be air conditioned, were more like saunas. Finally leaving the bathroom brought some coolness. It is raining now. Perhaps the humidity will go down.

I did get to do some laundry.

We definitely need to work on our tear down routine, because it stinks. It takes us about 4 hours from when we get up to when we leave. We really need to shave many minutes from that time. It would help if we didn't have to chase the kids around.

And lastly, Ellie and Josh have colds. Josh is worse, at least right now. He's woken up twice coughing and sputtering from not being able to breath. He desperately wants to shove his blankie in his mouth, but then he has the not being able to breath issue. Poor thing.

We made to St. Louis!! Yeah!!














We pulled into the campground, though a industrial setting (which not very encouraging,)










and found a green "oasis" of a place. It isn't perfect, but it is better than the tankers and other industry around it.











Yesterday we got on the road by 6:00 AM. Slightly later than we hoped, but not too bad. We did have some errands to take care of before we left. We made several stops and pulled into our site at Buck Creek State Park near Springfield, OH around 4:30 PM. We were pleased with our progress. We decided to go past Columbus, OH to make today''s drive shorter. (Good thing.)

We set up and had dinner on the table all in good time. I had prepared beef-a-roni ahead of time and only had to warm it up. Josh and Ellie weren't hungry enough to eat. More for Gary and me.

We even had time to take a dip in the lake to cool down. The swimming area had a sandy beach, but the moment you stepped in the water, your feet got an unwanted massage. Little stones line the lake bottom and felt not so nice to walk on. Ellie wanted to go in the water but didn't want to let go of my hand. There was much crying and not much swimming on her part.

Today is Ellie’s birthday! She is 4 years old. She opened her first presents from us at 4:51 this morning. Today is also the day we start our drive west on our way to my brother’s house.

Go West Young Man

Howdy. Might I dare say that in 24 very long hours, we will be at our Friday destination?

We hope to get past Columbus, OH tomorrow, and to St. Louis on Saturday. We have a Phillies game to attend on Sunday. I'm excited about that. Three of us will be in Phillies attire.

I guess my break is over, and I should get back to packing.

A World Record??

Gary and I are doing some trip planning. Gary wants to stop at a ghost town. And to my way of thinking, Kansas is a good place to look. There's not much else to see.

During our perusing of the map, Gary found the site of "The World's Largest Ball of Sisal Twine." Now if that's not a reason to pull off the highway, I don't know what is.

Like I said, not much else to look at.

I'd also like to set my eyes on the Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, a pony express station, and other historic things I might not know about yet. The pony express has always fascinated me ever since the TV show "The Young Riders."

What is Sisal Twine, anyway? Click here to find out.

A man and his Legos and a girl and her bear

Here is my husband with his most favorite toy. My parents, his parents, and I all pitched in and bought him some Legos for his birthday. It is a set called Town Plan, and it's the 50 years anniversary edition.

And here is Ellie, not going to bed. After being rocked and having prayed and being put in bed, she declared, as she does most every night, that she did not want to go to bed. She even went so far as to come up with an 'I have to go poopy to take up more time' excuse, even already having gone potty not 10 minutes before.

I told her to go ahead and to call me when she was done. She whined that she wanted me to stay with her. I told her she had two choices to go back to bed or go potty and call me when she was done to make sure she was cleaned up properly. She whined some more, I told her I wasn't playing this game, and I walked away.

Later when I went up to check on her, I found her like this, asleep, dangling off the top step.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!!

I made our oatmeal too healthy this morning.

I need to work on ratios. Too much flax seed, wheat germ, brewer's yeast, and bran can make for an untasty bowl of oatmeal. Josh and Ellie thought so too. I ended up making a plain bowl of oatmeal and mixing it in to the healthy version. I have enough extra for tomorrow.

This is too much work. Trying to go back and post about what has happened that I didn't post about.

But you still may want to scroll down and see if you missed something.

I will go on about our last camping trip. We went off to the beach. Ocean City. We camped at Frontier Campground. And if you want to know, they require two (2) weeks cancellation notice.

Why you ask do I mention that? Because we changed our reservation only one (1) week prior to our visit. The lady tried to keep our $40.00 even though she said we would get it back and the man I spoke with told me I only needed one (1) week cancellation notice. They shouldn't have been so stiff necked about it, we only changed the reservation, not canceled. And if the store had opened before 10:00 AM (what camp store doesn't open until 10:00 AM, especially near the beach when they sell beach tags) they would have gotten our $10:00 for beach tags.


We did enjoy the campground. We had a very nice site. We were able to set up in the daylight. I had fun organizing my little home for the weekend. Josh and Ellie enjoyed themselves also. And if you are a country music fan, this is the place for you. It plays uninterrupted in the bathhouse. Except for during quite hours. Gary REALLY enjoyed the music.


And if you are into biting flies, it is also the place for you. I have no less than 30 insect bites on my legs from the knees down. My legs already look pitiful from my pregnancy veins, but now they are downright pathetic.

Josh loved to play in the sand. Not so fond of the water. Ellie liked to play in the sand, but would rather it not stick to her. Not so fond of the water, either, unless clinging to a parental unit. But in all fairness, she did stand in the water as long as she was hold my or Gary's hands and jump with the waves. Josh would have none of it. But again in all fairness, it was a toe numbing 58 degrees. Maybe 59 degrees.

The boardwalk was fun. We took it all in at a quicker pace this year. We rented a surrey. It was more fun than I thought. My bottom disagrees.








Aren't they just so cute?












Here we are in our alternate mode of transportation.

Here I sit, eating double peanut butter cookie dough (sorry P) and thinking about my food intake. The former is probably not the best for the later.

P gave me a copy of The Bowel Book, and yes it is about what you think it is. I am actually finding it quite fascinating. And coincidentally, I am doing my reading while in the bathroom. I had previously just read snipits here and there, but then I decided I was going to read it from beginning to end. I am on chapter 3. And amazingly with two preschoolers in the house, I am able to get a bit of reading done each day.

I won't go into much of what I am learning about my bowels, but I should eat more fiber, bran, honey, and garlic. Those who know me would definitely advise the garlic.

I highly recommend that each household should have one of these books in their bathroom.

Note: I plan on recapping the last month and post the blogs where they happened, so go back to the end of May to catch up on the things of my life.

G and I tried to have a third baby.

We decided to try the IVF natural cycle, meaning no shots. Everything was going well. The no shots thing was great. The progesterone suppositories wasn't.

The transfer happened on a Saturday. The following Saturday I was bleeding. After my blood test on Monday, I was pregnant. Woo hoo! But why the bleeding? After my blood test on Wednesday my hormone levels were going down. They aren't suppose to do that when you are pregnant. By the next Monday they were back to zero. I wasn't pregnant anymore.

I was so upset on Saturday with the blood, convinced I wasn't pregnant. G said to wait and see. The positive pregnancy test just made me more confused. I was happy to be pregnant, but worried about bleeding. As the hormone numbers went down, I didn't want to believe that the embryo stopped growing, and I wasn't pregnant anymore. I told myself that maybe both embryos implanted, and one didn't make it, so the numbers went down some. But they just kept going down.

I don't think of myself as having a miscarriage. I wasn't pregnant long enough. But I still don't have my baby.

I wonder if it was a boy or girl. What she would have looked like. What his personality would have been. My little one that was with me for just a moment.

P introduced me to "Doctor Who." I find the show to be quite interesting. We watched 6 episodes, and I liked them all.

We also watched an episode of Stargate SG-1. But when P discovered she had missed watching many of episodes before the one we watched, we stopped watching.

We had a 4th of July picnic today. I made homemade hamburgers and hamburger rolls, Gary husked corn and cooked the burgers, my mom made potato salad, my aunt brought baked beans, P made brownies, and friends Ray and Nannette brought a jello dessert, and my dad showed up to eat it all (he came from work.)

First though, we played games. We had the meal mostly prepped, and games were on P's menu first. Chicken Foot, then when Ray and Nannette arrived, we played Phase Ten. After dinner, games were resumed. I don't remember who won, but I know it wasn't me.

For P's visit this time, Gary and I decided to get her a bed and make a space for a room in the attic. For her last visit, she had a plow up mattress that would stay inflated and the mattress from the pop-up. Not the best of beds, by far. So, we bought a mattress and box spring.

We attempted to take the box spring up the attic steps first. No good. All the shoving we could muster would not get it up the stairs. I think we turned the mattress and tried again. No go. We then tried our hand at the mattress. Much better, went right up. Tried the box spring again. You'd think we'd learn. After many attempts of trying to get it up every which way, Gary sawed through the one side of the box. Two more attempts and no, it still wouldn't go up. He sawed the other side. Bingo. We shoved and heaved and told it it was going up. And finally after 1.5 hours, it did.

When we ever move, the new owners get a bed.

So, back to the room. When P arrived, she was taken aback and overwhelmed. She had her own room, complete with a bed off the floor, a chair, a space for her clothes bag, a space for Kashi's bed and Fancy's cage, table space for her, a green tissue box, a green power strip, fresh flowers, a bed side "table," a trash can, a hand rail, stair treads, a fan, and most importantly a AC vent right over her head.

She has a place in our house.

Gary decided that he was going to take the train down to pick up P for this visit. He sure does like his trains.

It works out really, because than I have the chance to work on P's room. I want it to be perfect.

The children and I will not be heading to Pottstown today. Yes, Pottstown, not Norristown. The place in Norristown is not, from what I deduced from the lady I spoke with, an actual collection location. She didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I told her what I was trying to do. While she was trying to be helpful, she was not.

So I went to the plan of going to Pottstown. But there in lies my next issue. I thought I'd take a gander at the website of the recycling place in Pottstown. http://www.recyclingservices.org/

Want to take a guess as to when they have public recycling hours? Tuesdays (yesterday) and Saturdays.

Although I am slightly annoyed that I missed the drop off yesterday, I am very glad I didn't drive over there to learn they are closed today.

Needless to say we are not going to Pottstown today, the stuff will remain in the car for three more days, and dad is picking up Hunter.

I am trying to be good steward and recycle everything I can. But when you have to drive 45 min. to do so, and use a fair spot of gas in the process, one might wonder if it's worth it.

I am going to scour my house for all things recyclable that we don't need or want. This place in Pottstown does take most anything. If you are searching for something to read, try going to their website (see above). They have quite the list of instructions on recycling.