back in the 'burb again

Well, we are back on the road again!  On Saturday, we left Michigan and started heading back home through Indiana and around Chicago, Illinois.  From Illinois we went north through Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Both states looked quite a bit like Michigan with the forests and cornfields and very green surroundings.  We could see why it was so green there, as it rained most of the day.  We crossed over the Mississippi River at the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota, which was exciting.    For dinner we ate at an A&W, where Joshua had been wanting to go for a while.  Then we crossed over the border to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where we stayed the night.  I think we set our record for most states in a day on Saturday.  Six states in one day!!!

Yesterday we traveled through South Dakota and the Black Hills National Park.  In the afternoon we went to Mount Rushmore and hiked around a bit.  I took lots of pictures which I'll post soon.  It was really cool to learn the dimensions of all of the faces.  For instance, we learned that George Washington's nose is 21 feet long, while all other noses are only 20 feet long.  Also, I hadn't known this, but there's a hall of records behind Lincoln's head which was intended to house important American documents and explain the purpose for the monument.  Also we visited the Crazy Horse Monument.  It was amazing to see not only the progress they've made since it was started in the 1940s, but also what it'll look like when finished.  Only the head is completed right now, but when finished it'll be the largest manmade monument in the world, taller even than the Washington Monument.  

After leaving South Dakota, we drove to a small town in Wyoming called Lusk.  Today we're going to try and make it to Salt Lake City, so we can spend tomorrow with some friends of my mom outside Salt Lake City.  And by Wednesday we should be home, so I can post the rest of the pictures.

Under the mercy,

Elizabeth

Biking Adventure

Hello again from Michigan everyone.  Today is our last full day here, as we're leaving again and heading back home tomorrow morning.  We all have greatly enjoyed our time here horseback riding, bike riding, attending sports games, hunting for cherries, and much much more.  Up until yesterday the weather here has been absolutely gorgeous.  Yesterday though it really started heating up as well as being much more humid than it's been otherwise.  So yesterday afternoon the girls went outside and played in the hose for a little bit to cool off.

On Wednesday afternoon the whole family minus Grandma went down to Grandpa's condo to ride bikes.  I realized after getting on that I must have known how to ride a bike before, it seemed so easy.  I rode around the neighbor hood a few times with Dad, and Mom and Josh too.  It took Josh a bit longer but once he got it, he was doing awesome riding around the neighborhood by himself.  Even Sarah and Hannah were riding a bit by the time we went inside.  After we had been riding for a little bit though, it started to rain!!  We went inside to the condo for a bit to wait it out, then left to get ice cream at Culver's.  A very delicious treat!  

Yesterday the boys left early in the morning to go to a Detroit Tiger's baseball game.   While they were gone the girls went antique shopping in Lawrence and painted our nails.  That evening we met Aunt Denise and Heather at Olive Garden for dinner.  

And I had completely forgotten, but we did something fun and different last Saturday!  After breakfast, we went to a fish hatchery and went fishing!  None of us girls had been fishing that we could remember, so that was very fun.  We got a tour of the fish hatchery and saw where they raise the fish, and then got to fish in the rain!  We all enjoyed ourselves very much.  Pictures coming soon!

Under the mercy,

Elizabeth  

Weekend on the Farm

     Hello again everyone!  We've definately enjoyed this weekend here at the farm.  We arrived here late Friday and enjoyed a delicious meal with Grandpa and Grandma Shirley.  Everyone slept very well here at the farm that night, in comfortable beds at last.  Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for your gracious hospitality in allowing us to stay here!

     Saturday morning was spent adjusting to our new surroundings and time, as everyone slept in quite late and took some time getting settled in.  That night we went to an indoor football game for the Kalamzoo Xplosion team.  This was their last game to determine who went to the championship game, and they won!  It was quite the experience for our family, as none of us had been to an indoor football game before.  The stadium was about half the size of a regular football field, and they played music (quite loud!!!) nearly the entire game.  Not music our family typically listens too either ;)  On our way home from the game we had a nice rainstorm with a good deal of lightening, very beautiful.  

     On Sunday while Grandpa and Grandma Shirley went to church, our family had church here at home thanks to Pastor Sciarra's online sermon :)  Some of us have gone out various times over the weekend hunting for cherries.  Sadly, a few days before we got here, raccoons got to the rest of the red cherries.  So Dad, Grandpa, and Josh have been out almost every evening raccoon hunting.  There are still some yellow cherries left though, as well as some black cherries that haven't ripened yet, so we have been getting a few.  Sunday evening Aunt Denise joined us for pizza, and we got to see her new yellow bug, very cute car.  

Monday afternoon we had a special treat.  Grandpa joined our family to go horseback riding at a nearby farm.  All of us enjoyed it very much, especially Hannah.  She provided us all with a running commentary on nearly the whole ride.  While on our ride we saw a couple of deer, and also the scenery was just gorgeous.  I'll make sure to post pictures sometime this week.

Today we've just been hanging around the farm, our cousin Joe was here working today so all the guys were out working on the orchard.  This morning Mom took the three girls into Bangor, the nearest town to get groceries to make cookies.  While there we stopped in at a darling antique store.  My mom found some candlewick glass and a couple of old books, An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott, and The Little Colonel by Annie Fellows Johnston.  Also I found a cute hand crocheted pillow and an Anglo-Saxon grammer book.  But my favorite find there was a 1920s compact organ!!!!  Sadly we really have no way to get it home plus it's a bit beyond my price range, so sad.  I'm still sorta hoping against hope that I'll find a way to buy it since I've always wanted to play on an organ.   This afternoon the girls made chocolate chip cookies which everyone has greatly enjoyed.  And tomorrow our family is starting on a new adventure, learning to ride bicycles!!   Should be lots of fun and I'll be sure to post about it tomorrow!

Under the mercy,

Elizabeth Bush

More pictures

A monument to Dwight D. Eisenhower in Abilene, Kansas
The four kids outside the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in Mansfield, Missouri
The St. Louis Arch
Hannah all dressed up at the Lincoln museum in Springfield
Miss Sarah all dressed up

More Pictures!!!

The moon over the Kansas plains.
The Bush kids visiting Whit's End
Smile for the camera!
Hannah is a happy traveler when she has her pillow

Our family at Zion National Park visitors center
Us traveling through Zion Park.
Isn't the scenery gorgeous in Utah?
A sunset out the car window in Colorado.
The four kids at the Air Force Academy visitors center

Pictures!

The family in the car on the way to the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam In Arizona on the way to Colorado.

Here are some pictures of the first day of our road trip.  More will be coming soon!!!

We're Here!!!

Well, we're finally here in Michigan, after six exciting yet long days of travel.  The travel has been very nice, but it's even nicer to be "home."  To stay in a real house with real meals and my own room will be quite welcome.  

Wednesday morning after leaving Goodland, we headed to Abilene, Kansas to visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower library and museum.  We arrived about lunch and were able to tour his boyhood home.  It was interesting to see how little the house had changed since the time that he had lived there.  To me it seemed like it was built very similarly to Richard Nixon's home in Yorba Linda.  Also, it was amazing to see how his entire family of his mother, father, grandfather, several brothers, and himself all fit into this small house.  It really makes me grateful for the house I have to see what he lived in.  Next, we saw a fascinating exhibit in the presidential library, talking about the schooling that several of the presidents had.  It was amazing to see how much learning they had had by the time they left high school! 

Wednesday afternoon was my turn to drive (yippee!) as we were driving through Kansas for most of the time.  The highway there is straight, long, and 75 mph speed limit, very nice for long driving.  Although people complain of Kansas being boring, I actually thought it was pretty interesting.  After the mountainous regions of Utah and Colorado, it was quite a change to golden plains and vast empty prairies.  Late that afternoon we came into Kansas City, a largish city for Kansas.  The freeway change was a bit hectic, but really not that bad compared to the average California freeway.  

After passing through Kansas City, we arrived in Missouri!!  For dinner, we stopped in a small town with a population of about 320.  The restaurant we went to closed at 8PM (wow!) It was called Farm House Restaurant, and when we got there about 7:15, we were the only ones there.  The food and service was very nice though and we really enjoyed our time though.  A quote from Hannah on learning that ice cream came with her meal "I'm shivering with happiness."  As we later learned, it came from the Charlotte's Web movie she had recently watched. 

Thursday morning after leaving Clinton, Missouri, we went down to Mansfield to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder's house that she lived in after she married.  We got a tour of her house, and saw where she wrote her books.  The girls really enjoyed the bookstore where they sold period clothing, dolls, and the Little House books.  This was definately one of our favorite places to stop.  

Last night after stopping at about five different hotels, we finally found rooms in a Hampton inn in Springfield, Illinois.  This morning, we drove to the Lincoln Library and Museum.  The museum's set up was absolutely phenomenal!  They had two tours, one of his boyhood years and one of the white house years.  To enter the first exhibt, you went through a replica log cabin and followed the path through various scenes in his life, complete with wax figures and displays of various events.  This pathway ended, and the next one went through a front of the White House, where they had several similar scenes, including a moving exhibit of a replica of Lincoln's coffin lying in state in the White House.  It was definately an emotional time for me, especially reading the last paragraph of his famed Gettysburg address at the end.  Leaving the museum my dad commented on the similarities between Lincoln and our current president Bush which I thought was very interesting.   Mainly how Lincoln and Bush were oft criticzed during their lifetimes for difficult decisions they had to make including a decision to go to war.  It'll be interesting to see if Bush is as revered after his time as Lincoln was, for they both have had very difficult tasks.  

After leaving the museum, we drove north through Illinois and cut through the corner of Indiana.  Due to heavy "construction" which we barely saw any of, we made horrible time in Indiana.  Finally, however, we made it out of Indiana and into Michigan.  And here we are!!!  The orchard is gorgeous this time of year and the weather is delightful. Sadly most of the cherries were eaten by raccoons a few nights before we arrived, but we hope to find a couple while we're here.  Since we're now in Michigan, pictures from the last several days should be coming very soon.

Under the mercy,

Elizabeth Bush    

Days 2/3

Kansas smells like cows.  The very first observation that our family made about Kansas.  The second is that it's flat.  Really flat.  As you can probably guess, the Bush family is now in Kansas for the night.  Right now we're staying in a small town called Goodland abut a 1/2 hour across the border of Colorado and Kansas.  

Since I didn't get a change to post yesterday, I'll catch everyone up on what we've been doing.  Monday morning we left St. George and headed to Zion National Park.  After stopping at the Visitor's Center for a much needed break, we drove the scenic route through the park.  A couple highlights of the drive were the mile-long tunnel through the mountains, through which we all tried holding our breath, a family tradition.  (No one could, of course :)  Also we enjoyed seeing the variety in coloring of rocks.  Driving through the park most of the rocks had a reddish brown hue, with darker vertical or horizontal stripes running through in unique patterns.  Out of the rocks grew small, hardy shrubs and few trees.  On our drive, we took a long, windy road up steep mountainsides.  

Coming out of the park we continued on through Utah.  It was amazing to see the scenery change from huge red mountains to scattered outcroppings of rock on flatter ground, to varied hills.  Moving on through Colorado, our surroundings changed ever more.  First, we began to see more and more trees in a deep, vibrant green.  Gradually darker colored mountains rose up around us.  Finally, we saw the Colorado River which ran by us for several hours.  Looking up to the tops of the mountains, we could even see snow!!  Last night we stopped for dinner in Grand Junction and ate at Olive Garden.  It was very nice to enjoy our dinner in a restaurant we were accustomed to from home.  After dinner, we drove a bit farther and stayed in Glenwood Suites for the night.  

This morning after another complimentary breakfast (hooray!!) we drove on to Colorado Springs.  As we drove higher into the mountains, the temperature began to drop from the 80's down to the 60's, the coolest we've had yet on our trip.  In addition to the temperature change, we saw forests begin to appear, reminding me a bit of Big Bear back home.  In Colorado Springs, we stopped to visit the Visitor's Center at the U. S. Air Force Academy.  It was really encouraging to see all the dedication and commitment to honor that the cadets put into their work.  After leaving the Air Force Academy, we drove on to the Focus on the Family Headquarters.  At their Welcome Center, they have a kid's center modeled after the town of Oddessy.  This was probably the most enjoyed stop by the family, especially the 75-foot slide that I went down on with Josh and Sarah.  We also saw a recording studio where some kids were recording an episode of Adventures in Oddessy, as well as several other "familar" sights.  

For a late lunch/early dinner, we met one of my dad's former partner's Mr. Condas along with his wife and daughter, at Champs.  The food was enjoyable, but even more so was the company.  Thank you Condas family for joining us!  After lunch, we left Colorado Springs and took the scenic route back to the freeway, very beautiful and again very much like Big Bear.  As we drove through the eastern half of Colorado, the landscape began to flatten out from high stone cliffs to gently rolling hills and at last to golden plains.  Finally, we arrived in Goodland Kansas where we'll stay the night.  I have lots more pictures to share from the last few days, I'll have to devote a few posts solely to pictures once we arrive in Michigan.  We miss you all lots, but we're definately enjoying our trip through God's great creation.  

Under the Mercy

Elizabeth Bush

First Day

Here's a picture of our family at the observation deck overlooking Hoover Dam, which you can see in the background.

Day 1

     Well, here we are in St. George, Utah, on the first day of our road trip.  This morning at about 8:20, we left the house, but ended up turning back for the maps so didn't get on the road till 8:40ish.  We drove east through California for about 4 hours and crossed the border into Nevada at about noon.  Our first stop was Hoover Dam.  

     Getting there was a bit of a difficulty, though.  Since we had both a GPS system and printed directions as well as a map of Nevada, it shouldn't have been a problem.  However, the GPS continually sent us the wrong way, tried to get us off the freeway at every exit, and didn't recognize several new roads.  (It was only after we left Hoover Dam that we realized it was on the pedestrian setting, lol.  That might explain why it didn't want us on the freeway :) Finally, though, we got to the dam.  After eating lunch and lathering ourselves in sunscreen (it was around 115 outside) we stepped outside into the blistering heat.  We went to the visitors center and walked through the exhibits telling about the Dam. I learned today that the Hoover Dam, built to control the flooding and droughts of the Colorado River, is one of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World, which is pretty neat.

Then we went upstairs to see the dam from above.  It was absolutely gorgeous!!!!! And huge!!!!!  I'll put some pictures below of us there.  From outside looking over the edge it was a bit unnerving though to see.  It looked a bit like a giant upside down cement bowl with a power plant and a bit of water at the bottom.  Behind the dam rose steep reddish brown mountains and either the remains or beginnings of a bridge, we weren't sure which.  At one point though they had a cable system running across the dam, and apparently the dam still has the largest cable system running in the country!

We left the Dam about 2, and by that time it was about 119 degrees outside.  Yuck!!!  On our drive, we passed out of Nevada into Arizona before crossing into Utah.  If I can find one, I'll try and post a map with our route marked out so you all can see where we drove.  After crossing into Utah about 4, we drove into St. George a half hour later.  We ate dinner here at Cracker Barrel, a restaurant we enjoy in Michigan, and everyone agreed that the food was delicious.  Then we walked across the parking lot to the Fairfield Marriot which I'm in right now.  Fortunately they had a pool here which was one of our top three priorities for a hotel.  (The other two were complimentary breakfast and wireless internet, in that order.)  After swimming for about a half hour, we came back to our rooms.  

All is now quiet in our hotel rooms in St. George.  So far this vacation has been a big adventure in trusting God and will continue to be in the next few days.  Tomorrow after spending a few hours in Zion National Park, we're heading up to Colorado.  However, we don't quite know yet how far we'll get or where we'll stay, and that's been a bit hard for me since I draw some security from knowing what'll happen next though.  We're trusting God though that He'll provide for us like He did today, and I'm sure that whatever happens, it'll be a wonderful adventure!

Some more pictures from today will be coming in the next day or too.

God bless,

Elizabeth Bush

our pig

here is a picture of our family pet, Grace, the guinea pig. she is being held by one of my younger sisters

The Start of the Summer

Welcome summertime!!! Now that all four Bush children will be off school after this week, it really feels like summer. To kick off the summer, our family's decided to take a 3-week long road trip back to Michigan, the first road trip we've taken as a family. We plan on leaving either late this Saturday night or early Sunday morning and taking about 5 or so days to get to Michigan.
As most of my dad's family lives in Michigan, we try and visit at least once a year, but this is the first time we'll be driving, though hopefully not the last. We'll be staying with my grandpa and grandma on their apple orchard in Bangor, a small town in the southwest of Michigan, not too far from Kalamazoo. This summer the orchard is growing cherries, but they also grow peaches and apples.

Hope you all enjoy reading this blog and "following" us on our trip. More to come soon, and if we can get them to upload, lots of lovely pictures! God bless
~Elizabeth Bush