Today’s protest was fairly uneventful. WBC claims to have conducted 43,358 peaceful protest, but PEACE is a far cry from the message presented at Conway High today.

First, because I haven’t had time

Second … well … because if I did …. no one would ever homeschool AGAIN …
even though I know this is what I am suppose to do …. and the best education for my children ….
BUT … we are in a really crazy “season” right now … I have 4 kids … one is a teenager that’s going thru the “change” … something I’m not exactly sure how to deal with … a 10 year old who LOVES/craves attention …. a 6 year old who is diagnosable … and a 3 year who bounces off walls for the thrill of knowing how it feels to get hurt …. anyone want to trade for a day???

And to think I gave up a great paying job to do this for free ….

my hope is that …. at the end of this journey …. we will all come out ALIVE and with some sanity!!!!

BUT … as of tonight … we are heading for a one week adventure to Orlando … so …. I thought I would include all of you on our journey … ya know .. for kicks!!!!

so let the story begin ….

so …. Friday – January 8th has been a very busy day.

First …. we had to get school done …. priority number 1 …. we have many more days to go before we can enjoy a summer break …

Around lunch time … Jamie and I decided to let the kids in on a HUGE secret that we had been hoping would work out …
Jamie has to go to training in Orlando … so we were waiting to see if it would be ok for us to tag along …

being homeschoolers that is one of our “perks” … getting to “drop and go” whenever something exciting comes along …
so … after a month of keeping it quiet and a month of HTC getting everything together for Jamie’s training in FL …
we finally dropped the big bomb today at lunch time … Let’s go to FL with daddy … and play at Universal Studios!!!!!

AND YES …. we will be doing school next week … but a more modified version of what we do ….
Mainly … math, grammar, a little history and a little science … some books on CD … some DVDs from the library …

So … as you can guess …. we are REALLY excited … changing up the routine is fun … so … off we go …. to see … some mo’ …….

We have traveled …. 6961 miles in 3 weeks …. CRAZY!!!!

We left July 10th …. returned Aug 2nd …. traveled thru 22 states …. have taken around 2300 pics and over 100 video clips … that just Jamie and I …. haven’t checked all the kids pics and vids yet

I will post more later … just wanted to let everyone know we were home!

We arrived after long drive from St Louis last night and early this morning … to a very excited and waiting family. My mom said she had to stop looking at the pics on our web site because it was making her miss us even more So … she was waiting in the yard when we arrived … she was jumping about 3 feet off the ground!!!

Today was very calm and uneventful. Papaw Fred had his last treatment this morning. They are not going for a cure … just trying to lessen the growth and the pain .. the drs have given him another 6 months … so we hope to make a few more trips with mom this year to visit our family here.

Today was spent recounting our adventure … sharing pictures and laughs … the kids getting to play with mom and showing her all the things they had “collected” along the way.

We ended the evening with pizza … and I actually fell asleep sitting on the couch with everyone talking around me … it was great to have help with the kids!!!

Today was a very big and busy day …. the kids (and I) loved all 3 stops we made … and we were able to put some miles behind us …. we will not be stopping tonight … want to have time with our family tomorrow … so we will drive as much as the Captain can thru the night …

The Gateway Arch was very cool … I had no idea all that stuff was under the Arch … the kids headed straight for the Jr Ranger station … and Jikkal grabbed our hiking medallions from the gift shop …. it was already after 8:00 but I was excited to find out that the Arch stayed open till 10PM … so we had plenty of time to check out the museum and complete our workbooks …

My family loves marbles …. so when I saw this place … we had to stop … It’s in Bonner Spring, Kansas … just west of Kansas City, Kansas … www.moonmarble.com … they were super nice … and the store was packed … they had soooo many toys … it was ridiculous … the kids went crazy … but we stuck to picking out marbles for our souvenir … the huge “marble ring” gave me some ideas for when we get home … and we loved the marble making demo … thanks Mr. Bruce …

We landed tonight shortly after visiting Truckhenge …. about 8:00 PM … we found a Good Sam’s campground only a few miles away and decided to call it a day …. we had 2 more stops planned for today … and I really didn’t want to skip them … so we will stop here for today … and try to make our next 2 stops before we start the big big push towards Ohio tomorrow …

This campground is really nice and only cost $28 … WOW!!! … They have a nice pool and playground … concrete pads to park the RV and the parking pads are level … The kids head straight for the pool and the playground … they are right beside each other so they can all play at the same time … they can play in the pool or the playground and I can see both …. Jikkal grabs his bike for a few spins around the park and then heads for his computer … they also have free wifi … wooohooo!!! Everyone is happy!!!

After some playtime outside … I make a quick dinner of tacos and then its not long before bed … of course, I head straight for the laundry (once everyone is settled) … I have 2 loads I would like to get done … I think this will be the last of the laundry …. I can do some at Papaw’s or when I get home … since we only have a a few more days … there are plenty of clothes in here to get us home …. although I’m starting to get a good rhythm going with the laundry and updating the web site after the kids go to bed ..LOL!!!

Stop Number 3 was in Junction City, Kansas

World’s Largest Atomic Cannon – Atomic Annie

Read all about it at – http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2102