Sydney's Highway Highlights

7/31/18

So, wow! It’s been a while! We have been to a lot of different places since I last wrote. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s been almost a year! Since last november, we have been to every contiguous state except for Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I seriously can NOT believe that it has been that long and only feel like a couple months. My favorite states have probably been Montana, Utah, and Maine. (yes in that order) ;p  And I of course can’t forget about Yellowstone! We were there at the perfect time! It was the beginning of summer so it wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold. BUT, the weather wasn’t the only thing perfect about the time we got there. Because it was still just the beginning of summer, I think, people still had work and things to do. So they couldn’t get to vacation time yet. When dad called the camps around the area, everyone said that it was going to be hard to find a spot bc most of the sites were first come first serve and they didn’t know if there would be opening spots for us. Pulling into one of the campgrounds, there was a trailer coming out. I thought to myself, “Well. This could mean he just left, so we can have his spot. OR. This could mean that he went through the whole camp and there wasn’t a single spot open so he was leaving to go to a different camp!”  Driving through the campground, there were PLENTY of sites open. We found a really nice site tucked into the woods, and that the river was just down a hill from us. In the park we saw plenty of buffalo and elk in our few days of being there. The first couple days we didn’t see any bear, but once we saw one, we saw 13 more! We saw 14 bears in total!!!! There were a few sow and cubs that we saw and they were SO CUTE!! At our campsite we also saw a moose and her calf across the river. We did a couple hikes as well. Everything was so beautiful and exciting to see. I’m thankful that we got to go this year, because who doesn’t want to go to Yellowstone National Park! Am I right or am I right!!

We will now be home in roughly 2 weeks. Isn’t that INSANE! I am honestly SO excited to be getting home very soon!! I have LOVED traveling, seeing everything, and meeting so many new friends and family. I will truly cherish all my new friendships across the United States. We are all united by the grace and love of God, and I am proud to call all of you my Family. I hope y’all have had a wonderful summer and that the last few weeks is AMAZING!

11/1/17

So, living in an RV with 4 kids (2 teens, 1 pre-teen, and a 5th-grader) and 2 adults, is somewhat challenging. Obviously, there isn’t much space to have for your own, but you do eventually get used to it. Then when we have the space to move around and call “our own”, we don’t really need it and we sit on a couch super close together without even realizing it! When we go over to friends houses for the evening and they say to “make yourself at home” we all go sit on the couch when there might be other chairs in the room but we all sit on one piece of furniture and our friends say “Y’all know that you can spread out. Right?” We’re all like, “Oh yeah, there’s more places to sit instead of just the couch!!” We all have a good laugh about it and then spread out!!
Although we normally get along with one another and can share “our space” fairly well, we do sometimes need to just get away from EVERYONE!!! The good thing about that, is we only need it every 2-3 months and that’s the time when we come back to Michigan and Ohio so that we can see family and friends for holidays! We are having such an amazing time seeing places and friends and family all over the nation! Some of our relatives houses that we have stopped at so far, I didn’t even know we had! Everyone that we’ve met and/or seen again have been so generous and kind that by the end of the night or weekend, none of us want to go.
So far, we have been to all of the Northeast States and a few of the Southern States. Including, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and on the 3rd of November, we’re gonna be in Georgia. From Georgia we are heading more south!
Hope everyone has a good fall and winter!

On August 3rd we arrived in Ohio at or Grandparents farm and us kids went to our Uncle's house and spent some time there while mom, our Aunt, and our Grandma had a Jewelry show with some of their friends at the house. On the 10th mom and dad went back to Michigan to go to two weddings while us kids stayed in Ohio and helped around the farm and went horseback riding at Marman Valley Farm with our Uncle. On the 14th,  we packed up the RV and left Ohio around 5pm. That night we parked the RV in a Walmart parking lot.

We got to the Springs camp last Tuesday. The Springs is a really awesome place!! I've met so many people here that are already super close friends. I have been having such a great time with everything. This past week has been an eye-opening experience for my family and me. There were juniors, which is 3rd-5th grade, girl junior highers, which is 6th-8th grade (girls only), and a group called Sprinkles, which is 4 years-8 years old. This coming week is going to be something called "Tri-Week." Tri-Week is where every age group (except Sprinkles) is going to be at camp, from Juniors to Senior Highers. This past week wasn't too crazy because there weren't very many campers. There were from 3-6 campers in each cabin, but during Tri-Week there will be 8-13 campers in every cabin, and 4-6 campers in every room in the Retreat Center (RC). The RC is for only the Senior High which is 9th-12th grade. That's one thing that I'm super excited about. The cabins don't have any showers in them and to be honest, the Bath house isn't as luxurious as I'm used to, but in the RC, there is a whole separate bathroom with 3-4 showers in each room. I've only used the RV shower one time but it was very difficult. There is very little space in it and and you have to remember to turn off the shower when you're not using the water or it will fill the tank up super fast. 

It has been raining non-stop pretty much all week. There have been puddles every where and every grassy area was pretty much flooded. Last night was the first time there hasn't been puddles since the 3rd day we got to camp. I've been helping out with the Kitchen staff a little bit. Speaking of the kitchen, we get every meal provided for us and get to eat with the rest of the camp staff in the Dinning Hall. The food isn't as good as my mom's homemade food (nothing's as good as that), but it is about 10 times as better as school lunches for sure!!! 

Looking forward to Tri-Week starting this Sunday, but until I get the time to post something again, have a great week!