Port St. Joe

We took a day trip out to the Gulf of Mexico in a town called Apalachicola, FL. The beach close by at St. Joseph's Bay was the most perfect of beaches. The sand was sugar white and the water was so blue and clear and warm like a bath. The sun was hot and it was the loveliest day yet.

Tallahasee, FL

Our time in Tallahasee, Florida turned out to be both frustrating and fun. We were detained there for a week because of trailer troubles, but we didn't allow that to spoil our fun and learning. Some of the highlights include; a dollar movie place in close proximity, a really good and affordable public swimming pool and Fort San Luis, the old fort was discovered by archaeologist and then reconstructed on the original site. It is open to the public to explore and interact with people in character of the time.

Foley, AL

We found a place in Foley to do some laundry this morning and general maintainance around the house (trailer). As we got on the road a bit we hit a big thunder storm. We decided to find shelter as we weren't sure if our humble abode could stay water proof in that much rain. Lucky for us God is looking after us and we found a church with a covered entrance plenty big enough for us to park under and wait out the storm and cook up a mess of Lambert's leftovers for lunch. When the weather was nicer we got driving again but when we stopped for a pit stop in Tallahassee Jared discovered a possible wheel bearing problem. Lucky for us that we were at a truck stop and not the side of the road.

New Orleans, LA

We met the Slidell Ward of New Orleans, LA. They welcomed us and the boys made some new friends. They seemed a little mystified as to why we would choose to spend our summer holiday in a trailer for 3 months for fun. Some of these people lost thier homes due to hurricane Katrina and had to live in trailers for a long time. After church we hit the road again and landed in Foley, Alabama, where we stopped for dinner at Lambert's Cafe home of the throwed rolls . The kids had a great time catching hot rolls. Ewan was especially enthusiastic and caught more than he could eat. Noel was more interested in catching than eating. Liam, Rory and Noel joined me in a dance around the restaurant doing the YMCA actions. The management promised us banana pudding for our participation but unfortunately ran out as soon as we were back to our seats!

New Orleans, LA

Spent a soggy day in New Orleans. It was still fun though. Our friend Jayme showed us all over the city. It was cool to have an insiders perspective of what happened two years ago during the Hurricane disaster. We found shelter at a traditional Cajun Style restaurant and enjoyed Po-boy sandwhiches and red beans and rice. It was tasty!

Texas

Remember The Alamo.

Three big driving days to get across Texas. BIG state.

Tucson, AZ

I managed to get up at 5:30am to go running with Mindy and a couple of friends. I felt a little out of shape for running but it felt good to get my heart rate up. We convoyed up to the mountains and spent the morning hiking around a place called Mount Lemmon. There were lots of great trails and all the boys in our group scouted ahead to lead the way. The kids did awesome and set a pretty good pace. We ate lunch under the shade of the pine trees and enjoyed cool mountain air. The drive back included stops along the way to see giant cactus at the Saguaro Nation Preservation park and a playground that featured water springing out of the ground. Jared made an authentic Spanish paella for dinner and I put a Trifle together as per a request from Justin. It was a lot of fun.