We're home!

Hey everyone! The last few days before we got home were super fun! After we left Cody, Wyoming, the next day was a longggg day of driving! We had to go from about 7 am that morning to 5:30 am the next day! We parked in the parking lot of Wal Mart and were so tired that we couldn't pop up the camper. So we just slept in the van that night. That was definitely one of the more boring & family bonding times of the trip! The next day we drove about 3 hours to Plum Creek, Minnesota to a festival celebrating the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder. There was a guest speaker there, Alison, who played the evil character of Nellie in the Little House on the Prarie tv show on TBS. She was really interesting to listen to and really funny! After we heard her speak, we went to a play of the story of Laura Ignalls and her family as they moved around the West. It was really good and made us realize just how hard life was back then. After that really amazing day, we drove to Chicago and went to a restaurant called Giardianos for some classic Chicago deep dish pizza! It was sooooo good, i wish we could move it to Holland! Then we walked around and saw the waterfront (: The next day, we went on a tour of Notre Dame college, where my cousin will be playing basketball on a full scholarship! And then we went to stay at my Grandma and Grandpa's house in Erie, PA for the night. Now, we're home! The trip ended up being about 9,000 miles, 30 days, and we went through 23 states! The trip was absolutley amazing, and thanks everyone for following us!

Hey eveyone! The past few days have been very fun and memory-filled! Yesterday, we spent the day at Yellowstone National Park and saw some really cool sights! Yesterday, we went to Mammoth Springs and saw all the steam coming from the rocks, and having it change the color of the rocks to orange and many others! We also saw the famous Old Faithful geyser and were awed by its..well...faithfulness! After that, we went to the Old Faithful Inn to have dinner, which tasted really good after all that camping food! Today, in the morning, we went to some hot springs in Yellowstone to go swimming! These were really different and unique! There was only one spot that you could sit in because the one side was freezing cold water and the other was boiling hot! So those were very neat to experience. Afterwards, we drove to a lookout point and saw the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone Canyon. That was absolutley breathtaking! Then we continued on to take a dip in the Yellowstone Lake, with black, sparkling sand surrounding it (: We didn't stay for long though, because the water was cold and we needed to get to the main attraction of the day: a rodeo in Cody, Wyoming! We saw barrel racing (some by kids 12 and under), bull riding, and lassoeing (if thats a word) It was a lot of fun and something we will always remember! The home stretch of our trip this year is finally here, but before it has ended completely, we've had some really good memories!

Heading back east (:

Well. the last few days haven't been too exciting as far as the days go, but we've had some funny family moments! After Yosemite, we drove all day until we got to Medford, Ohio and stayed in nice Homewood Suites hotel, which was a very deserving break after roughing it at yosemite! Then today we drove yet again all day and saw Mount St. Helens and Mt. Rainier, the highest point in Washington! we also ran into some snow and had a snowball fight (: And now are currently in Idaho camping in the backyard of Tom Elliot, yet another friend of my dad's from college with her husband, Erin and their really cute 2 little boys! We're staying here for the night and then tomorrow heading to Yellowstone where we will be able to settle down for a few days and stay off the road! But we're making great memories and having a great time!

Hey everyone! We just bought a new computer so i will be able to update the blog a lot more now! We just got into our Homewood Suites Hotel in Medford, Oregon after our 3 nights in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is a absolutley beautiful place where basically every picture you take is perfect! We also got to visit with our Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt for the 3 nights and had a great time with them! The only downfall was that we didn't get the best campsite around, apparently lights in a bathroom is too luxurious! The first day we stayed there we got to go hiking up Vernal Falls, which included going up about 600 steps, some of which are slippery and wet because of the mist coming from the falls! But once we got past those, the view at the top was absolutley breathtaking (: After the hike, we found a really nice beachy area with a creek whose cold water felt very good after a long, hot day in California! The second day we were there, we decided to rent some bikes & go around Yosemite on those. It was really nice because we could go to some places that you couldn't get to by the shuttle, like Mirror Lake. It was really nice there, with a great view of Half Dome in the distance. We also got to see some really big Sequoia trees, like the Giant Grizzly and the California! And then, afterwards, we warmed up to a blazing campfire and some marshmallows! So, our experience in Yosemite was a very enjoyable one, and now we're on our way to Mt. Rainier!

The Lawrence Family in Malibu

Shopping Day!

Hello again everyone! Today, sadly, was our last day in Malibu with Don Lawrence and his family, but it was a fun one! In the morning, the two daddys went golfing and everybody else went to the huge outlet mall! Little Darien and the other younger boys were getting a little cranky and hungry, so we had the dads come and pick them up after they were done with golfing, which by the way, Don won. So, after the boys were gone, it was a girl's shopping day till we drop! We stopped at the Gap, Juicy Couture, and a bunch of other places! After we couldn't shop anymore, we came home an had a nice spaghetti dinner with everyone. Now, we are just hanging out, and all the girls are doing makeovers! (: So, tomorrow we will head up to Yosemite National Park for 3 nights, so there might not be a post for a while since we still don't have our laptop fixed. Until then, can't wait to get home & keep following!

Tom Cruises' shirt!!!

Hi everyone this is Lisa and I just had to add something that my daughter Abby forgot to tell you. On our tour of 20th century fox studios we went to the wardrobe department! They were packing up the clothes that were just used in the new Tom Cruise movie "Knight and Day". The guy saw that I was quite excited about that fact and he proceeded to show me the rack of clothes that Tom actually wore!!! I was able to get a picture holding a Dolce and Gabana denim shirt that he wore quite a bit in the movie!!! I will post the picture when I get the chance-- Needless to say, I did ask him if I could buy it, but he said it was not for sale! If it was George would have definetely had to get out his wallet! Having a great time in California! But we do miss Holland and are looking forward to heading home! Bye!

July 12,2010

Hey everyone! Today was a very eventful day! First, all the girls went down to a little plaza in Malibu where we did some window shopping and also went to a playground where it was known to see famous women and their kids playing, like Jennifer Garner. But, we didn't see anyone, unfourtunately. So after getting some starbucks and walking around, we went back to the house and joined the boys and drove about 45 minutes away to 20th Century Fox Studios, where one of Donald's friends from college who works there gave us a very interesting and cool tour! After that, we ate lunch and headed to Malibu Beach! When we got there, it was very windy and chilly so we didn't stay for too long, but we still stayed long enough for all of us to go into the Pacific Ocean and ride the waves! Then we came home and ate some chili for dinner (: so, that's about it for today! We're having a ton of fun and, again, thanks for following!

Hey everyone! I finally have a laptop for the next few days so i will be able to update this a lot often! So the past few days have been very interesting and fun! After Zion, we spent a day at Bryce Canyon and hiked to Queen's garden there. It was very pretty with all the colors and views! After bryce, we headed to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada! We stayed in an amazing hotel for one night called the Golden Nugget and, in my opinion, it shouldn't have been classified as a hotel. It had restaurants, a three story pool, a starbucks, and a HUGE casino (which by the way, my mom won 20 dollars at, haha) We got there around 12 noon and swam for about 4 hours in 107 degree weather! So i got a pretty good tan, i must admit. (: And then we took a double decker bus downtown to the Bellagio Hotel to see a pretty cool water show along to music. But, since it was a Friday night in Vegas, all the buses back were packed full, so we had to wait around in Vegas for about an hour and a half in 99 degree weather (yes, 99 degree weather at 11pm) but we eeventually got home and have a good story to tell now! So, vegas was a lot of fun and now, we are in Malibu, CA with my dad's old roomate from college, Donald and his wife, Trina with their 3 kids, and we are having a blast! Today, we went downtown to Hollywood and had a grand tour, shopping in Rodea Drive and passing by million dollar houses in Beverely Hills, and seeing the stars on the sidewalk of all the celebrities! Thanks everyone for following, we are having a lot of fun! (:

July 7, 2010

Wow, I finally found a computer so i can update this thing! Sorry to all of you who have been following, our laptop broke. Well, right now we are at Zion National Park in Utah and we're staying here for 3 nights, and on the the 3rd day we're going to bryce national park. This morning, we met up with my grandparents who are also traveling and went on a very cold creek hike in the narrows. So basically we were at the very bottom of the Zion Canyon! It was very fun though! Everyone else that we passed had walking sticks to help them not fall. Did the Schmidt family? No way, we're tough (: Also, last night we went to a ranger program at the ampitheater at our campsite and learned about the night sky and saw a sky full of stars! So that's i think about it for now, keep following!

July 4th, 2010

Hey everyone! Our 4th of july was spent at the grand canyon! Although we were a little dissapointed that we couldn't see fireworks there for safety reasons, it was still awesome! We arrived there from Durango at about 7 pm Arizona time, and werre able to catch the last sights of the sunset over the grand canyon from some of the lookout sights. The next day we hiked about three miles along the canyon, stopping at some points were there was a great view! In addition, later that night, we went to Imperial Point, the highest lookout point at the grand canyon, 8,803 feet above sea level! We also went to Cape Royal to watch the sunset and see the colrado river, or the very bottom of the grand canyon. So, even though there were no fireworks, it was still one of the best 4th of July weekends i've ever had!

Hey everyone! We are currently in Durango, Colorado and we love it! The Rocky mountains are gorgeous! Last night we went to a really nice restaurant that the locals recommended after about a 6 hour drive from Colorado Springs. This morning we went about 5 minutes away from our campsite to a white water rafting site and rode down the lower Animas river! We also had a great tour guide, Kevin who was very smart about the environment. (Pictures to come later) So, we hope to have a fun day for the rest of the time & keep reading!

Since we got a little behind on the blog for day 3, this is gonna be a combined post of day 3 and 4. Day 3 was interesting to say the least. We left our campsite in Missouri at about 9 am and it was supposed to be an 8 hour drive to Colorado Springs. However, what fun is a family road trip without a breakdown? Well, that's what happened to us at about an hour from our destination. The bolts on one of the tires on our camper broke off, resulting in the tire coming off as well. So we had to pull over and call triple a. But there was a miscommunication as to where exactly we were so the guy that was coming to help us took about 3 hours to get there. So when we finally were back on the road again, we got to the campsite at about 11pm, and had to set up in the dark. But this morning we were amazed to see that our campsite is completely surrounded by the rocky mountains! It was beautiful! Today, we drove downtown to see the Focus on the Family Radio headquarters, and us kids got to do our own recording of an Adventures in Odyssey! We also got a pretty cool tour of the Olympic training facility down there. So far, pretty good! The trip is far from over, and i'm excited to see the adventures we will have in the future!