On the Road to Colorado: Day Three

Today we made our way across Missouri to Kansas City.

We spent a few hours at the Kansas City Zoo.

They had a 50% discount for military. Way to go KC! So we were able to take the trams, Africa sky safari, train, and ride the carrousel.

You could walk right up to these kangaroos!

You are never to old to ride the carrousel.

We were able to feed the Lorikeets.  They gave us little cups to put in our hands and they filled it with nectar.  The birds landed on our arms and drank the nectar. This was a real fun thing to do.  You had a real close up look at the birds.

The Sky Safari was a ski lift that took you over the Africa area. We saw all sorts of animals below.

 Then we headed out for dinner at Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ.  It was rated the #1 BBQ place in KC.   It was the best BBQ pork and brisket I have ever eaten.  It melted in your mouth.  YUMMY. 

We gave it two thumbs up. 

Next, roadside attactions on I70.

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On the Road to Colorado: Day Two

Today we drove through Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and finally landed in St. Louis, Missouri.

We made our way downtown. The St. Louis Cardinals were playing, so it was a sea of red. The fountain was even dyed red for the occasion.

We arrived at the Gateway Arch.  Matthew walked around taking pictures from all different angles.  Then we went down under the arch to the Museum of Westward Expansion.  We learn how the early settlers came across America and basically took over the Native Americans land.  Sorry about that.  They had interesting displays to look at and read.

Next we got our tickets to ride the tram up to the top of the arch. I was bit nervous about this part of the trip. They stuff you in a tiny five seat capsule for a four minute

ride to the top.

When you get to the top you can see all of downtown St. Louis and the Mississippi River. We learned the arch is 630 ft. high and is 630 ft wide at the base. They built in triangular pieces from each side. If they were off by even 1/64 of millimeter the top wouldn’t have matched up. It was quite a feat to build this arch.

After eating dinner we headed to Crown Candy Kitchen.  It was feature on Food Network so I thought it would be a fun spot to go for dessert.  I had a yummy hot fudge Sunday and Matthew had a chocolate shake.  It was a cute place.

Next stop Kansas City for some BBQ.

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On the Road to Colorado: Day One

Matthew packed up his Prius and we hit the road.

The first state line we hit was West Virginia.

We spent many hours driving over the

 hilly roads of West Virginia. 

Then we came to Kentucky.  We had to stop at the rest area to grab a state sign picture.

We planned a little adventure for each of our days on the road.  Today we went spelunking in Kentucky. 

Better know as caving.

 I

This is the highest concentration of caves in eastern Kentucky.  They were massive and fun to explore!

Water was running along side of me.  Can you see it?

Don't forget to look up, WOW!

Matthew enjoyed climbing all over the rocks.

This is a tiny cave in the natural bridge area.



Can you see the liitle cave I was in?  This place was soooooo cool.

 I took so many more pictures, but I won't bore you with the slide show.  Maybe I will put them up over on my Photography site someday.   Stay tuned for our next adventure tomorrow.
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So PROUD

I am so proud of our son Matthew.  He is taking a leap of faith and going to become a missionary!  Not any missionary but a Cadence International Missionary  Click on link to watch a video about Cadence.

He has moved out to Colorado to shadow the director of Children's Ministries.  He will complete a year of Bible college and intern at local churches children's programs.  He will travel to see first hand how Cadence ministers to military children. 

Matthew grew up as a military child. Moving every few years, watching his father leave for long periods of time and having to make new friends all the time. This is a rough life for little kids. He was fortunate to be ministered to by Military Children's Milinistries. (CEF at the time) They ran VBS's, Bible studies, retreats, mission trips, holiday parties..... for families and children.

Cadence missionaries work with the post Chaplins to help meet the spiritual needs of the military families.


Matthew feels drawn to this ministry because of his personal experience with military minitries. 

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. Matthew 19:14-15



Be in prayer as he begins his studies and training. He will also have to raise his own support before he can go out into the field. If you would be interested in recieving updates let me know.


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Chicago

 We took a quick trip to Chicago. 

 I spent a couple days with my childhood friend Kel. 

We visited Starved Rock State Park

 We hiked into canyons and climbed many, many stairs to beautiful vistas.

We ate at Giordano's!  Yummy thick, sweet, cheesy PIZZA. 

We took the train to Andersonville.  It's history is Swedish.  In my youth my family would go here to eat authentic Swedish meals and bring home tons of baked goods from the Swedish Bakery . 

 So I had to get a variety of childhood favorites.  YUMMY!

 We spent Sunday afternoon at the Cubs game!  As you can tell from our picture it was a bit wet.  They played through the 8th inning and unfortunately they didn't win:(

We spent part of a the day at the Science Museum

On the way back to the hotel

we stopped at The Cloud sculpture.

Walked past the famous Buckingham Fountain

We took an architecture in kayaks!  The river was a lot cleaner than in my youth, but it was still stinky and I felt sticky when the water touched my skin. 

We got a great perspective of all the citys buildings. I have mixed feeling about this tour.

It was a great idea and really fun, but the

river was still too yucky to kayak in.

Love this city!

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Doodles and Painting

I have been staring at these gesso covered canvases for about a week now.  Stephanie from Homegrown Hospitality has fantastic doodle classes online.  You can also get a lot of inspiration just from reading her blog.  Anyway, I decided to create my little doodle cards onto the big 16x20 canvases.

So I went to AC Moore and tried to match the colors I used on the card with paints.  I painted my background and because I am not a patient person I used my heat gun to dry them.

Next I drew lightly, with a pencil, my flowers all around the brown area.  Next came the filling in of the areas.  It took a long time to paint, dry, repaint, layer, dry....... each canvas.  Then I took a sharpie and puff paints and added the little outlines and details.

Note:  Don't buy the REAL cheap acrylic paint!  They don't cover really well and you will have to repaint the areas over and over!

 Here are the finished pieces!

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