Disneyland Day 1 Part 2

 Jedi Training Acadamy!  The force is strong with these boys...

 They both got picked out of the audience to earn padawan status (entry level)

 They even got to stand next to each other during training, Coryn loves hoods.

 after learning a series of light saber battle moves, the show is 'interupted' by Vader and Maul... Maul stalked around the stage area quite authentically, and managed to scare a kid who wasn't paying attention to where he was...

I was hoping Coryn would do what some kid on youtube did... (pledge allegiance to the dark side) but I think he was overwhelmed at the time by trying to remember his 'training' or he just really wanted to fight them.  However, that little girl you see on the left of the picture was awesome, she 'used the force' on the bad guys and force shoved them instead of fighting them.  Hilarious.  The actors did a good job of taking cues and were 'thrown' back.

Disneyland Day 1, Part 1

 Of course we went to Disneyland!  What better reward for a week-long car ride across the land than a three day foot trek across a different land?  First stop?  Characters at the entry.  The kids each picked one to visit, Coryn chased down Goofy (he's the red shirt with a hat).

 Carter picked Mickey...

 Carousel ride... Aunt Sarah joined us for this day, and Carter stuck to her like glue.

 Notice anything about what we are wearing yet?  We managed to accidentally be a rainbow!

 Did I mention that Carter was enamored of Sarah?  yeah...

 attempt at royalty...

 we did the Toy Story ride twice and Jackson managed to attain Space Scout both times, even with a Jovey handicap the second time.  :)

 Rode the speedway... (okay I don't know what it's called)

 G-pop is stylin' in his...

and Jovey's favorite thing all day was this giant ball that was part fountain, it rolled whatever direction and speed the kids could get it to go.

Vegas Baby!

 I'm sorry Coryn, but you are too young to have what happens in Vegas stay in Vegas...

 There was an awesome (temporary I think) display when we came, a giant garden made out of a garden...

 and some awesome decorative glass across a skylight.

 What pray tell is Carter goggling at?  why the world's tallest chocolate fountain of course!

 we stayed at the Luxor, I think their motto is "valet park or you'll be forced to walk a mile to get in from the parking lot".

Grandie and Gpop joined us here for the Cali portion of the trip, after all, what would a cross country trip be without driving the length of the state of California?

A McCook 4th

 We were lucky enough to spend the 4th of July in McCook as we wended our way across the states.  A relaxing break from the fast-paced journey.

 Lazing about...

 Love Coryn's face in this one...

 yeah, it was stinkin' hot, but I suppose we had to prepare ourselves for Vegas anyway...

Fireworks of course.  Did a few of the little ones, then went to catch the show at the fairgrounds, Carter got too tired to stay, and I took Coryn down to the bleachers where we had an awesome view of not only the show but a thunderstorm moving across the horizon.

Trekking Omaha

 Pioneers came through Omaha too.

 There's a neat pioneer exhibit at a place called Winter Quarters, the kids got to dress up as pioneers (Jovey was ecstatic) and go around the museum in it.

 And try their hand at pulling a hand cart.

 Then we picked up Aunt Natty to help on the rest of the trip and visited the zoo.

 Kids touching wet stuff...

Natty and kids and puffins,

Historical Sites

 Next on our history tour was Liberty Missouri and a historic jail... remember how I said people lived where they work?  Same here, this is the family kitchen of the jail warden.

 This was part of the jail.  There was another part that looked more jail-like, bars and brick and all, which by the way was and still is the safest place in the town during a tornado.

 This particular jail was also the scene of vigilante justice.  The jail was stormed by an angry mob which shot the prisoners... through the door.

 Then we hopped over to Nauvoo Illinois, where the father of the creator of the Browning gun company started a gunsmith shop.

 And there was some pioneer stuff here...

and a historic church...

Traveling History Tour

 We took a little trip this summer... all of you reading this probably know that already.  We decided to make it a bit of a history tour.  This stop was in Kirtland Ohio, and this is a general store.

 General stores really were general, covering food, cloth, shoes, hats, cooking equipment, mail, and so much more.

 They worked in trade as well as money, and had a whole room just for trade-ins

 People used to live where they worked.  Saves on gas that way.  :)

 This town was settled on a creek but they still needed a sawmill so they figured out a way to run a sawmill on a two inch deep stream.

They also had an ashery.  Fascinating stuff asheries, amazing what you can make with nothing.

Farewell Drum

 One of the last things we did in NY was attend Riverfest, a military appreciation day including a boat tour, castle tour, and picnic.  Here we are waiting for the boat to leave dock for the island the castle is on (its a lovely hour boat ride tour of the St. Lawrence).

 Here it is... Boldt Castle on Heart Island (one of the thousand islands.  More of a mansion than castle of course, but gotta love the flare for the dramatic. 

 There are a ton of fancy houses up here...

The children's favorite thing was running around the outdoor fireplace area while pushing strollers.