Little Rock, AR

Sorry we haven't posted in a few days.  It's very hard finding the time when I am working an event.  So I am going to catch you up on the last few days.  We arrived in Little Rock on Sunday and pulled into the Comfort Inn.  We joined our friend Jay and jumped in a hotel shuttle to head to dinner. The shuttle driver gave us quite a tour of Little Rock on our way.  There is a lot more history there then I would have imagined.  Of course it is Clinton land and home of the new Clinton Library.  We heard that the library cost 138 million dollars to build.  Little Rock also made civil rights history in 1957 when 9 black students were allowed to enter Central High (a all white high school).  They had to do so under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army by orders of then - President Dwight D. Eisenhower.  It was really an eye opener to the boys and a reminder to Dave and I that less then 52 years ago the southern states were still not allowing black children to attend school.  Seeing the statues of the children made me think about what courage those 9 children must have had. I honestly don't think I could have been that brave.   After the tour we went to dinner at the Flying Fish.  This restaurant had been featured on many food network shows including Rachel Ray.  It was very unique and very good (It was also very reasonable).  After dinner we walked past the Clinton Library to our hotel.  The next day I got up early and loaded in for my show.  The boys swam and played video games in the room.  After load-in I took Tanner with me and the GMS staff and we went to Hot Springs, Ar.  Marlo and Darrin, who are extremely generous, rented a few speed boats, ski's and tubes and we went out on the lake.  We had such an amazing time.  Tanner surfed on the tube and also joined in on the how many people can you fit on a tube competition.  You can't tell in the pic but there is 6 people!  I also posted a picture of one of the the teany tiny shacks that lined this lake.  It was also very nice to spend some quality one on one time with Tanner and I'm looking forward to doing the same with the other boys.  I think it was also good for them to be apart for a bit.  Dave and the other boys watched Tiger Woods win the US Open and also took our RV in to be fixed.

Tuesday was show day and I got up at 4 am and got home at 9 pm.  The boys came down in the afternoon and helped count tickets.  While I was at work Dave took the boys to the Discovery Children's museum in Little Rock.  Sterling's favorite activity was the football gallery where he got to throw footballs through tires.

Today we slept in and had a late breakfast in the hotel and then caught a ride with Aaron and Sylvia to our RV (which was in the shop for a check up).  We then did a bunch of errands ( Camping World, Home Depot and finally Sams Club).  We are now heading to the only Diamond mine in the world that lets you keep what you find.  We won't get there till after 10 pm so we will stay at a nearby camp ground and go in in the morning.

Thought of the day:  What are we doing today in America that in 50 years we are going to look back on in disgust and shock?  

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!

We love our DADS!!!!   Pop and Grandpa S you both are the best!  Thank you both for all you have done for us!  Not only are you both great Dads but you are also wonderful Granddads to our boys.  The boys adore you and are so blessed to have you both in their lives!  

Dave, the boys couldn't be more lucky to have you as their dad. We love you!

Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas

Today we made the drive into Arkansas.  We decided to stay the night at Horseshoe Lake.  The campground is called Box Hound Marina and RV Park.  The guy that owns this has quite the business going.  He has a monopoly on the fuel on the lake.  He says he can charge boats whatever he wants because if you don't want to pay it you can grab a gas can and walk into town.  I think this could be a good business to own.  You sit everyday in your store  at a gorgeous lake and make a ton of money on campgrounds, boat docks, boat gas, boat rentals and convenient store items.  

Anyway, it is a really nice lake and there is a great swimming area that has a floating deck that you can jump off of.  We spent hours in the water (which was really warm) playing monkey in the middle with one of Sterling's footballs.  We also practiced our dives off the floating deck and Dave showed off by doing back flips.  Peyton has become quite the swimmer.  The floating deck is quite a way out and Peyton (with a few mommy breaks) swam all the way out there.  There was a boy jumping off the Swimming deck who had one leg.  Peyton was very intrigued with how this boy could swim and dive.  So Peyton decided that he was going to swim the whole way back with one leg.  I didn't realize what he was doing until he started going under.  I told him he needed to master two leg swimming before he tried to swim with one.  We had a very nice BBQ'd dinner and then the motor home was (for the first time) peaceful.  Let me explain.  When we were at the garage sales outside of Chicago, Tanner found a 3 man tent he was desperate to have.  So we set up the tent and gave the kids a walkie talkie to contact us incase of an emergency.  After the first 20 min of walkie talkie madness. Dave and I actually had about 5 minutes of quite.  That's when Peyton decided he didn't like the tent and came in.  He fell asleep quickly and all was quite again for 15 min until the other two got scared and came back into the RV.  Oh well, I guess 20 min of peace is better then no peace!  

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions as to where to visit.  Yes Mitch, that is Dave in the Mr Incredibile outfit!   The scary thing is that he not only wears that costume to Six Flags he also wears it while driving the RV.

Six Flags St Louis

Today we went to Six Flags St Louis.  It was raining so we pretty much had Six Flags to ourselves.  We also spent a few wet hours at Hurricane Harbor.  I guess if your playing in the water it doesn't matter if it's raining.  Since we have a season pass, hanging at a amusement park is a pretty cheap way to spend a day.  We ate lunch and dinner in the RV so we actually didn't spend a penny today.  We are now heading toward  Little Rock, AR.

                                    

               Could you imagine wearing that outfit in the rain!

          The alien looks as if he is giving Peyton the evil eye

These People where stuck up there in the rain for over an hour.

St. Louis Science Museum

Today is the last day of the kid's school back home so we decided to celebrate by going on... another fieldtrip!

We didn't want to break our record of not staying in the same place for more than 2 nights so we unplugged from the "metro" St. Louis RV Park and headed out.  Can you believe that our home, the motorhome, has not been parked in the same place for more that 2 nights!  I keep saying this, but "one of these days we are going to have to slow down"...not yet.  We picked up and took a short drive to the St. Louis Science Museum.  This one was good but not spectacular.  (We are becoming museum critics with all our experience.)  There was quite a bit to do for kids which is always top of mind for us.  We got passes to the Discovery Room where the kids played at separate stations, building, creating and exploring.  My favorite was the build your own waterway where I created a river with Class 4 rapids for rubber duckies.  If this were in a Toy Story movie the duckies would have loved it but would be hurting in the morning.

I am proud to say the Hulsebus 5-some successfully built the Gateway Arch replica on the first try.  Other groups attempting this feat were... uuhh ... having more difficuty.


One of the highlights of the day was flying planes over St. Louis using flight simultors (ok... it was just a video game).  "Over" might not be the best word though as we all managed to fly into the downtown buildings.  We did manage to navigate our aircrafts under the Gateway Arch which was the ultimately challenge aside from landing successfully.

    This is a tornado.

It's great having season passes to Six Flags.  "MORE FLAGS... MORE FUN!"  With about an hour and a half 'til closing time we decided to ride a few rides.  Of course the last one we did as a family was the Rapid River where we all got totally drenched.  WM here we come.

EMAILS

All three boys now have email address! (Thanks Brittney for the great suggestion)  You can link to their email by going into their profiles and clicking email.  They would love to get a email from you!

St. Louis

What an awesome day!  Dave got up early and did the laundry!  Thanks Dave!  After breakfast we walked to the City Museum.  I had read all about this museum on the Internet and I couldn't wait to go.  When we arrived all the staff and all the other museum goers were standing outside.  The only ones in the museum were firefighters!  We found out later that there was a small fire on the third floor.  We were happy that it reopened 20 min after we arrived.  We were even more happy that they let us in for free (that was a $60 savings!)  We are hoping for a small flood at the next museum we attend.  There are no words to describe this museum, but I will try anyway.  WOW, AWESOME, UNIQUE, TOTALLY COOL and OUTSTANDING!  As you can see we loved it!  Basically, anything goes at this museum.  You climb recycled tunnels to floating planes and squeeze through tiny holes to unexpected destinations.  There are slides of all types descending from every direction.  Underground mazes, trees with tunnels, indoor circus and even Bob Big Boy.  Sterling was in the Circus show and did a fabulous job.  If you ever go to St. Louis this place is a must!  

After the museum we decided to get some exercise (like we needed it after all that climbing and crawling) and walk to the Arch.  On the way we stopped at Jake's for a bite.  It was a great place to eat and we all enjoyed our linner (we call it that when we eat too late for lunch, but too early for dinner).  When we approached the Arch we were all blown away by how huge it was.  I have been to St. Louis twice before but this was Dave's and the boys' first time.  We were also surprised to see that the Mississippi was flooding its banks.  After staring at the Arch for a while on the outside we headed underground to see it from the inside.  We did not realize the the Ach is actually a National Park so they had a Junior Ranger Program.  Of course we did it and now the kid have another badge!  We bought tickets to get to the top and to see the Lewis and Clark movie.  We then headed to the Western Expansion Museum that is also underground.  We learned a lot about the Louisiana Purchase and the Western Expansion.  We also learned about Louis and Clark and Sacagawea.  The museum and the movie were both very informative and well laid out.  I'm too tired for the history lesson today but if you are interested I put a link on my blog. 

After the movie we rode the egg shaped tram to the top.  This tram rotates while ascending the 630 ft. to the top.  If you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights you would not like this ride.  Once at the top, the views from the tiny windows are amazing!  (Mom... Sterling took the photo of the four of us at the top, he insisted because you said you wanted him to take some of the pictures.)  You can see for miles across the Mississippi on the East and the whole city of St. Louis to the West.  We stayed up there for about half an hour and then got back into our Mork and Mindy pod and headed back down.  We walked along the Mississippi and checked out the flooding before we caught a cab and headed back to the RV.  We are excited to continue or tour of St. Louis tomorrow.  St. Louis was voted the second most kid friendly city (Washington DC was rated the first) in the US so there are many things we want to see.

Thought of the Day - I knew the story of Sacagawea but I didn't really understand the adventure she endured with a newborn baby.  I couldn't imagine!  If you have a chance re-read her story it is quite amazing.  I'll post a link for her too.

I have posted our pics from St. Louis below.  I have also updated our smugmug pics.  There were so many from the city museum I could only post a few on our blog so check out the rest.

St Louis Pictures

Peoria and St Louis

Dave is going to write the blog today to finish telling you about the Hulsebus family history.  Before he started I needed to say one thing!  THANKS FOR COMMENTING!  I can't tell you how excited the whole family was to read all the comments we have received recently.  Robert, Paul, Betsy, Brittney, Jim Jarvis and Kerry and of course are regular posters Mom and Dad S and Mom and Dad H (We also appreciate all our old posters too Kathy, Chase, Parker, Teri, Rochelle, Jay, Tamara, Robi and Krumal family (if I missed you comment again).  We really love getting the comments and look forward to reading them daily.  We are not sure how to respond back to you.  We thought about leaving a comment back but weren't sure if the person we commented to would find it.  So I am doing a group comment.   Thank you all for reading it keeps us inspired to keep writing.  We love you all! Back to Dave.....

Well we brought the kids golf clubs on the trip and have promised to occassionally 

get them out to play but have not made the time until today.  So, all five of us played a 3 par course called Fondulac Golf Course in East Peoria and had a great time.  We did have to let a couple groups play through our "five-some" as we were taking our time hitting a few extra balls.  Tanner and Sterling both pared one hole which was a highlight.

Before we 

left Peoria I wanted to be sure to visit the Springdale Cemetery where a few Hulsebus' are buried.  On this trip the boys, and Cindi and I for that matter, have been learning a tremendous amount of history.  I wanted to use this opportunity to have us all learn more about our own family history.  As I mentioned yesterday my dad, which my kids call "Pop" and my grandpa were both born in Peoria.  What I need to also mention is that my great-grandfather Bernhard L. Hulsebus, the original "Pop" was the one who came to Peoria.  Here is where the fa

mily history lesson starts.  I asked my dad to help out so the current "Pop" deserves some of the credit for today's blog.

Bernhard Lubertus Hulsebus was born is Burlington, Iowa on April 22, 1876.  Pop died on September 24, 1957 (buried in Springdale Cemetery).  Pop's father (my great-great-grandfather) was Bernhard Hulsebus (b. 9/25/1842 in Leer, Germany and d. 3/5/1919 - interned in Springdale Cemetery - Peoria) was one of seven children of Peter Berends Hulsebus (my great-great-great grandfather b. 4/4/1814; d. 3/5/1891) and Ettje Jansen Budde - both from Leer Germany who came over in 1864 from Germany on the ship

"Hansa" a vessel driven by power and sails, and owned by North German Lloyd (NGL) - a big shipping company still in business today.

The original Pop had one brother and three sisters.  He was born in Iowa but at age 14 left home and went to Peoria to find work in order to earn enough money to enroll as a student of architecture at University of Illinois.  When in Peoria, he started work as a carpenter apprentice but soon was named foreman of a crew because of his carpenter skill and layout, and design work.  He graduated from U of I in 1899.  Pop move back to Peoria and quickly became a most highly recognized architect, designing many personal residences and large buildings (Jefferson Building).  He became the most prominent architect in Peoria and the surrounding territory between 1907 and 1932.  His first wife died in 1932 and later he moved to Pasadena, California where he built his home and married his second wife that family knew as "Mimi."  When in Peoria in 1932, Pop was the President of Peoria Rotary Club.

Pop had 2 children, my grandpa (Everett Bernard Hulsebus, b. 6/23/1909; d. 11/18/1993 and "Dady" - Gretchen Ruth Hulsebus Iben, b. 10/3/1900).  Grandpa graduated with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from the University of Illinois and then went on to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his Masters.  Because of the depression, he had to return home to Peoria just before graduation.  Grandpa married Martha Marie Price on May 6, 1933.  They were also prominent Peoria citizens.  Grandpa was department head of Peoria Federal Savings and Loan, President of the local chapter of the Building and Loan Association and also president of the Peoria Kiwanis Club.  Martha graduated with a degree in Journalism from Bradley in 1931 and was society editor of the Peoria Star newspaper.  Grandpa later became Director of Engineering and Facilities for a large department store chain (Bergner's) headquartered in Peoria.  Unfortunately Martha tragically died of cancer at 34 when my dad was only 5 and my Uncle Jim was only 3.  My grandpa did remarry to my current grandma (Edith Stegee Hulsebus) who we all visited in the Los Angeles area at the start of our trip.

Wow... that was a lot but there is so much more.

We then drove to St. Louis and are excited to be here for the next couple of days.

Peoria, Illinois

Cindi is giving me the privilege of writing our blog again today.  Peoria holds a special place in the Hulsebus family as my dad "Pop" and my grandpa were both born and raised here.

 Tomorrow I plan to include some more Hulsebus family history so stay tuned. 

We had a relaxing morning inside our motorhome as it had rained over night and was rather wet outside.  After breakfast and homeschool we decided to head out of the "not so great" campground, Millpoint Park, on the east shore of the very wide Illinois River.  The kids have informed us over and over again that back in Granite Bay, this is the last week of school before summer vacation.  They also explained to us that this week is full of fun activities, not difficult school work.  It didn't quite work but we are taking it into consideration.  Later in the day we found an inexpensive movie theater so we all went to see the newly released, Narnia Prince Caspian.  As it turned out the movie theater was just blocks away from my dad's first house when he was a baby.  The house is 3203 Biltmore on the corner of Biltmore and Hudson.  Cindi and I were pleasantly surprised that although it was an older street it was full of very well maintained houses and yards with nice street lamp lining the road.  Of course I had to call my dad to reconfirm the location and get addition fact on the property and the neighborhood.  I found out that my grandpa actually designed and built this house.  In addition, my dad pointed out his grammar school buddies house, Ralph Lawler, just down the street.  Ralph is now the TV play by play broadcaster for the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team and he and my dad are still friends.  As we drove around Peoria my dad then proceeded be our tour guide leading us over to Bradley University where he studied his first 2 years before heading to USC where he ultimately graduated. (I should mention that Bradley's basketball team made it to the NCAA final game,  about 50 years ago, and the sweet 16 as recently as 2006).  As we drove around Bradley my dad directed us past his fraternity house, Theta Chi, and his church, Westminster Presbyterian.  We also saw the street HIS grandparents lived on, Institute.  We then got to see the place where his Aunt Dadie (my grandpa's sister) and Uncle Dick lived, 902 West Moss.  I have fond memories of Dick and Dadie visiting us in Los Angeles during the holidays when I was a kid.

After we all played at a park for an hour on Peoria's Riverwalk on the west side of the Illinois River we headed to WM.  It was just about dark so it made sense not to hook back up in a campground.