Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sorry about the delay in the blog.  We are all back together in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  I want to thank my friends Christy and Dave for being such wonderful hosts to me while I was in Tampa.  It was an emotionally difficult weekend but I am really glad I went.  I have so much I want to say about my weekend but I just can't seem to find the right words to type so Dave is going to tell you about their weekend instead. 

Well the boys and I stayed in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.  After dropping Cindi at the airport we headed across the street to the highly touted Mall of America.  The new Apple G3 iPhone debuted on Friday.  Since my phone was having serious issue, like people can't hear me, I figured I joined the other crazies and battle the line (with 3 kids) at the Apple store. L-o-n-g story but after 3 and 1/2 hours I finally left the store WITHOUT the stupid phone.  As Charlie Brown would say... "AUUGH!"  Apparently I didn't qualify because I already have an AT&T phone.  Whatever!  We walked around the Mall and right before we were about to leave a very nice mom asked me if I'd like to have 2 free tickets to the amusement park.  So I bought one more and the kids were loving it for the next 3 hours riding rides inside the middle of the mall.

The next day... back to Mall of America to see the movie Kung Fu Panda by Dreamworks.  We enjoyed it but my personal animated favorites remain Toy Story II, Finding Nemo, and Monsters Inc.  After more walking and shopping we had dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe where the kids had some cool balloons made for them (see photos).  I also also bought a rocket for me... and the kids.  It's the kind my brother Doug and I would launch off when we were kids.  (Serious note: I keep telling myself, this is the time to do all those things that I have been "too busy" to do over the last 12 years.  This rocket makes that list.  Now I just need to make the time to build it and blast it off with the kids).

The last day, Sunday, we ventured out and headed to the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.  The kids are getting overloaded with museums but this one had a special Star Wars exhibit and a special effects movie showing at the huge curved Omnivision screen.  Since the exhibit was sponsored by Medtronic (I really enjoyed working for Medtronic.  It is a great company with great people!) I talked the ticket lady into an $8 discount.  As usual the kids weren't really excited about another museum but hours later I had to drag them out.  After pizza we watched the movie Madagascar in the RV.  I've heard this movie a few times diving down the road back home in Cindi's Denali but believe it or not I have never watched it with the kids.  Albiet a small one, it's another thing I apparently didn't have time for, or make time for, over the last few years.  We did get to watch the movie on the Sony flatscreen I installed but after experiencing the Bose demo in the Bose store yesterday at the Mall, I now need to find a way to install my Bose sound system that was too big to bring in the RV that I refused to leave in storage (that was a long sentence).  We then picked up Cindi at the airport.  Yea! Mommy's back!

Well, I flew back Sunday but got stuck in all kind of weather delays.  My flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was cancelled and so was the earlier flight to Minneapolis.  There was only one more flight out that night.  I was lucky enough to get bumped up on the standby list (there were 86 people on standby) and because I fly a lot I got pushed to #3.  Finally, flying all the time paid off and got on the flight.  I didn't get back 'till after midnight but I was glad I didn't have to sleep in the airport.

We stayed the night at Walmart and then headed to the grocery store in the morning.  After groceries we drove to William Obrien State Park.  It is a nice place and we are very excited to be able to relax for a few days.  We sat and talked to Richard the camp host for quite some time.  He and his family were so nice and gave us many tips as to where to visit next.  One of the best things about this trip is all the wonderful people you meet along the way. 

Thought of the day:  Faith and God's love is the only way to make it through a terrible loss.  I honestly don't know how people that don't believe in the truth make it through such tough moments.

By the way,  the state park we are at does not have cell service so if you are trying to call us you are out of luck.  We are getting hardly any internet either.  It goes in and out and I am hoping this will post.  If you need usin an emergency send us a email and we will drive somewhere to connect with you.  We have pics for this post but they won't download due to lack of internet so we will add them later.

Tampa

I am in Tampa and Dave and the boys are in Minnesota.  I have been emotionally drained and have not had a chance to post.   I promise to post again on Monday.  Love you all!

Wisconsin

The last few days I have been working in Wisconsin helping to put on the Get Motivated Motivational Seminar.  It is great to be in a nice hotel for 3 nights again but I always have a hard time finding a moment to write during these days.  This show was particularly difficult.  My wonderful boss, and dear friend Marlo, headed to the airport when he found out that his wife Jheri (they live in Tampa, FL) rushed their 3 year old son to the ER.  Before he was able to board the plain he learned that his son had passed away.  This happened just a week after he had lost his mother to cancer.  My heart is completely broken for him and his entire family.  Marlo's faith has always been an inspiration to me. He is a man of God and lives his life as a testimony to his faith.  I know God has big plans for this family.  Their love for each other and for God will give them amazing strength.  

As you can imagine I (all of us) had a very difficult time getting through that show, but I also realized how blessed I am to work with such a great group of people.  We all held each other up and we gained strength from each other.  Dave and my boys even came down to the arena to help support the team.  I really do thank God for the many very special people he has put into my life.  I really am blessed.

So I guess I have very mixed feelings about Madison, Wisconsin.  It's a very pretty city with a lake right downtown.  It has a college town feel (University of Wisconsin) with a hint of class.  Although I did speak to the rudest lady I have ever met in Madison (we actually had to kick her out of the arena).  We had our RV TP'd which in a strange way made us feel really loved.  Maybe it was the, "We love the HustleBUS's" that was written on the window, or maybe it was the smiling faces of my entire team covered in toilet paper sitting on the seventh floor when the elevator doors opened.  Not sure, but it did help to lift my spirits in the mist of such a difficult day.  I don't think I ever want to return to Madison, WI but I am thankful that God is good even when things are bad.

After Madison we decided to drive toward Minneapolis, MN.  I have decided to catch a flight with my United Airline miles to go to Tampa on Friday and Minneapolis had the best flight options.  We stopped in Osseo, Wisconsin at this great spot called Stoney Creek RV Park.  This place is exactly what we needed after Madison.  It has a great pool, a full volleyball court, basketball court, mini golf course, cafe, arcade and even a skateboard park.  The kids had a blast until it started storming.  Actually, they have really enjoyed the storm as well.  At about 11pm we had our second fire department warning... they drove through the campground and on a loudspeaker warned of a severe storm warning.  They said to take shelter because the storm was getting worse.  I'm writing this with the thunder and lightning at their worse.  Good thing we have one of the larger "houses" on the block.

I also have to mention that Dave worked really hard today fixing things that needed fixing, handling things that needed handling, and paying things that needed paying.  Thanks Dave!

One last item of note... Thanks to our English side of the family we have our first International reply on the hulsebusfamilydream.blogspot.com!  Thanks for the comment Alastair (Dave's youthful, debonair, 007 uncle)!  We have our eyes pealed for an Alastair and a Clova sign.  Take good care of your house guests.  (FYI to the all readers... Pop and DeeDee are visiting all our family in England).

Here are some pics of the boys enjoying the campground:

Posts and name game

We will begin posting again tomorrow...So check back!  In the mean time here are some more of the names we have found along the way!  If you didn't read before, we have been playing a game in the RV to pass the time on long drives.  We find names of our family and friends and then all rush to grab the camera and snap a picture before we pass it.  We have passed quite a few, but have also found a lot.  If you do not see your name, don't give up.  We still have a long way and a lot of signs to go.

Bridges of Madison County

Today we had a very slow start.  We had stayed the night in a Walmart shopping center so we decided to go to Sams Club, Best Buy and Toys R US.  We finally started driving around 3 pm.  On our drive we stopped at the Freedom rock to see the art work of Ray "Bubba" Sorensen.  Every year he paints a new patriotic theme.  It was really quit impressive how detailed the painting was.  After the rock stop we headed to Madison County,  you know from the book and movie, "The Bridges of Madison County."  We went to the town square first which reminded us of the Back to the Future movie town square.  We were waiting for a Dolorian to go speeding toward the courthouse.  We then drove to the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge.  It was very pretty but I was very disappointed with all the graffiti that lined the inside of the bridge.  It is really to bad that people have destroyed such a beautiful piece of history.  We then drove by the home of John Wayne.  It was very cute.  After that brief stop we had a gorgeous drive thru the country on our way to another covered bridge.  The Imes Bridge was as beautiful as the last one on the outside but it to was covered in graffiti on the inside. The two bridges we saw were the 2 earliest bridges.  They were both erected in 1870.  I'm glad we had a chance to see 2 of the remaining 6 bridges.  

After the bridges we continued our drive into Des Moines.  We got lucky to find a spot at the Cutty's Campground.  They have 550 sites but were totally packed for the 4th of July weekend.  This is a really cool campground with a small lake and 3 pools, a sauna and a jacuzzi.  They even had an impressive firework display tonight that we arrived just in time to see.