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.

Willow Creek and Peoria, Illinois

We spent the night in the Willow Creek Community Church parking lot last night so that we didn't have to drive to far to get to church.  I was really excited to take the family to Willow.  I have been there before when I was working at Bayside.  If you haven't been to Willow let me tell you a little about it.  It is the second largest church in the US.  It has over 23,000 regular attenders (The largest is Lakewood Church in Houston with over 47,000).  Willow was founded in 1975 by Bill Hybels.  The property that Willow sits on is over 155 acres.  Every year Willow puts together a Leadership Summit that is satellited  to over 130 cities and 80,000 leaders.  When I worked at Bayside I helped run the Summit there.  Well, our visit to Willow was great.  The kids enjoyed the children's Ministry and Dave and I really enjoyed the sermon.  Willow had a guest speaker Dave Workman, senior pastor from The Vineyard in Cincinnati, Ohio.  We really enjoyed his message and his humor.  He talked about the unique ways his church serves the community.  

After church we had breakfast in Willows food court, bought some books in the bookstore and wondered around for a while.  We then hit the road and drove to Peoria.  We stopped at a country story and hopped on a tractor to go pick our own strawberries.  It was really a cool experience and we all had a good time doing it.  Although it was really hot and we only picked for 10 min.  All three boys decided they didn't want to be professional strawberry pickers.  We finally arrived at the campground and got

settled in.  We met a really nice English couple and shared a campfire and conversation with them.

Tip of the day - many companies have factory tours.  There is a website you can go to to find these tours all over the US.  here is the link www.factorytoursusa.com

Schaumburg and Barrington, illinois

We woke up Saturday morning at our favorite campground Walmart.  We decided to look for bikes on craigslist and came across a 100+ house garage sale.  Of course anyone that knows me knows that I couldn't pass that up.  I know all my friends back in California are very jealous!  It was quite the sale.  First, we had to find a place to park a 40ft beast on the busy neighborhood street lined with shoppers and cars.  Luckily we got there early and found a spot.  Dave is mastering the RV driving test.  Then we joined the other 1,000+ people who were walking up and down the numerous blocks in hope of a bargain.  The difference between garage selling in California and garage selling in Illinois is the weather.  It is so sticky hot that you actually want to stop garage selling after sweat is dripping down your neck.  That never happens in Cali.  The only time we stop garage selling is when our wallet and change holder in the car is empty.  I was looking for bikes which I did not find, but I did buy some VHS movies for a buck each.  Good thing our RV is the only house that still has a VHS machine or I'm sure those would have been sucked up by the hungry, bargain early bees.  

After the garage sale we pretty much wasted the rest of our day trying to figure out how to set up a wireless network.  We spent 2 hours at Best Buy and got no-where and another hour and a half at the Sprint store.  By that time the kids were about to lose their minds and take ours with them.  We decided a good meal was the only way to salvage the day.  So we went to Portillos the famous Chicago hotdog hotspot.  We splurged and had shakes with our dogs, burgers and beef sandwiches.  Dad, you would be proud I was the only one to order a dog!  It was delicious.  We decided to head to Willow Creek (the church we are very excited about attending tomorrow) and spend the night in the parking lot.  We just got a bang on the window, but they were very nice and let us stay.  I will tell you all about Willow Creek in the morning.  Goodnight.

Thought of the day - I have decided that their are two types of garage sellers.  There are the people who are out to make money and the people who want to get rid of their stuff.  You will never get a good deal from the first type and you will always get a steal from the second.

Here are my pics from downtown Chicago and the Science and Industry musuem