Holiday Greetings to All!

2010 has been a fast year for us! January started off with me and Lex going back to school… We have embarked on an academic journey with the ending destination being a Master of Arts in Teaching and Leadership. It has been a large commitment meeting every Monday night from 4 to 9pm and a few Wednesday nights each month; however, in the end this degree program will give us both an endorsement on our teaching certificates and pave the way to a Master’s in Administration and Supervision. Our classes consist of 13 other teachers from the central Illinois area and we will stay together until degree completion in December 2011. We are definitely developing many new career skills and it has been a lot of fun to be able to go to class together!

Lex continues to exercise her creative talents teaching first grade at East Peoria's Woodrow Wilson, where she has now taught for 3 years. She is regularly coming home with a new funny story to share from her little one's. She is always finding new and creative ways to keep her students engaged as you can see here during a demonstration! I am in my 5th year at Limestone teaching 10th -12th grade science, including a dual credit Earth Science course through ICC.  In April I had the privilege to coach our new IHSA Bass Fishing Team to the state finals at Lake Carlyle in Southern Illinois.  It was a great experience, especially making it that far in our first year!

To break up the doldrums of the winter months, in February, we visited a new favorite get away at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Lex found many new favorite “small town” store fronts and the lake was very pretty covered in snow and ice fishers. (I wanted to join them but didn’t have any ice fishing gear with me). One of the highlights of the weekend was the ice carving contest.  Many ice sculptors had their work on display and their talents definitely did show!  If you ever visit this area be sure to try Scuttlebutt’s Restaurant – it is a great breakfast place right on the lake.

Nothing exciting happened until the first week of June. We took a break before our summer classes began and spent some time in Gulf Shore’s Alabama, our other “getaway”. The Gulf water was extremely warm and Lex was able to conquer the art of body surfing! During our time there we talked to many locals who were very concerned about the oil spill threat… unfortunately, our last night there the oil hit shore. It was a sad site to see the beaches' sugar white sand change before our eyes. As we walked the beach we found many oil covered sea creatures and corals washing upon the shoreline. The teacher/geologist in me could not resist the temptation to collect a few samples to bring back for my classroom! The rest of June was spent going to class and working a few side jobs.

In July we embarked on a five week adventure out west with my parents, visiting: Devil’s Tower, The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Cody Wyoming, Yellowstone, Glacier, and the Banff area in Canada. It was a trip that we will never forget. I won’t go into a lot of detail as you can read our daily blogs from the trip in the archive (starting with July 11th) if you are interested! We saw an incredible amount of “wildlife” and a lot of amazing geology… It was an eye-opener to witness first hand just how big the powers of God’s hands really are!!!

 The week we got back from our trip it was time to start getting ready for a new school year to begin. We took a few fall camping trips and have had several successful weekends in the fields and trees (hunting). That brings us to the end of this year and to a lot of anticipation for the year to come. We pray that Gods will is working in all of our and your lives, that we always keep in mind the purpose that He has given us, and that his love has been apparent to you in one way or another in the past year.  We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to come!!!

With Love,

       Ben and Lexy

The day I aways prayed for - but never drempt would come true!

I know that you can not tell who these pictures are of - and you probably would not believe it if you could see the face - It is LEXY climbing into HER deer stand!!!  For the first 6 years of our marriage I have asked her to hunt every year... this year I decided to give up and just be happy that she sits out there with me - but one day on our big trip out west she told me that she wanted to actually hunt this year!  I don't know what inspired this - and I didn't ask!  As soon as we pulled back into Illinois we drove to Gander Mountain and bought her a "stylish" (in her words) set of camo.  As soon as her bow hit 41 pounds she was raring to go... and today was her first day on her own.  A few doe came in close to her stand but never came down the ridge line.  It was a great day with many more to come!

Another Season of Camping - Ends!

 This weekend we took our last camping trip of the year with Ben's parents to Johnson Sauk Trail Campgrounds near Kewanee.  It seems like all we do is camp when you look at our blog but it is a proven, tried and true way to get away, relax, and take a break from the busyness of life!  This school year has been busy but going great for both of us; however, we both were ready to relax this weekend!  Ben was able to FINALLY mount his first rack from the first buck that he shot, back in 2004.  I have to say that his finished product looks pretty good... I might even let him hang it in our house... some day! :)  Now he is excited to mount the monster that he shot last year and I am sure he will post pictures when he does (he didn't bring it along or I am sure it would be done by now).  While he was working on his project I took the opportunity to do some target practice with my bow as I prepare for my first archery deer hunting season.  I am right on the 40 pound pull boundary that is required to legally hunt... maybe Ben will be mounting my buck next!  We did some hiking and got to spend a lot of quality time with our boys, Toby and Chester.  Saturday night my parents and Abby and the kids all came out for dinner and a fire... Joe was on a last minute business trip so it worked out perfect to have Abb join us.  It was a fun weekend as the temperature was low - perfect fire weather, and the leaves are turning colors.  It's sad to say that this is the last camping weekend but I guess that means we get to start planning next years adventures!

Camping at Comlara

This weekend Ben and I were able to spend some time camping with several families from our church.  It was a really nice to get to know everyone outside of a church setting and spend some time together playing games, singing, and sitting around the fire.  As to be expected, the food was great all weekend and even though we had some spurts of rain we were able to be out almost the entire time.  The kids seemed to have a lot of fun playing games, biking, and fishing... one of the boys even caught a muskie!  We will definitely look forward to next years trip!

Apples Galore!!!

Amid starting the school year and getting classrooms ready, mom and I decided to have our annual apple sauce party.  Three bushel of apples and a hot kitchen later we finished our day with enough sauce to last us until next Fall... we hope!  The highlight of this event is taking some of the finished product into my classroom and explaining the process to my kids.  It is fun to watch their reactions as they see the peels and sauce come oozing out of the machine!

Early Season Squirrels

This morning Neil, Trav, and I headed to the woods for some early season squirrels.  This early in August is typically harder to hunt as the leaves are still up as well as the temperatures.  We had an amazing hunt with three squirrels in the bag and several that got away!  The best part of the day was Neil shooting his first squirrel and then watching the excitement in his boys' eyes when they got to see "daddy" with his harvest!

8/07/2010 Missing Tex!

At 8:22am we received a phone call from Lexy's brother that our little Texas (Tex) had died.  Heather was doing dishes and turned around and he was lying under the table - dead! (we think he had a disease called cardiomyopathy) When he told us the news we were about eight hours from home, returning from our trip out west.  Lex and I were both in shock and spent the next hour and more remembering all of his quirks, oddities, and many funny memories.  Tex was more like a little puppy trapped inside the body of a cat.  He would follow us everywhere around the house and his favorite resting position was on his back with all four legs pointing straight up in the air.  He loved to have his belly rubbed and when you held him he was most content being cradled like a baby.  It was almost daily that we would come home to socks strewn throughout the house because he would carry them around meowing, acting like they were his kittens! While we were both sad to hear the news, we really didn't shed to many tears - until tonight.  After I got out of the shower and grabbed my towel it all hit me.  He was usually sitting on the stool waiting for me to finish my shower and when I got out we would carry on a whole conversation in "cat talk", it was ritual.  If he wasn't on the stool he was curled up under the sink... anyway, when I realized that he will never be there to greet me again I lost it!  I still have tears in my eyes as I type this!!! I know it is probably pretty pathetic to be so upset about a cat... it's not like he was a person; however, when you have someone/something so dependable, depending on you, it hurts pretty bad to lose it.  The last time I saw him was four weeks ago - I never dreamt that would be the last time I would see him!  It made Lexy and I think about our life and how you never know what is lying around the corner or whether or not your interactions with someone might be the last to impact their (or your own) life. 

Two days ago we spent some of our driving time "mapping out" our future 30 years (something we like to do every once in a while) - funny how deaths are never in the plan...   Anyway, I feel like I am rambling now - probably am since it is getting late and I have been driving all day!  Tomorrow we are going to Goodfield Church to be with Lexy's family - Joe and Abby, Lex's sister and her husband, started repenting this week... we are so excited for them and their future!

8/04-07/2010 Dinosaur Provincial Park, Crossing the Border: Getting Searched, Tire Blowout - It Was Loud!!!, & Home Again

After almost 1900 miles of driving over the last four days, we are finally home! Our day started with a 7:20 departure from Welcome, SD. Our day of driving went very smooth as we ran through several storms - we made it home safely!  The only downside of the day was the death of one of our cats... we'll talk about that some other day.

We started on our homeward bound journay on August 4th... Just becasue we were heading home did not mean that vaction had ended... if you know my family, the parties never end!  On Wednsday we made a small detour and stopped at the Dinosaur Provincail Park, located near Patrica, Alberta, Canada.  The area of it's location is known as the Badlands of Alberta... and it did remind us of the Badlands of South Dakota.  The only difference is that as you approach the area it is nothing but flat field and then all of the sudden you see all of the Badland area, below the surface of the surounding field!  If you visit be sure to call ahead beacause the only way to see the fossil sites is by a guided tour and all of them were filled when when got there... it was still neat to see the muesuem and the area.  In the future when our kids are into dinosuars we might incorporate a stop there as we travel up to Drumheller, Alberta to see the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Thursday, 08/5, we had the excitment of a tire blow out on the camper.  Luckily we were able to pull over fast enough that there was not much damage done to the camper itself.  After we changed the tire (on a two lane highway) we stopped in a small town and had a road side picinic.  Not to much furthur down the road we crossed the border back into Canada.  The difference between Canidan Customs and U.S. Customs was incredible!  The U.S. gaurds completely search both our camper and our parents motorhome.  After a lot of questioning and the confiscation of mom and dad's lemons and green peppers and our firewood, we were back on the road and had a peacfull rest of the day.  We ended the night at a nice campgrounds sitting by our last campfire of the trip!

Friday the 6th was an easy day of driving with no big events which then lead to today, Saturday... Home!  We had an amazing four week trip out west with Mom and Dad and are very thankful for the time that we were able to spend with them and the countless memories!!! In the end, we drove a total of 5062.2 miles and the only issue through out the whole trip was a blown tire.   We look forward to getting to work using this blog dairy and 3087 photos (just counting Ben's) and reliving the trip as we make our photo alblum!  We saw many amazing things that we will NEVER forget and made many memories that will last a life time!

8/03/2010 The Road to Jasper and the Columbia Icefields

Today we got up really early to make the trip up to Jasper.  We had a quick breakfast and then took 93 (Icefields Parkway) from Banff.  We stopped at a ranger station at Lake Louise for information and recommendations about what to see.  They recommended that we for sure see the Columbia Ice Fields.  As we got closer and closer, we were taking more and more pictures.  The mountains were gorgeous and we couldn't believe how many glaciers there were throughout the entire day's drive.  It was incredible.  The mountains looked really cool as there were some low clouds hanging just below the peaks.  I don't think the pictures look nearly as neat as they did in real life... it was really breathtaking.  Once we got to the Icefields we walked around the visitors center and checked out some of the displays they had there.  Then, we drove to the foot of the Athabasca Glacier and hiked to the edge of it.  It was crazy huge and yet we could only see 2% of the actual glacier.  They had posted signs that told where the glacier had retreated from in previous years, like in 1990, 1982, etc.  It was amazing to see how much it has retreated just in our life time, the last 27 years.  At one side the glacier sheared off and you could see refracted light causing the inside to appear as a gorgeous ocean blue color where the ice was compacted.  They said that close to us

underneath the glacier there is a pretty big lake from the melt water of the glacier.  Because of this it is dangerous to walk in certain areas... Ben and I were good and stayed within the recommended boundaries; however, several people were breaking the rules and putting themselves in harms way!  The rangers said that due to the extreme temperatures and depth under the ice, most people who fall through die of hypothermia before rescuers can reach them!  I kept wondering what I would do if I saw someone disappear through the ice...  I still don't know!!!  EEk!  As we were hiking back from the glacier we look

 up and high on a ridge was a large group of mountain goats... so our wildlife excitement continues!  After the glacier we headed home, stopping many times along the way to take more pictures.  Of course we couldn't resist another great bear shot... this one was rather close to the road indulging on a few berries  With his camera skills, Ben was able to get some great  shots from a good distance; however, it never ceases to amaze us how close people get to these WILD animals! 

We ended our day back at the hot springs for one last soak before heading home.  It was really nice...man I

 wish central Illinois had hot springs!  Another great day... not many left!

8/02/2010 Chillin' in Canmore

Today was our lazy day in Canmore. We slept in and set NO alarms! When we got up, we made a huge breakfast of cream beef on toast. It was so good and we all ate way too much!!! After breakfast Mom and I did laundry while the boys hung out at the camper. We met up for a late lunch at a place called The Bear Paw. We all shared some nachos that were wonderful and I tried their grapefruit soda. They make their own soda and beer. The boys said the beer was good, but I DID NOT agree. When we were done with lunch we walked around to some of the shops around town. Then, we went back to the campers. I took a nap while Ben worked on some school work. After my nap, I worked on some work too. For supper we had salmon and salad and hung out the rest of the night.

8/01/2010 Johnston Canyon & Banff Hot Springs

This morning we got up and listened to church service online. After we had breakfast and then went on a hike in Banff National Park. It was through a huge canyon called Johnston Canyon. There were catwalks and slick rock and it was so cool. Along the trail we met several small furry friends again. We were reallysurprised at how many people had their dogs on the trail. We are glad our two stayed home this trip though, it would have been so much more work to have them with us. My favorite part of the hike was at the very end of the trail where we could walk out on a cat walk to the bottom of a huge waterfall. It was awesome and we got sprayed from the falls. Right at the end of the hike, it started raining and we had to run to our cars. We were going to go to the hot springs afterward and decided to go and see if the rain cleared up. When we got there we had a bite to eat at the cafe. I must say that Ben and I shared a meal of teriyaki chicken and rice and it was surprisingly GREAT! ... I was really hungry! We enjoyed the hot springs for a little over an hour and then had to evacuate because a little kid got sick in the pool. Luckily we weren’t close at all, but everyone had to get out of the pool for cleaning. They closed the pool for an hour so we decided to call it a day. We headed back to the campground for showers and an evening snack. Actually it was suppose to be supper but it was around 8:30-9:00 when we got home. Afterward, we called it a night.

7/31/2010 Lake Louise

We started today by sleeping in.  We only had one thing on the agenda...the much talked about Lake Louise.  Everyone, especially Mom, had been looking forward to going to Lake Louise this entire trip.  We were told it is GORGEOUS!  Since Lake Louise is about an hour and a half from our campground, before we left we made a big breakfast on Dad's newest edition to the camping kitchen...an electric griddle.  It's pretty handy and Ben decided he's going to put it on his Christmas list.  We had scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.  After breakfast we took it easy for a few hours and left around 10:30.  When we got to Lake Louise we walked around the hotel, The Chateau which is huge!  They have 4 restaurants, over 5 gift stores, etc, etc, etc.  We had read some reviews on the Internet and Mom and Ben wanted to get cheese fondue at the hotel so after some research and questioning, we discovered that the only place to get fondue was at

supper time at a Swiss restaurant in the hotel.  We made reservations and then went looking for a little lunch. We had lunch on the patio of this cute cafe - I had the most delicious potato soup.  It was neat because they were having a wedding at the hotel so we got to watch all the guest arrive and the orchestra start playing.  After lunch we decided to hike around the lake - They have a hike that goes along the lake and then up to the Victoria Glacier.  It was very pretty and serene.  After our hike we walked around some of the shops in the hotel and relaxed until 6:00.  We were very impressed with the Swiss restaurant called The Strube.  It was VERY authentic!  I had Raclette, which is a cheese you melt over potatoes, bread, and veggies. Ben and Mom finally got their Cheese Fondue!  We were so full after supper that we felt like we were rolling out of the restaurant.  Before heading home we walked around a little more and sat and watched people canoe on the lake .  Upon arrival at the campground, we...crashed!  We were so tired I don't even remember what time it was.

7/30/2010 On the Road Again & Banff

This morning we woke up, packed up, and headed out! The next and final stop for our trip is the area around Banff Alberta Canada. We have heard a lot of horror stories from people who have previously traveled with their campers through Canadian Customs and I must say we were all a little worried about how the experience would go. One of the camp hosts at our campground in Yellowstone said that when she and her husband crossed the border they had to stand outside while the patrol officers went through the camper and they could hear cupboards and drawers opening and closing. We pulled up to the customs gate with mom and dad ahead of us. It was only a matter of minutes when mom and dad pulled through and radioed to us that they were done. We proceeded up to the gate and began to answer several questions about where we were coming from, where we were going, how much alcohol we had with us, how many and what type of weapons we have on board, and, then the question that I thought was going to do us in, they asked us if we had any maze or pepper spray. I told him that I had bear spray in my hiking bag and he said have a nice trip as he handed me our passports! Wow, that was easy!!! Only a few miles from customs the view changed drastically. We entered fields of endless yellow; it was a crop called “rape” that has various uses, a big one being canola oil. We continued our travels and about six hours later we arrived in Canmore, Alberta. After we got all set up in the Spring Creek Campground we all jumped in the truck and drove about thirty minutes to Banff. Once we got to Banff we had dinner on the roof of a three story building. I had an amazing buffalo burger that hit the spot after driving all day. After dinner we walked through the shops for a while and listened to three Canadian Rangers sing a song about the difference between Ravens and Crows… you had to be there! We finished off our first night in Canada with a marshmallow around a fire at our camper and then we all called it a night. Tomorrow we are going to drive to Lake Louise.

7/29/2010 Beaver Pond Hike & "IT's A GRIZZLY!!!"

This morning we slept in and then got up and made a big breakfast of blueberry pancakes and sausage.  After breakfast I spent a couple hours finishing and submitting my final projects for my last class of the

summer!!! What a great feeling - I promised everyone that next summer I will not take any classes (that would be the first class-free summer in five years).  In the afternoon we when into Glacier Park and took a beautiful 3 mile hike around the Beaver Pond loop.  This trail was different than any that we have hiked so far.  It started at the trail head of an early 1900's ranger cabin.  As the trail went on we journeyed deep into the woods.  The trail had no evidence of recent use and its setting made it perfect for bears.  As we traveled deeper and deeper into the woods it suddenly opened up into a meadow of the most beautiful wild flowers.  This sequence of woods and then meadow continued throughout the hike and the the scenery was amazing; although, at times it felt like "The Wizard of Oz" meets "Where the Wild Things Are" and the deeper into the woods we traveled we had an eerie feeling that caused us to rename the hike "Where Are the Wild Things?".  As we joked, we came across a pile of

 bear scat that contained a large amount of fur.  Not to much further into the hike Dad and I both simultaneously smelled an animal - If you are a deer hunter you know what I am talking about!  However, this smell was not deer but we couldn't identify it! Within-in a minute of the smell we heard something crunching through the woods. With my bear spray close at hand we continued on when I suddenly spotted a large, brown, fur patch through the trees - It was a HUGE, female moose!  Mom finally got to see her moose!  After our excitement we stopped for a little snack and then finished the hike - we had a bear free hike! When we got back to our campers Mom, Dad, and Lex decided to take a nap and I did some work on the new dual-credit Earth Science class that I will be teaching this Fall.  After dinner we drove to a ranger site where they set up spotting scopes to view a mountain where bears can sometimes be spotted.  When we arrived they had some mountain goats in site; however, the mountain site was pretty far from view so the goats are a little blurry in the pictures.  We hung around for a while and talked to the rangers and then decided to go find a fly

fishing stream before it got too dark.  As long as you stay within the park boundaries fishing is free - I thought that was pretty neat!  As we drove down the stream banks we looked to our left and saw - can you believe it - A GRIZZLY - only about forty yards away!!! It was a momma and two cubs and she was on the move.  We grabbed the Cannon and the bear spray,  jumped out, and got a few pictures of her - it was really amazing to watch.  As we drove down the road we saw a  man with a pretty hefty camera so I stopped to talk to him; his name was Mike and he is in the process of making a Blue Ray of Glacier and then he is going to head to Yellowstone if he is successful.  He was a really nice man and I told him I would be sure to watch for his finished product - you can follow his journey at: http://theparksproject.org/what-is-the-parks-project/  Anyway, we had a great day, our last at Glacier, and tomorrow we will head for Banff, Alberta.  Glacier is an incredible place to visit and I would encourage everyone to see it before the glaciers are gone!