What's next

Hi!

We celebrated a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and we were also able to be a part of my youngest sister's engagement!

We head now to Bellingham Wa. to celebrate her's and a cousin's engagements with extended family. We'll pick up some skiing along the way and visit some very close friends. After that Bryce and I head to Arizona for five days.

On the 7th of January, we'll return to Tigard, pick up the kids and head to North Carolina on the 8th. We are more than half way through our trip!! And though we're having a lot of fun with family and tons of adventures, we are getting very ready to be home again:o).

Happy New Year!!

Elie at the Nursing home

So, Elie spent 2 days working in nursing homes with Daddy until we flew out for Porland from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Walking down the hall of a nursing home with an adorable little 5 year old is like walking down the street with Julia Roberts. She is just a little star.

I had brought her a felt coloring picture which she worked on at the first home we visited. About halfway through coloring it she asked me if she could give it to somebody. I asked who she would want to give it to (thinking Nonnie or Jadon, etc...) and she told me she wanted to give it to somebody who lived in the nursing home. She then proceeded to write some letters on the back of the picture and then she asked one of the nurses what name she had written on it. It kind of looked like Betty, so the nurse found Betty, a sweet elderly lady in a wheelchair with severe arthritis and what looked like the physical attributes of a person who has gone through a major stroke or has MS. (I'm definetely not a Dr. when it comes to assessing this kind of stuff :)) Betty was delighted! She worked on saying "Thank You" with a huge smile on her face and proceeded to tell us (with the help of her nurse) about her grand baby. Elie was so pleased that she spent the rest of the afternoon drawing pictures for as many residents as she could. She made such an impression on the nurse I was working with during the day that they needed to have hugs and an emotional goodby at the end of the day. -What an amazing little girl I have.

You could just see Elie working over the experience in her head throughout the day. At lunch we went to McDonalds because they had a play structure she could play on. Since Elie knows that McDonalds does not have very healthy food, she instructed me to try to buy healthy food for myself so that I wouldn't have to live in a nursing home when I get older. She then told me that when I get old I need to live with her. I plan on reminding her of that later in life.

-Bryce

Portland, Oregon

Hello! Jadon and I made it safely from North Carolina to Portland Oregon, after three airplane rides - much to my son's delight. He did fabulous! The best traveling he's done yet:o). We are tired, but so relieved to be with family and relax comfortably for a while.

Elie and Bryce get in tonight around mid-night and we will head to Vancouver, Washington tomorrow morning to be with Bryce's family for the weekend.

Elie and Jadon have really missed each other - something that is just precious to Bryce and I to see in them:o).

Fried Green Tomatoes

We found the BEST place ever to eat - and they served fried green tomatoes! We tried them and discovered that they are actually really good. This place was so good and so much fun that Elie cried when we told her we were leaving the city and we wouldn't be able to eat there again - something she's not done on this trip yet.

The place was called Brown's and Elie cried for "Brown" for a whole hour! I guess it was a very fun experience for her!!! (She also loved the fried green tomatoes - and just about everything else she ate).

Check it out: www.brownscountryrestaurant.com

Hello from Nashiville, Tennessee

Hi!

It has been so cloudy and foggy and raining these past several days, but we have enjoyed the scenery around us so much! We agreed that we could easily live in Arkansas, it was so beautiful. And again, we agreed we could easily live in Tennessee! The landscape is quite different from Colorado or any where else we've been so far - but it is breath taking. And people are really friendly wherever we go. Things are very laid back... not uptight at all... which is nice, but we've also noticed it in the state of our hotel rooms too! Oh well. I clean every place we stay anyway.

This is our third day in Tennessee. The last couple days we have been in a city only for the day, and we moved on early the next morning. We are really getting good at all the logistics of moving around so much:o)... though it's getting old now. But we are here, in Nashville through the weekend, and that is nice.

Our plans now are to move onto North Carolina, where on Tuesday Jadon and I will fly out to Portland, Oregon for Christmas. Elie and Bryce will follow us two days later, after Bryce completes a few more installs. We will spend a week or so celebrating Christmas with family before Bryce I will fly to Arizona for a week. My parents are keeping our kids - and we are looking forward to this break! :o)

After Arizona, we fly into Portland, pick up the kids and fly back to North Carolina, where we will resume the installing trek for a couple more weeks. As it appears today we will head back to Grand Rapids around the 21st of January. Of course - as has been the custom of this trip, that could change in a day:o)!

This is an especially fun part of our trip, as we love the south. We came out to Georgia on our second anniversary and traveled to South Carolina. We fell in love with this part of the country then, so being back out here and seeing more southern states has been a treat. It is also beginning to feel more like home... perhaps because we are within a days drive of home? It's a nice feeling, as we are all getting a bit homesick.

Also, we booked a suit when we booked this hotel as we were given a special rate on it. (I guess that's a perk when you stay in so many hotels of the same chain!) When we got here and went to check in, they had doubled booked our room. So instead of a suit we were given two joining rooms for less than we were paying for the suit! This is a fantastic mistake made in our behalf!! We have not enjoyed so much space for 39 days :o). Elie and Jadon each get a bed of their own. Something that upset Jadon quite a bit at first. Once he realized he got all the pillows on his bed and could spread out as much as he likes (he's still so small that he sleeps all over the place - much to Elie's discomfort), he loved it.

I think we are hitting our second wind when it comes to enduring the longevity of this trip. We are missing home so much, but finding it routine to move our small household from place to place day after day. We are finding so many little provisions too, and it's going to be good to be with family again soon for a time.

So Merry Christmas!

Elie's birthday story is posted on Paulson Family Life

This made us laugh

In all the 15 hotels we've stayed in over the last month, we've never seen this sign... we thought it was a very creative way to deal with stolen items! And for some reason it just caught our funny bone.

(Honestly, we can't figure out why anyone would want hotel towels, blankets, pillows or ironing boards... At lest not from the hotels we stay in! (I've lost track of the number of sheets that have had holes in them, the towels with stains and the coffee makers with mold!) But hey, to each his own, I guess.)

Little Bit of Updating

Here's a bit of what's been going on...

(Elie's Birthday story and picture are uploaded on our Family Life blog)


On our trip out of Colorado (before we all got sick!) we stopped at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, at the urging of some good friends. It was a blast! They have a ton of things set up for kids to play in, all based on their radio shows... they have a HUGE books store, and an awesome resource and museum center.

Elie and Jadon at Whit's End (a real soda fountain was inside, but we got around to getting there too late to enjoy any treats)

Veggie Tales set...

(this was one I haddn't seen, but we aren't very up to date on Veggie tales anymore)

Elie and Daddy as a cat and one of the characters

After the wonderful experience of getting sick in southern Colorado (only 45 minutes from the border!) and two more days of driving we made it to Arkansas. We got to stay in the Ozark Mountains! It was so neat.

I didn't get the scenery pictures, because it was overcast and nothing turned out very good... but the kids and I did an impromptu photo shoot in a park and these are some of my favorites...

We moved to Little Rock, Arkansas Friday night. Elie, Jadon and I had a late lunch/early dinner around 3pm, so by the time we got into Little Rock we were all very hungry, even though it was 10pm! The Waffle House is within walking distance of our hotel and open very late, so after getting moved in (in under 45 minutes - a record!!) we walked over and the kids had chocolate chip waffles and Bryce and I split the best cheese steak sandwich either of us have ever tasted. We then spent Saturday lazing around and shopping for Elie's birthday:o).

Our next stop is in Cooksville, Tennessee - which is Northern Tennessee, and we leave Wednesday morning. Fortunately it's only a quick 6 hour drive.

Jadon Waking up

Bryce here.

Jadon just woke up from his nap and looked over at me with sleepy eyes. I told him "Jadon, Elie's favorite birthday gift is the one you gave her (a my little pony baby pony)." He looked at me for a second and then said, "Do you want to hear the sound a car makes?" Of course I said yes and with a big grin on his face he goes "Zrooom Zroooom!" - That's my boy.

Little Rock, Arkansas

Hello!

We made it:o). Elie is still down with a bit of the flu bug, and Jadon, who really never had it much but did loose his appetite, is gaining it back. Bryce is much better, and other than loss of appetite, I was really spared - Thank you, Lord!

We spent yesterday in the Ozark mountains - it was amazing! Bryce had to work, but the kids and I drove and drove. We stopped at a lake, ate lunch in a park, and just simply enjoyed the beauty. It was really cloudy and over cast, so I didn't get any pictures of the scenery - but you're probably really tired of scenery pictures anyway:o). I did get some great pic's of the kids... but those will have to wait.

We are off to gather a few supplies for a birthday party!!! (Elie turns 5 tomorrow!!)

Prayers

So we were on our way to Amarillo, Texas yesterday and we didn't even make it out of Colorado before sickness struck! Bryce and Elie are down with the flu... vomiting and diarrhea the whole way. Please pray for out little family. That Jadon and I won't catch it, and that Elie and Bryce recover quickly - like in 24hrs... Bryce has to be in Arkansas by Tomorrow, which he may be able to postpone until Friday. Either way, being sick on the road is just not fun!!!

Thanks for your prayers. Hopefully our next blog will be from Arkansas all healthy!

Yampah Springs

Yeah, so this isn't the best picture! But for a special treat, instead of getting the kids ready for bed we dressed them in swim suits and took them to the hot springs for a swim after dark for our last night in Colorado...

There were signs all around the pool, "Deck may be icy," and it was around 29 degrees out!

The mist was rolling off the water in huge billows. It was eerie and totally fun. The kids had a blast! It was kind of creepy to wade out into the pool with the fog, suddenly you'd see a shadowy head only a few feet away.

Elie's comment, "It's smells like eggies... why?" Bryce had fun explaining the content of the hot springs... I think most of it went over her head.
It was really warm and cozy. The large pool got up to 93 degrees, while the smaller "therapy pool" averaged 104. We did dip in that one a bit - it was very nice! The kids liked it better too after a while, though they only splashed on the steps with occasional shoulder dips... just to warm up.

The Yampah spring was named by the Native Americans, meaning big medicine. It has a daily flow of 3,500,000 gallons of water, and is 122 degrees at the source. They still bottle it and serve it to drink! (yuck, personally) It's the largest hot springs in the US and is one of the hottest in the world.

Supposedly it's been known to cure some ailments and relieve others. Doc Holiday (I guess there's a real person by this name - I had no idea who this was until Bryce explained) came here to relieve tuberculosis, and during WW II doctors used it to heal and treat emotionally and physically disabled sailors and marines.

While I'm not sure it cured us of anything, it sure was fun to swim after dark in a misty hot "eggie" smelling pool!

Aspen, Colorado

Yesterday we spent a few hours in Aspen, Colorado. It was gorgeous... and very ritzy! Apparently I came here as a kid (I was born in Denver, Co), but I didn't recognize it at all... bummer. It sure was fun though.

However, this is what I remember winter being.. snow covered trees and blue sky. For some reason when I saw these (they lined the streets) I totally had flash backs of my earliest memories of winter. I had all these warm cozy, wonder-filled feelings of Christmas and all that winter meant... sort of like finding the lost piece of a puzzle.. or something like that.

Jadon and Daddy had a blast climbing the snow banks:o) Elie joined in too, mommy stayed on the ground and enjoyed watching!
Elie found herself and horse friend:o)
We didn't do much in Aspen... found a Mc Donalds, (phew!) and ate lunch. What is it with kids complaining of being hungry when no food is in sight, but the minute they get it they are full and ready to play again??

If I could unlock that secret I'm sure I'd cure eating problems for the world!

We found my new favorite store... Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - WOW! I even bought a mug, after I got some chocolate, of course:o).

It was a short, uneventful but fun trip.

Tomorrow we leave Colorado :o(... we'll head for Texas, where we'll spend a night, and then stop in Arkansas for a five days, before heading to Tennessee, where we'll spend the weeks before Christmas. At least, that's the plan as of 8 am this morning... we'll see if it actually happens that way:o)!

Day of Rest

Saturdays have been our family Sabbath day for about 2 years now, a habit we've worked hard at keeping up on this trip. Today was no exception! We didn't get to breakfast until 10 minutes before they were cleaning up (10 am), as we all slept in and took time to snuggle (something Jadon woke up at 2am demanding) before getting up. A luxury we've not taken for quite a while. Then we went back to our room and napped:o)! We literally did not get out of the hotel until after 4pm. It was fantastic!!!

Once we got our sleepy selves moving we decided to take a gondola ride up the mountain - WoW! It was so much fun!! We caught the very last run for the day:o).

The gondolas.

I think Bryce is wondering if we're going to fall... Jadon doesn't seem to worry!
The girls...
Glenwood Valley (Glenwood springs is the name of the town, and of the actual hot spring, the largest in this country and known for it's healing properties)

Family on top of the world!
After our amazing trek up the mountain and back we went for supper. Our four-year-old daughter requested Chinese food, particularly crab. I think she's under the impression that Chinese restaurants are the only places that carry such childhood delicacies...

So we found Chinese. And had crab, just for her. She ate a ton of it! Ahh, my little crab diva! I am slowly learning (you'd think I'd figure this out after 30 nights of eating out!) that my family, particularly the boys in my family, just cannot eat out without making some sort of hilarious scene... "We are Paulsons, hear us laugh!" Thank heaven for my daughter! We can sit quietly together, calmly, lady-like... laughing at the guys.
Our day of rest was wonderful!

Paonia, Colorado

We spent yesterday in Paonia, a very remote mining town with 3 active mines. They harvest the white marble found in cemetery... hmm. Anyway, here are some pictures of yesterday's adventures

The scenic drive...

The higher we went the cloudier and snowier it got
Summit!
Jadon playing in the park - this was such a huge photo moment for this little man, I had to proudly display it.
The view from the park we played in... the clouds came in and out... but this mountain seemed to loom over the tiny town.
Our drive home got a little crazy... we drove through the start of a huge snow storm and it just kept getting deeper, and darker.
We passed two semi's that had slid off the road, a couple of cars that were stopped, and a horse trailer that was jack-knifed on the steep side of the pass - the horses were all clumped on the opposite side - not sure if you can see that very clearly from this picture...
We didn't see any bears... but then we realized that in December they were probably already hibernating... we did seem more rams, and aside from the horses no other wildlife.