Pictures...

Hi,

We're getting packed up and ready to come home... We just uploaded some pictures you might want to see! The first one is John horseback riding on the beach. Diane was with him and said he was a natural. The second picture is John, Connor (to the left) and Jordan (to the right) while they were trying to catch the "wild" bunnies at the Oregon Coast. they all had a great time.

See you soon.

Maureen and John

Columbia River Gorge

Hello!!

Only three more days and we're on our way home... I think both of us are looking forward to coming home. 30 days is a long time to be away from home! John is definitely missing his friends and his dog Chloe. He's gotten to the point that he calls Paul just to listen to Chloe on the phone. We got to go down to the Columbia River Gorge yesterday and see Multnomah Falls (I hope I spelled that correctly). Both were beautiful, but I think John has hit his quota of sights to see...

Today we're going into Portland with Diane and will check out some of the Portland sights. I keep meaning to upload pictures, but I never seem to get the chance...maybe tonight!

We hope you're all doing well and we are definitely looking forward to seeing you soon!!!!

Maureen and John

Washington/Oregon

Hi Everyone,

John and I got to Oregon on Monday afternoon. Loving the weather... it's much cooler here than it was in Salt Lake. It goes down into the 50's at night. John is enjoying playing with Connor and Jordan and I am enjoying having time to sit down and talk to Diane!

We went to the Oregon Coast and John got to go horseback riding with Diane and Jordan. The coast is beautiful, but not really made for New Yorkers who want to go to the "beach". In fact, we were in jeans and fleece for most of the time we were there.

We'll update you more soon!

Maureen

Good Bye Salt Lake City!

Well, it's Monday morning and we are getting ready to go to Diane and Bill's house in Oregon. We spent yesterday just relaxing since we've been on the go for the past three weeks! Salt Lake is an easy city to get around by foot, but John and I wanted to try out the trolley too! We spent some time over in Temple Square to see all of the buildings. I was trying to get John to stop for the Tabernacle Choir's practice, but he had other plans! Don't worry Mom - no one tried to convert us!

We spent the rest of the day at the movie theater seeing Get Smart.... It was actually a good idea since I think it was 98 degrees here. No matter what anyone says...98 is hot - dry heat or not! We then got on two incorrect trolleys before we finally got back to the hotel. We did pick up a new book for John about Ripley's Believe it or Not. As I watched him trying to read that book as we were eating dinner, and reading it as we were walking back to the hotel, he reminded me so much of myself when I would read my books at the dinner table. John has discovered that there are 15 or so Ripleys museums and he'd like to do a road trip to visit those as well. We saw our first in Jackson Hole. Thank Goodness there's another in NYC and Atlantic City so we won't have to travel too far just yet. However, one of them is in Thailand!!!

We will be in Oregon until the 30th and then we fly home. John is looking forward to riding bikes, going four-wheeling, going to the coast and (if you can believe it) not eating in restaurants anymore! I'm just looking forward to sitting down and talking to my friend!!!

Talk to you soon!!

Maureen

Grand Teton Mountains

Hey...

I got some pictures uploaded last night, so I can send some pictures along for you to see.... The Grant Tetons are absolutely breathtaking. Also, when we were driving through Teton National Park we were able to see more wildlife up close than we did in Yellowstone.

John's Ambulance Ride

Well, here's the story....

In my mom's last post it said that I chose to eat the meat, but she really told me to try it.

Anyway, I had these air tubes in my nose and I got to keep a little stuffed animal from the Rangers named "snickerdoodle" - he's a bear. They put a plastic ranger hat on me and kept taking my temperature, pulse and blood pressure.

The ambulance ride was awesome!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures...

Has it been that long???

Hello Everyone!!

I can't believe it has been a week since we've posted. We've been so busy exploring Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons that I haven't even had time to post!! Now I'm realizing that John and I will need to back track to make sure we put everything in the blog!

Just a quick summary... Paul met up with us on July 13th in Salt Lake City. We explored a bit in Salt Lake and then headed north to go to Yellowstone. For those of you who haven't been to Yellowstone, it's a must-see! Diane Knaust had given us a list of great places to see in the park, so we had an easy time organizing our activities. We did get to see Old Faithful (pictures coming) and some additional geysers. John liked the mudpots and Paul seemed to like searching for all of the different animals. We were amazed that some of the bison would be just walking along the road as we were driving by! (pictures of that too!). We stayed one night in a "rustic" cabin. Now, rustic was an understatement! It was, basically, a wood cabin with a hard mattress! I am not a real fan of camping, so when I realized that the bathrooms were a football field away, I decided that I would avoid all drinking that night! : )

We went to a cowboy cookout, but had an interesting experience there (I'll let John write about it since it is his story!). Everything is fine, but his story does include a visit with the Rangers and an interesting ride back to the cabin.

After Yellowstone, we traveled south to the Grand Tetons and stayed in Jackson Lake Lodge. Another cabin setup, but this time...a bathroom!!! The Tetons seem much more developed and this hotel has a number of different amenities that satisfied the spoiled westchesterite in me!

We spent Friday in Jackson and took our first white water trip (well, first for me and John). It was cold in that boat, but the trip overall was quite fun!

Well, that's my summary of the past couple of days, but I'll spend some time over the next few days reconstructing the past week and then will post updates!

We hope you are all well and are also enjoying your summers... We are heading back to Salt Lake tonight to drop Paul off at the airport and then we will be staying in Salt Lake until Monday when we travel to Portland to see Diane, Bill and the boys.

xoxoxoxo
Maureen and John

Check out our pictures of the Children's Museum

Here are some pictures from the Children's Museum...

http://s316.photobucket.com/albums/mm321/mlindell67/?special_track=nav_album_album

Enjoy!

We've Been Very Busy!!

Hello Everyone...

It's been a while since we last posted...sorry about that! It seems like we're running around all the time and we never get the time to sit down and gather our thoughts. I think we're going to need a week of sleep when we get back!

The last time we blogged, we were looking forward to going into Indy to go to our first Minor League game of the trip. We spent the daytime with Dawn and Harrison playing at the pool, but then drove in to the city for dinner and the game. One little plug here...Kieran (my brother for those who don't know him) had suggested that we sign up for VZ Navigator through our phone. I, of course, said sure, but never followed up. Lucky for me my new plan has it and I"ve been enjoying having a GPS system right on my phone! I thought it would be complicated, but so far it's been great and it even picks up all of the current conditions. (I truly think Verizon should be paying me for this unabashed plug!). That navigation system saved me from a few mapquest debacles!

We met Becki, Kathleen and the kids at their hotel and then went out to dinner. Now we were planning to go to TGIF's, but I guess BEcki didn't research enough : ) and we found that the entire building was under construction!!! We had a great dinner and then went to the game. Let me tell you, the Indianapolis Indians do it right!! They had a small field with lots of lawn area for families and plenty of side activities for the kids to do. When you check out our pictures from Indy, look at the ones of the kids getting their tattoos!! Becki gave us a walking tour on the way back to the hotel and, I have to say, Indy is a beautiful city. It seems so family friendly there. I think Kathleen and Becki believe I will be dropping everything and moving to Indy soon! Who knows??

Check out our other pictures! Click on the link on the left hand side!!

Enough From my Mom!

OK. don't get mad aunt suzanne, this is from me!!!!!!!

we got to the barrack's yesterday i thought i would play a game that the sprinkel's gave me (the star wars kinights of the old republic). i found out that i couldn't so i went for a swim at the barrack's and then it thunder and lightninged and then we went inside and watched tv (wipeout) but then there was a report about a tornado. i was not even scared. ok. keep posting!!!

"We're Goin' Back to Indiana"

Ahhh...the beautiful flatlands of Indiana! We're back in Indy at Dawn and Gerald's house and John has already been swimming in the pool and riding bikes with Harrison. The ride was an easy one, and we are happy to unpack once again..

We have a bunch of pictures we still need to post, but I still have to work out how to load the comments on to the pictures. So far John's favorite city is Chicago and keeps talking about going back there. I enjoyed Chicago too, although I hear Indy may give Chicago a run for the money...

John and I are finally getting into a groove now, after a couple of challenging days getting used to being together 24/7. I think I've gone from the worst mother in the Universe, to just the worst mother in the world. Most of that is tied to my saying no to purchasing new Lego... so that may change. We've been playing a lot of catch and a little ping pong, so we've been bonding over that. John learned a few video games when we were staying with Mike and Mary, so he's certainly had his fill of them! I've been trying to get some reading in, but have been falling asleep too early to get any reading in! : (

We also went to see Wall-E, and I still can't figure out who decided that a movie about the greediness and wastefulness of humanity would be a good topic for kids. Granted, Wall-E was "cute", but the movie was not the best. We still have a few other movies on our agenda (Get Smart, Space Chimps..etc). Any recommendations?

We're looking forward to seeing the Children's Museum in Indy and a minor league with Becki and Kathleen...

We'll post our pictures as soon as we can!

Maureen and John

Touchdown Jesus

Ahhh...the midwest...home to Touchdown Jesus and Jungle Jims (the grocery store, not the children's activity centers).... Who knew the variety of activities in which we could partake? (I have to say, it's tough being an English teacher when you publish your writing. I had to go back to that last sentence and move that preposition. I'm sure my Dad would have sent me an e-mail if I hadn't!! : )

We had a great day just touring the local area and hanging around. John met two boys from the neighborhood and he was enjoying just playing with them and swimming at the pool. Tuesday morning we're leaving for Dawn's house and then to meet up with Becki and Kathleen.

Talk to you tomorrow....

Thank You Bloggers!

This is a big hello and thank you to all of you who have responded to the blog! We've heard from Becki, The Stewarts, The Virginia Lindells, Aunt Trudy and Christopher Cangemi. We love your comments!

See you on the internet!

Maureen and John

Check out our pictures!

Good Morning from Ohio,



It's our last day here in Ohio and we're going to take a drive in the cool RV and check out some local sites. I spent some time trying to upload our pictures into a photo album and I think I may have gotten pretty close. We all know I'm no techie, but I am certainly trying. The way to get to the pictures is to go to the left side of the page and click on "Pictures from the Trip". This link will take you to a website that hosts our pictures. Once you get there, click on slideshow and it will show you the pictures in slide show format. If you don't have ActiveX, you may need to download it so you can view the slideshow, but the website will give you a prompt. Or, you can just view them from that original page if you want to. I have to work on some of the captions, so don't get distracted too much by them!

We are really enjoying ourselves out here and are really loving the fact that we have such amazing family and friends! Let me know if you aren't getting all the links.. And...keep posting!

The Ohio Ohlandts

I am so psyched to be at Six Flags!!!

The Reds Won!!

Hi Everyone,

I think we may be the good luck charms for the Reds because they actually won this afternoon. We had an amazing breakfast with Oma Sprinkel (lots of pork products for John) and then headed out with Beth O'Connor to go see the Cincinnati Reds. We drove into the city and got there early for the game. It was jersey day for the kids, so John got a cool camo Griffey jersey. I was amazed by the size of the stadium...it felt like we were right on the field. John was worried that the players were going to look like "dots", but we could see faces and expressions! The kid who threw the opening pitch was the little boy who plays little league and only has one leg. He is amazing!!

The first few innings were, according to John, "BORING". But, as Murphy's Law dictates, as soon as we got up to go to the bathroom, the Reds scored three to tie. The next time we got up...you got it, they scored again! We enjoyed the game, the stadium and the company! I think John inhaled everything they served at the stadium (cotton candy, ice cream, pizza and popcorn). If he throws up tonight...I'm not on duty! : )

After the game we went out with Beth to dinner and talked, talked, talked. It was so good to catch up with her and hear about all the things going on. When we came back to the Sprinkel's house, Mike and Oma Sprinkel took John to the pool and then, finally, John was tired enough to go to bed!! Mike, Mary and I stayed up for a while just chatting and realizing how lucky we are to have such an amazing family. It's great to be able to see everyone and talk to one another about life. We were chatting about life, love and the pursuit of happiness...what is happiness anyway! ; ) Well, we're off to bed. Someone needs to post soon because John wakes up each morning looking for a post from all of you! Tonight we're uploading some pictures so you can see what we've been doing. We'll be in Ohio one more day and then we're off to Indiana to meet up with Dawn, Becki and Kathleen...

Saturday with the Sprinkels

How many Waffle Houses are there in America? And...why are the people who work there so nice? We stopped for breakfast and then took the two hour drive over to Mary and Mike's house. We had a great day visiting with Mike and Mary and we are looking forward to meeting up with Beth tomorrow for the Reds game.

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!! Today we awoke to sunny skies and 75 degree weather... a great day for an amusement park! We decided to go up to Six Flags Great America so John could experience a few roller coasters and water rides. The park was 45 minutes away from where we were staying, so we had a bit of a drive... Once we got there, we were surprised by how few people were there. We were expecting huge crowds because it was a holiday, but, luckily, there weren't. Because of my recent visit to the hospital and John's lack of height, we didn't go on many roller coasters. The only one we did go on (and I did get permission to do so!!) was the wooden coaster, the Eagle. Let me tell you, it was scary! It reminded me of when we went down to Six Flags in Georgia when we were kids.

After a full day of regular rides and water rides, we stopped off in Chicago for some dinner and then headed to Indiana for the night. We decided to stay near Indy so that we'd be close to Mary and Mike for Saturday morning. After driving through downtown Chicago, we ventured into Indiana. My one word for Indiana (so far...I'm sure I'll learn more when we meet up with Becki) is FLAT. I think you can see for miles right from the highway! We got to see a bunch of fireworks shows while we were driving and then we wound up south of Indy and stayed at another Hampton Inn for the night. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep almost immediately.

Happy 3rd of July

So I'm all recovered from the Emergency Room visit and both John and I are ready to celebrate the 4th! (We're celebrating today because tomorrow we're supposed to go to Six Flags) Today we're going to meet up with Pete and Susan and have a BBQ at their house. First, however, we had to test our skills at the local bowling alley. Now, we all know that I am no bowler. But, to be beaten by a 7 year old, a 5 year old and a three year old is truly embarassing!! We did enjoy ourselves and then we went back to the Chicago Ohlandt's house for the party. Pete and Susan are friendly with Matt Laurencelle from Floral Park, so I got to have a little Floral Park Reunion at the party.



We all enjoyed ourselves at the get together and learned quite a bit about the North/South side issues and I learned all about the differences between White Sox and Cubs fans. Everyone was really nice and the kids all played really well together. There were some great fireworks at around 9:30 and everyone sat outside to watch. Chicago is definitely growing on both of us. The neighborhoods reminded me of Long Island, but each had great little downtown areas. Hmmm...we may have to consider Chicago if we ever want to relocate!

Where's the Emergency Room???

Some people come to Chicago to experience the nightlife...others, the beautiful lake... I, apparently, wanted to visit the hospital!

On Tuesday, John and I went with Pete, Susan, JT and Caroline into the city to see the Shedd Aquarium and then to the Taste of Chicago, a streetfair in the city that lets people sample all the culinary goodies Chicago has to offer. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. The aquarium was amazing and we got to see two 4D shows which were, frankly, quite scary since they made you believe that you were being attacked by rats...ugh.

After we sampled the culinary treats at the fair (oh, by the way, John did stunts on a gravity trampoline for everyone's entertainment), we walked along the water to go back to the car. Unfortunately, once we were in the car, I got a really bad migraine. To make a long story short, the migraine turned into some freakish heart palpitations and Pete took me to the Emergency Room where I spent the next 24 hours! I have to say, the hospital staff was amazing, but hospitals were not really on our list of things to see. : ) Susan was amazing and took John for the day and he got to play with his cousins. We're back on track today and will modify our trip just a little bit so we can stay close to relatives in case this happens again! Today we're meeting up with Matt Laurencelle from Floral Park and having dinner with him, his wife and kids, and the Ohlandts. I, personally, will be trying to stay far away from Glenview Hospital!

hotel here

ok we start off by eating a big breakfast! it was ok. keep bloging!

Chicago...Day 1

We arrived in Chicago Monday morning around 11:00 (although I thought it was 12 since I hadn't set my watch back!). Despite our attempts at packing light, we wound up with too many bags for just me to carry! John and I picked up our car and then drove to our hotel. On the way we saw the original McDonalds store. While I thought that was impressive, John was more impressed with the number of McDonald franchises that there were from the airport to our hotel. Once we checked in we took a little rest (since we had been up quite early from the flight) and then had a catch at the local park.

We met up with the Chicago Ohlandts (Susan, Peter, JT and Caroline) and had a little ice cream while we planned our trip for Tuesday. I've never been to Chicago so I am excited to see the city itself when we go in today to see the aquarium. We also plan to go to "The Taste of Chicago" which is a food fair in the middle of the city. We'll take some pictures today so you can see how everyone is doing!! Talk to you soon.