Happy Mother's Day! We spent our morning traveling 2 and a half hours into Amish country, so we could be ready for classes here tomorrow. The kids made me cards, and made sure I didn't lift a finger all day! It was nice :) We drove around the countryside to just enjoy a scenic drive, snagged some yummy food from one of the only open restaurants on a Sunday...Park Street Pizza. Avocado fries, giant farm salad, and 3 kinds of pizza was on our table before we knew it. Mmmm mm good! Here is what I wrote to my momma for Mother's Day to celebrate her from far away: When I am tempted to roll my eyes during yet another multiplication flashcards review with the littles, I remember how my mom used to make it a fun game each day after school. 🎵How she'd make a sing song sergeant-esque rhyme of the ones that tripped me up.....6x4 is 24, 6x8 is 48. Sound off! 📖 Or when it was time to learn a long bible verse for church, she'd lay on a blanket with me out in the yard and cheerfully review it again and again, until I knew it well. 🏡 When I am tempted to skip due to exhaustion, I remember how every night she would tickle my back and cuddle me, while I drifted off to sleep. When Destiny and I butt heads and she blows up, I remember how mom would just hug me close and stroke my long hair, when I'd take out all my highschool frustrations on her. She was a heck of a cook and housekeeper and ran a tight ship. My messy clothing- strewn room, after a running late outfit crisis, made her crazy. It had to be cleaned up and chores done before any fun could occur. I am now that mom!🤣 Everything I know and do, is based on a bar set really high by a mom who did it all.🙌 I can only hope my children will have half the happy memories of a mom who served them with joy, during their growing up years. Happy Mother's Day, momma! I sure do love you🥰 Here is what my sweetie wrote me: GUYS, it is COLD here! High was 55 and rainy, so we cranked the fireplace and chilled the rest of the day in the RV. I love how homey it feels! We headed into town Monday for Mrs. Yoder's fried chicken buffet, and black raspberry ice cream from Troyers, even though it was FREEEEZING out! 51* high and 41* for the low We are total total wusses now, after spending all winter in Florida and I totally didn't pack the right kind of clothes, brrrrrr! Cold, grey and blustery for sure! The kids hunkered down and I headed to class...... No plans on Tuesday, but swim with the kids in the heated indoor pool...... When the sun FINALLY came out our final day there, we drove around and saw all the beautiful countryside! Windows down, just enjoying :) Isn't this area so beautiful?! Can you spot our RV in this pic?! Our final Ohio stop was Findlay for some classes with a brand new builder here! We found a pretty RV park with a big field behind it that was begging for playtime. We got set up and Pax decided it was time for a game of stick ball! :) Always nice to enjoy a little down time between classes! Paxton picked an INCREDIBLE dinner to cook this week. Check it out! Carnita Tacos with quick pickled onions Friday was a meet and greet at a local cute coffee shop. Our friends and biz partners, Matt & Liz and their 2 sweet kids were in town so they could connect with their Ohio team too. We had them drop the kids off, so they could all play while we went to coffee. Destiny is a great babysitter and it's safe to say the kiddos had a great time! I didn't get any photos of our coffee shop group, but Liz and I did make Dale pull over on the way home to get photos of this gorgeous bridge. A local instagram page share it as well, COOL! :) We got a phone call bright and early the next day with some sad news from Matt and Liz..... The river at their RV park flooded during the night and the RV and suburban were half under water. It was to the top step when they got rescued 2 at a time with only the backpacks on their backs. Here is the deal, they are in a strange place an hour from us in the wee hours of the morning, so once they got to dry ground, they were literally helpless and homeless. Everything they own is back in the RV. Their home on wheels! Thank the Lord for His provision! The Lawerence had attended a local church Sunday, had dinner Tuesday with the Pastor, and attended Wednesday night church and really connected with the leadership there. This kind shepherd was there in minutes and he and his wife opened their home and loaned their car to our friends until further notice. AMAZING! Praying it all works out. The "brain" of the RV is fried. All of it was under water! Randomly flashing lights, gages moving, alarms going off, won't start, not at all safe! Totally undriveable. We hold the note on this RV still, so we are up to our ears in insurance phone calls and arrangements. They keep wanting us to drive the RV to the shop to be accessed. I guess they don't have any idea that a fried RV cannot put jacks up, slides in, OR DRIVE for that matter! It can't even be towed with all those things down and out. Sigh. God has a plan and we trust it. Just a bit of a stressful situation for all! We left at 6 am the next morning to beat a line of severe hail storms coming our way. Little did we know, that wasn't going to be the end of it! After 12 hours of driving, we made it to Kansas City, just in time to enjoy the sunset and a walk. We planned to see our friends Monday, chill at the lake where we were parked Tuesday and go hang out and teach a class Wednesday. The more we watched the weather, the more concerned Dale got. The more time that passed, the worse the weather forecast. Flood warning for the lake we were parked at, golf ball sized hail, tornado watch and high winds. After much debate and sadness, the decision was made to not sit in the weather to come for the next 48 hours and instead, head the 4 hours home early in the morning and get the RV and trailer under cover at our home sweet hub. The last thing we need, is ANOTHER RV with a claim and storm damage! We will just take the car back to Kansas city Wed instead of getting the ol home on wheels back out again. Not ideal, we are terrible car travelers now, but totally worth it! We didn't beat the rain home, but we did beat the major wind and storms that hit that night both at our house and at the lake where we WOULD'VE been. We slept great knowing all was well! Check out our now "lakefront" home! No matter how dreary on the outside, we are so happy to be safe and warm on the inside and greeted by such a cheerful sight!
HOME SWEET HOME Hugs, T
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When I last blogged, we had QUITE the travel day adventure, but we made it to DELAWARE................the town of Delaware, OHIO that is! We were supposed to stay in Plain City, but they called to cancel our reservation. Apparently they had to tow out a ton of the rigs staying there due to heavy rains. Woah. Not cool. Glad they let us know! We saw this on FB not long after....... We got all set up, walked the our new rv park a bit and headed into town for dinner and groceries. MOD pizza was on our minds.... Proud of my little shoppers! They all menu planned with me as we drove and we headed to the store with 5 grocery lists and look, even smiles. :) Our menu includes: *BBQ chicken, mac & cheese, baked beans & veggies *Steak, parsley garlic noodles & salad *Walking Tacos *Roasted Red Pepper Sausage Rigatoni *Cheeseburgers and sides *Carne Asada tacos with pickled red onion & queso blanco cheese *Hobo dinners (leftover hamburger patty, zucchini, mushrooms, onion, rosemary and organic mushroom soup as gravy) over the fire with s'mores cones for dessert Mmm, some good eats this round! The next morning we headed out for some play time on the RV playground, but first the kids had to get ready. Arrrrgh matey! Love when these guys get creative. Cross Creek RV's pirate ship playground was the perfect inspiration for a day of fun! That evening, we had class, which was so fun! No pics, of course, I was teaching, remember?! :) We have lots of new excited oilers in OHIO!!!!! Speaking of oilers, we met the coolest couple on our trip to Hawaii this winter, we texted them to see if they were close by, and they were. Whoop whoop! They graciously invited us to their farm for the evening. It was BEEEEEAUTIFUL! They also have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls, so everyone had a buddy to hang with, and got along so so well. Such a neat family dynamic in this home! I really appreciated how the big boys, 17 & 15, stuck around and hung out with the kids and adults. That is highly unusual and a breath of fresh air, am I right?! Often the cool teens don't come home, or even if they are home, do not stick around to play or visit with everyone. I am more determined than ever, to make sure we do this as our family grows up. It's so easy to accept teenager things as "normal" when really, it's simply a choice and upbringing. Oh my goodness, the evening flew and it got SO late so fast! We had a heck of a time and literally talked non stop, like long lost friends catching up. Talk about kindred spirits....God is so faithful to continue to connect us with the coolest families as we travel! Thanks to Jim for snagging this fireside selfie of the whole gang before we left..... It rained pretty much the ENTIRE NEXT DAY, but we played games, watched movies and when the clouds broke, quick rode a buggy around the RV park before it POURED AGAIN. We have been doing this long enough, that we can handle rainy days like a champ! ;) We headed to Plain City the next day for one more class with a new builder and friend, Bekah. Our business partners and friends, Matt & Liz, came too, so we could all connect as a team. I love that they are mobile now. They are the ones that bought our black and grey rv! :) We drove by the RV park we were supposed to stay at in Plain City, on the way over, the muddy one from above? Yeah, check out these RUTS! So grateful we didn't try to stay here. Our final day in the area, and guess where we are headed? Back to our new friends Hicks' for a day of fishing, chilling and using their WIFI to get some work done......let's be honest, sometimes just one gathering isn't enough! :D We wanted to provide a meal for them this go around, so HOBO dinners seemed like an easy choice for feeding a crowd that includes keto folks. For ease, this is how we layer our HOBO dinners: Already grilled and seasoned hamburger patties, cut up Fingerling potatoes, thinly sliced Zucchini slices Onion, chopped or sliced thin Seasonings, generously salt, pepper and garlic powder veggie layers Butter pat Bella Mushrooms Organic mushroom soup spooned on top for "gravy" Fresh rosemary sprigs, cut up MMmmm! We tried our hand at a Keto dessert in the IP and it turned out SO good! Mocha Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe and image from here: https://www.ruled.me/slow-cooker-mocha-pudding-cake/ We added cinnamon, yum. Extra real vanilla extract. 3 squirts of liquid stevia, instead of the mentioned powder stuff. And used the instant pot vs. the crock pot, which we do not travel with. Non keto peeps can have it with ice cream, keto peeps can do whipped cream! SO fluffy and yummy! Until next time, friends! May the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you and give you peace and abundant blessings for opening your home to us, not once, but TWICE in 3 days. Haha! :) The next day was MOTHER's Day! We all slept in until 10 am, oh man, we have to check out before 11. We quick made smoothies, listened to live church on facebook from Florida, and packed up to head out to Amish country! More on that soon.....hope your weekend was WONDERFUL!
Hugs, T As we wrapped up our time Ohio, the temperatures got lower and lower. Thank goodness for indoor pools and hot tubs to warm up in! :) Before we hit the road again, we met some doTERRA friends of ours at the greatest barn restaurant. The pizza was divine! I got a picture of the barn, and pretty much didn't pick up my phone again. Oops pics would've been nice! We left early the next morning, in order to make our 5 hour drive day as easy as possible...... We got stuck in a bit of a traffic jam, and Dale needed a potty break. He asked if I could slide in for a minute. Ummm, ok??????? This thing is HUGE but I can hold the break like nobody's business......... I was supposed to just idle, but soon after he left, the traffic jam let up and all the cars moved way ahead of us. OF COURSE THEY DID! I hit the gas and off we drove. I hear Dale in the bathroom yell, "WHAT IN THE WORLD?" Things were going great, all 5 seconds I went forward, then a car darted in front of me, so I braked...... Ummm, turns out these brakes are waaaaaaaay touchier than the old ones, and the slown down was a *bit* abrupt. The kids screamed. What? I stopped us in time didn't I? Traffic went back to a standstill and my family rejoiced when daddy took the drivers seat again. ;)🤣 ;) As we made our route to Alabama and booked RV parks along the way, Dale mentioned we were going to be close to some friends of ours in Kentucky. We got WAY back, like 20 years, before Dale and I were married. They were our first grown up, married friends! ;) We hung out, BBQ'd burgers and then went to church and lunch with them the next day. Even though SO much time has passed since we then, we literally picked up where we left off, as if no time had passed at all. ..... Love how God brings His children together to support each other in this journey called LIFE! :) We changed out of our church clothes and headed down to Alabama. Paxton was hanging around up front and asked for my camera. He said he had a good shot from above and he did. Photog in the making? I am much happier in the passenger seat with my reading buddy, then I was driving even for a minute!!! :) We arrived at our new RV park right at dusk.....we could already tell we were going to LOVE this one! We got all set up, and after a quick supper, we tucked everyone in for a good night's sleep. Check out these views! Slideshow: Monday morning dawned like THIS................... It was so beautiful we did school OUTSIDE! We don't mind quiet home days, so we laid low a few days to regroup before a busy class schedule. We made Sophie a new bandana, hung out by the fire, went fishing, the kids played up on some HUGE rocks on the hillside. The photo you see in the slideshow below of Ty and Destiny holding hands is what we call a "Get Along Walk". Let's just say Dale had had enough of the bickering. ;) Rosie's Mexican restaurant has taken the NUMBER ONE SPOT for the best Mexican in all of our travels. We ate there twice and would've gone 2 more times, had time allowed. The chips, the salsa, the sizzling mexican butter..... DROOL WORTHY! Slideshow: The next night, we made chili cheese dogs over the fire and watched the sun go down. Avery begged us to tell not so spooky stories by the fire! I don't like scary or gory, so we found this website of suspenseful but funny stories. This one, was by FAR, the favorite of the evening! "Years ago, a man inherited a house from his great uncle who died in the war. The house sat on a hill outside of town in the next state and rumors were told that it was haunted. The man traveled to the town to inspect the house and found that it was a wonderful old mansion in great condition, but very, very old. So, he decided to move in and enjoy his inheritance. A couple weeks after he moved in, late at night, the phone rang. When he answered it, a voice said, "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 2 weeks!" and then it hung up before he could say anything. This really shook the man. The next day, he searched the Internet under 'snakes' for 'vinder viper' but found nothing. A week past with no concerns and again, late one night, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 1 week!" and hung up. This made the man quite nervous, not knowing what a vinder viper was. He asked around the town, and no one had ever heard of any such viper. Four days later, late at night, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 2 days!" The man is getting much more concerned now. The next night, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there tomorrow!" Needless to say, the man is just plain scared now. The next evening, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 1 hour!" The man tries to leave, but his car battery is dead. Nearly an hour later, the phone rang. "I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 2 minutes!" The man runs around locking all the windows and doors and calls 911. The police are on their way. Soon, there was a knock at the door. The man opened the door a crack and asked, "Is that the police?" 'No, I am the vinder viper. I come every month to vash and vipe your vindows,' said the little German man." 🤣 Day 2 dawned like this. Sigh. These views make me happy! "You can walk in a dream while you are awake: Just walk in the misty morning....."💕 We had 3 different classes at the most darling happy coffee shop you ever did see..... Angel's Island Coffee We have 2 new builders here, Caroline and Angel, and several other local members of Team Dorothy. It was SUCH a fun week of classes and getting to see everyone. If you are in the Huntsville area, go check out Angel's coffee shop, she makes her own chai and it's AMAAZING! And, she holds essential oil classes there once a month or so. Slideshow: We got to hang out with them one afternoon and ate some AMAZING Fijian lamb. Darren and Angel both originate from there..... We had such a lovely time! We had a free day after a morning class, and it was so sunny and lovely out, the kids BEGGED to go swimming in the lake...... Um, children? It's October. Can we rent kayaks instead?! Good plan! We rented two, 2 person, kayaks and Destiny insisted on a petal (paddle?) boat. You know, the kind with petals like a bike. Dale and I ended up with, the majority of the time, due to its extreme bulkiness and difficult manueverability. Haha, gotta love it! We had a great time! Row row row your kayak..... Slideshow: Before we left, Angel recommended a local donut shop that started in an airstream trailer, but once they got featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, they had to get a store front. We ate hot off the press donuts TWICE in one day...once for breakfast and then once for snack. TERRIBLE I know, but if you had tasted them, you would've done the same I bet. ;) Round one we tried honey cinnamon sugar, and funnel cakes. Round two, cinnamon bun, andes mint and apple cider. They were all lovely and the hottest tiny little donuts, that ABSOLUTELY melted in your mouth. Our Alabama adventure, continues in Birmingham! We have class here on Monday and hope to explore the area for a bit before moving on to Missouri next month...... Hugs, T
Time for our FALL RUN! It's so exciting to be back on the road again, our first trip as a whole family in the new RV....
Next stop was Effingham, Illinois for a few days.....we found a cozy little RV park tucked in the trees.
I have been on the hunt for some treasures to finish decorating our apartment with and Illinois delivered! We went to the CUTEST store and viola..... :)
The kids found something fun too! An old camcorder to play with.....
Dale found a little hole in the wall Asian diner for lunch with the boys while I was at class. They loved it so much they took us all back for dinner!
YUM! The soup they served was a melon soup in chicken broth, so interesting.
The next day we headed to Ohio, where we will be for the next few weeks! Lots of classes and fun on the books.
RVTV decided to do a news interview on our travel day.....
We took Family Friday to explore the 577 Foundation. It used to be an old farmstead, now it is the NEATEST place to explore.
The bee exhibit was amazing! There was even a tube to watch the bees come and grow from outside as they built their hive. Worker Bees from Tonya Ferguson on Vimeo.
The 577 Foundation also has an old cabin, a horse barn turned lending library, fairy gardens, community gardens, kids play area, musical instruments in the woods and even a trail leading down to the river walk. SO FUN!
Avery was so excited for us to play house in this amazing cabin. The oldest free standing wood home, built in 1803!!!!
After that we headed to the gardens.....
There was the NEATEST forest with a fort, stage, musical instruments.....
Our trips to Ohio aren't complete without a stop in Findlay at the Dietsch Brothers Chocolate and Ice Cream shop.
They have been around since the 1920's! https://dietschs.com/about-us/our-story/
We had classes over in Apple Creek, so we headed there next. Hello, Amish country!
The kids LOVED our RV Park! Cool playground, and I bet in the summer, a super amazing swimming lake!
The kids are learning all the states and capitals in school, we are trying to make it fun by playing it Jeopardy and Go Fish style! :)
The next few days, we taught an oil class for a lot of amazing couples, drove around and enjoyed all the darling farms, and quaint cottages. All the buggies in a row! Lots of yummy farm fresh food and evening walks.
Sugarcreek is such a CUTE place! They call it Little Sweden and have the cutest downtown. It houses the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock!
We are here for another week yet before we move on to do classes in Alabama. We are all loving our new home on wheels and are settling in nicely. We look around and just grin and give God all the glory for providing us with the home of our dreams!
Hugs, T
We spent a blur of days between Ohio and Indiana, I cannot recall where we did what, so I am making it into one blog post, shared with you today! haha :) I find that when we go a lot of places in a few weeks time, it all starts to blend and I have to ask Dale,
Where are we now?! We had a bit of a scare when we left one RV park to move to the next. Dale went to plug us in and saw this:
And upon further inspection, this:
YIKES!!!!!! Something was lose and it was arching at the RV park pedestal. PRAISE GOD there was NO FIRE!!! Seriously! In awe of His hand of protection over our lives.....
We got to the next park without a problem and Dale made plans to get some new parts for our rig. I guess this is common at RV parks?! Glad we haven't dealt with it before in all these years of travel.
We have been talking about Rise N Roll's donuts for over a year now, and so our first stop once we got set up at our darling country RV park, was to go get a dozen donuts.
You haven't lived until you have eaten a soft, powdered, cinnamon caramel donut from Rise N Roll Bakery! (4 locations sell 15,000 donuts a day, most of them Cinnamon Carmel)
Oh my goodness, I haven't had anything like it! It's like a soft cake donut, with the finest powdered cinnamon sugar topping you've ever sunk your teeth into. Expert tip: Do NOT inhale or gasp as the donut nears your mouth Then, we took a little scenic drive to check out the cool farm community we were staying in.
When we got back to our RV park for the night, we realized we had a great view!!! The Amish farmer had stopped working his fields, and had let his "horse power" out to pasture for the night, right across from our RV! We went to say hi.
Isn't he beautiful?!
Sunday we worshiped and then rested. That reste part didn't last long though, because the kids turned play time into a family ball game, boys against girls. FUN!
Boys won by 2! We are far enough north that we have escaped the heat. The weather is perfect here for being outside!
Sunday night is usually snack supper, Dale's famous popcorn, meat and cheese, veggie tray....we had grabbed some homemade cheese and jalapeno dip from the amish store, but we were all so starving from baseball, so we ordered pizza too.
After NY pizza, all other pizza is ruined forever. Serious. But we decided we wanted to give Chicago pizza a go.
So no offense to any Chicagoians reading this, but it wasn't our fav. SORRY!!!!
Mostly because the sauce is sweeter than we are used to, and the whole thing was just so wet! The layers are inverted: cheese, pepperoni and then sauce.
Our next RV park greeted us with the cutest sign:
Those are some good rules to live by! This wasn't as much of an RV park as it was a campground, and yes there is a difference.
The kids really wanted to swim and this one had a neat pool with slides!
Cereal Poker Night
We had two very special celebrations while we were in Indiana! One, I will save for another post, and the other....Avery and my birthday!
She was born 08-01-08 and I was born 08-01-81, neat right!? She was my best birthday present ever.
Dale and the kids were so sweet to let us be the Queens of the day. They made us the most beautiful lunch thanks to a farmers market stand!
We haven't had a lot of "summer staple" foods yet, so we were excited to have BLT's with homemade bread, farm fresh tomatoes, sweet corn and cantalope. We bought a peach pie for dessert but didn't eat it! TOO FULL! :)
Avery had a few things she wanted and needed so she had some gifts to open! She opened her gifts, and then we spent the rest of the day reading and hanging at the pool.
I asked her what her favorite gifts were and she named them all. Haha, guess we did good! :) Not pictured, her grown up vitamin and flower pouch to hold them in. She has been dying to try the doTERRA daily nutrient pack swallow pills instead of the kids vitamins.
We went out to dinner that night, one of those Amish buffets, super yummy! We had already had homemade pie from the buffet when they brought out our birthday cakes, so we are taking those to go.
I cannot believe my little Peanut is 10 years old now!
Happy, happy TENTH Birthday, to my sweet lil' Peanut and the best birthday gift EVER!
Your sweet giggle and sunshine personality fill our home with joy......I love you, Avery!
Our time in Indiana has come to a close, time to hit the road again!
Hugs, T After all the hype of the big city, we had to go back to our country roots......AMISH COUNTRY! Did you know both Dale and I come from Amish roots? My grandmother's family left the Amish church when she was 8. Dale's grandma was Amish mennonite, he doesn't remember when they left the full Amish side of things, but they always have lived very conservatively. We always feel right at home when we are in Pennsylvania and Ohio! First stop was Lancaster! 3 years ago, we ate at this little teeny hole in the wall chinese place, and went crazy over it. WELLLL, being the foodies we are, we let Destiny pick where she wanted to eat for her birthday, and she mentioned this place. Haha, it helped us decide where to go after NYC to relax a bit! We stayed at an RV park run by the nicest couple. He would sit out every night with his talking parrot and entertain everyone. So cool! We drove 6 hours and headed into Holmes County, Ohio we planned to see some friends the next day, that recently joined our oil team! But first, it was time to eat! It had been a long travel day and the fridge was BARE since we didn't grocery shop in NYC at all. We found a darling little amish diner to eat at, Mrs. Yoder's. How you can tell you are in an Amish town, look how polite! No hats during dinner. :) And what do you order when its PEACH SEASON?! Homemade peach cream pie! Over dinner, we were chatting about how close we were to our friends and business partners, the Vissers. They full time RV too now, and we knew they were staying somewhere in this area. We went on their FB pages and studied until we figured out where they were staying and went to SURPRISE THEM! Haha, we should be DETECTIVES! :) They saw us pull in and recognized the car, darn it, but it was still a fun surprise! We spent the evening catching up and the kids had fun with the 9 other children running around! The next morning, was Destiny's 15th birthday!!! Dale got her up to drive 45 minutes to a nearby town to wait in line to try to get her iPhone fixed, whoever replaced her battery did a horrible job and caused some issues. While they were gone, Avery comes running back with this idea to set up a queen throne for our queen of the day AND to decorate the living room and yell surprise when they got home. So sweet! It turned out cute! The siblings all used their quarters to use the claw and "catch" her a birthday stuffed animal. Awww, so sweet! Slideshow: We went grocery shopping for some local fresh fruits and veggies, and then drove around and enjoyed the farm land and sites. OH, and we splurged and had ice cream. We have talked about this pace for the past 2 years, wanting to come back and eat their REAL cream Black Raspberry ice cream. Not too sweet at all, just creamy deliciousness. Destiny had asked me if I would do a birthday photo shoot with her like we used to back in our house days. OF COURSE! I had to dust off the ol' girl after all these years of just cell phone use, but we had a ball. How is she so GROWN UP now?! Birthday Shoot Slideshow: Which is your fav? I am having trouble choosing but am loving the white shirt ones for sure. And here she is, age 9 and age 15, getting to be SO grown up. A sophomore in HS this year!!!! SNIFF SNIFF :( We met our friends, Tim and Nataly for dinner that night. Got to met their baby boy, Emanuel for the first time, and opened gifts! We made plans to see them again the next day to chat oils, raising kids, Jesus and have some fun together too. Dale and Tim traveled together when Dale was on the ministry team back in the day, and we had him play piano at our wedding 16 years ago. He and Nataly came to visit us at our Kansas house many years ago, when Pax was a baby and it has been SO fun to catch up again. I used a local address to ship some of the things Destiny had on her wish list and surprised her with them at dinner. We usually do experiences not stuff, but in this case, the things she was wanting were small and totally doable for RV life! She was thrilled! We also got to see some doTERRA friends we met in Florida a few years back, when Dale saw a man whose shirt fell off the back of his golf cart. They got to talking, and doTERRA came up since they had a sticker on their car. His wife comes out, and she hears Dale chatting about our life on the road and selling our property in KS, and she is like, Wait, are you the RV OILERS?! Your photo from the doTERRA magazine is on my vision board. Can I meet your wife? Haha, needless to say, we have been hanging out ever since and we love their family! We had a GREAT time and our day together FLEW BY! Slideshow: As you can see by the slideshow, we had a ball! Boys got to 4 wheel with Lane, girls got to horse ride with Logan. The adults got to shoot the breeze and get all caught up before we had to go again. Such an awesome family! SO thankful the Lord brought them into our lives..... Next up, we headed to Plain City, OH for some oil classes! It was a cool and rainy day when we pulled in, so we laid low and played around the RV. The kids came up with a couples yoga challenge, CRACK ME UP! Check out this slideshow: What do you think of Paxton and Ty's final pose?! LOL! :) The next morning we arose to a parade outside our door! YUP! Our RV Park just so happened to be part of the location of part of a local Bicentennial festival, and the parade lined up right up front so we saw the whole thing go by!! SO COOL! Later, they set up all sorts of bouncy houses and carnival games, free to the public and had the coolest banjo pickin band out in the gazebo! We jumped, we rode horses, we slid, Pax made a bullseye shots on the giant dart board and most of us, got the dinger to ding on the giant hammer game. Whoop Whoop! Slideshow: Such a fun day! So grateful to be able to walk from our home sweet rolling home and enjoy this as a family before oil class. Speaking of an oil class, we have one coming up July 27 in Bowling Green, Ohio! I would love for you to join me...just message me via contact form for details.
Hugs, T We have been through Ohio several several times in our year on the road, but this is the first time I get a chance to blog it! Dale and I both grew up in the Mennonite church, so it's fun to be in Amish country and back to our roots. We could actually "feel" a change when we left the East coast and entered this area closer to the midwest again. We spent a few days in Holmes County Ohio, enjoying the farm scenery and some Amish baked yummies. While we were there, it was recommended to us we accomplish 2 things: See the worlds biggest cuckoo clock, and eat at the Park Street Pizza place in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Well that sounds easy enough! First of all, Park Street Pizza has the most DARLING decor and cool atmosphere....tall ceilings, lots of texture, metal and old stuff used again as new. Wood farm tables and funky colored metal chairs scattered here and there. The attention to detail here was lovely, as they grow their ingredients locally. Fresh ingredients totally changes the end result! Soft, chewy crust, tons of flavor and herbs used in the sauce, real pepperoni. Even the parmesan cheese on the table had extra seasonings in it. Oh and don't skip the breadsticks and salad! WOW! Gooey and cheesy bread and fresh, amazing, colorful salad, with yellow tomatoes, purple carrots. This place has bumped our #1 pizza place in Waynesville, NC down to #2, and our NY style pizza in Hallstead, PA to #3! Even the bathroom was amazing and I took a photo for future inspiration when we finish our home base. Haha! What can I say, the sink and subway tile work was incredible! OH, and about 7 different sized beveled mirrors in all different shapes and sizes, hanging from jute twin. DARLING! I liked this cool orange light too. Our apartment colors are dark grey, white, orange and this gorgeous robins egg blue that was inspired from Papa Don's fence next door. The neighbors that bought his old place, let us take the fence with us. Dale hopes to make it into a sliding barn door, or coffee table, or some part of our home hub, when we finish it......SOMEDAY! We wandered around town and enjoyed some flea markets and farmers markets, before heading home to drop off our fresh fruit and veggies, and head back to the cuckoo clock. Troyer's Country Market has the BEST homemade ice cream! The black raspberry was roll your eyes good, and this day, they were also offering fresh peach milkshakes. Great prices, and great treat! Here is Avery showing you the small cone, that wasn't small at all! By the time we got to the cuckoo, we had missed the hour "show", so we hung out and walked around waiting for the half hour. Calling this place "Little Switzerland" is so accurate, every wood detail on every single store front felt like the Swiss Alps all the way! We found our spots on the lawn a few minutes before show time.... If you follow RV Oilers on Instagram, you got to see a video of the clock. Great music and cute little wooden figures that dance and play music. And the cuckoo pops out too! Lots of history here, this clock took 12 years and $50,000 to build! It felt into disrepair though, and was recently fixed up and brought out to its new place in this town. All play and no work makes Tonya a lazy girl, so the whole next week was spent teaching classes and business bootcamps in Findley and Alvordton area. Love our growing doTERRA Dorothy team there! :) This job that doesn't feel like one, is SUCH a blessing! I love connecting with my Dorothy girls all over the USA. Look out doTERRA, here comes OHIO! :) When we are in Ohio, we always stay with our friends Luke and Anna, on their beautiful property! Our kids have a ball with theirs....Lane, Ashlyn, Liam and Alivia. The baby, Alivia, was sleeping for this photo, but here they are! Every day, the kids would disappear and play HARD! They all get along so so well, what a blessing! Schaffners have this amazing property with a huge pond, a giant swing set, and all kinds of places to enjoy. Check out the beautiful views.... You know how you just click with some people? That's how it is with the Ferguson Schaffner crew. We didn't plan on eating together every day, but it just happened! Remember Pepsi Chicken from the blog? Still delicious! Make it. Thank me later.... https://4littlefergusons.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/pepsi-chicken/ The kids played in the pond just about every day, and one cooler afternoon Anna got out water colored water balloons for a good ol fashioned balloon fight! Dale was working on his fly fishing skills everyday, and even managed to snag a large mouthed bass. Yup, on a fly fishing rod no less! The kids played games, cards, and the girls were constantly chasing the baby kitties around to hold them. Lots of evenings were spent outside talking, while the kids played together on their giant swing set....I will load all these photos to a gallery slideshow for easier viewing! :) Please check them out! When you see the donut picture go by, wipe off the drool and know they came from a bakery an hour away. Its called Rise N Roll, and we were too close not to go back again this trip, and get their famous Caramel Cinnamon Donuts again. Sweet Dale got up early one morning to get us some to share! We could of spent a lot more time here, but we try to leave while people still want us to come back! hahaha!!! I loved my time with this sweet Anna girl!
And just like that, after a wonderful worship service at church, it was time to pull out, say our goodbyes and began our journey just up the road a few hours, to our 44th state, Michigan! We'll be back Ohio! Until then....... Hugs, T |
Tonya Ferguson
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