May 24

One week until we are home....I think that the kids are ready to come home now.  They still ask where we are going each day but they have started saying that they want to go home.  Good thing that we didn't travel for a year......we could have filled the time with places to see no problem!  Even though they want to come home, they are having so much fun seeing and playing with the Tornow girls.....what a blessing to be able to stop at friends and families houses.  It is not only a welcome reprieve from RV life but it is a refreshment to the traveling soul to see faces that love us and welcome us with open arms.....God Bless all of those that have reached out to love us along the way of the fantastic journey!!

The Dehlingers in Texas
The Furtados in Florida
The Berchtolds in Virginia
The Rodgers in Califon, New Jersey
Janae in Annapolis
The Zonnefelds in Whitewater, Kansas
The Andersons in Windsor, CO
The Tornows in Littleton, CO

All of these families have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make us feel welcome and we know that we weren't always convenient to have, invading with our troop of 7-10 extra people, hungry tummies, and dirty laundry! We love  you all so much!!!!

Slept in a little this morning and got ready to depart for Focus on the Family, a ministry of Dr. James Dobson dedicated to the preservation and building up of the family unit .

the tornow girls rode with us in the RV...they loved it

the mountains across from Focus on Family....behind the Air Force Academy

 We arrived and were greeted by warm hearted staff both in the welcome area and the bookstore.  What a beautiful facility.

Happy Bday Advenetures in Odyssey

Barb brought bundt cakes for us to enjoy after lunch

 After shopping for graduation and fathers day gifts, the kids quickly ran ro the  playground.  There is a great area that is made to look like the Adventures in Odyssey (a radio show and audio cd program for kids that all of our kids have loved, both produced here that promote family values and christian morals) with a huge 3 story slide for the kids to play on.


 It ends up in Whit's End Soda Shop. Around the corner is a great hall way with doors that lead to rooms that are all of the places in the town on the audtio series.  There is one room that Gracie loved, the NARNIA room. 


When you enter the room, it looks like the room in the movie and there at the end of the room is the giant wardrobe dresser that they kids in the books went through to get to NARNIA.  Gracie was so excited to see that you could open the doors and actually enter the wardrobe....and enter the land of NARNIA just like Lucy, Susan, Edmond and Peter did.  All of the kids kept going back to this room.  As you continue down the hall, you come to a room that looks into the radio station.  This room had a puppet theatre for small kids and a stage for the big kids to do play acting on.  Our kids immediately went to the back stage area, put on costumes and began to do "plays" with and without puppets.  It was hysterical.....

take a bow, actors.....

We ventured upstairs to see a short film on Focus on Family and the kids went into the kids matinee area.  Showing on the big screen was Silly Songs with Larry, one of my kids favorites from Veggie Tales. 

Pikes Peak behind us...

The views of Pikes Peak are beautiful....it was hazy so it didn't come out great on the pics but there is still a lot of snow up there on the 14,000 foot peak.

No visit to Focus on the Family can be complete without a stop at Whit's End Soda Shop.  We all ordered ice cream or smoothies and enjoyed a nice treat before traveling on.  (Maddie choc chip cookie; Christian peach mango smoothie; Gracie mint choc chip)



Our next stop was at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  We got there just in time for the final tour of the day, phew!  It was a great tour, we saw the training areas, sports medicine/therapy, boxing ring, swimming pool, work out rooms, shooting range, dorms, and gymnasium.  We saw athletes at practice but no one we recognized.  The tour was fun and fact filled.  We took pics and shopped in the store.  Eighty cents on the dollar goes back to the funding of the athletes here so were happy to support them.  We all got tshirts and are in great anticipation for the summer olympics that are starting on July 27th....

what a catch!

Olympians of the future...

you can do it son.....

Windsor's bobsled team

We stopped for dinner with Barb and the girls at the Cracker Barrel.  Our new favorite place to stop.  There is always cute things to look at and the food is good, southern cooking!! The kids had a great time playing checkers, laughing and rocking in the rocking chairs on the porch area. We didn't want to say goodbye, but the time came and we hugged and hugged and went on our way. 

relasing at the Cracker Barrel

checkers anyone??

these kids are just crazy!!