March 2019

Marcus and Cali used there gift cards from Snowbowl (thanks Grammy Red) and we spent a couple days on the slopes.  The weather was great and the snow was perfect.  Some of our friends even joined us making it even better!

We spent an evening at the Phoenix Symphony thanks to Vetix.  It was a great conclusion to this years study of composers.

We spent a few days at Lost Dutchman State Park.  We hiked to the top of the Flat Iron and caught up with our friends and fellow Newell owners, Jim and Gail.

The most difficult things about traveling is saying good bye to such great friends.  We will miss all of our friends at Usery and in the Phoenix area.  My Disciple bible study class even had an early 50th birthday celebration for me.

After we left Phoenix, we stopped for a week in Yuma.  We had some special friends who had spent the winter there and we wanted to catch up with them.  Tim and Mel (our friends from Tunkhannock) spoiled us as always with an amazing dinner and we had the Dumas’ as our neighbors.  It was great to see both families.  I am sorry I don’t have any photos of them, but I do have some of the fresh broccoli they were growing there, the date palms, and some Mexican ice cream.

The next stop was Los Angeles, California.  Cali planned a day; Walt Disney Theater, The Last Book Store, Hollywood and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Marcus’ day consisted of; hiking to the MASH site, lunch at Neptune’s and the Getty Museum.

Now we are near Hollister, CA.  We have spent the last week knocking out some school and work and hanging out with two other families.  Tomorrow we head further north to my aunt and uncles in Redding.  We are excited to see them.  We will be getting ready to store our bus and head back to Europe for a couple months.  If you want to follow our adventures in Europe you can follow our blog perrysineurope.wordpress.com  If you sign up with your email you will get notification when we post.  We may not have any posts for the first week or two because we are taking a relocation cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Rome.

Thanks so much for taking time to follow our travels.  We pray that you all have a blessed Easter.

 

February 2019

In February my mom and Eddie came to visit us in Arizona.  We went to Organ Stop Pizza.  They took the kids to the Desert Botanical Garden.  Marcus took a road trip to Sedona with them.  The kids taught them a new game and they spent lots of time playing Dutch Blitz.  We went to San Tan Flats for lunch.  It was such a nice visit and they were able to attend the opening night of the play Cali has been volunteering for.

Cali was busy this month volunteering at the East Valley Children’s Theatre.  She worked on making props, sewing costumes, helping with rehearsals and worked behind the scenes at the performances of Camelot and Camelittle.

Marcus and I spent time this month hiking and riding bikes.  The bike trails here are some of my favorites anywhere. I made spaghetti sauce and salsa with tomatoes and pepper I purchased from a local charity that saves food from being wasted.  It’s called Produce on Wheels Without Waste.  We went to see our friend Jonah in his high school production of Shrek.  It rained several days this month, which is rare. Now the wildflowers have started to bloom.

January 2019

Wow the last month has flown by.  We celebrated Christmas with Aunt Kelly and her family.  Their family is such a blessing to us.

We did some fun activities with our friends the O’Donnells.  We went bowling and played games on New Years Day.  Cali and Norah went ice skating.  Marcus and Colemen spent the afternoon at Xtreme Air.

In early January Cali and I flew to Canada.  Yes, Canada in the middle of the winter.  Actually the weather was nice for January and it was awesome to spend the week with our Canadian friends.  We played games, watched movies, did puzzles, cooked and really enjoyed their company. We miss them! Marc and Marcus made out fine without us.  Marcus spent lots of time with our friends Mark and Lynn, who are staying at the campground here in Mesa.

Grandma Red came for a visit in January.  She and Marcus visited the Musical Instrument Museum and she went to a theatre performance with Marc and Cali.  We all did the Pizza Run 5K which was cool.  Grammy Red took Marcus and Cali to Sedona for a couple days.  They did the Soldiers Pass hike .

The rest of the month, we have be concentrating on work and school.  Cali and Marcus are working hard to finish 9th grade before we leave for Europe on April 7th.  We have also been doing some hiking and biking in this beautiful landscape God has provided for us.

Merry Christmas

We want to wish all of our friends and family a Christmas filled with blessings.  Originally I had designed a Christmas card showing places we had visited this year, but on Thanksgiving Cali and Marcus had some fun posing and I decided to use those silly photos instead of the more formal ones. This really represents how I feel about life.  Its messy, but God has filled it with joy.

We were able to attend three different holiday plays thanks to Vet Tix. 

We saw A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker and All Is Calm, The Christmas Truce of 1914.  They all fit in with our current school curriculum.  We learned about Charles Dickens in Literature, studied tchaikovsky in music and just recently learned about the truce when we studied WWI.  I would love to say I planned this, but it does excite the teacher in me when God lines things  up perfectly.

This month Cali and I completed our first 5K.  We have been training for it since October 1st and I am so proud of her for sticking with it.  We are planning to run another one in January.

This year Marcus and Cali decided they wanted to bake cookies to give out here at the campground.  They wanted to make cookies from around the world.  Marcus looked up all of the recipes and compiled a spreadsheet of all the ingredients we would need.  We made 10 kinds from 10 different countries.  We baked them in our convection oven over three days.  They all turned out very well.  We hand out 18 plates of cookies to staff, volunteers, friends and fellow campers.

We want to thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.  Merry Christmas!

 

So Much to be Thankful For

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.  We have so many blessing to be thankful for.  We have been busy here in Arizona.  On Thanksgiving we hiked 8 miles around Pass Mountain and had a traditional dinner.  Cali and I even did a little shopping and we decorated our tree.

Marc is doing business consulting work for a friend and Cali is volunteering at the East Valley Children’s Theatre working behind the scenes as tech crew.  We took out friend Freda to see the play.  It was very cute.

Marcus cut apart the 64.5 pound pumpkin we brought with us from Pennsylvania.  He of course destroyed it dramatically.  He did save the seeds to plant next year.

We went to see Harry Potter The Prisoner of Azcaban put on by the Symphony.  While an edited version of the movie played on a giant screen it was accompanied by the orchestra.  It was a delightful unique experience.  I didn’t know where to focus on the movie or the conductor.

We spent two weeks at Usery Mountain Regional Park.  Now we have moved to Lost Dutchman State Park.

 

North Carolina to Arizona in a Week

On Thursday, November 8th we departed the Winston-Salem area.  While we were in Pennsylvania this summer Marc installed all of the needed equipment to flat tow our car.  In Winston-Salem we sold our tow dolly, so this would be our first trip flat towing, which so far is much easier than using the dolly.

We spent the first night boondocking at a Walmart  in Lebanon, Tennessee.  The next day we made it to Tom Sawyer Campground which is near Memphis.  This campground has great views of the Mississippi River.  While we were there we were able to see my high school friend Connie and her family.  We were thrilled to catch up with them again.

Early Sunday morning we headed west again.  We were able to watch church (except for Marc who just listened.)  I even tried my hand at driving.  I drove about 100 miles that day so that Marc could have a break.  We made it 414 miles to Miami, Oklahoma.  We stayed at a casino that had free electric which we were very thankful since it was getting cold.

When we woke up the next morning it was snowing.  We made our way to the Newell factory where our bus was made more than 35 years ago.  When I knew we would be close to the factory I scheduled a tour.  Brian, the salesman who gave us the tour took us to the file room first.  The have a record of every Newell ever commissioned.  Each of the approximately 30 Newells that are built each year are designed by the new owner and the engineers there. Each one is individual.  We were able to see the file and blueprint from 1983 for  our Newell, which was really cool.  Brian took us through the process which takes about 6 months from raw metal to finished product.  He even showed us a new bunk model.  We really appreciated his time and knowledge.  The new ones are really nice!

After our tour we decided to keep moving west.  Marcus and I drove the car because the tow bar needed some work.  That is one thing I have learned on the road.  Things don’t always go just as planned, but God is always there and Marc can fix almost anything. We made it to El  Reno, Oklahoma to another casino with free electric.  In the morning, Marc was able to fix the tow bar and we were on our way.

We were able to make it to Amarillo on Tuesday.  We had a late lunch at the Big Texan and made a quick stop at Cadillac Ranch.

I was very cold Wednesday morning.  We chatted with our neighbors.  They were headed to Arizona, too.  Before we could get on our way Marc did some work at a truck stop to fix a transmission fluid leak on the car.  At least it was warming up.

We made it to Albuquerque by late afternoon.  We were excited to meet up with our traveling friends and their family for dinner.  It was so nice to see them!

On Thursday we were up early and on our way.  Marc and I took turns driving and we made it around 400 miles to our home for the next couple of weeks, Usery Mountain Regional Park.  This is the park we hosted at a couple of years ago.  The views and the people can’t be beat.  It is such a blessing to be here!

 

 

Fall in North Carolina

For the last few weeks we have been near Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  This is the perfect place to be in the fall.  The leaves were just beautiful.  Being  near Bill and Krysta makes this place even more special for us.  We played games, had yummy food, went to plays, visited Biltmore, went bike riding, and played with their pups.  Our time there flew by, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Sams, Windy and Merry, too

After we left Pennsylvania, our next stop was at Sams and Windy’s.  They have an electric hookup for us right in their yard!  We met their new pup Merry.  She is just adorable.  We all loved her.  The fields in front of their house were planted with cotton which was pretty cool to see.  We had a wonderful few days. We played games, shared food, loved Merry, did a little work and enjoyed each others company.

While we were in Grifton we had two opportunities to learn about different vocations.  We took a tour of the Contentnea Metropolitan Sewer District facility.  it was truly an educational experience.  I am so glad Windy suggested it.  The manager, Mr. Smithwick is so knowledgeable about  chemistry,  biology,  electric, computers and the general running and maintenance of the plant.  It is so much more involved than I ever imagined.

We also had a meeting with Mr. Hunter and his daughter Mary Katherine.  They run the company that manages our rental property.  If it wasn’t for them, we would not be able to travel without worrying about our property investments.

At both of these meetings, the one thing that stood out most to me was that these professionals were passionate about what they do.  That is the one thing I most want to instill in my children.  Its not about how much you make or how many things you can buy.  Success to me is measured by enjoying what you do.  Not everyday is going to smell likes roses, but in general you are making the world a better place for others and that’s how I feel about the job I am doing, teaching them.

From Pine Trees to Palms

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post for the blog. But this vacation deserves a post from me. As you know, last winter we got season passes to the world of fun called Disney. While down in the south for the winter, we visited almost every weekday (we can’t go on weekends) afternoon.

Wanting to get full usage of out passes (I’m pretty sure we did while we were there over the winter, but Disney is awesome, okay?) we decided to drive back down in August. So Disney wasn’t the full reason we went, we had some personal reasons too, but it played a large part.

We got together with my Uncle and his family, and they wanted to come down in August as well. We lined up the dates and booked our room. They, unlike us, were flying and only staying one week. Our plans held a second week, and a couple day drive either way.

I think, now that we are nearing the end of our trip, that I can say I am a near master at sleeping in the car. After spending the night at Aunt Krysta  and Uncle Bill’s, we officially reached Florida on August 12^th, the same day as the other Perry Family flew in. With 10 people, we were a large group. And ya know what? We did the Disney thing and had matching shirts one of our 5 days in the parks. The week was FUN. To top it all of with the sweetness of chocolate, we had tickets to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween party. Marc and I went with the rest of the family, while Mom and Dad ate a Be Our Guest, the Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant.

At the party, you could dress up or not. Marc opted to not, while I was everyone’s favorite Nanny, Mary Poppins. Every was a trooper, and we lasted till park close, midnight. But then, like Cinderella, we all had to ride home. The downside was that we didn’t get a pumpkin carriage.

Flip forward a day, and it was Sunday. Friends from Canada (the two female Elhards. You may have heard of them on the blog before) were planning to come down. Long story short, their flight was canceled. Then they were able to get tickets to arrive on Monday morning. That’s no-drama account.

Since they got down here a little later than expected, they were able to also stay longer than expected, till the next Tuesday (it’s was practically Monday when they left at 4 in the a.m.). This week was more relaxed than our schedule with the Perry’s. Our days started later (like 9 o’clock) and ended later (midnight). Again, we had an incredible amount of FUN. And again, we also ended in a memorable day. We must have something for grand finales.

Mother said it best , ‘Amazing friends, 11 miles, a drenching storm, and rides at 4 different parks equals one epic day.’

First, Magic Kingdom. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Check. Second, Epcot. Soarin’, sweets in France, and a matching shirt photo. Check. Third, Animal Kingdom. Soaked to the skin with nothing dry, and the Flight of Passage. Check. Here we took a quick break for a change of clothes and a hot shower (for me, at least). Forth, Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Mania, the Elhards first plunge on the Tower of Terror, and ice cream with fireworks. Check. I have photo evidence of all this if it’s to unbelievably awesome.

I hope you can feel my excitement about these two amazing, memorable weeks. If not, I didn’t do it justice.

And that’s the end. I’m going to leave it off on that high note, and just not say anything about the 20 hour car ride back. Not that anything wrong happened, but, ya know, it’s a lot of sitting and truck stop bathrooms. Not glamorous or exciting.

-Cali

On Our Way to Florida

On our way to Florida we stopped at Aunt Krysta and Uncle Bill’s. It was so nice to see them. We had a birthday celebration and some yummy cake! We hung out with Flipp and Waller, played cards and went to a winery that was on an Alpaca farm. We even spent an evening with cousins Lori, Jason, and Megan.