Our Big Trip

Our big trip has begun! We flew out from Anchorage on Sunday, January 7 on the late night flight...the kids did great on both flights from Anchorage to Seattle and then on to Sacramento. I'm sure we looked like quite the sight as Steve and I with our six kids were all asleep at our gate in the Seattle airport waiting for our connecting flight. The kids woke easily and got on the next plane without even a complaint. They were just all so excited to be going on this big trip! We arrived in Sacramento at 8:30am on Monday, January 8...Happy Birthday Kailee, she thought it was so much fun to be celebrating her 6th birthday as we were flying to California! Al and Marcia are along with us for the first week and a half as we visit with family in California, and they met up with us in Seattle. We were met at the airport with our motor home rental and then took off for the Modesto area to go to Aunt Janet's house where we will be staying all week.

We have all enjoyed seeing the sights of this farming area...cows, horses, rows and rows of trees such as almonds, walnuts, and grape vines. The smell of the dairy farms took a little bit of getting used to. The first day the kids thought it smelled kind of stinky, but they have gotten used to it now!

We spent one day driving to the mountains to see the Big Trees at the Calavares Big Trees State Part. We all marveled at the size of the Sierra Redwoods, the largest one in the North Grove having a base diameter of 30 feet, and at 48 feet above the ground the tree is still 16 feet in diameter! The Sierra Redwoods are just huge giants and such an amazing creation of the Creator!

The next day we visited a dairy farm where they milk 570 cows twice each day! Not coming from a farming community the kids all marveled at the milking process as well as just enjoying seeing the animals and being on a farm. Later in the day we also visited a cheese factory so the kids got to see what is done with some of the milk after it leaves the dairy. And then today we also saw another way that milk is used...we toured the Hershey factory and saw all the yummy chocolate bars they make, and all those melt in your mouth chocolate chips for cookies!

Yesterday we also got to visit a small Alpaca ranch...the kids had so much fun feeding the alpacas, especially bottle feeding the 3 1/2 month old orphan. They yarn that comes from the alpacas is so soft and makes such beautiful scarves. They have a website if you would like to see www.alpacasoftheveldt.com

Thanks for praying for our safe travels. We have been so enjoying showing our kids another part of the United States! This is also where Steve lived until he was 8 when his family moved to Alaska, so he has had fun sharing memories from his childhood with his kids.

Our motor home has worked out great so far...it will be the biggest test when we go on the road next week! It has been cold at night but we have been staying warm and cozy in our little home. It is so nice to have a place that feels like our home for these six weeks. We we looked at our eight suitcases and the storage space available in the motor home we didn't really think it would all fit, but you wouldn't believe how much storage space there really is...we were able to put it all away with plenty of room to spare!

With love from the travelers,
Steve, Stacey, Ann Marie, Ethan, Tyler, Kailee, Alyssum, and Adams