Road trip: Destination - Heaven

Family takes a roadtrip for a weekend get together in heaven.

Iowa City, IA -- In 1989 there was a movie called Field of Dreams. This movie is a baseball movie, so it comes as no surprise that David Stricker is quite familiar with it. Over the weekend he and Wendy parodied this quote:

Shoeless Joe Jackson (David): "Is this heaven?"
Ray Kinsella (Wendy): "No, it's Iowa."

Iowa. Practically heaven. It seems like a good place to go, right?

So on the morning of Saturday, May 26, Jason, Shelly, and youngerlings stopped in Red Wing to pick up David and Wendy. Half a dozen hours later, they met up with Philip, Aimee, and their troop. Each group had traveled 250-300 miles to get to Iowa City, IA - less than 90 miles from Dyersville, IA, the site of the famous movie.

This was not a long visit to heaven - err, I mean Iowa. The groups separated for the drive home on the afternoon of Sunday, May 27. So while the time together was short, there was still plenty of fun!

Some of the highlights.

• - Olivia and IdaMae meet for the first time.
  
• - Playing with a frisbee, soccer ball, and beach ball in the field next to the hotel - while the Moms talked about babies.
• - David going to get new batteries for their camera 'cause they were taking so many pictures.
• - David and Wendy required a new room because the first one smelled so bad.
• - Wendy going to get more film for their camera 'cause they were taking so many pictures.
• - Visiting a city park so the kids could play - and the Moms could talk about babies.
• - The hotel swimming pool was closed "For Maintenance".
• - The Jacuzzi was open.
• - Playing a game of pool with the help of Mateo and Nicolas
• - Two-person pinball - 'cause some of the players' arms were too short to reach both flipper buttons.
• - A group game of video bowling.
• - Moms talking about babies.
• - For the two vehicles:
  • * aprox. 600 miles per vehicle
  • * aprox. 350 photos (c300 digital, c50 film)
  • * about 36 total hours per vehicle (time gone from home)
• - Which means there was one photo taken...
  1. * Every 3.5 miles of travel (approximately).
  2. * Every 12 minutes while gone from home (approximately).
  3. * Every 246 seconds while together in heaven! I mean Iowa.

So while it wasn't truly heaven, it's the opinion of many that it was mighty close! (like about 90 miles?)

-- Philip

Midweek

Since we don't have a blog of our own, and we actually did something and took a picture of it this week, I thought I'd post again. After the stresses of the week were getting to be too much, we took a break last night and went to a state park nearby for a picnic supper and hike. I guess that's all. But we took a picture of it!!! At least I'm posting. Oh, yeah. Todd changed the car battery this week, too. Life is grand.

P.S. Dear Charlie,

The Spurs are going to whip Detroit. If Detroit gets themselves past the semis, that is.

Sincerely,

Your niece

Hannah and Todd

We don't have much in the way of exciting news lately. We were both really sick last week but are finally feeling better now. Todd's parents came for a long weekend over Mother's Day, and we had a pleasant time. We made an offer on a house a couple weeks ago (it was so perfect), only to discover something the owner didn't even know...it was in a flood plain! I'm still bummed out, but we met with a realtor last week and are hoping something dry turns up soon! The only out-of-the-ordinary thing we have right now is bees! Personally, I had never heard of such a thing as carpenter bees, but now we know all about them. They build their nests in old, unpainted wood, which is exactly what we have above our apartment's deck. Todd has tried 3 different kinds of tape to see if that would deviate them, but they've gone through all the layers. The exteminator is coming to the apartments tomorrow, and that should take care of it. Here are the pictures!

Coast to Coast with the Sullivans - in the month of April

We started the month of April in Washington DC with a one day trip to the Cherry Festival!

The next weekend we headed for Seattle with Ellie to visit PJ and see the Tulip Festival one hour north of Seattle. They produce more tulip bulbs there than in Amsterdam! PJ and Ellie were not able to keep up with us. April blessed us by taking care of Dawn.




And yet one week later, we found ourselves in Phoenix, Arizona to pack up and move mom home. Took a break from the work to visit Tortia Flatts (while the carpet cleaners were there). Even took time to stop in the cities for a little kite flying! Go Grandma!

Think we're busy? No! We had enough time to be "ark"itects and create the props for Noah's Ark at the Catholic School. We're earning our spot for next year when Dawn attends. It is amazing what you can accomplish with a stay at home dad.

Whew! Just to let you know, I have attemped several times to post on this website but always got a shutdown error. April surprised us today for Mother's Day (Yippee!) and suggested I try a different browser. Hope this works!

An exciting weekend for the Housers

From the rugged Ozarks of south central Missouri comes a post from Philip.

The weekend that ended yesterday was rather boring (the yard is mowed, a couple trees transplanted). The exciting one I have alluded to is last weekend.

The four of us went to Montauk State park - about a 45 minute drive - to be spectators at a demonstration of birds of prey. A team from the World Bird Sanctuary was there with a collection of birds.

But this was not simply an opportunity to see these raptors. No, we actually got to see and feel a few of them fly! One of the workers would walk to the back of the crowd and the bird would fly from the front to the back over the heads of the people watching. These birds would typically fly just inches above the heads and hats of the spectators. There was a Harris Hawk, an African Hooded Vulture, and a Barn Owl.

Other birds that we got to see, but didn't fly for us, were a Great Horned Owl, a Peregrine Falcon, a Bald Eagle, a Screech Owl, and a Red Tailed Hawk.

It was also a beautiful day, and by being at the park I couldn't do any nasty chores like mowing the yard or transplanting trees!

--      Philip

Canoe Trip

Yesterday, my mom, dad, and I met up with Hannah, Todd, Alison, Mark, and Carl in the "Grand Canyon of the East." We canoed at the Pale Whale, and had a nice picnic by the river. The weather was PERFECT--not too hot, not too cold. Alison and Mark were in Pennsylvania visiting Carl, and it was nice of them to take some time to visit with us. We all had a great time.

Horray for Hollywood

I've been done with school now for a few weeks and had the day off work so I decided to go to Hollywood for the day! It was lots of fun!

This was in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theater. Those are my shoes! It was amazing how little Shirley Temple's hands and feet were. It's easy to forget how young she was.

Unfortunately, I missed my flight home and had to sleep in the airport (the above picture is where I slept). All things considered, I am pretty proud of myself that I was able to sleep on the floor in an airport. I've come a long way! It did wonders though to keep telling myself it was training for being on The Amazing Race someday. Any takers....?

McDonalds: $3.79

Pizzeria: $6.02

Not Exercising: $0

Being able to use a large t-shirt rather than a xsmall as a pillow: PRICELESS!

~~~April