Kylie Day 45

Finish Line by Ryan

This morning we got up and had breakfast. For some reason I did not have to do schoolwork this morning. I guess it was because right after breakfast we hooked the truck up to the RV and started driving to our next stop. It took six hours but we finally got there.

After we set up the RV we went out for dinner. During dinner we talked about our favorite places that we went to on this trip. My favorite place was Charleston, SC because that's where I discovered crabbing. After dinner we drove home and went to bed. This trip has been really fun.

We arrive home tomorrow so this is my last blog. I will start my blog back up in January because we are going to New Zealand.

My Turn - by Betsy!

We are on our way home! Shreveport today and then home tomorrow! This has been a fun trip but completely different than our summer excursion. A lot more work, a lot less working out - ugh, and not as much play. Still lots of fun times and many new memories.

My favorite place was Charleston, SC. The whole first half of our trip was really great - the Fall color and the mountains were so beautiful. Even with spending the extra time in Jackson, TN dealing with the truck!

Florida was nice. Disney was Disney - fun, exhausting, expensive and memorable for all. Otter Springs was a very pretty place. There was a wedding at the RV park that was just darling to get to watch. I hate to judge Destin to harshly. The weather put a damper on things but getting to hang out with the Auciello's made it a whole lot better. Not to mention getting to partake in a "Chef Robert" dinner!

Thanksgiving in Hattiesburg, Mississippi was a complete change of pace. It was a really great experience for all of us to get to volunteer and help out. It is a joy to see your kids doing something like that with big, happy smiles on their faces. Don't get me wrong, it did not start out that way - they were rather confused by the idea but I knew they would "get it" once they were there.

Just drove by a Stuckeys! Ahhh childhood memories.....

Kylie Day 44

Let's Help by Ryan

This morning we got up and started our schoolwork. I got to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while I was doing my schoolwork. When we finished it was time to leave. We were volunteering at a restaurant that was serving a free Thanksgiving lunch. I got to serve the food. After several hours of doing that we got our own Thanksgiving lunch. After we helped clean up the mess it was time to go. When we got back we met our new neighbors. They had a little girl Kylie's age. We had spaghetti then went to bed.

Kylie Day 43

Friends by Ryan

Yesterday we woke up like usual and started our schoolwork. After lunch we went to our friend's house. They are having their vacation and they decided to rent a house in Destin (which is where we are now). They have been here before so they knew the town. After they showed us around the town we went back to their house and had dinner. It was delicious! Once we finished dessert it was time to go. When we got back I immediately went to bed.

"HAYYYY SEXY LADY WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP-AH-GANGAM STYLE!" is what I woke up to this morning." The first thing I thought was "OH NO! Dad is getting us up this morning! After mom got things quiet again we got breakfast. I had an enormous bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios and some milk. After a couple hours of schoolwork we packed up the RV and got in the truck. I was bummed that my mom finished the Harry Potter book. I also completed some more schoolwork in the truck. When we got there Kylie got all excited because she saw a playground. Kylie and I played outside until dinner was ready. After a so so dinner we went to bed.

Kylie Day 41

And some sushi from Publix as well!

Nothing But A Trout by Ryan

This morning I got up early and read my book until it was time to start our schoolwork. I had another long day with schoolwork. When it was all done my dad and I decided to go crabbing. We rented a boat and grabbed all of the crabbing gear. After we arrived we set up the traps. We tied a chicken leg to a rope and threw it out into the ocean. When I pulled it back in I was hoping that there would be a crab grabbing ahold of it with its claw but there was nothing. We waited 15 minutes then checked all of the traps but again nothing. After about 2 hours of doing that we still had not caught anything but a trout (which was caught on my dad's fishing pole). We were getting eaten alive by no-see-ems so we decided to turn back. I had dinner, took a shower,then went to bed.

Side note from mom: "Dad" set off early this morning all geared up to catch some trout and redfish. He came home 5 1/2 hrs later with having just 1 bite, a good upper body workout from the tough kayak ride out to the bay along with an alligator sighting and an up-close dolphin experience. We had gobs of fresh shrimp for dinner from Publix - not redfish but it sure was good!!!

Kylie Day 40

Fishing Trip by Ryan

This morning I woke up to my mom yelling "Wake up!". Even though its the weekend I had to do loads of schoolwork. Well to me it seemed like a lot. After several hours of work we got to go fishing. My dad told me to take my sister and go down to the dock while he went to the office to rent the boat. When he got the papers filled out we set off on our journey. "I'm bored!" Kylie complained over and over again. At the end we counted up all the fish that we caught. Nothing. When we got back we checked our crab traps and caught our first crab in the area. Dustin (my clarinet teacher) gave me another clarinet lesson. We had dinner, made a fire, then went to bed.

Seal or Sea Lion by Ryan

Yesterday we woke up and started on our schoolwork. Dad went to the store while we were working. Around lunch we finished and dad came back. He brought us Wendy's for lunch. Dad also told us that we were going to see a sea lion show today. So we drove to the Marine Adventure Park.

The sea lion show was hilarious! I also learned how to tell the difference between seals and sea lions. Seals have little holes behind there eyes for ears. Sea lions have little skin flaps like humans for ears.

After that we went to the movies and saw Wreck It Ralph. It was pretty good. Then it was getting close to dinner time so we went home and got ready to go to a fancy restraunt. After a great dinner we drove home and went to bed.

Yesterday was fun but today I was hoping that we could go crabbing at the next RV park. When we arrived there I put out some traps but after six hours no crabs took the bait. We made a fire though. I also got to take a nice, long, warm shower. so I guess today was kind of fun.

Kylie Day 39

Kylie Day 38

Can you guess the word of the day (ongoing starting previous post).....

Kylie Day 37

Ouch! By Ryan

Yesterday we woke up and did our schoolwork. After lunch we went to the beach. The waves were so big that a teenager was surfing them. Once we found a spot to place our chairs my dad helped me set up some crab traps on a nearby dock. We did not catch anything.

After that we went back to the RV. I went out too check the crab trap but there were no crabs in it. When I was walking back to the RV I slipped on a reef rock and got some wounds. I cut my hand pretty bad. I almost needed stitches.

We had dinner then went to bed. This morning we woke up and started on our schoolwork. My dad left to go kayak fishing. After we finished our schoolwork we played our video games for a while. Then my dad came home with one Redfish (which my parents had for dinner). After dinner we watched a movie then went to bed.

Kylie Day 36

We have started a "word of the day". Ryan gets to play hangman to figure out the word, then he has to explain the word/definition to Kylie. Today's word is Faithful - Kylie's job is to use the word in her blog. I wonder how well this idea is going to pan out with the blogging part! This is an iPad ap (4-6th grade vocabulary) so we never know what we are going to get.....could be a disaster, very entertaining or both!

Museum by Ryan

I woke up this morning and started on my math schoolwork. It took up most of my morning. After I had lunch I finished the rest of my schoolwork. Then I went outside to check the crab trap that I set up the day before, but there were no crabs in the trap.

After that my dad and I decided to go to the Air Force Armament Museum. Here are some things that I learned while I was there. The world's largest Air Force Base, Eglin, is near Destin FL (which is where we are now). During WWII car factories stopped making cars and made weapons instead. The SR-71 BLACKBIRD is the fastest plane in the world. It can travel up to 2144 mph.

After the museum we went back to the RV and had dinner. Today was a fun day.

Kylie Day 35

More Crabs by Ryan

This morning we got up and did our schoolwork while my dad left to go fishing. At recess I discovered that the wifi signal was strong enough to support my favorite game, Roblox. After playing Roblox for thirty minutes I started on my schoolwork again. Once all of my schoolwork was completed I had my lunch and during lunch my dad came back and had a surprise to show me. When he went to the tackle shop to get his fishing license he picked up a huge crab trap.

So we put some squid in the trap and got the inflatable kayak ready. There was an old dock that only had the base posts left standing and looked like a perfect place to set the trap. While we were waiting to check the trap my dad went fishing in the kayak while I waded in the water looking for crabs. My dad caught two fish and I caught six crabs with my nets. Some were big and some were small.

After that we checked the trap but there were no crabs in it. We left it there and went to dinner at a sushi place. When we were done we went home and went to bed.

Kylie Day 34

Next stop by Ryan

We got up like usual, but we did not have to do schoolwork because it is a weekend. I got to sleep in! I had peaches and pop tarts for breakfast. They were delicious!

After breakfast I found our friends outside waiting for Kylie and I so we could play together one last time. When it was time to go we said goodbye and hopped into the truck. I played my phone most of the way but my mom read Harry Potter too.

When we arrived at the campground we discovered our site was the closest to the pool and had a great view of the ocean. After dinner (which was amazing) we tried out the swimming pool. It felt like a hot tub because it was ninety degrees. Today was another fun day.

The Incident by Ryan

This morning we woke up and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They were delicious! After breakfast we started on our schoolwork. Here is a report on Beethoven that I wrote-

Beethoven
Beethoven was born in 1770. Once he was twenty two Beethoven was convinced by Joseph Haydn to move to Vienna which was the capital for musicians. The people there loved him because of the powerful music he played. He became famous, but he began to lose his hearing. Over time he only got more famous but he lost more of his hearing. Eventually he could not hear at all but he used his other senses to make up for it. When he died, twenty thousand people went to his funeral.

After schoolwork my parents went to the store and when they can back we went swimming in the spring with our. We caught crayfish, minnows, and even fresh water shrimp. After dinner we made a fire and went inside to take some warm showers. That's when we realized that we forgot to let the fish, and shrimp, and, crayfish go. So we ran down to spring with flashlights in the freezing cold to let the animals go. Besides the last incident today was fun.

Kylie Day 32

Kayaking by Ryan

This morning we got up and started our schoolwork. We had recess the same time our friends did and we got to play with them. After another hour of schoolwork we had lunch and got our stuff ready to go kayaking. Once we were ready we got in the shuttle and they dropped us off at our kayaks. We paddled down the river and saw lots of fish. My dad even caught a Suwannee bass which you can only find in the Suwannee river (which is where we were). Once we got to the end of our kayaking trip we saw some manatees hanging out near the entrance of a creek that was flowing into the river. They were pretty cool. When we got back to the RV we watched Men In Black 2 then went to bed.

Kylie Day 31

New Friends by Ryan

This morning we got up and started schoolwork like we used to. The time went by fast and at one o'clock we finished most of our work for the day. After that I went down to the shore of the spring and caught some fish. Then my parents decided to go on a bike ride to the river. The trail we took was very bumpy because lots of the tree roots were growing out of the ground. When we arrived at the river I saw how wide it was. We're going kayaking on it tomorrow.

After that we went back and swam in the swimming pool. Then we met them. Two boys, one Kylie's age and one my age rode their bikes up to the pool and started talking to us. One's name was Tim and the other's name was Zach. I had to practice my clarinet so I played them a song. We also made a fire and after dinner we all roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

It was a nice change to see kids our age at a regular campground like this.