Ok, So I have had a few emails saying we haven't updated in a while. At least we know someone is reading this. 
So here is an update:- Getting over jet lag and back into the education routine has taken precedence over the last few weeks. I am finally able to take some time to think about our trip, sort the photo's and get something on here.
Mind you it won't be today. It is funny how many shots you can take on a digital camera when you don't have to think about developing them all.
So here is a little teaser to keep you in suspense till the real update. 
Another photo from our trip to Niagara Falls.
Wow, these last few days have flown. It seems we have been at the pool, eating or sleeping. Actually we did have Tuesday off and took the opportunity to visit The Henry Ford and Greenfield village. This is a fabulous museum and living history village.
I know everyone wants to hear how the munchkins did at the Junior Olympic so we'll save the post for another day on the Ford museum, and include some photo's when I get them uploaded to the computer.
So – onto the Junior Olympics results.
Jarred – 1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze, 2 copper (4th and 5th place) plus a gold and a bronze on his relay team. He swam 10 races and got 10 medals….not a bad haul!
Chloe – 1 copper (8th place in the final), plus a gold and a silver on her relay team.
Cody – 2 copper, plus a gold on his relay team
Shania – 1 bronze, 2 coppers, plus a gold on her relay team.
Everyone is thrilled at having a medal…the golds especially. Jarred swam well and some of his races were so so exciting. Less than hundredths of a second in some cases makes for a lot of breath holding by Mum.
Especially the hundred backstroke in which he won the gold medal. I videoed it and only at the end did I realize I hadn't been breathing. At least I wasn't yelling. Mind you, plenty of others were!
Wayne and I both got to work at the games. So we came away with volunteers t'shirts and the chance to watch the races from the pool deck whilst timing for some sessions, instead of up in the stands.
So there you have it – a fun time and some great results.
All the children made some lovely new friends and have addresses exchanged for penpals. The whole atmosphere was positive and everyone from every team so encouraging – even if one of their swimmers lost. It was a refreshing change from some competitions we have experienced before and an awesome example of winning and losing with the right attitude.
I'll add photo's here when as I can, so check back at this post to see them. No promises how soon it will be though!
Tomorrow morning we head out on our way back to Oklahoma. We'll drive through Kentucky and visit the Creation Museum. Founded by Australian Ken Ham, of Answers in Genises. It is a great opportunity for us to expand our education while we learn about Science and Creation.
Yesterday we registered and the children all had a good training session ready for competition tomorrow. They will be competing at the University Of Michigan Pool in Ypsilanti near Detroit in Michigan. We are staying about 15 minutes away in Ann Arbor.
The pool is set at the correct temperature so that if any records are broken they will be ratified and allowed. It is a little cooler than our pools back home but considering how hot it is inside the enclosed pool area it is nice for them to swim in. We on the other hand will be sweating it out.
Everyone has pre-race excitement and all are looking forward to this new experience.
Then tonight we went to the Parade of Champions….supposedly something of an opening ceremony. To be honest it was a little disappointing. Being our first time we were not sure what to expect, however those who went with us and had been before said that it wasn't very good, certainly not up to past times.
The one thing that everyone enjoyed was the Marching band. Their music was great, their leader energetic and fun, and the whole performance was really a treat. It turns out they are performing at the Olympics in Beijing!
I'll try to update soon
You know it is serious when your teenage son shaves his body all in the aid of avoiding drag through the water.
Tomorrow we register for the Junior Olympics and the children's swim team "Arabian Falcons" have a training session at the pool they will all be competing in.
Did you guess?
That photo was taken on the American side of Niagara Falls.
We have a few days before the Junior Olympics start and as it was only a 4 hour drive up here we decided to take the opportunity to head up this way.
We drove up through Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York along the southern side of Lake Erie into Buffalo and on to Niagara Falls. It was stunning countryside and the weather was perfect – in the mid 70's which was a lovely change from the higher weather down south.
We stayed on that side of the river last night then took the 'Rainbow Bridge' to Canada. Driving across you get the full scope of the Niagara Falls.
I cannot believe how awesome the Falls are in real life. The power and majesty of that amount of water constantly flowing is beyond description. Photos don't show the shear mass that it truly is…and it doesn't stop!
Today we went on a walk behind the falls, deep down behind the flow. We got very wet! Then we headed along the river past the whirlpool and on to a butterfly sanctuary.
What a treat this was. Two thousand plus butterfly's in a natural type enclosure. There was a lot of information and exhibits of the life cycle and habitat the butterfly. Very well laid out too.
Once inside the immense enclosure they were everywhere, and quite happy to land on you. It seems I was an attractive target. Two butterfly's, newly out of their cocoon's, decided to adopt me and spent the better part of an hour hanging on while I toured the whole enclosure. They had to be removed before we left through an air lock.
Needless to say many people stopped me to take photo's. I don't think my calf muscle, where one of them decided to take up residence, has ever had quite that amount of attention. The other pretty butterfly sat on my left shoulder and migrated around a little between the front and back of my shirt.
One man, who had seen them hanging on for that long, titled me the "Butterfly Whisperer".
Funny!
Then we went back to the falls. This time to take a trip on the "Maid of the Mist".
Maid of the Mist is a boat which has been taking tourist on an up close and personal trip to the base of the falls. The personal bit is with the water. They provide you with rain coat poncho's but believe me – it gets personal.
However it is so worth it. The children enjoyed the whole thing, raising their faces to the water that flies up in the air and rains back down. Yelling above the noise to talk about how incredible the whole thing was and posing for photo's.
We then walked back the the hotel, in part to dry out and mainly to further enjoy the view of both sides of the falls. Later we watched the fireworks they let off nightly from our room way above the falls.
Tomorrow we will head back to Detroit via the northern side of Lake Erie, most of the way traveling through Canada.
One nice thing about this while experience has been Wayne finally getting to visit Canada, even if it is only for a short time.
When I first met Wayne he had a photo of an Uncle who had moved to Canada and traveled around in a VW combi van. It was a dream of Wayne's to visit there one day, and now he has done it…even if only for a day.
Check back soon for some more photo's.
After eating the local version of a continental breakfast – Bagels with cream cheese and coffee, we refilled the esky's with ice, topped up our thermal coffee mugs and got on the road again.
Our destination today was Bloomington in Illinois. I spent some time on google last night just researching what there is to see and do on the way. The major thing we found to see today is in St Louis. I have been singing that tune "Show me the way to St Louis, show me the way…" all day. The kids think I am funny!
Bet you are singing it now too.
The Gateway Arch is situated in St Louis on the banks of the Mississippi. It is the Thomas Jefferson memorial and was completed in 1965. At 630 feet high it is the tallest national monument in the USA. It is an amazing structure and went through a lot of technical and engineering issues before it finally came into being. The guy who designed it died before it was even finished. You can read more about it here at The Gateway Arch
We parked a little way away and walked along the banks of the Mississippi catching glimpses of it through the trees. It rises majestically above the city and reflections of it are everywhere in the ponds scattered through the pretty gardens surrounding the place.
As you ride up inside these little round tram things, going up and changing direction gradually over these cog type changes you have no idea of how high you are. All of your trip is inside the tower structures themselves. There is a little window so you actually get to see the inside of the tower arch as you are going up.
Then the view from the tip is incredible. A storm cloud had made its way over during the morning but it was still an amazing sight. It is amazing how far over you hang up there.
The base of the support towers you ride up in can actually be seen from the top.
Out the one side you can see all of the city of St Louis. The other side is the view up and down the Mississippi. Watching the barges and looking from Missouri across the river at the State of Illinois was a lot of fun.
The highlight was for Jarred in being able to view the home grounds of his favourite baseball team. He has always been a Cardinals fan since his team out here when he played baseball, was "The Cardinals". He still has his baseball hat and jersey from then too.
Then it was back on the road and onto our destination of Bloomington in Illinois.
This state is so different to drive through than Missouri. It is a corn state. At least that's the way it looked from our car.
Everywhere corn corn corn. Beautiful and green this time of year. Driving past gently undulating fields, pretty farmhouses, silver grain silo's and big red barns was actually a really nice day. The skies were so blue with gently puffy clouds. Perfect for enjoying as we drove the highway.
We are listening to a lot of audio's this trip. Some kind friends lent us their Focus on the Family 'Adventures in Odyssey' tapes. These kept us entertained and also raised a lot of character building conversations. Who says time spent in the car can be boring? What an opportunity to share and get to know each other more.
We had decided to limit the amount of DS Lite (Brain Game) time to half an hour each day – and no dvd's in the laptop. We only have the Game Boy things when we travel as a general rule rather than something we do all the time. They tend to be such an anti-social thing when used all the time, and we wanted this trip to be special. This was our time to be together and build some wonderful memories with each other.
And it was!
Today we left for Detroit where the Junior Olympics are to be held this year. First we went to swim training at 7 am for 2 hours as it was already 45 mins in the direction we were headed. We had to stop by the optometrist in Ft Smith Ark to pick up Wayne's new prescription sunglasses.
We had already decided to do this trip over a couple of days. Driving for about 4 – 5 hours and stopping along the way if there is anything we see along the way that takes our fancy.
Our destination today was a place called Ft Leonard/St Roberts. We have booked one room for the night including breakfast which is nice.
We had packed two esky's full of yummy goodies to eat for lunch and snacks plus plenty of drinks to keep us going. Connie and the girls had been cooking up a storm and we went on our way well stocked.
As we drove up through Missouri, which is so beautiful, we kept seeing signs for the Precious Moments Chapel. The billboards are very large along the sides of the highway so you can't really miss it. Eventually we came to the turn off, so we decided to have a stretch break and a look around.
We arrived at 4.15 to find it was closing at 5. Much to Wayne's relief. We couldn't spend too long there.
We had enough time to walk around the lovely memorial gardens.
Then we came to the Chapel.
It was so peaceful and a beautifully serene place to spend some time.
The paintings in the chapel are stunningly beautiful in their simple style.
However it is the stained glass windows that really set the whole thing off.
Mind you – we came back up to the main area at 4.45 thinking we had time to check out the gift shop and store. I intended purchasing a gift for a friend who collects these pretty figurines.
It was closed.
Really!
We could not believe it. We were not the only people who wanted to get into the store but the doors were firmly closed. They really meant they were out of there at 5 pm…not that they closed then. A little disappointing but I guess they were the ones who lost the sales.
Then we got back on the road and headed for our motel. The place was newish and had enough room for all of us with a roll away bed. It also had a fridge and microwave.
It was just off the highway past this sign.
Too funny hey! We had to take a photo of course.
Then we headed here for dinner.
We had traditional pulled BBQ beef and pork in the Ozark Style. Whatever that is, it sure was good. Topped off with really good iced tea and it was a perfect finish to a longish (we left home at 6 am) but lovely days driving.
The motel is just off to the right up the hill about 500 meters so it was nice and close.
Bonham Texas is a lovely little town.
Today we got a cab into town and walked around a bit. At Connie's suggestion we first went to the Chamber of Commerce and picked up some area information then headed out for the town square.
There had even been a gun fight here at one time!
So we walked the square and had a browse around some nice antique stores. It is just as well I don't live here as I could be quite tempted by some of the furniture.
We did score some good old books…like 1918 and such that the children will enjoy reading. One is an older version of an Elsie Dinesmore book by the original author and is not in print today. Jarred found this while hunting through some books and knew Chloe would enjoy it.
It was lunch time so we asked back at the Chamber of Commerce where would be a good place to eat. They recommended Cappy's.
Cappy's is a little hole in the wall country buffet, all you can eat and drink. For $6 adults. Wonderful food, fabulous biscuits (garlic and cheese I think) and great tasting iced tea. Catfish, shrimp, and of course all the beef and chicken you could possibly want. Salads and desserts too. It certainly seemed popular with every table in the place full.
The young man serving the drinks even offered us a refill iced tea "to go". Talk about service!
In fact this whole experience of the car transmission going has been positive…aside from $. Everyone has been so super friendly and helpful. They can't do enough to help you. Their service is beyond compare.
And drinks to go!
That just gets me. In Australia you would pay for a drink by the can or glass. If you wanted two you would have to pay for another one. Here I had two full glasses of ice tea with my meal, then one to go in a take away cup. They sure know how to look after you. ( We have found this most places in America)
If you are ever headed through Bonham then I would recommend stopping at Cappy's for lunch.
We went back to the hotel and had a little break before walking down the road about half a mile and going to the movies. That cost per ticket of $3. Which totaled $18 for the 6 of us. We watched Kung Fu Panda which everyone enjoyed. A bit of light hearted entertainment with a good moral to the story. Nice in this day and age. Not even a skerick of romance in there either.
Walked back to the hotel, had some dinner from all the food we had purchased at Central Market (great organic grocery store) in Dallas yesterday.
With nothing planned for the evening we decided, with those cheap prices, to head back to the movies. It's not something we have the option of doing in Saudi with no movie theatres there, so twice in one day is a real treat and not something that will happen very often.
This time we saw W.A.L.L.E. This is an interesting movie about a "trash cleaning robot" in the future. It looks at the way we consume and spend our time in front of computer screens without other human contact. In a very nice way it makes you think about our priorities and the value of human touch. Everyone thought it was fabulous.
That brings us up to date.
Tomorrow we will spend the morning at the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum in Bonham while we wait to hear about the car.
The car is being fixed. We have to wait for a transmission to come up from Dallas. Then the nice guys at B & B Service assure me if they have to work till midnight on Thursday to get us on the road again they will. After all Friday is the 4th of July…some little holiday they hold here (just kidding) and they won't open again till Monday.
I have no idea what God is doing or why He brought us here to Bonham but I do know I trust Him and that He is in control.
When the transmission blew up late yesterday afternoon we had just pulled out of a gas station and onto the highway. It was really out in the middle of nowhere but close enough to be able to walk back with the children for a drink, loo break and some cool air. It was very warm.
We called AAA roadside service and they got a tow driver under way to us. Chloe and I stayed with the car while Connie (my friend who was with us) walked back with the other three to the service station.
Having no idea what was going to happen next Chloe and I sat in the car and prayed. Along the highway towards me came a police car….I watched it past and just as I was wondering – he did a U turn and came back to us. I watched in the rear view mirror as he pulled up and sat in his car a minute or two. Then the Sheriff slowly walks towards me unbuckling his holster. I was cracking up laughing – it is so what you would see in a movie. Apparently I did the right thing by remaining in my car and not getting out to go 'meet' him.
Anyway we had a lovely chat for quite a while. We had fun with the accent and different words we Aussie's use. He could not have been more helpful. Offered to stay with us till the tow truck arrived. Offered to have someone come and be there if he had to leave. Also filled us in on the best town to go to, and things that might help us out.
When the tow guy arrived our friendly sheriff went and spoke to him first, making sure he would look after us.
Thank You, Mr Sheriff, for making our time so much easier.
Not only that, he sent a car to pick up the other 4 as we could not all fit in the cab of the tow truck. We waited at the service station till that car arrived then all headed into the little town of Bonham. Jarred and I rode in the cab of the tow truck – which was an experience…this was higher up than anything Jarred had ever ridden in.
Dropped the car off, and John – the guy from B&B, gave us all a lift to the only hotel he would recommend staying in there in Bonham. It is clean and neat and at $57 a night for a two double bed room, including breakfast, was a nice break.
Then it was just wait and see what the deal was today when they opened it up. I still had reverse but no forward gears. As you can see by the photo it is up in the air and waiting on the replacement transmission to arrive.
So -Today we will explore Bonham!