Florida's Blizzard

~Paul
Blizzard Beach has three great advantages to every other waterpark. First it's a part of Disney and the employees reflect it. Second the rides are innovative and long. Third there is something to do for every age group that's really, really fun.


I never heard a single lifeguard yell don't run. The Steiners usually get in trouble for this and it was refreshing not to be scolded every few minutes.

Isaac's favorite ride was the double dipper. It was the fastest and scarest that he went on. It started with a drop and then you get a real surprise with the second dip. I think I left the tube I was in for a moment as I flew down the hill.

Sam was my favorite attraction of the day. He and I spent most of the time in what he titled 'his park' for kids under 48" or in 'Ahna's park' for the little ones. He ran up the ramp and rode his slide literally fifty times throughout th day. He was one cute, sunburnt, smiling little boy.

Well try out the other Disney World waterpark on Sunday. I heard rumors of surf lessons and river rapids.
~

Surpassing Expectations

~Paul
Disney World and especially Magic Kingdom is incredible. What impressed me most was not the rides or shows, but the employees. What an incredible feat of vision and leadership to create an entire workforce that flows together to create a place where all the guests feel valued.
I'm inspired.

Each and every person was kind to the kids. The cast and characters from the shows would stoop down and listen to the kids and ask questions. Ahna got to sit with Cinderella, Belle, and Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty for a little one in one time.

Rides were excellent. We found three that especially rocked. Splash Mountain was our favorite and last ride of the day. I have a blurry jerky and incredible video of us all getting wet. And Buzz lightyear was really good. You can ride and shoot at targets at the same time. Kind of like hunting the Denali Highway (just kidding).


I'm ready to extend this part of our vacation.

Sammy-isms at Carlsbad Caverns

Samuel could care less about the cave. He was obsessed with the bats the entire 2 hrs we were in there, even though we never saw one because they hadn't migrated back to the area yet.

Things Samuel said:

Shhh the bats are seeeeping. Don't wake dem up!

When seeing the water dripping to form the stalagtites, Samuel said "the bats are peeeeeeing!"

When the kids were getting tested on what they learned from the Park Ranger, Samuel's answer to EVERY question was "BATS!"
Park ranger-"what did you see in the cave?" Sam- "Bats!" Park ranger-"what are the formations that grow in the cave called?" Sam-"Bats!" , etc...

On the way to supper that evening we were looking for a Denny's because kids eat free on Tuesdays. Sammy said, " Denny doesn't have a restaurant. He have a house!" He became angry when I said he did have a restaurant and we were eating at it!

Joe Allen’s

Joe Allen’s….What can I say about Joe Allen’s? It was my introduction to Texas Barbeque. That mesquite-smoked-fall-off-the-bone-goodness. This was my favorite restaurant in Abilene, Texas, the town I went to college in and lived for 6 years. I have missed Joe Allen’s. I have dreamt about it throughout the years living in Alaska, where you can’t get it. You can’t really make it. You’d have to get a mesquite tree log and a smoker. I suppose that is possible. I bet Carol Symond’s husband could make it.
We planned to spend a half day in Abilene and do 2 things: tour our college and show the kids where we met, and eat at Joe Allens. After a long afternoon of walking the campus, our mouths started to drool just thinking about the brisket. It was time to get on over to that restaurant. We looked it up on google maps and made our way over there.
Sammy was sleeping so Paul was planning on staying in the RV until the food arrived. The kids and I went into the new restaurant (Joe Allen’s expanded since 13 yrs ago). We sat down and ordered drinks. I got the sweet tea of course. The kids were trying to figure out what they wanted on the kid’s menu. Paul and I knew what we wanted since at least 10 years ago. We got our drinks and we started to order. The kids all gave the waitress their orders, with all their sides picked out. They could choose from ranch beans, green beans, fries, or corn. Then she finally got to me. I ordered for Paul, the combination plate with brisket and sausa….”Sorry, we’re out of brisket”, says the waitress. “What! You aren’t serious?!”, I exclaimed as I was on the verge of tears and cupped my hands over my face. “We just drove from Alaska to have brisket at Joe Allen’s, our favorite restaurant!”, I said. The waitress felt really bad. She said, “ let me give you a little more time to figure out what you would like to order.” Ok. I called Paul and he said, “let’s go somewhere else”. I agreed. After all, there wasn’t anything else I wanted there. The kids were shocked. Silas began to cry. He was looking forward to the sausage he ordered. The other kids didn’t care much because they ordered the usual chicken strips that all restaurants have.
The waitress came back and I very politely told her we would pay for our drinks and try another restaurant and I went ahead and ordered Silas’ food to go for him. He was happy. On the way out, I just had to laugh. What else could I do? I could get really mad, but that’s dumb. We tried to find another barbeque place but it closed just as we pulled up. Once again, we laughed. And I was reminded another reason why I think Texas is like another planet. Who closes for dinner at 7:45pm? Only in Texas.
We ended up at the Cotton Patch Café, where Paul worked during our newly wed months. It is a Texan, home-cooking kind of place. It was ok, just ok.
~Holly

Doing it in the dark

By Paul ~
I didn't mean to become familiar with the inner workings of our RV in the dark. I just didn't bring a flashlight. And I didn't think I'd be doing much in the snow. But I was wrong. I had brought a headlamp, but couldn't recall where I had put it and knew the batteries were dead anyhow. And so three days after my primer from Holly's Dad I made my first attempt to hook us up into a full service campsite in Moab, Utah.

The RV park was dark, really dark. With my impromptu $300 flashlight/iPhone in hand I connected us to power. No explosion, things were good. Next came TV service. Got that nailed down. I was avoiding what would need to happen eventually, flushing the septic. I had no gloves, though I bet Bill told me where they are. You know iPhone aren't really that bright so instead of the septic I hooked up the water. In the dark that didn't go so well. I couldn't figure out how to attach the hose to the RV. The two parts seemed to be enormously different sizes. Since the hose wouldn't screw on, I just held it there to fill the tank. Hands wet and cold I kept thinking I was doing something wrong. But things were working just fine.

Note to rookie RV drivers. There are two places to hook up your hose. One is to fill the holding tank. I had found that one. The other, which I didn't find until daylight, allows you to screw the hose right onto the RV bypassing the water pump and providing an endless supply of water. Bill had told me that. Its in my notes.

And then came the septic. A few dilemmas besides the lack of light:
1. Hose was too short. Who puts a six foot hose into a motorhome bumper ten feet wide. I improvised by stretching out the hose and placing a rock on it to keep it from springing back. I was a bit freaked out knowing that if the hose did spring back when I pulled the drain, I'd have a lot to clean.
2. What did Bill say about black water and grey water? I wrote it down, but the list was inside and I wasn't going inside. Inside were questions and requests to do stuff and noise and chaos. I'd just sit out in the dark and try to remember.
3. When I did remember the valve seemed stuck. I was NOT going to break this thing, so I just kept pulling, and pulling, and pulling. And then with a giant suummp the tank started to drain. It had been a good ten minutes since my rock had been put in place. You know how in a millisecond you can think something really bad is happening. I had that thought. But unjustifiably so. The hose stayed in the hole, the rock stayed in its place and away went the waste. I was my own personal hero! And I was cold.

Technology Falls to Karate

By Paul ~
Raising five kids in 2010 has led us to acquire all sorts of portable technological toys. Some function as tools and some have become "essential", but none of them existed twenty years ago. And so one of my goals for the trip was to wean the kids from their electronics [note: I said kids, not Dad]. But there was NO WAY we were leaving all those gizmos at home. Instead we dedicated one bag as the "computer bag" and brought with us, 2 8 GB iPhones, 1 16 GB iTouch, an iMac, a 30 GB iPod, two Nintendo DS lites, a PSP, a portable DVD player, and I even saw a gameboy stuffed in a box. Not to mention that every child has a digital camera (thanks Aunt Alisa & Uncle Corey), Mom has her new Canon Rebel and Dad has a new Sony video camera that doesn't even take tapes, just SD cards. The car is loaded. And of course there are the cords, chargers, and one 400 watt power inverter to make sure everything keep working. Its nice, crazy and convenient. But I didn't want the kids to stare at screens, I wanted them to stare out the window and actually play with each other. And by Friday, just one week into the trip, it began to happen.


Step 1: Dad says no. No you can't play with my iPhone. No I don't know where your PSP is. No I don't want to charge your iTouch.
Step 2: Leave it lost. Since Holly and I are constantly cleaning our 29' home, I know where just about everything is, even when its lost. So when the PSP fell behind the bed, it just stayed there.
Step 3: Cards. They are like an gateway drug to human interaction. They played Go Fish, Crazy Eights and then Slap Jack. I smiled. Things were changing.
Step 4: Get out of the way. By Saturday the kids were making games out of homework. Claire would point at the map and Silas would 'rap' the name of the state. Some type of karate game began to take shape. Two would fight, one would referee. I didn't see it, but I would hear it. There was an occasional outburst of pain, or anger. But as long as I stayed out of it, they seemed to have fun.
Step 5: Go outside. Living in Alaska during the winter seems to eliminate a powerful 'parent phrase' from my vocabulary. We reintroduced it at the campground in Sedona. We said, 'go outside, and meet some kids.' And they did. When it was time to pull out of camp, Claire passed out her mom's email address to the girl she had met just 90 minutes prior.
And so electronics has faded back into the bag. I'm sure they'll come out again, but for now the kids seem more content to play karate.

~Paul

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon was one of my priorities. I really wanted to see it. So Thursday morning I was up and excited to go. We had driven by it for 40 minutes the night before as we drove from the Desert entrance to the park to the South entrance, but all the driving was done in the dark. By nine AM we were back on the road, to the Grand Canyon, almost.
Had to stop before the Grand Canyon was to pay for our camping spot. But it turned out to be a really great stop. I went into the shack to pay, but after a few minutes of waiting we were graciously given an complimentary night of lodging due to computer impatience. Computer impatience is a new term for me. It happens when computer takes forever and the employee is impatient.
Apparently he knew what I didn't: the car horn that kept beeping was actually the shuttle bus that couldn't get by because I parked the RV in its path. Oops.

With a smile I drove five minutes to the visitors center parking lot. Would we see it now?? Nope, time for another potty break. And then time to read about everything in the visitors center and sign up for the Junior Ranger program. And then we couldn't figure out which way to go But we did find out way and after an hour of delay it was now finally time to see the Grand Canyon. We walked down the path, Isaac and the kids ahead of Holly and then Sam and I taking up the rear. Just about the time that I could see it, I get this message relayed to me. Ahna, the honest, emotional child that she is, said, "That's It! All the way just for that?" Apparently there isn't a lot of appreciation in the heart of six year old for the world's greatest hole in the earth. But the day was good, pictures were great and the ice cream was awesome.



We watched a Navajo family sing, dance and perform in their regalia. Listened to a couple of fellas brag about their ten mile, 5,000 foot 7 hour hike. We did the Grand Canyon, and left by 2 PM. It was fun, and we thought it might make a great trip for a family with teenagers. Hiking, white water rafting and a ride via burro down to the Canyon floor might be in store for us in ten years.

~Paul

Sam's first girlfriend

Today at the ballpark the kids were discussing going back to the Fuellers house. Jillian is the Fuellers three year old daughter and to my surprise Sam claimed her as his girlfriend. " I like Jillian. She's my girlfriend...".

We are sitting on the grass, in the warm 75 degree Phoenix weather, at a spring training game. Padres vs. Indians. We spent a great night with our friends the Fuellers. We seem to be getting into a routine, which is nice for me. We ate lunch today at In N Out burger-yummo! Did you know that Arizona doesn't celebrate daylight savings time? So apparently, when we head to texas, we will have a 2 hor change. I hope that doesn't mess up the kid's sleep schedule!
The kids are all responding differently to all the travelling. Isaac's allready doing the teenager "i'm too cool for this" thing. Like when we went to the grand canyon. The younger ones were all excited, I was literally speechless, Isaac: "yeah, whatever". Sammy's just along for the ride. Claire is just trying to adjust to not having her own room. She cries herself to sleep the first 3 nights. So rough to have to share a bed!
All in all we are really enjoying this time and glad to finally be out of the snow!
-Holly

Seven Thousand Feet of Snow

March 9th was the first day of travel for the ENTIRE Steiner family. Our team was missing mom during the first ten hour drive from Seattle to Boise on March 6th. No mom meant fewer rules and the ride was choatic with kids hopping seats, trading seats, not sitting, and generally wandering about. Not that Dad can't discipline, he was just driving five hundred miles and yelling over his shoulder didn't make much of a difference. March 9th became the re-start, akin to the Iditarod beginning in Anchorage, but really starting down the trail in Willow. We were packed, enthused and generally happy.

Our entire first day was COLD! Right outside of Boise it was about 35 degrees and 40 mile/hr. wind. The drive started with schoolwork. This was day two of daily schoolwork and I have to say the girls did excellent. Great attitudes and everything was finished in an hour. One boy developed a headache and fever and his work spanned a four hour window. Homework done, fever and headache gone. Huh? Go figure. And the other boy just plotted along in protest. Lots of protests. The major excitement for the kids was tumbleweeds. They kept hitting the RV and the kids were screaming like they were on a ride! They had apparently never seen them before.

We got into Salt Lake City around 5pm and the torrential rain started. A couple laps around the Mormon temple (Holly was curious) and an amazing sight of the state capital (the most beautiful one Holly had ever seen!) was enough of Salt Lake for us.
And so after nine hours, pictures of the mormon temple, a primer on the mormon religion, one near collision creating by turning right without a turn signal, a stop at In and Out Burger, Walmart and Kinkos, Holly and I decided to push on past Provo to Price, Utah. The clock read nine PM, and Price was only 60 miles away. Sixty miles, two and one half hours, and one snowstorm away.
As soon as we left I-84 and began down Route 6 we knew we were changing scenes. We were one of five cars for about five minutes, and street lights and homes faded away. Cruising at 55 the first constructions signs appeared just as the first snow began to drift. Soon we found ourselves on a rough road with sharp, unannounced curves and snow obscuring our vision. The snow was getting thicker, the elevation higher and our speed slower. We were now creeping down the road at thirty. We were only ten minutes from the interstate when Holly suggested we think of going back. Of course I knew she wasn't serious and was just offering moral support to my awesome vision and driving skills. It was reverse psychology at work. And I'd need it since the white lines marking the right side of the road were not only difficult to see, they weren't always there. We trekked on. A car began tailgating me. A mile and a half down the road and I discovered that I had two lanes available to me, and I was using both. I moved into the right lane and he sped by in the passing lane. My pride wasn't hurt for long. I soon passed a newer Pontiac Firebird driving twenty miles per hour to my raging thirty. Traffic coming toward us increased as we ascended. Did you know the iPhone map has a really cool setting we weren't using? You can use it to 'satellite' or 'hybrid' before you ascend a mountain pass and actually KNOW you're about to be going over mountains. We figured this out at the summit! We drove up, and up, and big semi-rig scary vehicles would come down and down and down. Eventually Holly downloaded an App to her iPhone that showed elevation. We were five thousand feet and climbing. The ride got fun again. How high would we go? Six thousand, seven thousand? At six thousand feet the weather improved and the two lane road of fear turned into a four lane comfortable mountain road. What we could see around us was spectacular. And we continued to ascend until we made the summit. Seven thousand four hundred seventy seven feet. We'd made it just over 1/2 way to price in two hours. We stopped for a photo, began our descent and began thinking of the future. Like, where were we going to camp that night. An hour later, Walmart became our first campground. Anticlamatic and practical. It worked great! And now on to the next great adventure...