Chicago, Chicago, Chicago!!!

The whole group in Chicago

Kayla in Millineum Park

Skyscrapers, elevated trains, Chicago River, Lake Michigan, Millenium Park, and a boat ride are a few things we experienced today. It was a wonderful, sunny, warm day in Chicago. We met in the lobby at 9:30 after a free continental breakfast at the Hostel, then had a walking tour to the Chicago River. We rode a boat into Lake Michigan and back into the River and learned about some of the beautiful buildings. We were done by 1:00. I was so very tired, that after we let the kids go for free time, I found a chair along the river under a tree and took a little nap (nap #1).

Most of the kids went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, then wandered around doing a little shopping. I went to Walgreens and picked up some traveling supplies and things we needed for the trip. I did a little bit of shopping for Kayla, then headed back to the hostel for a nap before dinner. My little nap turned into an almost three hour nap (nap #2)! Now I am up late on the computer because I am not tired....

Mike cooked an amazing cornflake chicken dinner for us with REAL mashed potatoes and a VERY fancy salad! Thank you Mike, it was delicious, and very appreciated. I usually only get REAL mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, so this was a treat. The kids loved it, and they needed a good home cooked meal. I did my part by helping in the kitchen with clean up.

After dinner, some of the kids went with Jan to the Sears tower to go to the top. They returned by 11:00 pm and we had ice cream sundaes. We encouraged them to get to get to bed because quite a few of them are getting sore throats, tummy aches, head aches, etc...

Tomorrow is another free day in Chicago until our train leaves around 9 pm. We will be giving them some other ideas of things to do and places to go. Chicago is a beautiful city, and I am glad to have seen it.

St. Paul, Minnesota and Mall of America!

Getting on the train to Chicago

St Paul, Minnesota and the great Mississippi River

The inside of the Mall of America

Inside the Mall of America , again

The Mall of America was great fun! I have attached some photos to give you an idea of its size. We (the chaperones) were so tired from the night before, that we went back to the apartment after just four hours and crashed! How could we have just spent only four hours in the greatest mall in America? Such a shame! Jacqui went to bed by 6 pm, and after watching a little news, I was in bed by around 9 pm. The next morning (Sunday June 28) we started early by meeting downstairs at 6:30 am. Our train was to leave at 7:45 and we wanted to collect the kids from their host families. The train was about an hour late. Everyone was happy to be back together and they all had their different stories and experiences to share.

Our train ride to Chicago, IL was 8 hours today. We got in about 5:00 pm, walked a few blocks to the Chicago Hostel, and then let the kids go free for the night to forage for their own dinner. The adults went to a little restaurant a few blocks away and had a great dinner together. It was a good day. Tomorrow we get a tour of Chicago.

How do you describe a 24 hour train ride?

Beautiful Montana!!

Everyone sleeping on the train from Glacier to St Paul

Big time flooding during the night of the train ride

Valou (Belgium), Flo (Belgium), and Chris (Switzerland) relaxing.

It's LOONNNNNGGGGG and oh so BEAUTIFUL!!!! Actually, we wore the kids out so much the day before with rafting and hiking, and then they had to get up early to catch the train, so they all pretty much slept all day on the train. We were worried that by sleeping all day that they would be up all night talking and playing, but it didn't happen. We had a pretty strict train guy this time that kept walking up and down shushing them. They actually had a good nights sleep too; they were cramped, but slept. Every time I tried to read my book, I would nod off to sleep. I was wore out as well. We need these train rides for rest!

We arrived in St Paul, Minnesota this morning at about 9:00. The kids were farmed out again to Rotarian Host families for 24 hours. Seven of the boys went to a family with a swim pool and elevator in their house. I have already run into several of the kids at this huge mall, including Kayla! We had an apartment ready for us when we arrived. We did our laundry, showered, then headed to the Mall of America- the largest mall in America. It is large There is an actual amusement park with roller coasters in the middle of the mall! There is also a water park in here! Every store you can imagine is in here as well. You would need a week to see everything; a bit over whelming in fact! I looked at a few stores, got some lunch at Long John Silver's, and then settled down at a place where I could go online (Starbucks). Tonight we will catch back up on our sleep before we get back on the train in the morning for a few hours to Chicago, Illinois.

White Water Rafting in Glacier Park, Montana!!!

White Water rafting in Montana!!! It was soo fun!!!

Glacier Park, Montana

Maria (Brazil) and Kayla ready to go rafting!

Me, Jan (Denmark), Melody, and Jacqui (New Zealand) ready for rafting too!

Wednesday was our second day in Seattle, WA. We only had until 2:00 pm until we needed to leave for the train, so everyone got free time to buy groceries for the 18 hr train ride ahead to Montana. They also wanted to do some shopping and relaxing together. At 2:00 we walked the two miles to the train station.

The scenery was breath taking! I wanted to read my book, but the view outside was so spectacular, I couldn’t. After about two hours, we went through the second largest tunnel in the world- 8 miles of pure darkness! (I just thought it was an interesting fact.) The night on the train was uneventful and restful for the most part. Some of the kids didn’t settle down until about three hours before they needed to be up. We are so far north; it doesn’t get dark until about 10:00 pm. The days are very long in the summer in the Northern states.

We arrived at Glacier Park just after 8:00 am Thursday morning. Our appointment with the rafting company was at 10:00. Some of us suited up in wet suits and wind jackets, others in just the jackets, depending on their cold comfort level (which is very low for me!) The ride was actually a bit chilly, and the water was FREEZING! Rafting down the river was SOOOOO fun! I know I keep saying this day was the best day ever, but this day really was the best day ever! We had a fun bunch in our raft, including Melody and the five chaperones, and five kids (Chris, Peter, Haruko, Mumbi, Kayla). There was a lot of splashing, falling off, jumping, and laughing going on in our raft! The river was exciting and really swift in some places. It was an exciting 2 hour ride.

After the ride, everyone was absolutely famished! They attacked the food, eating what they could until the hamburgers were cooked. It was a very good meal. Here’s something funny. They offered three different kinds of cookies; Oreos, chocolate chip, and peanut butter ones. The Oreos and chocolate chip cookies disappeared very quickly, but the peanut butter ones lingered. Peanut butter is such an American food; these foreign kids are not familiar with it or do not like it! It’s strange to think that something my own children ate almost every day of their lives is something that is only eaten in America, and not the rest of the world.
After the Bar BQ, some of us went back to our rooms and rested while the others (including Kayla) went on a SIX mile walk to get ice cream! No thanks- I watched a movie, got some souvenirs, and bought a coke, and took a nap. We are letting the kids stay up late tonight since they have 24 hours on a train to rest, but I think they are so tired from the day that they will be out soon.

We had another Bar BQ for dinner tonight then played a volleyball game against the local rafters! It was a full day. Now we have a 24 hour train ride ahead of us as we head to St. Paul, Minnesota; home of the largest mall in America!

A sunny day in Seattle, WA

Playing in the fountain near the Space Needle

Mumbi (Kenya), Akiko (Jap), Franzi (Germany), Lina (Switz.), Haruko (Jap), Melody and me on the Monorail.

The whole gang today!

The fish market at Pike Street Market

Today we started the day at 9:30. Our first destination was the Pike Street Market. It was delightful and exciting; so many great smells, flowers, fish, and crafts. Everyone was given just over an hour to look around and shop. I found a little butcher shop that sold landjagers from Germany; they were so delicious! It has been years since I had eaten one. I bought some fruit, nuts and groceries for the train trip tomorrow for both Kayla and I.

We walked a few blocks to the Monorail that took us to the Seattle Space Needle. Both were a fun ride. The view from the Space Needle is amazing. The kids just love taking pictures of themselves; that's all they did up there. They even make the funniest faces at the camera! The kids are having so much fun together, and I don't even think they know or care where they have been or where they are going next! It's just a matter of being together with each other.

We were done by about 2:00, and had the rest of the afternoon off to shop and get lunch. I spent a wonderful afternoon with Kayla. We got lunch at a great little Italian restaurant and then went shopping. She needed some shorts and a medium sized purse to carry her belongings on day trips, rather than her big backpack. I also got a haircut. We had a very nice time together. It was another day of walking, walking, and more walking!

This evening some of the kids went to a baseball game. Some kids didn't even know what baseball was; it truly is an American-only sport! The rest took a ferry ride in the evening to see the Seattle nighttime lights from the water. I hear it was beautiful. I had a headache, so stayed in :( . Tomorrow we have the first half of the day off to explore Seattle on our own, then leave for the train station at 2:00. We have a 16 hour overnight train ride ahead of us to Glacier National Park in Montana.

Getting to Seattle, WA

Just part of the gang waiting in Portland for the others to arrive

Finally, a picture of Kayla and Emilia I had to beg her to take this with me; something about not wanting to hang with mom...

Today, Monday, June 22, started with a bus ride from Portland, OR to Vancouver, WA. From there we boarded a train to Seattle, WA. It was about a 3 1/2 hour train ride and we got to Seattle about 4:00pm. We walked a very brisk (nobody walks slow!) 2 miles to our hotel, the Moore Hotel. It is close to Pike Street Market, and the rooms are nice. I am on the 6th floor. Tonight I will be doing bed checks at 11:00 with Jan to ensure that all the kids are in their rooms.

You know, I walk fast. I am usually in the front, and people usually have a hard time keeping up with my pace. NOT with this group! This is a very fast group. I am kicking it into high gear to stay in the middle! I am really proud of Kayla and her ability to keep up with all of us as she usually runs on a slower gear than me, and she is keeping up with them better than I am! BTW, Kayla had a great weekend with her host family. They took them shopping, to a rose garden and a mansion. They even sent them off with a great lunch for the train. She went with Johanna (Austria), Flo (Belgium), and Sally (France).

Dinner was on our own. We, the chaperones, went to a great little Mexican restaurant just down the street from the hotel. I am not sure what Emilia or Kayla did for dinner. Some of the kids went to a movie, Star Trek. I stayed at home and played on the internet, did some research on activities that our group can do in Seattle on Wednesday, and caught up on the news. I wanted to hear about North Korea's threat to bomb Hawaii on July 4th.

Tomorrow will be fun with Pike Street Market, Space Needle, and Mono Rail.

Beautiful Sunday in Portland, OR

Jan, Jacqui, Me, Melody, Kathy, Mike at the Columbia River Gorge

It was a beautiful Sunday in Portland, Oregon. We hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls, an amazing waterfall that compares easily in awe factor to any in Hawaii. In fact, the ride to the falls is filled with so many other beautiful water falls, it's almost like the Hana Highway on Maui. Anyway, the walk was steep (again), and it was slippery, but it was refreshing and fun, and oh so breath taking! We also visited the Columbia River Gorge, and the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery.

When we returned to our hotel in the late afternoon, we only had a couple of hours to do our laundry before we were to be ready for dinner. Dinner is at Melody's sister's house (Kathy). We ate Salmon (that she had actually caught, I thought that was neat), steak and potatoes. It was delicious! Thank you very much kathy for opening your home up to us, you have a beautiful family. I enjoyed every minute I had with your family. We played a game that we have at home- Catch Phrase. Everyone had a wonderful time! Poor Niko (hee hee). Of course, the whole evening was full of laughter and good times and good jokes! I think we are all ready now for another week of chaperoning 50 fantastic kids to Seattle and to Glacier National Park.