State #5 (South Carolina) and State #6 (North Carolina)

After staying in Florida for 2 months, we headed up north. We stopped one night in South Carolina on our way to Wilmington, North Carolina.  We crossed over this neat bridge on our way there.

 State #5 - South Carolina - One more sticker added to the map! It was Nathanael's turn:)

We were actually supposed to be in South Carolina during the whole month of March, and then North Carolina in April, however, a church in Wilmington asked if we could come a different weekend for a seminar.  The weekend we originally planned to be in Wilmington was during their North Carolina Azalea Festival- the busiest weekend all year! It wasn't too out of the way, so we agreed to come earlier. I am SO glad we did:) The Preschool Director told us she had been praying for a parenting conference/seminar for their church. Shortly afterwards, she received Alan's email about our seminars with NCBP. YAY!

We had a wonderful time visiting Wilmington and the very friendly people during the seminar at Pine Valley Baptist Church.  This was the first time we were able to park our RV on a church parking lot for the weekend, which was very convenient and gave us the opportunity to attend church there on Sunday as well.  The seminar went very smoothly. We could tell they had worked hard to make it a special weekend.  They had greeters and plenty of volunteers for registration and others to teach and care for the children.  They had a secure checkout system too. The boys really enjoyed the children's activities. It was great to have the chance to go to the worship service on Sunday too.  We were so blessed by their church family. We felt very comfortable with our children going to children's church since we knew the workers from the seminar.  The pastor even brought us forward at the end of the service to pray over our ministry. What a blessing! Thank you Pine Valley, for encouraging us as we travel along the road!

During our stay at Wilmington, we visited the Cape Fear Museum, which was free with our museum pass. We also stopped by to see the outside of the U.S.S. Carolina.

The Cape Fear Museum had an exhibit on natural wildlife and habitats in the area.  There was a fun little play area with a beaver house.  Joshua loved the Venus Flytrap game.  Throw in a bean bag, pull the rope, and it swallows it up!

Hello?? Do you remember the days of pay phones??? Now there are phone booths in a museum!!! Talk about feeling old! HA! 

In 1991, the remains of a giant sloth were found in Wilmington! The museum has a replica of the sloth skeleton. The original was donated to The NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship

One afternoon, I took three of the boys to Fort Fisher on Kure Beach about 25 miles away from Wilmington.  This fort was used during the civil war to keep the port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies. 

The weather was pretty cold while we were there in Wilmington. The lows were in the upper 20s, the highs around 50 degrees. While we were walking along the beach that afternoon at Fort Fisher, we noticed two people surfing! Crazy! It was REALLY chilly that day! They must be dedicated surfers!

After a wonderful week in Wilmington, NC, we hit the road and drove to Florence, South Carolina for our next seminar which was held at Southside Baptist Church.  I'll post on that next:)

It was Micah's turn to put the state sticker on this time. North Carolina - State #6! Goodbye North Carolina--we will see you again soon!

Blessings to you and yours!

Jill and the boys:)

Mom! You've Gotta Put That on the Blog!

Since last fall, there have been many times that the boys have said, "Mom! You've Gotta Put That on the Blog!" It may be a funny picture, or something fun or interesting that we did.  I did put some already in previous posts, but there are a few random ones I keep forgetting about.  So - this is just a random post of those moments (mostly from December and January)!

 Micah noticed this cactus in Texas.  It looks like Mickey Mouse!!

Caleb was proud to put our "H" flag up next to our campsite.

One of our dear friends from St. Louis (Hello Mrs. Vicki!) gave us this adorable ornament  called "Happy Campers"! It was perfect for our RV Christmas Tree!:)

One day while staying in Orlando, Florida, we overheard something outside.  We walked out and saw several hot air balloons about to land nearby! 

During our vacation to Disney at the beginning of 2013, we often saw planes skywriting messages to the people below. Can you read this one?

 LOVE GOD:)

"Flip Flops in January?!?!?" Nathanael wanted me to post how excited we were that we could actually go swimming in the middle of January! We had many nice sunny days, and some days were a little chilly for swimming, but we went anyway!

 We all enjoyed the fun Campfire parties at Fort Wilderness Disney RV park.  Every night there were games, a campfire for s'mores and live entertainment. We met Chip and Dale too! We went twice while we were staying there and saw movies on a big screen while eating hot dogs and popcorn.

 TOY STORY 3!!!

We hope you are all doing well! As always, please keep in touch! We love hearing from you through blog comments, emails, phone calls, etc.!

Blessings to you and yours,

Jill and the boys:)

Bulow Plantation

During our last week in Florida, we stayed at an RV park near Bulow Plantation.  The trees were amazing!  We saw evergreen, palm and cypress trees. I have to admit, Alan and I were both surprised to see all of these different types of trees growing side by side with each other. 

Each RV park, city and state has so much to see and do! We usually try to find things that are free or low cost and educational.  During our stay here, we enjoyed riding our bicycles, visiting the local library, and exploring the plantation ruins nearby.   In 1836, The Second Seminole War destroyed the prosperous Bulow Plantation.  Today, you can see the ruins of the former plantation, a sugar mill, a spring house, wells, and the crumbling foundations of the plantation house and slave cabins.

 This fence marks the location of the plantation house.  It is hard to imagine, but years ago, these trees were not there.  The photo below shows the remaining foundation stones at the site.

 We took the nature trail to the sugar mill and found this cool tree on the way. It has a large hole at the bottom where you can walk into it!

This plaque above identifies the area where slave cabins existed on the plantation.  John Bulow owned over 150 slaves.  They lived in 46 houses that measured around 12 feet wide and 16 feet long each.  The foundations were built from native limerick, and that is all that remains today. If you look closely, you can see the rocks in the background of the photo.

I have really enjoyed learning so much history the past few months.  It does make me sad though, to think of how hard life must have been for the slaves during this time.  They often worked 6 VERY LONG days a week, with little to no free time. There are conflicting accounts of the treatment of slaves on Bulow plantation.  The plaque above described that some neighbors said the Bulow Slaves had free time for hunting, fishing, and gardening.  "Other accounts of slave life at Bulow Plantation have been less favorable." I can only imagine how difficult life must have been for them.

Close to the mill, there is a garden there showing the various crops that used to be grown on the plantation.  The cotton didn't look too good this time of year though:)

The Sugar Mill

The Bulow Sugar Mill was the largest sugar mill in Florida.  It was operated by Charles Wilhelm Bulow and then after he died in 1823, he left the plantation to his son, John.  Using slave labor, Bulow cleared over 2,000 acres to plant sugar cane, cotton, rice and indigo. 

After our stay here at the Bulow Plantation, we headed up to North Carolina for seminar in Wilmington.  On the morning we left Florida, we finally put the sticker on our map on the RV! Its funny, we had been in Florida for 2 months and we just kept forgetting to do it:) 

Goodbye Florida! We had a GREAT time here, but we are excited to be on the road and explore more states in our great country!

Blessings to you and yours,

Jill and the boys:)