Focht Family Blog

My mom and I took the kids to the zoo today. This is the zoo that Jack Hanna is with. It was one of the nicest zoos I have been to. They had everything set with scenery so that it wasn’t just looking at the animals. Unfortunately because of the heat, we saw lots of animals that were asleep. We started out in the North America section where there was a petting zoo. The kids enjoyed brushing the goats.

They had lots of statues of animals throughout the park and the kids were enjoying climbing on them. I liked this picture because it looks like Josh is screaming at the bears.

One of the most amazing animals we saw was the tiger in Asia. I have never seen a tiger that close. The kids were literally nose to nose with the tiger with just a sheet of plexiglass between them.

We had the same opportunity with the orangutans. The female orangutan was named Tara and she was enjoying being by the people at the glass. She liked the little children especially. She was checking out Joshua here.

One of the other statues that they had was one of the world’s stinkiest flower. Timmy wanted to sit in the flower so we got a picture with all of them on it.

One of the last places we walked through was the African jungle. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. It was a bit warm today and after pushing 90 lbs around in a stroller all day I was hot. They had a spot on the path where mist was showered over you. We stayed under the mist for awhile and got soaked.

I forgot to say that Timmy had his birthday on the day we broke down. He turned 5! I had baked him a cake that morning and we were going to stop early and make stuffed shells (his favorite) for dinner. Unfortunately with the turn of events he got a McDonald’s Happy Meal at 10:00 for dinner. I did bring the cakes with me and the frosting and we had cake before bed in mom’s trailer. Here is a picture:

We spent the day on Saturday at COSI, the Science Museum in Columbus. The kids had a lot of fun (and so did Nathan). There was a ocean section that had lots of hands on fun with water. Josh especially enjoyed this section.

In the gadgets section there was a fun giant engine where you pushed the pistons in. Nathan thought it was great fun considering the recent blow up of our pistons.

Timmy tried his hand at lifting his own weight. He was very impressed with himself. He didn’t know daddy was helping. :)

Nathan quickly realized they had fun toys for the big kids as well. They have a unicycle that you can ride over the atrium. Samantha and I were tall enough but we were too chicken to try. Mom wanted to try but didn’t want to hold us up. We would have waited. Guess we will have to go back at some point so she can give it a try.

We all signed up for a chemistry class. Unfortunately Josh wouldn’t keep his goggles on so my mom took Josh to a play area for his age while Nathan and I did experiments with Samantha and Timmy. They had a menu of choices and you could choose which experiments you wanted to do. We did an experiment with alka-seltzer that caused a small explosion of a cap off of a film canister. We also did an experiment with ice and salt where we lifted an ice cube with a small piece of string after salt was poured over the string and ice sealing the string to the ice. We then finished with a whole bunch of experiments with baking soda and vinegar. Do you see a theme in what the boys wanted to do?

On our way out we were stopped by a roving demonstration. He showed the children what happens when a meteor burns up as it falls. He also had a piece of meteorite to show them. It was much heavier than rocks found on Earth and was also magnetic. After he showed them the burning up of the meteorite, he let Samantha try it to see if she could get the same result. You had to hit it with quite a bit of force so she wasn’t able to get the same result as he was.

We are still stuck in Columbus, Ohio. The engine is totaled on the RV. We found out a few days into this ordeal that the engine had a recall on it for doing this exact thing. We got lucky that it didn’t blow through the coach or damge the transmission. The new engine is supposed to be here on Monday and the earliest we will be out of here is Friday but they are thinking it will be a little later than that. We took the kids to the Science Museum today. I will post more on that with pictures tomorrow. Spartan is going to give us some money to cover the extra eating out and the rental car. We have been able to visit with my mom’s cousins a couple of times while we have been here. They live near Dayton and that is only an hour away. Mom’s trailer is supposed to be fixed tomorrow. The tow company owner is coming to fix it and he is also going to move us a few feet into a different site at the park we are at that is available as long as we need it. Things could be much worse. We have a place to stay and food to eat. Everyone is healthy and well.

By Mr. Toad I mean the singing stuffed frog in mom’s trailer. Yesterday was another adventurous day in the life of the traveling Focht family. We were making our way from Indiana towards Pennsylvania. In Ohio, about 20 minutes east of Dayton I felt a small bump while driving and then an alarm started sounding and the engine shut off. I looked in the mirrors and saw smoke billowing out of the coach. I coasted to a stop on the side of the road and Nathan jumped out to see what happened. I had the kids at the door to get out because I was thinking fire. However, it was oil everywhere and the smoke was from the oil on the hot engine.

We called Spartan and they sent a tow truck. We called Good Sams and they sent a tow truck for the trailer. I called a cab and had them pick me up on the highway and drive me back to Dayton where I picked up a rental minivan and I came back just as the tow trucks were ready to leave. I put the kids, mom and the dogs in the minivan with me and we followed the trailer. Nathan rode in the truck with the RV. About 15-20 miles down the road I am driving behind the tow truck. He is going 64 in a 55 driving in the left lane. All of a sudden sparks are flying out of the trailer and then the trailer runs off the road and into the median heading for oncoming traffic. I should mention at this point that the tow truck was still traveling straight on the highway. Apparently he had not hooked it up correctly and he didn’t even feel it when he lost it. Just as the trailer is about two feet from going into oncoming traffic, the trailer started turning back in because of the embankment. It came to a stop in the middle of the median. It is amazing that it didn’t flip. There was some damage but it looks like it was only about $500 worth and the tow truck company is going to fix it.

Unfortunately the RV isn’t so lucky. Looks like it has major damage and they said it will probably be at least five days before they know the extent of the damage. Spartan will cover the costs but it leaves us stranded in Ohio and we are all staying cramped in the trailer. We extended the rental of the minivan for a week and the camping for a week and I am hoping Spartan will cover those costs as well as some costs for all of the meals we are now having to eat out because there isn’t enough room to cook and feed 6 in the trailer.

I guess life is never boring….. My take on it is nothing flipped, nothing caught fire, and everyone is safe and okay. Everything else is just inconveniences! :)

I forgot the camera again! I need to just keep it in my purse or something. We went to Connor Prairie on Friday and Nathan came with us. The kids had a lot of fun. It is more condensed than Williamsburg and spans more time periods. It is also more interactive for the kids so I think they enjoyed it more. They have a Indian camp where you can trade with the fur trader (we got there too late) but we were still able to see all of the different pelts and talk to them as to what they consider worth trading for. Also in the Indian camp were two different shelters and the kids could try to grind corn using a large mortar and pestle type container.

Next they had a prairie town that was set in 1836. We were able to walk through all of the houses and learn about how different careers lived and worked. They also had a barn where the kids could interact with different animals. They had goats, sheep, baby chicks, a cow and a donkey. Josh and Timmy especially liked this area. They had an opportunity to make beeswax candles. Unfortunately the boys got bored before theirs were done so Nathan ended up having to finish theirs while I took them back to the barn. :)

They also had another settlement that was based in 1886. At the farm in this area the kids could help with some of the chores. Josh was getting tired by this point but Timmy and Samantha both took turns milking a cow! :)

We are winding up our visit in Indiana tonight. We just met another family two sites over tonight that have 3 kids and also home-school. The kids have been having a lot of fun playing with them tonight. We will leave in the morning and will try to do something fun tomorrow for Timmy’s birthday. We will Walmart camp tomorrow night and then Tuesday we will be in Pennsylvania for a week so we can go to Hershey next weekend.