WOW!!! A great night in St.Louis

What an awesome night in St.Louis, we arrived around 4:30pm and booked a hotel at the Moonrise hotel right beside The Pageant where Mumsford & Sons would be playing. Line up was forming and we were hoping the band would remember the fact that they invited us to see the show as it was sold out. At 6:00pm, Graham and Phil went to the box office and said ' are there VIP tickets for Graham for 12?' Sure enough there were 12 tickets waiting for us, AMAZING!!!! What a great band.....they made the trip an awesome experience and we were fortunate to see them play twice. I will upload pics when we get home. We are en route home now and hope to get in around 9:00pm tonight. This trip has been more than I had ever expected, I think we all feel the same way......thanks Children's Wish!

The picture below is the bands touring bus as seen from our hotel window, they were signing stuff outside till after 2am, not to let anyone down....a great group of guys!

See the St. Louis arch, a pretty town, friendly people, thanks for the hospitality.

Aurevoir Wakarusa.....hello St. Louis

Sunday morning and leaving for St. Louis. Most incredible day yesterday, I will post pics when we get home. Watched Mumsford & Sons, Jacob got special media section, right up at the stage. Big security guard came and asked him for his ticket and then hauled him away and put him front and centre. The concert was truly amazing....I am in love! If only I were 20 years younger, I could be a groupie.
After the concert they took us back stage, all 12 of us, to the artists lounge where we met and chatted with the group, so kind. Marcus Mumford (lead singer), asked if we were going to see them play in St.Louis, the tickets were sold out so we said no, and he said he would put us on the VIP list, his Manager Giles would take care of it, and so we are now off to St. Louis.....maybe I have become a groupie.
He signed a banjo for Jacob and they gave him a mini banjo lesson, they were so social, it was quite an experience and Jacob and his friends were a little freaked out, I think Phil was the most excited though. Wait till you see the pics, you will understand.
This experience has been totally amazing, I am so happy for Jacob, he certainly deserves this much needed break....I think we all did!
RV'ing is fun.....there I said it.
We ARE the YEEEEEHAAAAAAA!!!!!! Family.

Mountain with a view

Well we are here and all is well. You can see how crowded it is with tents and party people. Surprisingly we are not the oldest people here, but not many kids. Quinton, Chloe and Sophie may never be the same again. Some really great bands playing and the ambiance is peace, love, drugs and rock and roll. Lots of tye dye, of course I have succumbed to the pressure of sporting the fashion which is barely existent. Artists doing body painting, Jacob appears mortified at the thought of me doing such a thing.
Blogging is hard from the mountains, we are off to town to get Jacob some medicine, he is not feeling 100 percent.
It is Jacobs BIRTHDAY today, 18 years ago today was one of the happiest days of my life.
I love you Jacob!xoxo

Wakarusa, we are on our way.

Left Memphis this morning to make it to our final destination for the next 5 days. Looking for a Walmart along the way to pick up some grocery items before we hunker down in the Ozark Mountains. Went to s great restaurant for dinner in Memphis calked Kooky Canucks, the owner is from Montreal but lived in Toronto,Port Hope, and various locations. Food was excellent! Graham and Justin went to see a baseball game Memphis Red Birds against the Houston Isatopes. The rest of us took some time out for some zen moments and some R&R.
Hope to be able to blog from the mountains as I am sure this is when the real craziness will begin....keep your fingers crossed.
Phil and Julie got some news that a tree on their front lawn fell down, took down their eaves trough and fell on Jacobs car....but we are here and for the time being nothing can dampen the mood. Just glad it didn't land on anyone....and how is your day?

Graceland.....home to the King

Here we are in Memphis, visiting Graceland with hungry boys in tow. We have not eaten at all today and it is 2:00pm, energy is subsiding. We toured the house, saw the graves, visited the plane and car collection. Smaller home than I had imagined. Such a shame he passed so early.
Definitely a cool experience and one worth doing, even worth skipping meals for.
Off to find food now......

Off to Memphis.....

Went to Nashvillle Palace for dinner last night and listened to various musicians, very country and very Nashville. We are pickin'up the local accent. Grilled chicken was microwaved into rock form, if ain't fried, it ain't good!

Woke up at 6am, and are now on a 3 hour trek to Memphis where we will stay the night and visit with Elvis.
Weather is hot and balmy, everyone still likes each other so we are having fun, good times ahead!

Thanks for caring enough to read my posts....is anyone out there? Put your cowboy hat on in honor of us today....need to start a new trend when we get home so we can continue to wear all our new hats.

Check in with us in Memphis where we will be sporting our new Southern look!

Grand Ole Opry

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> Went to the gym, had CrackleBarrel breakfast with grits and grease and made our way downtown to the heart of Nashville. Went to Ryman Auditorium which is home of the original Grand Ole Opry.
> Went for some drinks and a bite to eat and listened to some live Country music, made me cry, I new I hated country music for a reason. So sad...heartbreaking really. Funniest thing... 22 years ago today Phil and I got married.....so weird! Weather is hot at 95 degrees.
> Tomorrow off to Memphis to see Graceland.

Arrival at Gaylord Resort and Spa......beautiful hotel!

We arrived at 4:30pm, made great time. Drive down was great, played scrabble, two pit stops and some beautiful sight seeing. Nice lush lands....too many deer hit along roadside though.
Kids went swimming at hotel while we toured the grounds, so beautiful. Rivers, jungle, park like settings throughout the hotel grounds, is enormous. Went for dinner at Jack Daniels..Phil says best ribs ever..lots of fried food and I was able to leave the restaurant with my unfinished wine..that is the best thing ever. Boys are happy......life feels pretty good today!
See the beauty of the hotel.

Crossing Over to the other side

Surprisingly easy! Less than 5 minutes...

6am Sunrise

Appreciating the beauty of the sunrise....

Early Morning Start

So, we are officially on our way. Up at 3am, on the road at 4am, so far so good. Driving to Sarnia and crossing into the US from there. Driving through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, this will get us to Nashville where we will stay for 2 nights at the Gaylord Resort and Spa, then off to Memphis on the 31st.
Moods are good although Justin refused to play scrabble with me, silly boy! He will soon learn the consequences.
Phil is following behind in the 31'RV, impressive driving as he has 6 kids in tow, would make for a good Tylenol commercial.
Roads are slick as it has just rained, but we are on our way to sunny days........
Stay tuned!

Traveling Trailer......yeeehaaaaaa!!!!!!

The Stresses of Packing...what to wear?

The stress of packing for the sunny southern states is more than I want to think about right now, short shorts, cowboy boots, halter tops, bikinis....'yikes....what is about to happen here? I am not ready, need a few more days of low carb eating...

I am about to morph back in time, to a time when I was barely a few years old and people were singing about giving peace a chance.
The Wakarusa Festival if you care to google it at http://www.wakarusa.com/ will be something out of a movie, students camping in tents ~16,000 people in the mountains, all there to forget about everyday life, forget about work, bills, school, illness, and just BE!

Actually the more I think about it....this is going to be great.

I will learn to become a human BEing as opposed to a human DOing!

Maybe you should join me this week and forget about whatever woes you and just BE!

Wakarusa , we are on our way

Life....
Who would have guessed that my son would be diagnosed at the age of 17 with a brain tumour. Not in a million years.....well here we are almost one year later, two surgeries, 6 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy and we are on our way to Wakarusa.

Another life experience I never would have guessed. What's with all the surprises!

This is going to be one hell of a road trip, our quirky extended family of nine - Me (Paula), Philip (ex husband), Graham (new husband), Julie (new wife), Jacob (17yr old), and his siblings Lucas, Quinton, Sophie and Chloe...oh and did I mention we are bringing three of Jacobs good friends, Justin, Greg and Daniel.

All twelve of us on our way to celebrate life, friendship and the love of family, no matter what and who that family consists of.

You will want to tune into the dynamics of this trip as we create memories that will last a life time.

A few things you should know,

• We are staying in RV's (not my typical gig)
• In the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas
• Driving down in an RV to Nashville 
• Then off to Memphis, we will arrive at our destination RV in Wakarusa on June 1st

See, now you can appreciate how unique this will be....Waka Waka!!

This trip has been provided to Jacob by the 'Childrens Wish Foundation' an amazing organization that grants wishes to children that are dealing with a life threatening illness, the team that have worked on making this happen are truly special people and we are grateful for the experience they are providing us.
Support this organization so they can continue to bring wishes to children - Thank you!

I look forward to posting pictures, videos, good days, bad days and all the days in between as we head off into the wild blue yonder....