Travels with 'Roo

May 12, 2008

G’day Mates,

Before I let the roos at the computer for their final letter, they asked me to tell you that they won’t be returning to St. Joe’s next year. By the fall they’ll be too old to travel by pouch any more so they are returning to Australia to run with the rest of their mob (that’s a group of kangaroos). They really miss their mums too and they know they’ll miss all of you, especially those families that were kind enough to take them along on their family trips and special events. Since our last letter they added another 22,052 miles bringing them to a total of 73,620 miles. They didn’t pass last years total, but they had fun trying. So I’ll turn the keys over to your little cobbers here and let them bring you up to date.

Hey, mates, it’s me Ozzie. I’ve gotten much better at this technology thing you know. I just wanted to give a big thank you to my friend Colby Cobb who took me on a fun trip to the Wisconsin Dells. Let me tell you he’s some arcade game player! He got me this great orange sweater, too. You can see it in some of my photos on the roo board.

I also was lucky enough to make two trips out West. You folks from the States sure like your cricket (I know it’s like cricket but you blokes call it baseball) Everybody kept telling me we were going to see the Cubs play, but I didn’t see a single baby bear any where. Only a bunch of guys with sticks and gloves that were way too big for their hands. Anyway, I saw them win once and lose once, lots of hitting and catching, running and falling… I still don’t think I have the rules down yet!! When I was with the Flannery family we went to Scottsdale, AZ where we did a lot of sunbathing (I LOVE the sun!) Mrs. Flannery was just like my mum and made me put sunscreen on what seemed like every 10 minutes, but I didn’t get burned and that’s what counts. Did lots of hiking and Mr. Flannery took some amazing pictures of Pinnacle Peak. At the Phoenix zoo we rented a family bike (one we could all ride on) and stopped and visited the marsupials (not one kangaroo!) You guys are super. Thanks!

My trip with the Metzler troop put a few miles on these big old paws. We visited some of the most spectacular landscape I’ve ever seen. We climbed beautiful red rock in Sedona, AZ,and looked at the stars through a telescope at the Lowell Observatory. Mr. Metzler says the view of the stars is different here than at home, because Oz is in the southern hemisphere, I’m sure he’s right but… We hopped around the Sunset Crater and picked up pieces of black lava from an 1100AD eruption. Way cool! We hiked the canyon rim at the Grand Canyon. Which really is – GRAND that is. Some of the land reminded me of the Outback at home. Around a town called Tuba City we went looking for dinosaur tracks. We saw one from a T-Rex that I could sit in!! They’ve found complete dinosaur fossils in the mud beds here. While we were crossing the Navajo Bridge this huge bird called a condo flew over, Whoops, Sydney says it was a conDOR, I was sure I was a goner, but Michael was holding on to me very tightly and he didn’t get me. (I’m never sure what animals here would eat roos!) Then some guy jumped off the bridge!! Crikey! You should have seen him bounce up and down. He was on these bungee cords. Mr. Metzler asked me if I wanted to give it a go, but I politely declined. Whew! Next it was on to Utah and more HIKING! YIKES! Matt and Mike took turns keeping me warm in their jackets at Bryce Canyon. I didn’t even stick my head out for a photo op. In Zion guess what we did? You’re right more hiking. These Metzlers don’t sit still for two minutes. Then it was on to Nevada, a stop to take some wild flower pictures for Mrs. M, a visit to Valley of Fire State Park where we saw petroglyphs (drawings that are over 2000 years old!) Wow! Then we went to the Hoover Dam. A lot of cement, but I didn’t see any water, I guess that means the dam’s doing its job. When we got home I had just enough strength to say hi to Fruit Loops, the hamster, and the two fish Junior and Flair before I fell asleep. What a trip! I really learned a lot. That’s all for me, mates. If you’re ever down our way stop in for a talk.

Hey, JoJo here. I took a couple of interesting trips myself. I visited Milwaukee, WI with the Kennedys to visit Marquette University. The three girls Erin and her older sisters, Caitlin and Colleen took me to the hotel water park. Not wanting to get my fur wet (when it’s wet I can’t do a thing with it!) I sat on a lounge chair and watched them have fun. Then it was off to watch Marquette University play b-ball against DePaul. I don’t know what they think the “b” stands for but it was obvious to me b is for BALL. No Doubt! In the morning before coming home we went to this beautiful church, Gesu Church for Mass. Four Kennedy women and me – Poor Mr. Kennedy couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Thanks for a great time. I took a very long trip with Yolanda Wojdyla to Poland. That’s in Europe you know. I had to get my passport updated a million times! We flew from O’Hare International to Warsaw, Poland. Then it was Lichen, Poznan, Gniezno, Sopot, Biskupin, Gdynia, Gdansk and back to Sopot. After that we were on our way to Malbork and Torun before returning to Warsaw for our trip home. It’s a good thing that Yoli speaks Polish and knows some people here, because I didn’t meet anyone who speaks kangaroo! Thanks for the transcontinental trip, Yoli.

I didn’t do any international traveling, but I still had great fun. I’m Aussie and boy, have I missed you guys. I visited Nashville, TN with Mrs. Cherney and her daughter Sam’s skating team for a big competition. This group of girls does synchronized skating. As I understand it, the idea is to skate together doing everything at the same time. It sounded too hard to me until I watched the team practice for the first time. I thought I could do it too until I found out you had to stand on those skinny blades. Needless to say after I found myself on my bum ( my Bottom) a few times I gave up and left the skating to the girls. The Starlights were skating in the 2008 US Figure Skating Mid Western/Pacific Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships Wow! That’s a mouthful! I met some really nice girls. Besides Sam there was Eden and Teagan. We visited Carnton Plantation which served as a field hospital during your War between the States. I even learned how to make a church doll while we were there. It was very interesting. During the competition we were all on the edge of our seats. Mrs. Cherney and I were cheering the girls on. They skated really well and took third place out of twelve teams. Great job, gals!

In January I travelled to the Big Apple! That’s New York City to you. Mrs. Marciniak was going to celebrate her niece’s birthday and asked me if I wanted to go along. Not wanting to miss out on a good time I said, “Sure.” New York City is huge. There are over 7 million people there and I think at least 2 million of them stepped on my tail! We travelled in just about every kind of vehicle you can imagine: subway, cab, bus, ferry and of course we did plenty of walking. My aching paws! While we were there we took in a Broadway play. I guess they frown on a lot of talking, because Mrs. Marciniak kept shushing me! We met a fireman who worked 36 straight hours on 9/11 near the World Trade Center. He let me sit in the cab of the firetruck with him. It was awesome. I didn’t come into the US through New York Harbor like many immigrants in the 20th century did but I can understand how they felt when they first set their eyes on the Statue of Liberty. The French gave it to your country in 1886 as a gift to commemorate the 100th anniversary of your independence. It is truly inspiring. It was a great trip and I was grateful to tag along! Over Spring Break I joined Mr. and Mrs. Salek on a jaunt down to South Carolina to visit part of their family. Grandson Jack remembered us from last summer and he introduced us to his little brother Wilson who is new to the family since then. While we were in Manning we played outside a lot because the weather was in the 70s. All the trees were in bloom and the flowers smelled really good. On Easter I got a chance to meet the Easter bunny and a few chicks that were friends of his. Needless to say we had a great time hopping around together. Jack showed me his Easter egg tree. I never knew eggs grew on trees! On Easter we hunted for hidden eggs. In one of Jack’s eggs he found a real lizard! Mrs. S said that Jack’s dad was playing a trick on him, but when it jumped out it scared all of us! Mr. Salek took Wilson for a walk in the afternoon and carried him in this little pouch thing on his chest. It reminded me so much of home that he gave me a ride too. You can see our picture on the roo board. Like Mrs. Salek says our time with the boys is always too short, so before you knew it was time to leave. It’s a fifteen hour drive home to Illinois and Mr.Salek wanted to reach Frankfort, Kentucky early enough to relax before bed time. We got in around 6:00PM and stopped for dinner. In the morning we decided to stop in Louisville at the Slugger Bat Factory. We arrived just in time for the first tour of the day. We walked through the factory with a guide that explained every step in the process of making bats. He told us that they make a lot of bats for the professional baseball players. Some bats are made of ash and some of maple. Apparently, maple bats are becoming really popular. The only problem with them is if you hit the ball where the logo is they can crack easily. Mrs. Salek asked if that’s why we see so many broken bat hits in the games recently. The man said yes, but the players still like them better. We even saw where they keep bats made for individual players like Soriano who plays for the Cubs. After the tour they gave me my own bat. It’s ash, but I wasn’t too disappointed. They have a batting cage in the museum and you can face some of the best pitchers of all times. Picture this it’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs, Greg Maddux is on the mound, I step to the plate, the wind up, the pitch (I now have .2 of a second to decide what I’m going to do against a 93mph fast ball.) my decision RUN – Did you ever face one of those? CRIKEY! It was a fun time thanks Mr. and Mrs. S.

Well, this is Sydney and I have the last story to tell. I went to Bonita Springs with the Lucas family. They have four girls: Anna, Karoline, Elizabeth, and Audrey. We went to visit their grandparents, GG and Papa Herk. When we arrived it was a balmy 78 degrees. I hear you guys had a snow storm! Ha! Ha! We hit the beach. We celebrated Easter with the family and the next day were back to the beach for a …SUNBURN! We dined out that evening and after dinner headed for the candy counter. I’m afraid sweets are my downfall! The next day we went to West Palm Beach to visit Nana and Grandad. I went shopping with Anna and Karoline and the girls bought a ton of clothes! We spent a day at Lion Country Safari where they let animals run around without any cages. I spent a lot of time worrying, but Anna said I’d be fine. None of these animals had ever seen a kangaroo, they were mostly African animals. So they wouldn’t be interested in me.(So she says!)

Our last day in Florida we went down to the beach and Mrs. Lucas found a huge starfish. It was alive and when you held it you could feel its little feet moving. I couldn’t hold it, but I did touch its feet. I was so brave! In the morning we were on our way home. I slept almost the whole trip home. That was some Spring Break thanks to my cobbers the Lucases. Well, like Mrs. Salek said we’ll be returning to Australia. You’ve been great and we’ve had a bonzer time. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone back home, but we’ll always remember you! TaTa from,

Ozzie, Aussie, JoJo, and Sydney

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Travels with 'Roo