Last Saturday

Randy helped the kids tie Alex up in the back yard. Everyone seemed to think it was fun, including Alex. Well, actually Henry wasn't sure what to think at first, he was upset and crying, but he got over that you see.
If you look closely under Max's feet you'll see a jump rope he strung up on the swing set, he spent a long time Saturday evening trying to walk on his tight rope. Here's me and the baby on Saturday. We're getting very big, uh? But I'm just trying to enjoy these last days of this pregnancy because the real work and sleeplessness haven't even begun! (I'm/We're all anxious to see the little girl or guy though.) The latest pig pile. Henry got a haircut!

Our friend Holly

That's our friend Holly, her daughter, Clari and our herd. Holly and Clari came to visit Saturday and we surpried her with a paint brush birthday cake, (she's the head painter at Syracuse Stage)so we could celebrate her birthday. Everyone had a good time.


That's a picture of our overflowing rain gauge. Sunday it rained all day. Literally from the time we got up (which was early we go to 8am church until we went to bed). Sometimes VERY HARD. We got 4.2 inches of rain that day!!! Randy and I were glad it wasn't snow.


I got the camera out to take some pictures of our newly painted cabinets and Henry thought I was getting it out to take his picture. So I did.



Holly painted our cabinets for us while we were on vacation. Randy then put the new hardware on and hung all the doors. We love it!! It feels like a whole new kitchen.

What we've been doing since vacation. . .

We cleaned the van!


The Sunday after we got back we made doughnuts, out of the Little House Cookbook that Randy had given to me at one of our Laura stops. They were a success, with requests for more.



Randy and the boys (not Henry) pratice/played with their bow and arrows that Sunday, and Randy had his very own Robinhood moment. Alex had shot is arrows and one was in the target but just hanging there, Randy took his turn from across the backyard and shot an arrow right into Alex's arrow. Randy admitted, it was too bad that wasn't where he was aiming, but it was still pretty cool!







Just last Saturday we went out to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale's cabin to check out the foundation work being done. Alex also caught some frogs, Uncle Dale taught him how to use the riding mower, some of us got in the lake and the kids found the blackberries and loved them. It was a great day, complete with ice cream at the end of the day -thanks aunt Kathy and uncle Dale!

Vacation week 2 (July 24- Aug. 1)

July 24 (Sat) We left Custer Park and went to Rapid City to Dinosaur Park. It was fun going knowing Randy had climbed around on the same dinosaurs when he was little as our kids were that day. The park is up on a hill with about 7 dinosaurs made to scale. The kids really liked it, especially Max and Henry. Next we went through the badlands. Which Sophia still squeals and says "oh, the badlands - Ahh!" when we talk about it (just because she's crazy). They were so impressive we wished we would've had more time there. And then right before you leave the badlands is a little museum called, The Prairie Homestead. There is an actual dug out a couple lived in (the wife was from upstate NY and the husband from IA and they ended up in SD!)and then the house they added onto the dug out. There was a barn with farm equipment from that time period and a barn with a few animals. And the place was over run with white prairie dogs. It was a cute little place everyone enjoyed.







July 25 (Sun) We started the day at a museum called "Discover Laura" (Laura Ingalls Wilder). We started by touring a home the Ingalls lived in one winter, an example of a school house Laura would have taught in, the actual school Laura and her little sister Carrie went to (it was being renovated and you see a pic of it) and a home Pa had actually built but Laura didn't live in or write about. There were many other buildings to see in the small town of DeSmet and spots that Laura had lived and written about where nothing was left, but a marker had been put in it's place. We saw Pa, Ma,(their daughter's)Carrie, Grace and Mary's graves. These places were all very formal and no - touching.
Then when we went to visit the spot where one of the Ingalls homes were and some trees Pa planted, and we happed to come across this museum, that was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder and the time she grew up. It was terrific!! Their policy was please touch everything! So the kids did and had a blast. They had pony rides, a buggy ride-where they all got a turn to drive, there was a one room school house where they got a lesson, they made rope, button toys, made corncob dolls (or superheros), washed clothes on a washboard, and had a great time.




July 26 (Mon) - This was a big driving day. We had planned to drive from DeSmet, SD to Mansfield, MO following as close to Laura and Almonzo path as possible. We had the book On the Way Home, which is Laura's journal of their journey from SD - MO, so periodically we would make the kids shut down their DS or pause the movie to listen to short journal entries.
In Laura's journal she notes they went through Winside, NB on July 26, and so did we!! So we stopped and had our picnic lunch there. And took our picture on a swing by a large tree that was possibly there 116 years ago to the day. Even the kids seemed to grasp, that was pretty cool. As we got into Marysville, KS I read Laura's journal entry. She wrote, " Around one (house) is a massive brick fence . . . On each side of the front gate a large granite lion is crouching, and on each side of the side gate a large granite dog is lying down." And there in front of us was the gate, lions and dogs!! Wow! It was cool. Then we stopped early enough for our first night of swimming, in a pool with amazingly warm water.





July 27 (Tues.)- We started the day by continuing on Laura and Almonzo's path. As we came into St. Mary's we read about Laura seeing a "pure white marble Saint Mary above the wide doors." Sure enough there it was! Even Max said, "Wow! The same statue, the same building and the same doors!" We detoured off their path and went to Independence (KS) so we could see the spot with a recreated log cabin where Laura lived as a little girl and wrote about in The Little House on the Prairie book. Then because we were so close to Oklahoma, we drove the 10-15 miles out of the way to say we'd been there. (Alex took our pic, as we were much more excited about it than the kids.)Next (back in KS) we stopped in St. Paul to see the graves of Randy's great-great grandparents, great-great uncle and great-great aunt. Sara (Shook) had the wonderful idea to have the kids do rubbings, so the boys were actually really excited to get out and do the rubbings. We said a prayer and laid some wildflowers on the graves. Then saw the church, where they think these great-great grandparents were the first couple to be married. And then close by was Erie, KS were their farm was, we think we saw the spot, but there was no building left so we weren't sure. Then off to swim again!





July 28 (Wed.) - We made it to Mansfield, MO! It was extemely hot that day!! We did the museum where we saw Pa's fiddle, an invitation from a b-day party Laura had been invited to when she was about 15 or 16, which we had recently read about. We saw the actual hand-written journal of Laura's of her trip from DeSmet to Mansfield. One of the journal enteries open was for July 28 (only 116 years earlier)! Alex seemed to like it and Randy and I really loved it. We also toured the house Almozo built for he and Laura, and the Stone house Rose (Laura and Almonzo's daughter) built for them not too far from the first house. After the museum we visited Kayla (Randy's niece) and Mason (her boyfriend). I of course realized only after we weren't with them we only got a picture of them from the side, inside a cave we toured with them. The cave was fun . It was really nice to see Kayla and Mason and we had an enjoyable dinner with them. Then off to swim in our last hotel pool.




July 29 (Thurs.)- We went to St. Louis. We started with the Anheiser Bush tour. Alex said it was cool, and Sophia said her favorite part was the escalators. Next we went to the arch, but we didn't go up due to the lines, and then we toured the Cathedral right next to the Arch. Their museum was closed so we didn't get to go through it. We ended the day by getting to Sara and Eric's - it was great to see them and have some time together at their house. It was very relaxing.


July 30 and 31 (Fri. and Sat.)- We mostly relaxed at Sara and Eric's. Friday we went out for dinner after the kids played at the park and in Oliver's pool. In the middle of the night Fri. Sophia got sick, and Henry was sick Saturday. So the museum we thought about going to wasn't an option any more. So a lot more playing went on, and that was good.

Aug. 1 (Sun)- We left Sara and Eric's in the morning. We made one stop, we had told all the kids they could pick out 2 souvenirs over our 2 week trip, Alex just couldn't fine what he was looking for. So one the way home we stopped at an airplane museum in Indiana for Alex. Only Randy and Alex went in and didn't even go through the museum, but found a model airplane for his last souvenir. The drove the rest of the way home.

Vacation - week 1 (July 16-24)

July 24 - We all left our cabins, and the 6 of us started our 2nd week of vacation which I'll post another day.




July 23 (Friday) Randy golfed in the morning with Bob, Joe and Renee. While Alex, Max, Sophia and Henry went with Aunt Coco, Uncle Chris, and Kelli to Bear Country and Reptile Gardens. I think everyone had fun golfing and I know everyone loved Bear Country and Reptile Gardens from our family. In the afternoon Randy and I (the kids were still on their adventure) went on a scenic drive with Margaret, Bob, Dale, Audry, and Madison. You'll see we saw some wildlife on our drive. It was nice.







July 22 (Thursday)- The day started with most of our entire group visiting Devil's Tower. Then we split up, Aunt Coco and Aunt Donna were nice enough to take our 3 oldest so Randy, Henry, Sara, Eric, Oliver, Margaret and I could go to Aladdin, WY. Population of 15.The General Store/Gas Station/Bar/Antique Store had no running water - so we used the pump out back to rinse sippy cups. And although there was no water there was a lady who was nice enough to let us follow her until we got to the place to turn to see the old coal tippery. How would we know when to turn? The lady would stick her arm out the window! Then we visited the geographical center of the United States. Which was 13 miles out from Belle Fouche, SD in a cow pasture, which we had to go through a barb wire fence to get to and was marked by an official marker on the ground and an American flag. It was so fun! And beautiful. We thought a lot of Cletus, thinking he would probably have enjoyed our trek out to the Center of the USA. We stopped for a bite to eat at Hardee's and saw a drag queen, who was not trying very hard to fool anybody. We ended the day thinking of Cletus again and saw the laser show at Crazy Horse.




July 21 (Wednesday) - We visited Crazy Horse - it was amazing, and very interesting.
In the afternoon we went on a train ride, there were quite a few stressful moments for the 6 of us - our kids were grumpy, tired, hungry or a combination of that. But it wasn't all stressful, there were some smiley moments, too.


July 20 (Tuesday) -We saw Mt. Rushmore - very cool! Went to a place called Cosmos, a house built on a hill in such a way it creates a lot of optical illusions - was a very fun and silly stop. Alex was a good sport and participated a lot in the demonstrations.




July 19 (Monday) - In the morning Alex and Randy took the hike with a lot of Randy's family, up the mountain across from our cabin. I stayed back with the rest of our kids. In the afternoon Margaret, Sara, Eric, Oliver, Randy, myself and our crew went to Old McDonald's petting farm. It was a huge success - esp. for Henry, who loved petting the animals and riding the pony.

July8 - Finished the drive from Muncie, IN to Custer, SD (we started driving Friday (the 17th) at night). And arrived to our cabin.



July7- The wedding!!
July6 - Was the reheasal and dinner for my cousin, Emily and now husband Matt's, wedding. Sophia was the flower girl and LOVED wearing her dress and having Aunt Joni do her hair. She was so happy to walk down the aisle with her cousin and buddy, Kale (Nick and Joni's oldest son).