Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A trip to the zoo!

I wanted to share the pic's we took at the zoo last spring. Then, I can get them off my computer. I cannot believe how much faster my computer is when I get all these pic's burned on to CD and off the computer!

We went to the zoo in early June, before our long trip across the country. Dave had some meetings in Seattle, so we went with him and went to the zoo. The girls had a very good time. I think our favorite part was the butterfly display. And, if left up to me, we would have missed it. I thought it was going to be just a bunch of glass display cases with either dead butterflies or large displays with plants and butterflies that were hiding. Boy, was I surprised! The butterflies were kept in this huge tent with plants all over and the butterflies flew around us. Some even landed on us. It was so fun and so pretty.

I love, love, love my telephoto lens. We had fun in the bear area, I got some really close up pic's. Well, I really got a lot of close up pic's of everything. Loooovvvveeee iiiiittttt!

Any way, enjoy the slide show. And, thank you everyone for your comments. I love to read them.

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Monday, August 27, 2007

A day at the park

I was looking thru my pic's on the computer before I burn them to CD and delete them and saw that I hadn't posted these. So, here goes.

This was a day back in May, I think it was Mother's day weekend. We had a picnic dinner with my parents at the park and took some pic's. It was pretty cool and breezy that day.


This is my Mom and Dad with Sarah. We didn't have any pic's with just the three of them. Now I have one for her baby book.
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Grandpa Greg and Sarah. I just love this pic.
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I love this pic. of my Mom.
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Our little cutie pie Sarah. She just loves to swing.
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I love the expression on Amanda's face. We were so excited when she finally went down a curly slide. It took us forever to convince her that she would like it. Now she's not afraid anymore.
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I don't know who the other little girl is...she just asked if she could be in the pic. But, I like the look on Amanda's face. So, that's why this pic. is being posted.

We had a really good time that day at the park, even if it was a bit chilly.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Little words....


Just wanted to update you all on what's been "new" and what's come out of the little mouths in our family.

Last night Dave was reading the paper and he was on the weather page. When out of nowhere Amanda comes up to him, puts her finger on SD on the map and says..."What's the weather like there?" Now keep in mind, we've only looked at maps to show her where we would be traveling or where our friends and family live. We've never showed her the weather maps. Dave was floored that she knew that. I think she's picked it up from the weather channel or something.

Today, on the walk back to the car from swimming lessons she asked me "What would we be if we weren't people?" I said, "I don't know. What would we be?" A: "We would be flowers. Girls would be sunflowers." Curious to see what she would next say, I asked..."What would boys be?" A: "Blueberry flowers." Very interesting.


Sarah isn't talking too much...Ok, let me qualify that, she talks all the time, but it's usually just "No, no, no, no!" Do you think she may hear that a lot? :0) But, she is trying to say Sissy. She points at everything. Uses the sign language sign for more to mean more, food, or bottle. She has finally learned to crawl down the stairs instead of just walking off it and she has learned to high five, to my surprise. I haven't really worked on it with her, but when she got down the stairs for the first time without falling off them, I said "High five Sarah!" and held my hand up. I was expecting to have to take her hand and show her how to do it. But, she got a big smile on her face and just started slapping my hand. I think she picked it up by watching us do it with Amanda. I was so excited.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The end of our vacation-Day 17-20

Well, here is the end of our vacation, finally!

On Day 17, we left Dave's parent's house at about 10:00 am. It seemed on this whole trip, that no matter what time we woke up, we couldn't get in the truck and on the road until 10. We were headed for Medora, ND. I was prepared for it to be a very boring trip, but it was actually very beautiful. I think some believe farm country to be very boring, but its so pretty. I prob. think that because I didn't grow up in the country. I grew up on the coast, both east and west.

We stopped at the Jamestown rest area for a picnic. It was so nice there. The view was great. That's where we got a great pic. of us all together. Thank goodness I have a tripod. I just may use that pic. for our x-mas card.

After lunch and before we got to Theodore Roosevelt State Park, we hit one doosey of a thunder storm. I tried to film it on the camcorder, but it seemed lightning only struck where I wasn't pointing the camera. There were strikes so close our radio would cut out. I haven't been in a storm like that since we lived in Florida. It was great! Amanda wasn't even very scared. I think that's because she couldn't really hear the thunder.

When we got to Medora, we made a quick, light dinner and ate at the old town playground. It was great! A kids dream playground. We spent alot of time there. The campground we stayed at had live music. It was old timers playing country. Very nice. We also had a little visitor. A friendly little bunny. He wouldn't let us pet him but he let me get a good pic. of him. We had a great view of the mountains out the back of our camper. I really liked it there.

On day 18 we headed for Greycliff, MT. The driving was pretty uneventful. We stayed at the Big Timber KOA. Before we checked in, we visited a prairie dog town. That was so cute! They were all over the place and when we rolled down our windows we could hear them barking. The campground wasn't anything special, but they had a bouncing pillow. It was HUGE, and so much fun. We could all go jumping at the same time. In fact, at one point there was about 15 kids jumping on it at the same time. I wish the girls had been older and able to swim, there was a neat water slide park right next door to the campgrounds. The cg had a pool, too. So, we did go swimming for a bit.

On day 19, we took off for St. Regis, MT. We didn't really do much site seeing, we just wanted to make time and get home. We drove thru Billings again and saw a park from the highway and decided to stop there for a picnic lunch. The girls really enjoyed our lunches. After all that time in car seats, I can only imagine how they liked stretching out. I feel sorry for kids nowadays. Remember when we were kids and we could get out of our seats and play in the car. Yeah, not any more.

That night we stayed at THE BEST campground I've ever stayed at. It was so clean!!!! Let me tell you, it was so clean I let my baby sit on the bathroom floor and didn't feel grossed out at all. I think that bathroom was cleaner than my own bathroom. I really, REALLY want to go back there and go hiking. The only bad thing, was that I was missing home so bad. I think if we didn't have the kids we would have just kept driving, I wanted to be home so bad. So what if it was only another 6 hours or so. :0) That evening was a scorcher. It was around 100 degrees, thank goodness for AC. We went swimming and had ice cream, then as the sun was setting we took a little hike around the CG and a bit in the forest. The camp ground is the Nugget CG in ST. Regis, MT. Check it out if you go out that way. I'm telling ya, you'll love it.

Day 20, We got home. Yay!!!!!

Slide show of the end of our vacation.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Our Trip-Day 14-16

Wow! I just picked up the pic.'s from our trip. Cha-Ching! Yeah, I put a few bucks down for those. But, I just loved them all. I think I printed about 600 pic's. Somebody take my camera please. Yeah, try to get it away from me. :0)

Any way the trip story continues.....

Let's see, I left off with us visiting the farm where Dave grew up. That night was the rehearsal for Dave's niece's wedding. I don't know if you've heard this before or not, but when I was in high school our band teacher always said if you have a bad rehearsal, you will have a great performance. Well, the opposite is true, too. Amanda did very well in the rehearsal. But, when it came to the wedding and she saw all the people sitting in the church, I think she got a bit of stage fright. My plan was, to send her on down the aisle and step to the side so I wouldn't be in any of the pic's or the wedding video. Poor Amanda just stood at the beginning of the aisle, throwing her flower petals, quietly crying Mommy, Mommy. She wasn't moving, but she was throwing her petals. Finally, I ran down the aisle and called to her like she was a puppy, to get her to come down the aisle. The whole way she threw her petals and quietly cried Mommy, Mommy. So cute. I was hoping that if she got scared at least we could get something for Funniest Home Videos, but it wasn't bad enough to submit. Darn, I won't win $10,000. :0)

Dave was a speaker in the wedding and his brother Al was the videographer. It was a beautiful wedding and the reception was nice, too. We had plenty of food and the kids liked drinking their punch out of champagne glasses.

The next day was Sunday. I was going to go to church, but knew it would be a disaster with the girls. They didn't get enough sleep the day before (because of the wedding), so I stayed home and started getting things ready for our trip back. We had a ton of laundry to get done and packed up. Later that afternoon, Dave loaded on the camper and we packed as much as we could so we would be ready to leave first thing the next morning.

I made a slide show below of the pic's from the wedding, reception and getting the camper ready. Enjoy!

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Cute conversation


I just put Amanda to bed and while we were sitting on her floor listening to one song on her cd before I kissed her goodnight and put her to bed, we had a cute little conversation. It went like this:
A: Mom,when did I cry when I was a baby?
M: When you were hurt, or hungry, or tired.
A: No, when they took me out of you.
M: Oh, yeah you cried right when they took your head out. (she was a c-section)
A: Yeah, I said, AaaaHhhh, put me back in!
M: Yes, you did.
A: Did you cry when they opened you up?
M: No, they gave me medicine so I wouldn't feel anything.
A: How did they open you?
M: With a knife.
A: And you didn't cry?
M: Nope, they gave me medicine. It hurt later. Remember when Sarah was born and I
had a big Owie on my tummy?
A: Yeah.
M: Yeah, that hurt. But, I'm all better now.
A: Can I see the baby in your tummy? (We just finished reading a book about dif.
kinds of moms and it showed a pic of a mom with a baby in the belly)
M: No, I don't have a baby in my belly. Or, do you know something Mom doesn't know?
A: No, I just want to see a baby in a mom's belly.
M: Oh, OK. Time for bed.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Our Trip-Day 12-14

July 4th (or Day 12) We spent the day at a lake where Dave's cousin's live. Oh, what a beautiful house and view. Very relaxing. There were a lot of family there to celebrate the fourth. We also had a surprise party for Mary's 80th there. Al and Lori got a cake and balloons for her. It was nice to celebrate again with a lot of family there. The day was very warm, which was good for swimming. The kids had a great time splashing around and riding the jet skis. Amanda just liked getting her feet wet, Megan was a little more adventurous. Derek was like a little fish, he kept jumping off the dock. The guys all took a tour of the lake early in the afternoon and the ladies took one right before and during the sunset. I got some great pictures of that. It was gorgeous! I'm glad we waited until evening for our trip, the guys had a very choppy, windy ride. Ours was smooth sailing. The best part was the fireworks. There isn't any established fireworks, but it seemed like every house on the lake had their own mini version of a display and it was beautiful. To see the whole lake erupt in sparkles was amazing. I hope to do this again. If we could only get the mosquitoes to quit-o eating us-o. I had so many bites on me, I'm amazed I don't have West Nile.

The next day, Dave and I took a trip to the nearby optometrist. I had been and still have a spot in my vision that won't go away. So annoying. It's like having a camera flash go off and you have that little spot that lingers, only mine won't go away. Any way, we drove an hour to go see a top notch guy, and he did all kinds of tests and all they come up with is that I have a floater and to get used to it. Groovy! We had fun when we got back though. Dave, the girls, Lori and Megan and I all walked to the city pool and spent about an hour tootling around in there. It was a lot of fun. The girls really enjoyed themselves.

On day 14 we went to visit the old farm where Dave and Al grew up. His cousin owns it now and they have been making some changes. Oh boy, have they made changes. It looks great, nothing like I remember. Amanda liked the cows and the horse we saw when we were leaving. We stopped to see if they would come close. Only the horse really did. Amanda didn't want to get too close, but Dad could feed it. She's chicken just like her mother.

That's all for now. I'll post more soon.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Our Trip-Day 7-11

Sorry I've taken so long to get back to this. But here's some more info on our trip and some pictures, of course, for you to view.

On day 7, we left Custer and headed for Pierre. Along the way, we stopped at Wall, SD and visited Wall Drug. I remember going there as a teenager and loved it. It's so fun to look at all the junk they have in there. It's a huge tourist trap, but what a great, fun place to stop. Or, so I thought. Not so great with children our girls' age. They were not interested at all. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have as much fun as I thought they would, but it prob. would have been more fun in a few years. Amanda had some fun in the "Back Yard", that's were she got to get in a covered wagon and pretend to drive the horses. We took a bunch of pic's in there.

We stayed at a friends house in Pierre and had dinner and jumped on their trampoline. That was Amanda's favorite part. My fav. part was staying in their fifth wheel. Aaaahhh, room. I could actually stretch out in there. I'm thinking we may graduate to a trailer....soon. Amanda was excited to sleep in the bottom bunk in the fifth wheel. Now she wants bunk beds in her room.

On day 8 and 9, we traveled to Dave's parents. This entry and the pic's below take us up to July 3rd. I took a bunch of pic's for the 4th so I'll make a diff. entry for that. But, on the 1st we took Mary out to lunch for her 80th birthday. It was a nice dinner (I forget we were in SD, lunch is dinner). Dave's sister Janet and niece Heather came to celebrate with us. It was a nice visit.

On day 10, we walked up to the city park with Dave's father and played and played and played. It was great. I finally got some good pic's of Sarah. Then, later that day, Mary introduced Amanda to the fine art of bean picking. Oh, boy those were some good beans. I think we may try to grow some next year.

July 3rd, or day 11, was spent relaxing and getting ready for the 4th. I'll write more on that later. It's getting late, I better get to bed. Enjoy the pic's below and there will be more to come. I hope I get to it soon. Nite-nite.

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Thursday, August 2, 2007

Day 4, 5 and 6-Custer, SD

After leaving Cody, WY, we drove thru the Big Horn Mountains. What a beautiful drive. Especially at the top. There were just oceans of flowers. I took A LOT of pictures but tried to find the best one for the slide show below. We pulled off along the road for a picnic. The view was outstanding! I want to go back to go camping there someday when the girls are older. It's funny the further along we went, the more places I found to come back to when the girls are older.

We camped at the Beaver Creek CG in Custer, SD. Dave's old stomping grounds. The CG was very nice and great for Amanda. They had a nice little playground and a swimming pool with a water slide. The best part was the bunnies. They were everywhere and some of them were tame enough to feed. Good thing we brought along a bunch of carrots.

On the fifth day, we toured around the Custer State Park. We saw Mtn. goats, deer, buffalo, and donkeys. Yes, donkey's. We had a great time driving around. My favorite time was going thru all the tunnels. They had a series of tunnels that are cut in just such a way that when you drive thru you are looking at Mt. Rushmore. It was so pretty. I had been to Mt. Rushmore in high school. Boy, has it changed! It is beautiful there, but hot. Thank goodness they have a great ice cream stand there now.

After Mt. Rushmore, we traveled thru the Needles. Very impressive rock structures. I was afraid we wouldn't make it thru some areas. The tunnels were a bit snug for today's large size trucks. But, it was a lot of fun. And, again, I want to come back when the girls are older and go hiking.

That night some friends that Dave used to work with came to visit us. They had kids and Amanda had a blast playing with them. I could tell she was missing kids to play with. So, I'm glad they came to play with her.

The sixth day we just relaxed around the camper. I sent Dave and the girls off to play for about an hour and totally cleaned out the camper. Boy, it needed it! Then everybody took naps and I watched a movie. Later, Dave took Amanda to the pool. She got in, but wouldn't, and prob. shouldn't have, gone on the water slide.

I got some really cool pictures of the girls with the sun setting. It looks like the forest is on fire behind them, but it's not. There was a fire in the area, so the smoke made for some very colorful sunsets. I just wish the girls would hold still for 2 seconds so the pictures wouldn't be blurry, but I did get one of Sarah. Then the moon was spectacular. I really wish my pictures could be as beautiful as it was in person. I need to take some classes.

Any way....enjoy the slide show below. And, I'll write more later.

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Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Day three-Yellowstone

Day three in Yellowstone left me begging for more. We didn't give ourselves a lot of time in Yellowstone mainly because the girls wouldn't be able to hike the trails. I really wanted to just drive thru and see as many animals as we could see. I wasn't disappointed. Although, we still didn't see any bears. My parents did the next day.

Speaking of my parents, they drove around with us until after lunch. Then we went separate ways. It was really fun driving with them. We each had small radios, which are very handy when you're in separate cars. We could point out things to each other without having to run up our cell phone bills.

Amanda had a great time every time we stopped. She wanted to be in all the pictures. I felt sorry for little Sarah, she was stuck in her stroller most of the time because everywhere we went was on a cliff, no way did I want her toddling around. It may not look like it, but Sarah was there with us and later you'll see more pictures of her.

We spent way longer driving thru the park than we allotted and got out of the park late. It turns out, that was prob. the better thing for us to do. We left thru the east entrance, and found out later that that exit had been closed earlier that day because there was a fire threatening that area. We had no idea until my parents were able to get a hold of us a few hours after we left the park. We had seen the smoke on our way to Cody, WY, but had no idea how close it was.

We saw so many beautiful sites: Waterfalls, elk, buffalo, deer, pelicans, rivers and mountains. I took so many pictures, I had trouble choosing which ones to share. I wish the pictures of the burned forest turned out as beautiful as it looked to the eye, the color contrast of the blackened wood and the green grass just really was striking. At one point during our drive, we were stopped for about 20 or 30 min. for construction and I looked up and saw the moon peaking around the edge of the forested ridge. Had to get a shot of that!

Well, the kids are up from their nap so I better end this and get to day four next time. Enjoy the pictures!

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