We've been really busy lately! :D We took a quick trip to MN for a neat birthday party ... it rained the entire way up there... and when I say rained I mean it POURED!!! It rained so hard we couldn't see through the windscreen!!! We love driving in the rain though so no one complained! :D The party was lots of fun and we got to catch up with the MN tribe! Always a pleasure!!
After that we drove up to Sioux Falls ( still raining, by the way ) and stayed in a fantabulous hotel with the most fantastic swimming pool ( which one day will be mine !! ) ... it was just heavenly. It was a Hilton Suites so we had a bedroom, living room and kitchen... it was splendid! We all swam out little hearts out before a late dinner. We were shattered so ended up with a fairly early night though I had SWORN I would stay up all night long just to enjoy the room! Ah well! Over night the wind grew to 60 mph. We couldn't open the hotel doors to get out to the van! It howled all night long! The next morning we were up with the larks to a beautiful but freezing day. The kiddies and I swam and swam some more before breakfast... ( please note.. if you swim BEFORE food, then at least hunger drives them out!! I would be in the pool all day PLEADING with them to leave if we hadn't used the "But aren't you HUNGRY??" ploy!!) After a lovely breakfast ( healthy for me, donuts for the kids, fried meat and such for Rex....!) we climbed back in the car, dog and all, and headed West. Yes. West. Right. That's not the way home is it?! Nope! We went on! For hours! To "Nebraska's Pompeii" !! Oh dear. I'd have taken them a LOT more seriously if they hadn't tried to pull that!!! Pompeii?!?! Anyway, we went to the Ashfall fossil beds! It was really worth the trip! ( remember, we weren't THAT far away!! ) The Ashfall beds are from when a volcano in IDAHO erupted and covered everything in North West Ne with a foot of ash. They have found many skeletons of Rhinos, Two toed Horses and so on all gathered together in what may have been a watering hole where they all perished. It's really something to see and staggering to comprehend. I really have a hard time coming to grips with time.... heck I have a hard time coming to grips with reality... !! The site also has an interactive time line comprising of a walk way... a loooong walkway, with a liiiittle red strip at the beginning. The little red strip is Man. The rest of the loooooooooooong walkway is Not Man...!! Ugh. It hurts my head.!! Anyhoo.... after a super time at the fossil beds and an INCREDIBLE time in the gift shop where I could have spent a thousand dollars and not regretted a penny of it... we headed off once more. This time, SOUTH!! We like to meander! :D We made a few more stops along the route ( including a small misfortune at Columbus where I mistakenly suggested we should try the "authentic" Mexican restaurant for some Vegan food... I ordered Bean Burritos for the kids and myself, only to discover, on my first bite, that the beans were cooked in.... Bacon Ends........ ooops. The homemade salsa MORE than made up for it though! :D So we returned home just in time for the kiddies to go to bed. We were amazed at the change in the flowers... all the bulbs were blooming, the lilacs were out, the place seemed so NEW and DIFFERENT. "I'm so happy to be HOME" Jessie sighed. "You were only here YESTERDAY!" reminded Dad!!! How could that BE!?!?? Four states, new and old friends, swimming pools, fancy hotels, swanky breakfasts, fossils, hours and hours of driving.... and only been gone one day?!!?!?! LOL!!!
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This week Jessie, Jack and I have been learning about Explorers. Jessie has been Lewis AND Clark... ( Jack wasn't much help in the Clarking process and wanted to play "Hige and Sick" instead. Ah well!! Jessie's task was to start at St. Lois ( the bench ) and map the back yard! She did a great job of it and even discovered a lost emerald mine along the way!!
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Today was Jack's first ever T Ball game... aaaaand it may be his last!! :D He was all psyched to play! He had his glove on, he went back to the van to get his ball, his bat and his helmet, the nice lady walked up to him .... and then Jack spotted a baby. Uh oh. Ignore the baby ignore the baby ( babies freak Jack out. He's always afraid they are going to cry... ) He did a good job of ignoring the baby and walked along with the coach assistant to where all the other kiddies were playing catch. He looked at them all, looked back at me, looked at Jessie and said "Oh no no no no!" Took off his glove, threw it to Jessie and walked off!!!! When we caught up with him we asked he what was going on and he said "YOU play, Yay~Yee, I wotch" !! Hmm. We sat on the bench together and we all watched the kids play. Jack would say "Hittin' time!" when it was time for the kids to catch the ball. He'd say "Quickwy!!" when they were running to first base and he'd yell " Cack it!" to the kids when they were trying to catch it!!!! Several uninterested yet still somehow over involved parents kept yelling to their kids ( this IS T BALL people!!) and Jack would pipe up "Keep you' eyes on the ball!!!" to the poor kids!!! LOL!!! When he'd had enough he declared it was time to go home and he said he'd like to watch "B'Ball on the fee fee" !!!
Sounds fine to me! I guess I just paid $25 for a shirt with Jack's name on it!!! :D LOL!!!!
