Chris and I leave tomorrow for Cancun with a bunch of friends for 5 nights/6 days. The first one of our "group" is turning 40 next week and we are all taking the opportunity to get away and celebrate "adults only" style. We've had this planned for MONTHS...and my children are acting like we are leaving and never coming back.
Caden is telling me that he is not able to spend more than one night away from his room. That he'll only spend one night at Gma and Granddad's and then he needs to come home. Can't you change your flight? Why can't you come home early? Why can't we come? I'm sure that you can hear everything his little mind is thinking. He even ended up with a stomachache this afternoon because I know that he is so worried about it. My sweet little man.
Grace had tears in her eyes this evening when I went to kiss her goodnight as well. I think that they are both just exhausted from Hawaiian Falls today. We tried to make it a fun family day for them and I think that we succeeded.
Say a little prayer that Chris and I depart and arrive home safely. I am going to miss my children, but not enough to stay home :)
****UPDATE...just went into Caden's room and he put a pillow and blanket on his floor for me to come and cuddle with him later...breaking my heart!!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Remy update
Remy is still the focus of our household right now. She is a bundle of energy and teeth :) She is a huge pain to Bailey...his favorite thing to do is growl at her, but he is also very patient with her.
We've learned...to keep our shoes in our closet if we don't want her to chew on them...that when she whines in her kennel she needs to outside...even when it's 3am or so...that she can make it several hours during the day without having an accident...that we need to keep paper towels handy for when she has an accident...that even though we just had her outside 5 minutes ago she still will pee on the floor...to keep her in an area without carpet...that we love her dearly and I made Chris call his parents on her every day that we were on our vacation...that Caden is a great helper with her...that she's lucky she's so cute...that she is growing bigger every day!!
Family Vacation Part 2....
Hill City was a great little town. Several restaurants and it really felt like a small ski town like we are used to in Colorado. VERY touristy, but that is exactly what we were looking for. We also loved Keystone, SD, again the same feel but had a lot to offer for all of us to do. I recommend staying in either one of those towns if you decide to do Rushmore. Both towns do a little "Shoot Out" since that area is where Wild Bill had his last fight, died, etc. Grace was chosen to give the cowboys in Hill City a quarter and they gave her it back with a hole in the middle of it. I wonder why the metal wasn't warm when we got it back AND the circle was perfect...hmmm...Grace and Caden both loved it though :)
So the 2nd day in Hill City we decided to go to Custer State Park. This is a prairie complete with roaming buffalo, antelope, and prairie dogs galore. It was great to see animals roaming free instead of cooped up in areas like we saw them the day before. I bet by the time we left we saw over a 100 of each one of those animals. It made me want to sing, "Home on the Range." This buffalo was HUGE and it just was walking down the road. We had to take a picture of it.
So the 2nd day in Hill City we decided to go to Custer State Park. This is a prairie complete with roaming buffalo, antelope, and prairie dogs galore. It was great to see animals roaming free instead of cooped up in areas like we saw them the day before. I bet by the time we left we saw over a 100 of each one of those animals. It made me want to sing, "Home on the Range." This buffalo was HUGE and it just was walking down the road. We had to take a picture of it.
Family Vacation...
Grandpa and I
Grandma and I
On the 4th at the parade in Exira. It was rainy, but we stuck it out.
Mount Rushmore
Family picture
We took the kids to see my 91 and 93 year old grandparents in Iowa for the 4th of July. My family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents,etc.) are all doing our annual Family Reunion this Saturday, but Chris and I are going to be in Cancun so we decided that it would be fun to go the 4th instead.
We started off leaving home on Thursday the 2nd. We drove to Kansas City, KS, and stayed the night in Great Wolf Lodge. It's about a 9 hour drive to that point so it is a great stopping point and the kids love the water park. We let the kids swim on Friday morning again and then headed to Casey, IA. We did a detour through Corning, IA, and I showed the kids the cemetery where Gma and Gpa Talty are. We each left them a rose on their headstone. It's hard to believe that August will make it 9 years ago that we lost him and Gma will be 3 years in December. The drive from Kansas City to Corning still chokes me up. I still expect that Gma T will be waiting for us to open the front door and greet her and it's hard that she is gone.
We checked into our hotel in Adair, IA, and then headed out to the farm to see Gma and Gpa Williams. She was a little upset that we weren't staying with her, but I knew that they needed their space from all of us and I like a shower instead of the tub. She still cooked for us all of the staples for her - homemade mac and cheese, Iowa sweet corn, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, etc. It was delish. My grandma can cook!! We had a wonderful visit with them full of laughter, playing cards, and small town living. Loved it! We also loved the weather...62 degrees!!
When we left Casey/Adair on Sunday we drove to Hill City, South Dakota. We took a detour through The Badlands and then checked into our cabin. I found this cabin on the internet. Chris and I both thought that it would be more fun to stay in a cabin rather than a hotel. This little cabin had 3 rooms, two bathrooms, and was VERY rustic, but had a great deal of charm. It was a perfect place to go after a long day where the kids could run around and play
Hill City was 10 miles from Mount Rushmore. We spent Monday seeing the monument in the morning. They have a junior park ranger badge that the kids had to answer a bunch of questions to earn it. We learned a lot about U.S. history and the monument was beautiful. They were taking down a bunch of stuff down from the top of the monument that day so we decided to go back in the evening for the lighting ceremony they do and to get some pictures of the monument without all of the people on top of it :) So...to keep ourselves busy we went to Bear Country U.S.A and to the Reptile Gardens. Both were money pits, but we all had a great time.
Chris and the kids in front of the cabin
Bear Country here we come...
The bears were all over the place. Mostly looking for shade because it was really warm that day. This is my favorite pic of the bears. We stayed in our cars and they wouldn't let us put the windows down. We cheated here and there and I went out the sunroof to get some good pics.
At the end of the ride they have a "zoo" that you walk through and see all the cubs and different animals. Here's a cute one of one of the cubs.
Grandma and I
On the 4th at the parade in Exira. It was rainy, but we stuck it out.
Mount Rushmore
Family picture
We took the kids to see my 91 and 93 year old grandparents in Iowa for the 4th of July. My family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents,etc.) are all doing our annual Family Reunion this Saturday, but Chris and I are going to be in Cancun so we decided that it would be fun to go the 4th instead.
We started off leaving home on Thursday the 2nd. We drove to Kansas City, KS, and stayed the night in Great Wolf Lodge. It's about a 9 hour drive to that point so it is a great stopping point and the kids love the water park. We let the kids swim on Friday morning again and then headed to Casey, IA. We did a detour through Corning, IA, and I showed the kids the cemetery where Gma and Gpa Talty are. We each left them a rose on their headstone. It's hard to believe that August will make it 9 years ago that we lost him and Gma will be 3 years in December. The drive from Kansas City to Corning still chokes me up. I still expect that Gma T will be waiting for us to open the front door and greet her and it's hard that she is gone.
We checked into our hotel in Adair, IA, and then headed out to the farm to see Gma and Gpa Williams. She was a little upset that we weren't staying with her, but I knew that they needed their space from all of us and I like a shower instead of the tub. She still cooked for us all of the staples for her - homemade mac and cheese, Iowa sweet corn, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, etc. It was delish. My grandma can cook!! We had a wonderful visit with them full of laughter, playing cards, and small town living. Loved it! We also loved the weather...62 degrees!!
When we left Casey/Adair on Sunday we drove to Hill City, South Dakota. We took a detour through The Badlands and then checked into our cabin. I found this cabin on the internet. Chris and I both thought that it would be more fun to stay in a cabin rather than a hotel. This little cabin had 3 rooms, two bathrooms, and was VERY rustic, but had a great deal of charm. It was a perfect place to go after a long day where the kids could run around and play
Hill City was 10 miles from Mount Rushmore. We spent Monday seeing the monument in the morning. They have a junior park ranger badge that the kids had to answer a bunch of questions to earn it. We learned a lot about U.S. history and the monument was beautiful. They were taking down a bunch of stuff down from the top of the monument that day so we decided to go back in the evening for the lighting ceremony they do and to get some pictures of the monument without all of the people on top of it :) So...to keep ourselves busy we went to Bear Country U.S.A and to the Reptile Gardens. Both were money pits, but we all had a great time.
Chris and the kids in front of the cabin
Bear Country here we come...
The bears were all over the place. Mostly looking for shade because it was really warm that day. This is my favorite pic of the bears. We stayed in our cars and they wouldn't let us put the windows down. We cheated here and there and I went out the sunroof to get some good pics.
At the end of the ride they have a "zoo" that you walk through and see all the cubs and different animals. Here's a cute one of one of the cubs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
