They Passed!!

The past two weeks have been very busy with swimming lessons (at 8:00 a.m-EEK) followed by band lessons for Trevor.  Despite the business, we found two days that were open enough to spend half the day at the pool.  It helped us manage the "dog days of summer" as well as getting more practice for Emily.  Erin has had no fear of water (other than a stage as a baby!) and has flown right through lessons since 3 yrs old.  Emily, however, has been a LOT more cautious.  Spending three years in the Minnows class has not bothered her in the least - and was actually fine with not passing this year....at first.  But Tuesday was our RED LETTER DAY....Emily managed to go off the diving board w/o a noodle after passing the swimming portion of her test by doing the front crawl into the deep end!!  Now, it took several minutes standing at the end of the board, Erin on one side and Trevor on the other just coaxing her through it as well as her (pregnant) swimming instructor getting into the water "just in case" per Emily's request.  The poor thing was shaking SOOOO bad but SHE.DID.IT!!!  And to top that off, she jumped right off today....and is planning on taking her deep end test tomorrow at our city pool!!  Emily has just proven that "BRAVERY" doesn't mean having no fear....it is pushing forward despite that fear.  I was just so proud of her b/c of that. 
Trevor has passed out of his class so next year he will be taking a lifeguarding class.  Erin has passed out of her class (Level III) and moves on up to level IV.  Emily made so much progress this year and is very worthy of her move up to the Sharks class for next year. 

Trevor also started practice with our Community Band on Monday night after his 6th grade band instructor had called to ask him to join.  The band is made up of 80% adults so it goes without saying that the music is a lot more difficult than what he has been used to.  Thought the rest of us think he would be good with the challenge he is struggling with it. 

Our weekend of simple fun.

 On Saturday we decided to take a hike at a local nature preserve before the temps got any more hot.  After a heavy dose of mosquito repellant we started out on our hike.  The preserve was definitely beautiful but it was hard to really enjoy the scenery with the mosquitoes and horse flies buzzing around us.  We will make a repeat trip....in the fall! 

 After our attempt to hike in the woodsy areas, we decided to walk through Omro.  This is a town that we have driven through every time we drive to Oshkosh....over a period of nearly 11 years.  Despite this, we have never just taken the time to explore the town.  We took the time to visit the Veterans Park that was built with the names of those who have lost their lives serving our country.  Erin and Trevor are in front of plaque stating their honor while Emily is reading some of the names on the wall.

 While walking to McDonald's to get a cone to cool off, we walked past the Omro Historical Society building.  On a whim we decided to check this out as well!  The kids surprised themselves by finding this a fascinating little place!  Emily found this replica of an old phone interesting while Erin found an old water pump on the kitchen countertop.  Trevor, on the other hand, was glad that he didn't have to get his hair cut with this old clippers!  Erin and Emily each posed with a "model" of the historical dress styles.  The center picture just reminds me of Dick and Jane stories!

Finally, to close our day on Saturday, we had fun with the ladder ball that I picked up.  We have talked about getting one for almost a year now!  We have ALL enjoyed playing but it will certainly be more fun without all the "friendly" bugs we seem to have an abundance of. 

Now we will be having cool thoughts and enjoying the coolest activities we can think of for the rest of the week.  Mid 100s (with the heat index) has me thinking of Alaska!!

Tranquility

 A wonderful way to end a terrific vacation - four days spent in a quiet place feeling an awesome sense of peace and joy.   One gem that was shared was when the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it is time to start watering our own side.  But one of the greatest lessons that I learned was when our daughters went to offer their help.  After being asked to help serve the meals, they were so eager to start despite the fact that they would not be able to stay in the cabin at a nearby campground~something they had been so looking forward to.  Serving was now so much more important to them that they willingly got up (most of the time!) at 6:00 each morning to be in the dining room before the 7:00 breakfast.  Big lessons can come from small people - and they didn't even know how much they gave me to think about.

 My cousin was also at this wonderful place.  This cousin is a pretty neat girl....let me tell you why!  As Erin gets older, I see so much of Laura in her - and the funny thing is, is that Erin only sees Laura once every year or every other year!!  Erin loves to have her own style, she loves to have fun hair styles, she is infatuated with shoes....all in all she is just her own little person.  Just like Laura!!  On Saturday afternoon, she really wanted Laura to do her hair for her....Mom just can't quite match the style she was looking for I guess!  Anyway, Laura offered to comb her hair for after she ran a quick errand.  This errand turned out to take longer than anticipated but Erin quietly waited in the bunks for her hair to be done.  Not only did Laura do her hair, she did it much like she had her own hair!!  Laura~you made a little girl's day when you took this time.  Keep being you - someone in WI thinks you are pretty terrific!

 Sadly, on Sunday morning, Erin woke with the stomach flu.  When I walked into the bunks to make sure they were up on time, I learned that Erin was NOT going to go far.  In tears, she told me that she was missing out on her job.  I assured her that others would help out if needed and she didn't need to worry about that.  The next thing she was sad about was that Laura was going to comb her hair for the day - no hair combing was needed, though, as she slept until noon and we then left for home. 

 So long, South Dakota.....until next time! 

 We had planned to take a picture on Sunday of the three sets of twins that were present.  However, plans got changed when the flu made it's appearance.  Here is a picture of Emily holding Miles and Erin holding Makenzie at feeding time while we were at Erin and Miranda's.  Eric and Miranda have had these 10 month old twins for two weeks through the foster care system.  The girls were quite fascinated and willing to help out whenever they could....except for diaper changes! 

This picture was taken at 1:30 on Monday morning - during our travels home from South Dakota.  We finally arrived home at 3:30 that morning.  This picture just shows that when you are tired....ANYTHING  can be made comfortable!

HOME SWEET HOME!

Alpine Slide

Near Mount Rushmore, there is an alpine slide.  Many years ago, Terry and Trevor rode on this, but the girls were too small at the time.  I was a bit concerned about Emily feeling OK with going down but she managed to keep her chin up and DO IT! 
On the way up in the chair lift, Emily was feeling very uneasy and asked that Erin sit very still so we didn't move at all.  Erin, on the other hand, isn't bothered by heights one bit and liked to lean out to get a good look at the scenery.  At one point, Emily pointed out that all three of us were wearing flip flops and we needed to be carefull.  Erin was quiet for a bit and then in a paniced voice said that she lost her flip flop....my stomach dropped know that the shoe was as good as gone before I asked her how THAT had happened?!  She then started laughing and pulled her shoe out from under her. 

There just isn't anything like riding that little sled down a cement "slide" - free as the breeze - quite literally! 

Important Faces...

 Terry & Kara beneath Mt Rushmore

 Terry, Kara, Erin, Emily & Trevor with the bronzed faces as they were to be originally carved.  Due to the type of rock, they carvings needed to be changed to show only the faces.

 Erin

 Trevor

 

 Emily

One (of the many) of our shots of Mount Rushmore.  This is another place that I never get tired of visiting.  It seems as the kids get older we learn new things each time we go.  The history of our country is very fascinating......

Memories of the hike captured on camera!

 Trevor with our final destination in the background.

 Erin's hair is flying in the wind - and we're not even to the top yet!



 Emily sits with the summit in the background-a few hours away yet!

 Our crew of kids hiking to the top-Trevor, Erin, Destiny, Brendan & Emily

 Trevor, Erin, Kara & Emily at the summit tower-WE MADE IT!

 Emily at the lower balcony of the tower.

 Erin was just in awe of the beauty - and not afraid to go where the rest would rather not!

She was the first to climb to the top of the tower - and get close to the windows!

 Emily, Erin, Trevor and Terry just outside of the stone tower.

 A very zoomed in photo of the tower from across the valley as we hike back down.

Trevor begins the descent from the summit of Harney Peak-but this is just a small part of the trail...and there are only about 20 stairs before it turns to a rocky steep trail back down.

Thankfully it was not a hot day and we were even given a few minutes of showers several times throughout our hike.  We tested our perseverence and have (or had??) the muscles to prove it!  A lot of hard work but it shows that the true beauty of an experience is when we rise about it!

A View Well Worth The Hike.....

The last time we were out to South Dakota for vacation (5 years ago), we started the hike to the summit of Harney Peak.  However, the girls were just barely four years old and didn't make it very far before Terry turned around to wait at the bottom with them while Trevor and I hiked to the top.  We made a quick trip of it so as not to worry Terry with our whereabouts.  Since then, I have been wanting to make that climb again with our entire family.  Keep in mind, this is a 3.5 mile hike UP and another 3.5 mile hike DOWN the moutain side - a final elevation of over 7200 feet.  The view from the top is beyone words and the thought of capturing it on camera again was definitely motivation!  We made the hike in just over 4.5 hours - and that included the one hour we spent hiking around at the top.  A very good time....especially when you take into account that we did this with five kids!!  The kids did spectacular despite our leaving Trevor's inhaler at the BOTTOM of the mountain safely locked in our van!

Mammoth Site

After a day of hiking through the cave, we came back to Hot Springs and met up with Eric & Miranda to tour the Mammoth Site.   The tour guide gave her information through a phone system throughout the museum.  The kids also got to hold bones that were the size they had found in the digging site.  The building was built around the sink hole where the mammoth remains were found in an effort to protect the remains. 

Wind Cave National Park-Fairgrounds Tour

We try to tour as many caves as we can every time we are on vacation.  This is the third cave we have toured in South Dakota.  It was so much different than any other cave we have toured as it was full of "boxwork" (the background of the collage) as well as "crystals" (on the left of collage) and "popcorn" (on the upper right).   We took Destiny and Brendan along (their dad just will NOT tour a cave!!) and they really enjoyed it.  Brendan (5 yrs old) asked our tour guide at one point early on when we were going to see the POPCORN!!  Later on in the tour he raised his hand to ask yet another question ~ "I just don't get it....HOW did you make this place?"  The guide patiently answered his question in the easiest way possible and he was satisfied with the answer. 
When the tour was completed, we had climbed up/down over 400 steps.....and saw 0 bats - whew!! 

Guys Day Out!!

 After about five years, Terry was anxious to get back out to SD to get some prairie dog hunting in!  Eric has some friends that manage a ranch and they are always in need of someone looking to get some hunting time in.  Although these little guys can be cute, they cause a LOT of damage for ranchers.  So, Terry and Trevor went with Eric and Brendan early Saturday morning to get some of "guy time" in.  Miranda & I went out with the others kids later to take them lunch.  Upon getting there, we see Brendan come in with bugs stuck to his forehead....  We later saw how he riding in the bed of the truck....his forehead was getting as many bugs as the windshield was!!  =-)

This was Trevor's first time out shooting prairie dogs with Terry and it was very successful!  He took one of his HUGE books (now aren't you just shocked?!) out with him since he didn't really know what to expect but he seemed to have fun and even got several of the little critters! 

Finally......Hot Springs, SD!

 Shortly after arriving in Hot Springs, Eric, Miranda & family

wanted to try this place out for supper in Pringle, SD.  Their anniversary

is the 16th, Miranda's bday is the 17th and our anniversary is the

18th of June.....so we needed to celebrate!!  This little place

doesn't look like much but.....YUMMMMM!

Hot Springs is a very quaint little town.  Sadly, I don't have any pics

of the house that we stayed out the entire time we were there.

The company there was terrific, though!

Mitchell, South Dakota

We have stopped at the Corn Palace in the past but this was the first year that we stopped inside and watched the video of the history of the Corn Palace.  To watch how they put the decorations on in the past is just amazing.....modern technology has made it so much easier to design!  Some of the pictures we had taken are the same pictures that we had taken when we were there last...which was over 5 years ago!  The girls weren't too fond of the hold guy then....and they were no more fond of him this time.  So, Terry obliged by posing with him this time! 

South Dakota Vacation - Post #1

Instead of "Where's Waldo", we had to find Erin!!  Terry and I had to chuckle as we looked back shortly after pulling out of our driveway on the way to our first stop.....Minnesota.  The kids were so packed in...but the benefit of this is no one could POSSIBLY be touching anyone else!!  (Note:  Gpa Harold gave each of the girls a large stuffed bear about 7-8 years ago.  This bear sleeps with Emily each night....and she just would NOT be able to sleep a wink without him.  Thus, he made the trip to SD and back to WI!!)
We left on Thursday afternoon and got to Tom and Sherry's (Terry's sister) in Minnesota that night.  We enjoyed a quick visit and an overnight stay with them before heading out on Friday morning at 5:00 am for South Dakota.  Of course, no drive through SD is complete without our stop at Cabella's and the Corn Palace...both in Mitchell.