Weather

An interesting sky, even for a girl from Oklahoma.

Mouse!

Laura spotted something moving in the grass in the backyard the other day. We followed it and caught it! A mouse! (OK, so there was some shrieking and running and serious gathering of courage left out of that story)

Anyway, we all thought it was cute, but gave me the willies. We let it go at nearby a forest and are happy that it can find a nice home - away from our home.

Adam, lately

Do you know what sounds exactly the same coming out of my 20 month old's mouth, but mean very different things?
walk
rock
milk
book
sock
talk
chalk
lock
knock
look

He loves his belly button.

I'm loving his farmer's tan. I swear I put sunscreen on him all the time, but his arms are tanner than mine.

He can open doors. Oh dear, he can open doors.

He's willing and able to try just about everything at playgrounds. And the boy is strong.

He's totally into anything that turns around. Wheels, windmills, concrete trucks, himself walking around poles, our clothesline... And he'll continuously say "roun' roun' roun'..."

He likes his sister, most of the time.

He makes me giggle all the time. He's such a comic, I love it.

Camping

Laura and I experimented with camping this week. We went to a campground about 3 miles from home. We went in the middle of the week because the weekend has a 2 night minimum. It turned out great! 

I grabbed a few random outside toys on our way out the door. One happened to be the old tire from her bike. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

And we had visitors. Lots, actually! Adam came with us for the afternoon. 

And Michelle and Odin joined us for a hike that lasted longer than expected due to a really crappy map. But we made it back to camp and had a quick snack before they left for home.

And Jim joined us for dinner. 

Then the boys went home and left us girls to "rough it".

I think Laura might be a fire bug like her mom and dad.

We kept pretty busy. We took a leisurely walk to the playground, played tag, read books, played cards, colored...

...roasted marshmallows, of course...

...and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Getting to sleep was tough for Laura, but we eventually got there, after a walk in the dark with our glow sticks. Too bad it was cloudy, she would have loved to see the stars. 

I woke up pretty early and started packing up the tent. We needed to be up to hang out with Adam so Jim could go to work. Laura was totally out the whole time I packed up:

It rained all night and morning, otherwise we would have made breakfast and had Jim drop Adam off to spend the morning at the campsite. But blueberry pancakes at the diner were pretty fun too! Here's a video of the tent as I was packing up in the morning. I'm not sure what I was trying to capture as I panned around the tent walls, but I love listening to the rain. 

I would definitely say that we "car camped" this first trip and enjoyed lost of amenities. But I think she would be a good trooper if we decided to get into nature a little more on a short backpacking or canoe trip. She's already asking about our next trip!

Marble Run - Expanded

The marble run just kept growing and growing.

Chatting with Adam

Laura is visiting Uncle Bob and Aunt Kate, so Adam and I are hanging out.

Road Trip Finale- Day 3

Guess what's in Sioux Falls, South Dakota????

A waterfall! Surprised?

After our morning swim and breakfast, we stopped by Falls Park to check it out before heading out of town.

Very impressive!

Very impressive.

Back on the road. Adam liked the...

windmills! "Round and round and round and..."

Stopped for lunch and played ball in a nearby open grassy area. I'm sure it is where travelers let their dogs out, but we didn't have any problems with you-know-what.

Laura found a feather.

We stopped in Blue Earth, MN to check out the Jolly Green Giant. Adam was sleeping again, so we viewed from the car.

And then a quick stop at the Spam Museum. I know, I know...but it was on the way!

"Shhhhhhh"

And then we were home! Back to see Dad and the house and regular life again. It was a great trip and I'm glad we went. I can't wait to do it again.

Marble Run

I saw a much fancier version and knew we had to make our own. Here's our preschool version:

Road Trip - Day 2

I abandoned the original plans for our second day of travel too. I had intended to go to the Children's Museum in Lincoln and then move on to Sioux Falls to stay the night, but decided that the Omaha Zoo made more sense for several reasons: we could get an hour under our belts while we were feeling good, Adam might be ready for a nap after the zoo (ha!), and it seemed fair since we missed the Wichita Zoo due to Laura's doctor's visit the day before. For some reason it was very important to me that Laura see an elephant. I can't really explain that.

We watched this storm roll over our heads in the 5 minutes it took me to pump some gas. Then we hightailed it out of there before it got ugly!

I saw this beautiful building from the highway and stopped to investigate. Holy Family Shrine

It was closed. Bummer. Would have loved to see the inside.

Yes Adam, I know you still love your fan. Thanks again Grandma!

The zoo was great. We spent the most time in the aquarium, largely because we came to it first and we ran out of steam near the end. But the whole zoo was really great.

1. This was Adam's favorite exhibit. "round and round and round and round..."

2. I don't know why Laura's skirt is under her bottom. Things like this are the reason we have her wear shorts under her skirts.

3. There was another exhibit that welcomed the children to come under the rail to get up and close to the animal, so I assumed it was acceptable here also. Now that I think about that, it probably would have had the same sign if that rule was applicable here. We are such deviants.

Of course, Laura was terrified of the elephants. I was bitterly disappointed at her reaction since this was my whole reason for coming, but I suppose I should understand. They are pretty big, I guess.

Yum

The college world series was happening literally across a 2 lane road from the zoo. We couldn't park in one area because it was the "Firework Fallout Zone". But we got there early enough to avoid any parking issues. We are an early family, after all.

Roar!

The zoo was great. I would highly recommend it to anyone and I wish we could have explored it more. But Little One was hot and tired.

An out-of-place cloud that I admired.

After a very short nap by Adam, we saw a sign for a nature center and pulled off the highway. Just before the entrance to the park, we stopped for the longest train ever.

We started out on a short hike.

Laura convinced us to go all the way to the top, which was great.

We sat at the top and nibbled on astronaut ice cream that Jim and I had bought at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum a few days before. It turned out to be the perfect stop on our trip.

The visitor's center had lots of natural exhibits and a cool set of Legos. And a bathroom.

Later, back on the road, the kids enjoyed some books...

and enjoyed trading the books even more. Over and over. Hey - whatever keeps you happy.

At the hotel in Sioux Falls, we unloaded the car, and dashed to the pool, again.

The we ate dinner next door, and jumped in the pool, again. And before heading out in the morning, we would also go for another short swim, again.