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.

The Bench

I found a great bench on the side of the road with a "Free" sign on it. It still didn't fit in the car after about 10 minutes of finagling, so I went home, put the racks on top, and sped back to strap it on top of the car. I don't know why I HAD to have it, but I guess it spoke to me or something.

This is what it looked like after just a little cleaning up:

Laura and I got busy sanding.

And painting.

And painting.

And we love how it turned out!

And you can hold Adam's hand while sitting on one side...

And Laura's hand while sitting on the other side. Ahhhhhhhh, how sweet.

Good work Laura!

(Sorry it turned out crimson and cream, Dad. It wasn't intentional)

Road Trip with the kids - Day 1

As I have mentioned, I had some strange urge to take the kids on a long, leisurely road trip on the way back from Oklahoma...by myself. Not sure what prompted this, but it seemed like a really good idea at the time. Looking back, I would say that Adam was almost ready for that sort of thing, but will be more fun when he's a little older. Naps in the car were tough, but everything else went swimmingly.

Our first adventure was a surprise. We planned to caravan with my parents up to Wichita and meet Jim's mom and aunt for a quick outing at their zoo and then lunch. Well, Laura spent the ride to Wichita whining about her eye where she had run into Adam finger earlier that morning. I realized that after 3 hours, she probably wasn't making it up, so we went to an Urgent Care clinic and had it checked out. Sure enough, she had a tiny scratch. Glad we went to the doctor! But that meant no zoo. We still had lunch with everyone and Adam got some quality time with the relatives in the waiting room.

Our first stop after the doctor was Rock City, KS. I saw a sign on the side of the road and was intrigued enough to stop. We did that a lot on this trip, in fact that was the whole point of the trip.

A bunch of mounded rocks in the middle of a field. Its actually the largest group of this kind of rock in the world. Who knew? I could describe how they are made, but I bet you don't care. If you do, go here.

We looked at the rocks from the car.

Because Adam was doing this. FINALLY.

Bye Rock City!

Guess where Rock City was? Minneapolis, Kansas. Crazy.

We stopped by any historical markers that we saw. Here's one for the Oregon Trail.

And the Pony Express.

In between the history lessons, which the kids just found riveting I'm sure, the kids entertained themselves with the best toy ever. A fan. When we visited my grandma, she had a handheld fan with very soft blades. The kids thought it was great, so we sent my dad (thanks Dad!) to Walmart to get them each one (he got me one too!). Thank you so much for the idea, Grandma. These kept the kids happy during many, many boring miles.

At the hotel, we loaded up the cart with stuff and kids.

And went for a swim. Not surprisingly, the pools were the biggest hit of the whole trip. I loved it too. Very refreshing.

And then bedtime! (Adam slept in a crib or with me, but they cuddled together for books.)

Produce!

A very successful morning at our favorite pick-your-own farm! Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, snap peas, 2 tomatoes, 2 mediterranean cucumbers (small), and 1 dozen eggs. And we're all still smiling!

On the way to bed

Want to watch a little boy melt? We try for 3 books, but sometimes 2 is enough. He just can't keep his eyes open long enough. Keep in mind that this is 6:45, not 10pm.

More of our trip....

The only time I took pictures this trip seems to be the last 3 days while the kids and I meandered our way back from Oklahoma to Minnesota. Ooops.

But here's what I've got.

A replica of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie in Kansas. Jim and I took a picture from the car for Laura because we passed it on our way from his parents' house to Tulsa. She's been reading the series and we thought she might like to see a picture.

In Tulsa, we were kid free for 3 days. I knew it would be relaxing, but I was still surprised. I enjoyed every minute. We followed very little schedule for eating, sleeping, TV, snacking....no diapers to change or potty breaks, no cutting anyone's food or trying to decide if the $5 kids meal is worth it when the child may scarf it down or may just as easily refuse even one bite. And having plenty of time to actually have conversations with college friends was priceless. We spent the first evening catching up with Sarah, the bride, at her sister's house. And the next night, we joined Scott and Terri for drinks an hour before the rehearsal dinner, and chatted with them all night. And we sat with Justin, Samantha, Sarah, Brad, Brooke, Scott, and Terri at the wedding reception. I would have loved to see all our kids playing together, but it was really great to just be together as adults and catch up.

After we forced ourselves to leave our little vacation, we went back to Jim's parents' house to check out the kids. They seemed to have had a great time all around. The next day, Jim went to the airport to come home and the kids and I went to Oklahoma to see my parents.

We stayed in OK 3 days and had a great time. It was very relaxed as we had very few commitments in town. We went to the water park, played outside, gardened a bit, and just had fun.

Adam fell into a mud pit

washing off was half the fun!