Another Family Vacation

We have been a busy crew this summer.  Lots of fun activities and fortunately, lots of family trips.  We just got home from visiting Chad's family in Iowa and sightseeing for a few days in northeast Missouri.

We can generally tell how well a trip was by how tired we are when we get home.  This time.... We were EXHAUSTED!!  We had a great time with Chad's family!  It's been a long while since we have been back there to visit and it felt great to be able to chat it up and just spend time together.

The kids are playing in the bounce house at Jason & Megan's. 

They talked Grandma Jane into getting in with them.

Jason gave the kids a pony ride.  Cody is riding with Zeke while Michala and Chloe walk alongside.

Chloe is holding Dolly's rope while Cody rides.

Chloe's turn.

Samantha wanted Zeke to ride with her too.

Izzy is riding and the crew is following right along. 

One of the best parts of our visit was to watch Samantha interact with Zeke.  She has such a love for him and tended to him much of the time we were there.  She was so tender and compassionate with him.  We could tell in his actions and expressions that he loved her right back.  It was hard for her to leave him.  In the car, she says, "I hope Zeke isn't too sad when I leave.  I'm going to miss him so much."  

I think we could all learn a little something from this type of innocent, accepting, and pure love. 

Samantha wanted to feed Zeke his supper.  She did so great and Zeke loved every minute of it!

Lock and Load

Definitely exercising our Second Amendment rights with Cody's new birthday gift from Grandpa.

Of course, the girls had to give a go too.

Chloe, in typical Chloe fashion, got off ten shots in about 5 seconds. 

Nebraska Vacation

Before going back to Grandma and Grandpa's, we made a few stops throughout Nebraska.  First, we drove around and stopped at Lake McConaughy.  Then, we drove to Grand Island and visited the Golden Spike Tower.  Golden Spike Tower is an 8 story tower that shows Union Pacific's Bailey Yard.  It's the word's largest train yard.

Kingsley Dam

Nebraska's Largest Lake

Golden Spike Tower

The manage over 10,000 railroad cars per day.

More history on the trip.  Never knew that there were such as thing as Orphan Trains.  They would send kids on trains and they were dispersed throughout the United States to orphanages that had room.  

South Dakota Memories

As we continued on our vacation, our next stop was The Badlands in South Dakota.  From there, we went to see Mount Rushmore.  It was the first time for me and the kids to see it.  We really enjoyed it and was surprised at how much we enjoyed learning about the history surrounding the sight.  

Who doesn't want a picture taken with the Oscar Mayer Wiener?  That would be Cody. 

Our two dare devils.

Our home state.

Our "right now" home state.

Each state has a plaque that dates when it was admitted into the union and each state flag is displayed. Very cool.

Minnesota Nice

Shortly after arriving in Nebraska for our short vacation, we headed north to Minnesota.  My dad, Cody, Samantha, Chloe and I were going to visit my grandparents.  It was wonderful to see them!!  They enjoyed seeing how much the kids have grown and we had a good time catching up.

On the way back to the motel, we stopped by Lake Benton to skip some rocks.  Something so simple can be a memory that lasts for years!

Grandpa showing them how to skip rocks.

Looking for the perfect rocks.

Cody giving it a try.

Girls are looking them over.

It was windy, but a good picture anyway.

They loved seeing all of the windmills.

Hundreds of them for as far as we could see.