Cousin Ryan

Darci and Todd came to visit this weekend. Grant and Julia had fun playing with baby Ryan. We tried to get some pictures of them, but for some reason a 3 year old, a 9 month old and a 7 month old are difficult to pose! Here's the best we could get.
What is going on here?Sweaty Grant with the babies.Happy babies!

Children's Museum

There is a new Sesame Street exhibit at the Children's Museum about the body. The whole thing is pretty cool, Grant had a blast, but we only got to stay about an hour. We'll probably go back this week to see more. Here are the kids enjoying it.

123 Sesame Street

Elmo's fish, DorothyThere was a carousel that Grant had to ride. He was about 1 inch too short to ride alone, but an employee offered to ride with him. Lucky for Grant because I would rather do about ANYTHING other than ride on that and get sick! It wasn't very big, but he had to circle the whole thing about 3 times before deciding on the rabbit. As you can tell, he loved it!Julia loved watching Grant ride, while eating her Cheerios.

Memorial Day

Last weekend we had some friends over and finally used the fire pit for the first time! The kids roasted marshmallows and loved the s'mores. Grant and his friend Ellee get along great, but had one minor fight during the afternoon: Grant decided he is not going to marry her (as has been planned for over a year, they even had a practice wedding at preschool). He announced he is going to marry Julia "because she is so cute!". So Ellee chased Grant, yelling "Marry me! Marry me!" while Grant yelled "No!". Anyway, here are the kiddos enjoying their treats.

DQ Onesies

Darci and Todd are visiting this weekend, and I'll post more pics soon, but here is one of Julia and Ryan in their matching DQ onesies.

She wants to walk...

Julia wants to walk so badly! She pulls the bar stools all the time which makes me nervous since they could easily fall on her. She has also discovered the stairs - she followed Grant all the way up the other day! Luckily I found her when she was on step 3 - but she had no trouble getting up. So now we have a baby gate up. I'm already annoyed with baby gate jail :)

Smith Falls

We drove to Valentine, Nebraska our last day so that we could break the long drive up. Turns out there is a beautiful state park there with a georgous waterfall. It was super hot that day and the water was freezing cold. It felt GREAT, but Grant wanted nothing to do with putting his feet in. Don't worry, Blake made sure Grant felt the water! We would love to go back there soon and canoe the river.

Badlands

We drove through the Badlands on the way home. Can't imagine doing that any other way than in a car with food and water. It was HOT and DRY and very big. Amazingly beautiful. We stopped and had a picnic, Grant climbed a hill and stole a piece of wood. Pretty sure that was illegal.

Buffalo poo

Wind Cave/S'Mores

We went on a 1.5 hour tour of Wind Cave - it was a great tour! It's unlike any cave we've seen before. They have discovered about 130+ miles of cave and think it is only about 5% of what is there. Anyway, worth a visit if you are ever in the area. Grant loved it (although near the end he had to go potty and we had to remind him again and again not to drop trou in the cave!) - Julia thankfully slept through the whole thing. See her curly hair sticking out?

Sylvan Lake at Custer State Park

Outside our cabin - getting ready to make s'mores.

So I have something on my face?We ate dinner at the State Game Lodge in the park - the building was beautiful and the food was delicious! This buffalo was on the front lawn as we were leaving.

Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse

Today we went to Mt. Rushmore. I took a family trip there 25 years ago and was surprised how much I remembered, but I appreciated it more this time. The mountain is amazing!

We also checked out Crazy Horse, which is a huge project. It was very neat - I would love to see it finished someday but at the rate they are going, I will be long dead before it is complete. Grant's favorie part of Crazy Horse? Well, we toured the house of the original sculptor and there was a cat wandering around. He was obsessed with it, cried when we left, and talked about it the rest of the day. The next day he asked if we could go back to Crazy Horse.

Can I get a little WOO WOOO?

We also toured Jewel Cave today, but got there too late for the big tour. So we only had a 20-minute tour. Grant enjoyed his first cave experience.

We stayed at Custer State park, which is BEAUTIFUL, and there is a herd of about 1,500 buffalo that live there. In the evenings they tend to cluster together and we drove around to see them 2 nights. They weren't too scared of the cars, but when a small group of bicyclists (not motorized) came through, the buffalo took off running.

Corn Palace and Wall Drug

Last week we went on a family vacation to South Dakota. And what's a trip through SD without a stop at Corn Palace and Wall Drug? The kids did great on the ride, even though they hardly slept. We were in the car 12 hours, with 3 stops. Who rides that long and doesn't sleep? Our kids. Oh well, they weren't crying either!

Here is how this is going to work: I'm going to touch your thigh, and you will not protest.Grant asked why this guy was smoking :)
One of the 2 30-minute naps Julia took. She woke up because Grant yawned so loudly.

Mother's Day

We tried to get a picture of the kids and me yesterday which proved to be quite difficult! Anyway, here is the best of the bunch. Grant made me a beautiful card at church - it was his handprints with flower stems drawn below so they looked like flowers. I loved it!

The many hairstyles of Julia

I finally bought some tiny rubber bands for baby hair and decided to play around with Julia's hair. It is getting so long! Well, on top anyway. The sides and back are getting a little longer, but have a long way to go to catch the top hair! I first tried the whale spout, then decided I liked pig tails better. Julia's happy with anything! However, don't get the idea that she is a super easy baby. Sure, she's cute, but pick her up and risk getting your face clawed off or your hair pulled out. Blake suggested I cut her fingernails - I challenged him to try. I think it's easier to lick my own elbow than get those nails cut. She squirms, screams, and gets herself in the strangest positions. Also, she is a VERY determined girl, but does not get frustrated easily. She goes around the house destroying everything in her path, which drives Grant batty. He's always trying to protect his toys or his train table. Speaking of which, you should see how quickly she can destroy the tracks on that! Oh boy, I wonder what she will be like as a toddler...

Woodstock for Capitalists

It's Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting this weekend, and Grant woke up ready to go! When he got up this morning, he asked what day it was. When I said Saturday, he said, "Let's go hear Warren Buffett!". Blake and Grant got there about an hour before Julia and I arrived - but don't worry, Grant told me about everything I missed. Then I took the kids down to the convention center part where all the booths are, and the Dairy Queen ice cream :) Grant got his picture taken with a few of the people there...

Julia was so tired - she didn't get a nap this morning. When the kids and I got home, I fed her lunch and plopped her in the crib. She was so tired, she fell asleep almost instantly. I thought she looked so cute, I had to take her picture. (Sorry - I can't figure out how to rotate this pic, so stand on your head)

Happy May Day!

Today was May Day so Grant and I made some popcorn while Julia took her morning nap. He was SOOOO excited - his morning snack was popcorn and juice. Big day :) He had fun delivering his May baskets - when he heard he would get kissed by the girls if they caught him delivering the baskets, he stepped closer to them :) That's our boy! Here is the new patio furniture. We are still waiting on the table - they said it could take up to 3 months! Luckily we could use the table on the deck if we needed to.