My snack, My cellphone, and I'm ready to go...

Ella's First Day of School...

Yes...she chose her own outfit. No I have nothing to say about it.
And yes...she loves her brother dearly...

My Cricket is in her last year of pre-school. I am happy to see the amazing and wonderful person she is becoming but I am also sad to see her growing up so fast. Ella is a force to be reckoned with. She is funny, smart, creative, interesting and fun! I love spending my days hanging out with her. She has her own sense of style and her own opinions about everything. I regularly post the funny things she says on facebook as my Cricketisms of the Day. I love this girl and I will miss her dearly when she is in school all day...kind of...

Papa Rick...

Hits the hot tub...

Yes...as a matter of fact that is MY bedroom...

...of course you'd never know it by looking all summer...

And then there's this...

I don't even know how to explain this...
Except that I pulled out a camera...

Oh my!!

It's back to school time again...

The boys start back today...Shawn is in 4th grade and Austin is in 2nd grade.Shawn is such a cool dude. He is growing out his hair and is determined to have it very long. I have no idea where he gets that from. He loves making up stories, characters and has a fabulous imagination. He is the nicest boy who sticks up for everyone and has a great inner compass for doing the right thing. I can't believe my first baby is in 4th grade already.

And then there's this guy...my Austin. He is a riot. He has an amazing sense of humor and keeps up laughing all the time. Austin is seriously smart and seems much older than he really is. I am so proud of how he has conquered all of the challenges he has faced and continues to amaze me with his resilliance and drive. While he is only in 2nd grade because of his birthday...he really should be in 3rd or 4th based on his intellect.

My kids are great friends. They stick up for each other and genuinely like just being together. I hope they are always as kind and loving toward each other as they are today! I love you guys!

Our summer vacation-2010...the trip home...

On our way home we stopped by the Badlands and took a drive...

I told them to stay in the car but they never listen...

I could not believe how big this was...or how beautiful. I wish I could have seen it at sunset.

I love it when my children decide to take the picture.

And that, my friends, is the end of this vacation...

Our summer vacation-2010 (part 1)

This year we decided to take the long drive out to Mt Rushmore.

Everyone was loaded up and ready to roll. Our first stop was in Sioux Falls South Dakota. Of course we had to head down to see the Falls.
Of course when we got there...the entire place was roped off with yellow ribbon.
Turns out the recent rains forced the city to dump all of their raw sewage into the falls. Not the best start to our vacation...

The drive to Rapid City was veeeeery long. It was punctuated by these odd sculptures and lots of signs for Wall Drugs.

We made a stop over at the Corn Palace. It was less exciting in person than in the literature.

Of course there was a big store there with this really cool fake hair that everyone had to try on.

Even Dad...

There were lots of "corny" things to pose with also.

This guy was creepy. These fake people were everywhere.

If you are ever in Mitchell South Dakota...well...here it is...

Nuff said...

Moving on to more driving and more signs for Wall Drugs.

Definitely not what I expected. Just a big tourist store. But the kids had fun after sitting in the car for 5 hours.

Love them!!

And him...

Not so much the big fake dinosaur...

Bison are cool...according to my children.

Strange.

Even stranger...a jackalope.

Of course Austin found the "Sue" head to pose with. Love the face.

And then it was time to mine the fake mines...that was after the candy that is all over her face.

Cute!

Sexy!!

They loved it of course.

I had a little stop over in the chapel.

And finally...we got to Rapid City and the hotel. The pool was fantastic.

Complete with a water slide!!

It was love at first sight for the kids.

And the biggest kid of them all...LOL

The coolest tunnel.

The first day it rained so we skipped Mt Rushmore and hit the fun animal places.

If your kids love animals as much as mine do...this is the place for you.

There were so many neat critters. (including these 3)

Hmmm...interesting...

A 100 year old turtle. Needed a pedicure!

And then it was on to Bear Country U.S.A.

We drove through the place and saw all kinds of wild animals up close.

Push Bubs...

We finally made the drive out to Mt Rushmore. Welcome to Keystone SD.

Almost there...

And suddenly...there it was!!

Then we headed over to the Crazy Horse Memorial...at least what there was of it.

There was a neat history area with very interesting artifacts.

And this guy...

We visited a gold mine where we were able to go deep into the earth and pan for gold.

It was so cool...

Another very cool bridge...all wooden.

One day we took a drive out to Wyoming. Tim thought he might like to live here...

We wanted to see this...

If you are into giant rocks sticking straight out of the ground...it is worth the drive...

It was hot that day!

On our way out of town we found this prairie dog village. It went on for miles. Very cool.

And then it was on to Deadwood...

We visited the cemetary where Wild Bill Hickok was buried with Calamity Jane.

I loved that cemetary...even though I almost had a chest grabber getting up to it.

Everything in this town is straight up hill...I would never go anywhere.

It is a beautiful town...but mostly a gambling venture now.

Most of the town was buried at one point so the buildings are not original to the time of the TV series. I guess that Deadwood is 8 ft under.

But it was neat to see anyway. We ate at the Gem Saloon.

They told us it was the best in town...yikes!!

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Military cemetary.

So much sadness...so much beauty...