Our summer vacation-2010 (part 2)

Mid week and we took a drive out to Custer State Park.

This park has the largest group of free roaming Bison in the world.
I had never seen one up close...they were BIG.
And cute...and smelly...

And dangerous I guess.

When we got out of the car to take some photos...the game warden told us that some people had been mauled just that week.

So we got back in the car...cause that really would have ruined the vacation.

Plus you had to watch out for this...

The park was so beautiful...as was all of South Dakota really...at least until the Cricket got there...

On our way through the park we ran into some donkeys. (not literally)

But they were standing in the middle of the road.

They were pretty cute...for donkeys. And they were not shy...

But maybe hungry...considering this one tried to eat my rear view mirror.

Got construction debris...

Make this...

Sculpture by Shawn and Austin.

Uncle Bill finally gets his wish...

Uncle Bill has wanted to ride on my John Deere for the longest time.Of course I wouldn't let him...cause I don't let anyone ride on my tractor.
Then one day Tim let him get on and move the lawn. He was so happy....and so was I.

The big garage project...

Here's the house the day we started the new garage.

Framing the foundation. Pouring the foundation.

Adding the heat for the floor.

The final foundation pour.

Lots of framing.

Add some siding.

And a dormer to blend the old garage into the house. (version #1)

More to come....

Summer fun...kid style...

Thought I would capture a typical summer day at our house...

(white trash slip n slide...)

Best friends...

And this...

Hope your summer is as wet and wild as ours...

Starved Rock

We took a nice drive out to Starved Rock.
It was a beautiful day...
Of course we did not realize exactly how NOT accessible this place was. Wow...

Of course Ella had fun going around hugging all the statues...

Shawn too! Austin and I hung out together while the others went hiking. He was not in the mood to have any pictures taken this day.

I think Ella took this one...pretty good.

Dad took Ella and Shawn out hiking on all the trails. Way longer than anticipated. They were exhausted! A fun day...