Farm livin is the life for me....

Well, maybe not quite...

I enjoy the quiet and the wide open spaces, no neighbors so close you can see them brush their teeth, and the nature too.

I don't enjoy all the bugs!!! Not to mention the fire...
And not being able to just run to the store to pick something up. The nearest Wal-Mart is over 30 minutes away and their supercenter is half the size of the ones back home. Selection is limited.

There is a combination gas station, bait shop, convenience store, curio store nearby. However, a gallon of milk for $5 is a bit rich for my blood.....

I can't wait to be home and run to Target 5 minutes away for the laundry soap I forgot on the last trip (and to troll the clearance aisles....)

update

The fire nearby doubled in size today. It's now 3 square miles. We can see and smell smoke everywhere near the house we are staying in. We are leaving tomorrow morning early to start heading home. We saw tons of wildlife yesterday. Elk, coyotes, ravens the size of Gigi, deer, tons of buffalo, chipmunks, ground squirrels, trout swimming upstream to spawn and even three black bears. Waterfalls, geysers, and lots of mountains too. Gigi is running a fever too. I am praying that it is only the tooth that is coming in and not another ear infection....

HELP!

Pray for me!!! Three reasons - two serious and one not so....

First, pray that the forest fire raging 20 miles from here stays 20 miles from here. It started Saturday with a lightning strike and has spread to over 600 acres. Those that we have asked about it don't seem too worried, but this city girl is terrified...

Second, I haven't been feeling well. Exhaustion probably has a role in it, but I think there's something else going on and I don't feel right....

Lastly, that all my children make it home in one piece. All this snipping, teasing and fighting is driving me batty!

On a good note, today was our first day in Yellowstone. We spent 8 hours exploring creeks, waterfalls, geysers (including Old Faithful) and looking for wildlife.

Aye, Aye, Aye

Adventures abound.

5 days down and we have visited -

Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD
Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, SD
Wall Drug, Wall, SD
Badlands, SD (only from a distance in a thunderstorm)
Mount Rushmore
Custer State Park and Black Hills Forest scenic drive
StoryBook Island in Rapid City, SD
President's Park in Lead, SD
Devil's Tower outside Sundance, SD
drove over BigHorn mountains (10,000 ft elevation) and saw SNOW!!

We have seen a lot of things that those in the natural would attribute to evolution and the Big Bang, etc. What it has done for me has solidified my belief in my Wonderful Creator.

His attention to detail in every mountain, every forest, every animal species, is all amazing.
We have seen two rainbows, too. What a great reminder of His Love for us. Yesterday two thunderstorms were on both sides of the highway and all we received were a few sprinkles.

I mentioned earlier that one of our motels had the pool right next to our room. It made for a little noise, but it was okay. What I failed to mention was that it was next to a helicopter tour landing pad.... or the Alpine Slide where you ride up the hillside on a ski chair lift and come down on a sled in a track....

Today, we were halfway down the BigHorn Mountains when we smelled something....
we pulled over and the brakes WERE ON FIRE!!!

So we grabbed our water bottles and doused the brakes and waited for them to cool down and as we descended the rest of the mountain, I prayed and called the town we were staying in (Can you say ROAMING fees?) to see if anyone could look at the brakes, on a Sunday. We found someone to look and them and it turned out that something was actually caught in one of the brakes on one side and that was what caught fire. He only charged us $6.00 to look at them, too!

We reached our rental vacation home tonight (after a trip to Super Wal-Mart - Don't try this with 4 children who have been cooped up in the van for 6 hours in a strange store).

Anyway, the vacation home is AMAZING! I wish we could stay longer. It is an old farmhouse that has been redecorated with all the modern conveiniences and decor. It has 50 acres of land to explore and is in a valley between two mountains. A stream runs through the property right next to the house.

I have taken well over 300 pictures. I'll have to sign up for a flicker account so I can show them all off when I get home.

It's amazing. God had been looking out for us and blessing us every step of the way....
even though Gigi cries now every time she even looks at the car seat.....






President's Park was a bit of a bust. We

New Math

2 days
900 miles
3 tourist traps
3 thunderstorms
1 minivan
4 kids
1 nice hotel room
1 noisy motel room (near the pool)
unending wildlife sightings

all equal

a few whines (okay, maybe more than a few)
a lot of pictures
a lot of memories
a lot of fun

and six exhausted travelers....

I'll have to tell you later about the ordeal getting out of town the first day.... It will serve as a good reminder for future vacations....

a lot of tired travelers

Competence in question....

Ever had one of those times where you are driving and end up on auto pilot and end up in another place, not the place you had planned on going?

I was immersed in my own thought world yesterday while running errands and passed our destination or turn a few times.

My son was oh so kind and told me that I was "uncompetent". Where a 5 yr old gets that word?

(BTW - I did inform him that the correct word usage was incompetent, and that he had no right to call me incompetent when he can't even tie his shoes.)

My dear Sha Sha then informed me that she had taught him the word over-confident the day before and she thought he was trying to impress me......

Didn't work.....

The "D" Word

The Boy came running into the room today and told me that Gigi just said the "D" word.

I'm thinking, "Where did she hear that? and Where did you learn the "D" word?"

So I ask him, "What D word is that?" Knowing that I could be possibly asking for trouble....

He pipes up "Daddy".