South Dakota

The next day we drove from Missourito South Dakota. I think this was the day we stopped at the Badlands. It is all getting so confusing trying to recap so much.  :)

Regardless of when, we did go! It would have been more impressive if I had seen it BEFORE Zion and the Grand Canyon, but it was still very interesting. Once again, the boys got to do some rock climbing and walking, and once again, I had to leave because I can not watch them do this. One wrong step or a slip, and well, next stop down is 1,000 feet. I leave their daddy watching them and Kaebrie and I go walking.

  Here they are disappearing down a cliff again.

 

 

 

We spent maybe 2 hours stopping at a few places and exploring and stopping at the visitors center. Then we held our breath and turned off the air and prayed we could coast to the next gas station outside the park without running out of gas. We did make it (barely) but that was way to close for comfort for me. Sam likes to see how far he can push a vehicle and challenge it to go farther on empty then it even has before. That is fine with me, if we are home, on base, and the nearest gas station is just up the road. NOT out in the middle of nowhere with the whole family in the car!!! My compromise was to keep my thoughts to myself about the whole situation, a process that has taken me YEARS to progress to.  :)

Our hotel was right over the South Dakota state line, but we drove back into Iowa for dinner. We went to Applebees. Now that I am thinking about it, I think I am one day off on the above pictures, but O well.

The next day we drove to Rapid City, all the way on the OTHER side of South Dakota. I think that was the day the above pictures were taken. We stayed in a really neat hotel. It had 2 beds! YAY! Nobody slept in the bathroom or a closet or under a table either. The best thing about the Best Western Ramkoda Hotel was the Water Park INSIDE the hotel. Seriously, it was really neat!

A shallow fun place for little ones.  A step up for bigger kids.

 

Then a really big step up for big kids. These two water slides curled around outside the building before bringing them back in and dumping them into the pool. They must have walked up those 5 flights of stairs over 30 times!

Kaebrie looks a bit nervous!

  They really did make a big splash!

Tiff decided to try it backwards. It was so funny watching him! He would swallow a lot of water because he was laughing so hard.

I put the camera down after this picture. Little did I know the pressure of the water had pulled his pants down to his ankles and when he stood up he mooned everyone! That would have been a cute shot!

I am so lost as to what day of the week this was. I THINK it was Thursday night.

Yes, it was. Friday we drove to Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore and ended up for the night in Cody, Wyoming.

That story will be for the next post!

Mississippi ( and beyond)

We left Alabama on Saturday  and drove over to Louisville, Mississippi, which also feels like home. That is where Sam had his first church and was Senior pastor for over three years. We still feel welcome and loved and enjoy visiting friends there.

We stayed with Will and Sarah and Sunday night after church they hosted a cookout for our old group that was so much fun. It would stress me out a little having 48 adults and kids in my home, but they were totally unruffled. Will grilled some delicious ribs as well!

Here are the kids playing in the hot darkness with old friends. The mosquitos were not hungry by the time the night was over.

This is the front of the old church, which will always be a special place to us. Both Tiff and Kaebrie were baptized by their Daddy here. The little cutie is Kellynn. Kaebrie was jealous of her curls, kept asking me for some for her. "

I want those Mommy!" she kept saying as she pointed to Kellynn's hair.

They were able to attend the first night of VBS after we changed our itinerary and stayed an extra day on a very short notice. Kaebrie liked the tractor. Kaitlynn found this stray kitty that she named Mini-Mac. This kitten has the exact same marking as our beloved Mac did, down to the one white cheek. Mac died shortly before we left Louisville and was buried in the same yard where she found the kitten. We both wanted to take that kitten home so bad! But 5 long days in the car was a bit to long a drive to rescue a stray, as adorable as she may have been.

Christopher enjoying VBS, and Kaebrie with Kellynn, showing off their VBS hats. The girls are only 11 months apart, and though they don't remember being together before, they become instant friends each time they see each other.

Isn't she ADORABLE?

Playing dress up was a BIG favorite thing to do.

 

We left Mississippi on Tuesday morning, and drove ALL day to Whiteman AFB in Missouri. 617 miles. Sam had made the reservations for the TLF there on the Internet. Their system wasn't working very well, and they had us a room with only one bed in it. And they were full. So, it was time to be creative and flexible! She offered us a cot, then came to tell us she had to give it to someone else (long humorous story here), so, Kaebrie slept in the closet. The air mattress fit perfectly!  :)   She liked it almost as much as she liked sleeping in the bathtub in Texas. Tiff slept on the small loveseat, and Collin and KK slept on yoga mats they had stored at the front desk.

That was where Tiffer lost his second tooth! It had been hanging for days, but he wouldn't let me pull it. I laid it down on the nightstand, and then forgot about it when we drove off. Thankfully, we were still exploring the base and showing Collin the bombers when I remembered it was still on the nightstand. We drove back, I retrieved it and wrapped it in some toilet paper and put it in the glove box. Later that afternoon while we were in a gas station at a potty stop, Sam was cleaning up all the trash and threw it away because I didn't tell him what it was.

Christopher never mentioned it, so we didn't bring it up.

We left Missouri on Wednesday morning, so the next part of the adventure will be on the next post!

Alabama

We arrived in Alabama on June 12th, so late it was almost the 13th. On Saturday the 14th we had a surprise 40th birthday party for Sam. But it ended up not being a surprise. One of the invited guests we actually ran into in the hotel lobby in DALLAS, TEXAS and he apologized for not being able to make it to the party. He could tell by the look on both of our faces that he had just blown it. Trying to do any sort of surprise for your spouse once you are married is just next to impossible. But even though the party wasn't a surprise, his gift was!

Here is cute, little guy Sam. He was a blondie for a long time.

Here is one month shy of 40 Sam, TRYING his hardest to look like he is surprised.  :)

Here is the gift that was a surprise and he really really loved it!

There is a gentleman by the name of Rick Green who lives in Oregon and does character drawings. You send in the pictures of the person or people and describe their hobbies and interests and he combines them all into one great picture. I love lurking on his blog because not only is he a talented artist, the stories he writes about creating the pictures are really fun to read.

Rick's link is   www.organizeddoodles.blogspot.com

Scroll down and read his post on Sam's picture, it will have you laughing out loud. Also, find the one above it where he gave Sam's love of Auburn to an unsuspecting family by mistake. SO FUNNY! Sam is in his Air Force uniform with his special stole, wearing his backpack hiking in the Saw Tooth mountains, walking with his Auburn flag, with the F-15 Eagle in the background and his Land Rover parked behind him.

Sam's mom had the drawing photo copied by a bakery and had it as edible frosting. It was yummy!

A silly picture! The adorable red head is my 5 year old nephew, Blake.

It rained for the entire party. Christopher had fun walking friends to and from their cars with the giant umbrella. We had 37 family and friends there. A great friend of ours put together a slide show from about 200 pictures from birth to present day. Some of those were really funny!

The next morning was Sunday, and I wanted a family picture since Sam's brother and his family and his sister were there. I was getting the camera ready when Kaebrie said, "take my picture," and then posed herself on the bench.

This one below also ended up being one of my favorite pictures.

Poppa and Tiff went worm hunting every day to kill the pesky things because they were eating the leaves in Poppa's garden. Poppa brought this one to us and I thought it was really fascinating with all the eggs on her back. I asked Poppa to give her to me for a few minutes so I could photograph her. I know he thought I was crazy, but he did it. He stood there and watched for a minute or two then said, "Jodi, you know I have to squish her when you are done."

I did know that, but I really like this weird picture.

She was squished less then one minute after this photo was taken.

Here is Sam's family. We are only missing his niece Brooke, who was in Florida.

This is my Dad,in the yellow shirt, known as Bumps, since that was what Collin named him many many years ago. With him is his brother, my Uncle Roy.

It was so good to see Roy again. He is bravely going through chemo right now and is so loved by so many people.

Roy's wife, my beautiful Aunt Lis. We had to go visit her at work where she manages a big department store.

WE had dinner one night at my sister's new beautiful home. The boys played war and loved it. Then Blake got some wrestling time with his Uncle Sam.

The drum set in Blake's room was a big hit. (That was an unintentional pun).

Funny history story: My brother-in-law and I went to high school together. He was the drummer in the high school band. My best friend at the time, Kelly, had a HUGE crush on him and would make me go to the games with her on Friday night, so she could sit and watch the drummer, who is now married to my sister. :)

  Here is Bumps with all his grandkids!

My mom has a 3 legged dog named Jeff. Kaitlynn and Jeff have always had a special bond.

Aunt Erin, Sam's sister, is never short of fun things to do. Even having the kids wash her new car!

My mom, HAHA, with all her grands!

Poppa's motorcycle!

My dad again, this time with his sister, my Aunt Bettye.

And Blake again. I put in a request for Kaebrie to have that red hair! I just love it!

For 2 and a half days of our Alabama time, Sam and I left the kids with all their great relatives and headed to the beach. Alone.

yes, you read that right.

ALONE.

For the most part, it was WONDERFUL.

We stayed in a cute little Bed and Breakfast in Port San Blas, Florida. We enjoyed sitting on the beach for hours, and not talking for long periods of time. A peaceful, enjoyable, relaxing silence, listening to the waves and the seagulls.

Negative, bad, awful sounds we heard were the sounds of breakfast being served and loud conversations at 6:30 in the morning. :(

So my dreams of sleeping in until 10 am didn't happen, but everything else was great. We sat on the beach one night and watched the glowing orange sun sink below the horizon, ate at a delicious cafe called the Owl Cafe where we could eat outside and see the full moon. On our way out of town, we stopped at Tyndal Air Force Base and walked out on the beach there. It was a PERFECT spot for families! You have to walk a LONG LONG way to get to the water, but once there, it was really one of the nicest beaches I have ever seen.

It was a whirlwind 8 days in Alabama, with us being gone part of those days to the beach. It was hard getting in enough time to fit in all the family and friends we wanted to spend time with. When you only get to see each other MAYBE once a year, it does make it difficult.

The children were sufficiently spoiled by the grandparents and aunts and uncles: bowling, ice skating, movies, eating out, and one of the favorites: the annual water war!!!!!!!!

This was the third year in a row for this, yet once again, the kids were caught off guard. I had them stand in the pool and pose for a silly picture, while they were ambushed from behind. The pictures tell the rest of the story!  :) This year, Blake got to join in the fun too.

 

This brother and sister team look tough!

Yes, that is Sam shooting his sister in the face, after telling the kids that was against the rules!

And that is all the pics from Alabama! What a wonderful time we had. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all our family who helped make it such a wonderful week.