Travel day two

The end of day two found us in Wall, South Dakota.   Seemed like a long time to get there.  Really we didn't have an actual itinerary for any of our days.   We did have a little method to our madness ;)
Mitchell is the home of the Corn Palace.  

The Corn Palace is pretty amazing.   They change the murals on the outside of the building each year.  The local college art director comes up with the ideas and many work together to get the design on the outside walls.   Then they put corn and other living things up to fill in the mural.   Each year they have a Corn Festival which is kind of like a county or state fair.   People come from far and wide to enjoy the Festival.  

During the school year, the high school basketball team uses the Corn Palace for their basket ball games as do the College.   The high School team is known as...you got it....the Kernals and their team color is gold!  

We then headed out toward Wall, South Dakota.   Everyone has told us you have got to go to Wall Drug.   Well, you couldn't miss Wall Drug from all the advertising along the road!   Along the way we saw signs talking about the 1880 town.   We were ready to stop for a pit stop and fill our stomachs when we saw the exit for the town.   First of all there was a train we could eat lunch in.  Food was good :)    We asked the waitress was it really worth paying to get in the old town next two them.   She said it really was and to tell the guy taking money that we were really nice and deserved a discount!  So we did and he gave us a discount.

 

The town is comprised of a multiple sided barn that was moved the new location from some 30 miles away.   The people who own this town have quite a collection of things they have bought over the years.   The town has been put together from bits and pieces of other towns that have been declining over the years and needed to sale parts of their buildings.  ie; one room school house, bank, saloon, etc.   Most things are in pretty good shape but some are in quite the disrepair.   It was still interesting to see all the things and it reminded me of many things from my youth!!

They also had animals and some of the "Dances with Wolves" wagons and other memorabilia.

 

It was really worth the stop.   Good thing we had been hungry and needed to use the bathroom or we may have driven right on by.   Just wish I had more time to look.   Some really neat things there.

Traveling

So today started off early.   We were up at 5:30AM and on the road by 7AM.    After the heat in Kansas yesterday we were ready to move on to something cooler.   It was 85 degrees this afternoon when we arrived in Mitchell, South Dakota.

It was warming up in the 90's in Nebraska.   They are working on the roads and boy do they need too.

We arrived at our hotel and were starved!   After a quick trip to WalMart it was off to the Whiskey Creek for an early supper.   Then back to the hotel where some of the girls enjoyed the water slide/swimming pool.   After eating as much as I did I don't know how they kept climbing the stairs after each trip down the slide.   I guess if I had been doing it I might have seen the fun....nah!  Looked like too much work to me!!

 

Kendalan decided to try the lemon wedge they served her in her lemonade.   Guess it was kind of sour!!

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July!

Okay, if you checked our blog for the 4th of July post and didn't see it.   You are not loosing your mind.   I just posted this on Monday, July 6th.   Sorry just a little behind.   I am sitting here looking out our south window watching the clouds roll in.  We are in for a thunder and lightening kind of night.   Hope we just get that and no wind or other things with it.

Fourth of July we were in Lebo early for a swim meet.  I know, we all thought it was silly to have it on a holiday too.   There were quite a few more there than we were expecting and the swim meets help the small towns bring in money to help keep the pools open for the kids.  

The girls were excited that they would have better chances at winning and we came home with quite a few ribbons!   We are proud of them no matter what color the ribbons are.

The meet was over by noon and we stopped to buy a few fireworks.  Then we were home to shower and off to Overbrook for their annual fireworks.   It was the perfect weather for the 4th, it actually felt a little chilly to me after the sun went down. 

As usual, the fireworks did not disappoint us.   But Zora was not happy to sit all morning at the swim meet. 

Happy 4th to all and thank you to those who serve and protect us!

Summertime!

School was out on May 12th and we picked up the pace from there on out.   Zora and Jordis have been playing volleyball on Monday mornings.   They had 4 games on Monday nights.   We missed the first Monday because we were in Kansas City saying goodbye to Iris, Yoyo and Ava.   Last Monday Mom missed the game which was in West Franklin, due to work.   However, this Monday the game is here in Carbondale and I will be able to go!   Plus Carbondale has air conditioning which the last gym did  not have.   Both girls are getting better at volleyball.   Serving is the hardest for both of them but they have been hanging in there practicing and I think they will get better the more they play.

Overbrook Swim Team has been practicing since the first week of June.  Their first meet is at Lyndon on the 27th.   Jordis has two sisters and a special friend who have joined her this year.  Tessa and Kendalan are both swimming and their friend Haven is also on the team.   Mom is looking forward to watching them all have a successful year.   The first two weeks were a test to see just how dedicated they really were to be on the team.   It was cool and the water had not warmed up much.  So they were getting out of the water with their teeth chattering and their poor lips and fingers were blue.   But it has made them stronger and more ready for winning!  No these photos are not from swim practice but you get the idea that playing in water is fun :)

RaeAnne has been keeping busy being in drivers education!  She has her instruction permit now and can drive with a licensed driver at her side.  Dad has been doing a lot of that because Mom doesn't have nerves of steel, but today I took a chance and she drove me home from Overbrook.  Other than having her keep the vehicle more toward the center of the line, opposed to driving too close to the ditch she is getting better.   She still put a few more gray hairs on my head!

We were very sad to see Iris, Ava and Yoyo go back to China.   They have been a joy to get to know and it just seemed like time flew by while they were here.   We hope to see some of them again as they are planning on coming back to the USA in the near future.  And who knows?  We may make it to China in the near future!   We picked them up from the Kansas City airport, they took us out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and then we took them back to the airport.

And I almost forgot...we celebrated Kendalan's 10th birthday April 24th.  Double Digits!  Our baby girl is growing up.  Doesn't seem possible that she has been with us 9 years now, of course she will never let us forget it :)   She will be a 5th grader this coming fall.  School will start August 25th.  Just two more months and they will have to put their noses back to the grindstone.

In the meantime, we are having a great summer so far.   We have reservations in South Dakota this July.  We will be traveling across S.D. to see Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, The Corn Palace, and hope to sneak over to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower!   What a trip!  Our special friend will be going with us there too!  :)

Mother's Day was nice.   I had worked several days in a row, so I was tired but the girls made it fun as usual and they didn't disappointment me for a gift.   They are the Awesome ones!  I can't imagine our lives without them.

How could I forget that today is Father's Day!  Nicholas drove down from Manhattan to take Mark out to lunch.  Big Brother also asked RaeAnne to go back to Manhattan with him and spend the week with Shelby and him.   RaeAnne packed up all her stuff and told us goodbye!   I hope she has a great time!   I took the girls out driving around to find a wheat field to get their photo in.   We finally found the perfect one by Vassaar.   Then we all went to Red Robin "Yum!" to have supper.   We filled ourselves to the stuffed category after eating three helpings of their never ending FF.

Extra bonus for good grades.

One of Zora's classes had a bonus the kids could sign up for.   If they could improve their grades by the number they chose, they would get to do something fun.   Zora decided to try her hardest to bring her score from an 86% to a 92%   They were busy working on accomplishing this goal.   Then they found out that if they attained their goal they would be able to go fly in a small plane!

We were really proud to find out that she had met her goal!   So on an overcast day the students in her class who had improved their grades were taken to Billard Field Airport North of Topeka for their surprise.   It was the chance to go up in a small airplane and even take over the control stick and fly if they wanted too!   Zora decided that she didn't want to control the plane but she did have a great time flying over Topeka and they even flew down over their school in Carbondale and over our house just south of Topeka.

This is one of the extra things that a small school can give as a bonus.   Unfortunately with all the cuts the school has having to make, this might be one of the things that will be cut and not offered again.

Run, jump, go Zora go!!

Zora has been doing really well in track.   Her strongest race is the 75 meter hurdles.   She pretty much flies over the hurdles.   She has come in second twice and fourth once.   I am really proud of her as this is the first time she has tried out for track and it just seems to come to her naturally.

Her coach also has her running the 4x100 medley and then the 1 mile run.  She doesn't do too bad on the medley but it just completely wears her out doing the 1 mile run.   Then it seems like right after she runs the 1 mile she has to do her hurdles.   So after the second time running the 1 mile she asked her coach if she could drop the 1 mile.

Two of  her friends were messing around at the track meet in Holton.   I was visiting with Liberty's Mom Nicole when Liberty asked me how to spell "Hacked."   It was then we figured out what was going on.   It was pretty funny.   At least they didn't embarrass her complelely.   I had to take a photo of the two girls who were punking her.

I hope she will go out for track again next year.  Especially as her friend, Alyssa, will be in High School next year and give Zora a real good chance to win some of the races!!   Go Zora Go!!