South Dakota Trip—Tuesday

Tuesday was a jam packed day!  We spent a lot of time in the Badlands.  What beauty our God created for us to enjoy.

me and Ethan.  It was only 69* or so but man were we HOT climbing around there.

That is Ron and Ethan WAY up on the tip top!

He’s taking pictures of a RATTLESNAKE! 

Gosh I love this guy!

Ethan took this great picture of Ron and me

These guys crossed the road right in front of us!  So cool!

Ethan enjoyed the day of seeing and climbing!  For a while…then he just wanted to read!  And had to pout a bit when we said “No!  Just keep looking!”

South Dakota Bound—Monday

With 3 kids working at the pool this summer, there isn’t going to be much of a chance for the 6 of us to get away together.  We will try to do things with the kids individually for a little getaway throughout the summer.  Recently it was Ethan’s turn.  He and Ron and I traveled to South Dakota for a few days.  A beautiful state!

It rained on Monday THE WHOLE WAY THERE!  A yucky, drizzly, icky rain.  We stopped at the Corn Palace, of course, just to say Ethan had been there.

Ethan was tickled to eat a Corn Dog at the Corn Palace.  What fun!

We then drove on to the Badlands.  We had a quick stop at the Prairie Dog town.

Aren’t they cute little critters??

Then we parked and walked around in the badlands for just a little while.

Gosh I love this kid!  We had a BUNCH of fun together!

Ron is great about stopping and pointing interesting things out to Ethan!  What a GREAT dad!

Because it was so rainy/drizzly all day, and we didn’t want to set up a tent to have it rain on us just to take it down and pack it up wet the next morning, we got a Kabin at the KOA in Interior, SD.  I LOVED it, and would be perfectly happy to never sleep in a tent again.  I’m a Kabin fan!

Evening at the White River, Interior, SD

The (chilly) end of day one!

Mall of America

After a hectic start to June, Ron and I managed to get away to Minneapolis for a quick getaway.  We were SO tired from Dairy Days/Funnel cakes that just relaxing felt great!  We enjoyed a yummy supper at Outback Steak House, a morning at IKEA, the rest of the day at the Mall of America and the next morning at Midwest Brewing.  Ron was thrilled to have

this

for a snack at the Mall of America.  I kept shopping and he caught up with me later.  I couldn’t watch him eat it ;)

Strawberry Pickin’

On our way home from Ft. Wayne, Ethan and I drove by Hilger’s.  I saw signs for U-Pick strawberries, and I just HAD to stop!  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we were up for a wagon ride out to the strawberry field!

ok…bad lighting…knew it was when I took the picture, LOL…but that IS Ethan’s big smile on that wagon!

mmmmmmm….SOOOOO yummy!

Strawberry Shortcake for supper! 

On the way home, I called Rachel to tell her what we were bringing home.  I asked her to make shortcake for us.  She did a GREAT job and we had an AMAZING lunch the next day. Strawberry shortcake with REAL whipped cream.  YUM!

A stop at CTS

I had a few things to drop off at Concordia Theological Seminary while in Ft. Wayne.  I really miss that place!  Ethan didn’t remember ever being there before, and as we were walking around, enjoying the beautiful day, he said “Mom!  This isn’t ANYTHING like I pictured it would be!”  I asked “What did you think it would be?”  He said “Just a big BUILDING with windows!”  He enjoyed the visit, and took most of these photos (except, of course, the ones he is in :-)

Ethan and Martin :-)

NICE picture, Ethan! 

I LOVE this picture!!!

Inside the Chapel

I thought this one was kind of interesting…

We spent a very enjoyable hour or two walking around and looking at things.  The only thing missing were the ducks in the pond.  But I’m sure they’ll be back some day!