On the way home

Alex saw a bunny in Casper WY after we stopped for breakfast. He named him Pop, we saw a bunny that looked just like Pop at the Flinstone themed park in South Dakota. Alex thought he followed us there.
The boys checking out Mt. Rushmore. It was really amazing, I highly recommend taking a trip to see it. We drove past Crazy Horse, but didn't stop to take pictures because we thought that we'd come back that way when we left Mt. Rushmore, not so. At least we saw it, it was pretty cool even if it wasn't finished yet.
This is a little out of order. We stopped at the Flinstones themed park at lunch and before we got the Mt. Rushmore. The boys haven't seen the show before, but got a real kick out of all the stuff.
Matt & I at Wall Drugs in South Dakota. It's an old west themed restaurant/store with dinosaurs. We saw tons of signs for it on I-90, "5 cent coffee", "free ice water", and other weird random statements with no exit number. It got to Dennis, so when he finally saw the exit we got off for dinner. The boys would have had a better time if they hadn't been so sleepy.
When Matt slept we gave Alex his iPod and let him listen to music. Yes, it's the boys iPod. We got Dennis one for Christmas a couple of years ago, which he gave to me when he bought a new one for a graduation present in April and then just before we left he won a new one from a pod cast that he listens to. So, he kept his graduation iPod, I got the new one and Alex & Matt got the old one. It worked out really well, it kept Alex quiet while Matt slept and Dennis and I could listen to our own music.

Once again Shutterfly's 250 picture limit has required that I break the pictures up into two links.

Here is the link for the misc. pictures on the way home, a cool red rock pyramid in the mountains in Wyoming (that didn't turn out so well), some mountains in South Dakota, Alex's shoes (because it made him happy to have their pictures taken), Wall Drugs...

South Pass

South Pass City
Matt loved going off roading in his stroller. They were working on the road in town, so we had to walk back on the grass. Seeing the equipment digging up the street took a little from the old feel of the town, but it was still pretty cool.
South Pass was almost Wyoming's state capital. The first female justice of the peace came from South Pass City and Butch Cassady used to stay here. Now they have 7 residents.
Dennis and his boys in front of one of Nate's favorite stores and Wyoming's first Masonic Lodge.
Alex wasn't much for the pictures today, you'll see some of him just laying on the floor at Nate an Angie's, which is not like him at all. He spiked a 101 fever, just before throwing up all over me... twice. We took him back to the hotel, gave him medicine, water and dinner and he was feeling like himself again before bed. Not quite the way I pictured saying goodbye to my brother and his family, but in some ways it made it easier because it had to be quick.

Thermopolis

The canyon to Thermopolis is just so beautiful, Dennis and Nate got out to take a lot of pictures. This one is of Chimney Rock.
We swam at the Hot Springs, I'm sitting in the kiddie pool, Matt and Alex loved it because they could walk in the water. It was so warm. Alex also enjoyed going down the two slides they had there.
Alex got to see Buffalo again, he was so happy. He just loves them and was happy to get to show his Daddy.
He wanted to take his picture with this picture of a train, but he had taken so many pictures that his smile went a little nutty.
Matt, sucking on the draw string on his shorts on the way home from Thermopolis. Don't worry, it's sewn in, so he can't choke.

More parks & Lander

Since Matt had a rough night he and I stayed behind at the hotel while Dennis took Alex & our niece to the safe park. It looked like a really good time. Alex just loves his cousin. They got to go swimming while Matt took a nap before heading out to get Uncle Nate.

Dennis and Alex in Lander. Matt was feeling better, but we still wanted to take it easy, so we walked around Lander. He did okay, but had a fever again that night.

Boysen & the Party

The next day we walked around beautiful downtown Riverton and swam at the hotel pool until it was time to get Nate.
Matt fell asleep on the way, see he's happy... right now

Our next stop in Boysen was Nate's favorite place to collect rocks. I guess the water was higher here too and Mom says that the rocks further in are even more beautiful. Oh well, the kids had a great time in the water. Alex stayed in the shallow parts, just like we asked, but when he bent down to pick up rocks to throw with his Daddy, he bent at the knees and soaked his butt every time. By the time we got back to the car, his entire outfit was wet. We woke Matt up and he had a great time sitting in the water looking at the rocks. Dennis is a rock skipping master, it made him laugh that I was impressed when he could get a rock to skip more then once. Matt thought his Daddy skipping stones was the funniest thing in the world, if the video is on the link, that's what he is laughing at.

Because they missed Matt's party and won't be home for Alex's, they gave the boys their gifts and a party while we were visiting. Alex loved this gun, he calls it a sword because it's like one that my parents gave him.
Matt took a little turn for the worse as they were decorating for the party. He spiked a fever and after some medicine and sleep back at the hotel he started throwing up around 10, with a temp of 102, so he and I were off to visit the ER. He spent New Years day there on our last visit. He was at 103 when we got there, but they saw him very quickly and Dr. North said he had an ear infection in his right ear, gave him a shot (because he was vomiting and they wanted to keep the medicine in him), a popsicle and sent us on our way after only 2 hours in the ER. By 12:30, his temp was normal and he and I were resting.

Our first day there

On our first day we went to a park in Riverton. I didn't know that it wasn't the best park to go to, I guess park rangers don't always equal safety... sometimes they just hang out in the park and drink. We didn't see any.
After Nate woke up we drove out to Lander and went to Mom & Dad's favorite place, Sinks Canyon. This is me with my wonderful sister-in-law Angie. She has the weekends off and we didn't get there until dinner on Saturday, so we only had Sunday with her, next time we will plan a little better.
Then drove up the Switchback trail and climbed a little on the mountain, we had a great time. It was thundering and there was a little lightning, but we made it back to the car before it started raining.

There is no limit to how many pictures can be in a folder on Shutterfly, but they limit how many you can share, so I had to break this day into 2 folders.

On the Way

There aren't many pictures from on the way, but here is a link anyway. I tried to break the days up so you wouldn't be looking at a billion pictures at once.

more from Wyoming

Here we are in Riverton, checking out the stores on Main Street.

The kids had a great time collecting & throwing rocks at Boysen State Park. I left with 2 pockets full! Dennis had a blast skipping rocks, which Matt thought was the funniest thing in the world.

Enjoying some shaved ice after a hot day. Uncle Nate was the only one allowed in the house.

Of course, Matt spiked a fever & was vomiting from an ear infection and he and I ended up in the ER at 10 that night. He's recovering, but still a little warm. He got sick last time we visited also, Matt and Wyoming don't always get along.
Shutterfly is being a pain, so I don't have more pictures to link you to, but I'm sure that will be remedied soon.

Our trip, so far

We stopped yesterday at the Iowa 80 truck stop, the world's largest truck stop and according to Dan, the first. Alex was so excited to get to met Lizzie, he just had to get his picture with her. For those of you who don't have to watch Cars almost everyday, Lizzie is the old car in the movie.


We drove a long, long, long way on 80, Dennis took this picture when Alex was trying to use the bathroom on the side of the road today.
Dennis finally got to eat at a Sonic! They run the commercials all the time, but until recently there hasn't been one near us and now that there is, it's very busy all the time, so we haven't gone yet.

Our navigators, no wonder it took so long to get there, one has yesterday's directions and the other has the return trip.
Here they are, just happy to be in Wyoming and that much closer to our western family.
We made it safe and sound and are looking forward to having a good time for the rest of the week.
Get ready for a lot of pictures coming your way soon!

I love my family

Today the boys and I got to spend the day with Melissa, Becky, Grace, Laura and John (who made a brief, but memorable appearance. Even with the summer off, I just don't get to spend enough time with my cousins, so it was a much needed play date.


Alex (almost 3) and Grace (2) are about 8 months apart and Matt (1) & Laura (9 months) are about 4 months apart, so they all had a good time playing with little people their own ages... or at least near them.

I think he's rubbing off on me

When we moved a couple of years ago we looked for a 4 bedroom, so I could have an 'office' for my collection and scrap booking stuff. Dennis has been teasing me about calling it an 'office' because I only use the desk for my piles of stuff and to display my Disney Villains. After Christmas I ran out of shelf space and had to leave some of my new Barbies in their boxes. I'm a collector, but I remove the dolls from their boxes because I like to touch their noses. About a week ago the boys and I were at a garage sale and found 3 tall shelves for $20 each. The lady was nice enough to give them to me for $40 for all 3, they run about $60 a piece at the store. That purchase lead me to admit that the room is not an 'office' as I liked to call it and as Dennis and I shoved the desk out into the living room, it became my 'collection room'. I think I need a better name for it, but it will do for now.
Dennis gets teased a lot for all the toys he has in our basement, our whole basement is covered in his collection gone crazy. I just thought I'd post some pictures and show everyone that the longer you are with someone the more you become like them. Dennis and his collections are certainly rubbing off on me.
Okay, so the blog won't let me post any pictures for some reason, but you can follow this link to see my little collection.

4th of July

We had a great time at Aunt Jan & Uncle Jerry's 4th of July picnic. Alex loved swimming in the pool and Matt had a great time sitting in a big puddle of water on the lawn. After the party we stopped at the store and picked up some fireworks and let Alex stay up late to watch. He liked the first couple, but once Dennis did a loud one Alex decided that he needed to go inside and get his shield and sword to protect he and I and we watched the last few fireworks from inside our Florida room.
If you'd like to see all the pictures, click on the link below. I'm trying shutterfly instead of snapfish because it downloads the pictures in the proper order, instead of mixing them all up.

nosey people

I was reading an article in a parenting magazine about what to do when random people give you advice about your children and it got me thinking about our trip to Meijer a couple of days ago. Dennis carried Alex into the store and when he went to put him down Alex's arm twisted funny and he started crying. A man walked past as Dennis was trying to comfort him and he said some thing about "He learned his lesson, huh?", as if Dennis had hit him or something and that if it had happened it was okay and kind of funny. It really bothered Dennis. Then we went to the service desk to return a toy Matt had gotten for his birthday and when Matt and I finally made it to the counter the lady took one look at my 1 year old and said "Your too big to have that." talking about his pacifier. I just laughed and said something about it making him happy and quiet when we are shopping this close to bedtime and she had the nerve to continue and tell me that he was still too big for it and that I should take it away from him. I couldn't believe her nerve, it was one thing to say it the first time, but to continue after I had already said that he needed it...
I don't remember getting any comments like that while Alex was a baby, but with Matt it's been like this from the beginning. When he was little he had a hard time gaining weight, I was very sick and feeling really bad about and people would constantly comment about his size. People would ask his age and when I would tell them they'd say things like "Wow, was he a preemie?" or something about there being something wrong with him. I even had a lady tell me that her new puppy was bigger then Matt, the 3rd comment of our 5 minute walk through downtown Plymouth with my Mom and after a doctor's visit that showed Matt had finally reached the 5th percentile for his age/weight group.
Anyway, it's been on my mind for the last few days, I'm not sure why people need to comment on other people's children. It's not like I haven't seen people out in the world and thought that they could be doing something different, but I would never say it to them because I realize that there may be something going on that I don't know about and even if there isn't a good reason for it, it's none of my business anyway. Maybe next time I'll tell them to mind their own business or ask for their boss and tell on them, or maybe I'll just leave and post a new blog...

Here are some pictures of our trip to Muskegon. My Mom does a face painting job there every summer and we went to hang out with her and my Dad. There are a lot of pictures and for some reason they are not in order, but we had a really good time. The first day the boys got to see their first parade, Alex loved the rides at the fair, but Matt preferred to watch his brother from the ground. The second day we went to the beach and on board a huge transport ship. The third day we walked around the Montague & White Hall, met up with my sister and nephews and went back to the beach, then to see a submarine and coast guard boat.