Bransen

So I forgot a couple of things last night. Yesterday morning I was playing with Bransen in his room. He started talking to himself in the mirror. He said, "Aiden, Kaylise, scare." I kind of laughed and asked him if Aiden and Kaylise scare him sometimes. He said, "yeah. Aiden, Kaylise, scare. Raaar." It was too funny that he just randomly thought about the kids playing scare with him! I think he misses them when they are at school.

Last week we had a rainy day with some thunder. Bransen kept hearing the thunder and running over to me saying, "bakoom" (kaboom). He seemed a bit nervous so I asked him if he liked the thunder or if it scared him. He told me, "bakoom, scare" then he would hug me or snuggle close. Then Kaylise realized that dad should be coming home soon and both her and Bransen started being concerned about dad being in the rain and thunder. Bransen would say, "Dad, bakoom, scare." We finally had to call dad to make sure he was okay and that he could get home safe!! It really wasn't that bad and the rain was pretty hit and miss. I thought their concern was so cute though.

radio

This morning Bransen came to get me to play with him and was pointing to his ear and saying, "hear." He took me to his alarm clock/radio and proceeded to turn the volume up. He grinned and said, "hear" again. I smiled and said you can hear it? He said, "YEAH!" Then he told me, "loud. Hear, loud." I just laughed.

groceries

So I went to the store yesterday and purchased a $4 package of bologna that I thought was going to be a $1. I was a bit irritated that the store didn't put the signs up better and also frustrated at myself for not watching Bransen closer. I would have just put the bologna back except for the fact that Bransen had been holding it and put teeth marks all the way around the package. He actually broke through a little and got a tiny taste.

One would think I had learned my lesson but not so much. I went to a different store today because they had strawberries on sale for $1 and I started craving all sorts of strawberry desserts and just plain strawberries. Well I was very disappointed to find that nearly every package had moldy strawberries. I did finally find two packages that were decent. However as I put the second package in the cart Bransen looked sheepishly up at me with a strawberry in his hand. There was one little nibble taken out if it. He put it back in the container and I noticed that there were also three other strawberries with one little nibble out of them! I told him we needed to pay for them first. The whole rest of the way through the store he just kept pointing to the package and saying "pay." Maybe next time I will pay for our food before we start munching on it!!

buffalo

So I am finally on the last pictures. Here are the buffalo that we saw on the way home. I am now finished posting about the past and am ready to focus on the present!

rock climbing

Climbing by the tunnel

Harney Peak

If you look closely in the center of the picture there is a castle on top of the rocks. That's Harney Peak looking at it from our lunch stop!

Keystone

After the monuments we went to Keystone for a few minutes and looked at the chainsaw art

Mount Rushmore

crazy horse memorial

hiking

Here are pictures from the hike we took just right behind our camp spot. The picture of Bransen hand grabbing the rock is a blind take. He was in the backpack carrier and I wanted to have some pictures of him too. He kept wanting to feel every rock and tree we went past. So I held the camera out and took the picture. It actually wasn't too bad of an aim. Aiden was still a bit low on energy but I thought he did pretty well on our little hike. The kids love to jump off of things. The kept finding rocks and logs along the way to take turns jumping off of.

Jewel Cave

sneezes

I was walking with Kaylise one day and she started to sneeze. I said, bless you. Then a moment later she says, "Grandpa knows how to sneeze without having to sneeze. He can just do it." It made me laugh that she her sneezing reminded her of my dad. He likes to pretend to sneeze in a donald duck sort of way. It amuses all of the kids and apparently leaves quite an impression!

stinky feet

Today while I was changing one of Bransen's poopy diapers he pulled his foot to his nose, sniffed, wrinkled his nose, and said, "oh, PU, stinky feet." Not that it was that clear but that is what he said. When I repeated it he just laughed and did it again!! He started doing it again as I was putting him to sleep too. He is such a little character and I love it.

Gold Panning

or just playing in the water!

Sylvan Lake

This is our first campsite but we didn't move far! Also pictures of our walk on Sunday afternoon around the lake.

the end of the writting!

Friday August 20, 2010

We only had about three and a half hours to get back home. It felt like an eternity though. We made it back home about lunch time. After lunch we headed over to the school to get Aiden registered since registration had started the day we left and you couldn't do it early. Everything went well and we were able to get unpacked and rested a little. It was nice to have all of Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to unpack, wash laundry, and rest before starting the new school routine the following Monday. It was a great trip and I'm glad we were able to do everything we did and that we didn't have any car trouble.

Well there you have it a month and a half later that's all the details of our trip. I'll still try to post more pictures too though. I'm getting closer on them as well.

trip

Thursday August 19, 2010

Well it was time to pack up and head home. We had breakfast and loaded everything back into the car and were on our way. Tim really wanted to go on a scenic drive through the needles but we hadn't been able to fit that into the schedule. So instead that's the direction we went to go home. Just outside the needles highway was the wildlife loop which Tim also thought would be fun. Scenic drives are not really my thing but I figured I could survive and who knows when or if we'll make it back that way. Well just a mile or so down the wild life loop and we were stopped by a herd of buffalo crossing the road. There were tons of them. One even decided to cross right in front of us and then just stand in the road for a bit. I was a little annoyed but we made it through. I have an even harder time enjoying scenic when I feel like there is such a long trip ahead and I just want to be home. Tim and Kaylise ended up coming down with the fevers like Aiden had on Sunday. They ended up sleeping a lot of the trip and thankfully so did Bransen. He was getting pretty tired of being in and out of the car and was becoming not so cooperative in the car. It was a really long day. Tim got out the magnet letters and had the kids take turns telling him which letter he was holding and an animal that started with that letter. We were both very impressed at how well they did with this game and how much they enjoyed it. We ended up having to stop and get a hotel in Dumas, Texas around midnight. I just couldn't go any further and Tim wasn't feeling well enough to drive either.

trip

Wednesday Aug. 18, 2010

Once again we had to move camp sites. This time was a bit frustrating as the people who were suppose to have the site we moved from never showed up. We could have just stayed and it would have been so much easier and nicer. Oh well. Anyway. Tim took the kids to go pick up Grandi and Grandpa and give Kaylise a quick shower. I was staying behind to work on moving camp so that when they got back there wouldn't be as much to do and we could get on to fun things faster. Well an hour and a half later (note the travel time involved was only ½ hour) they finally showed back up at camp. I had successfully moved the ENTIRE camp by myself and was just working on finding the best location for the tent. We pitched the tent and threw things inside. Apparently Tim had also gassed the car, checked and filled the oil. Hence the long time before returning. They were good things to do but since I wasn't aware that was on the agenda I was a bit frustrated that he was so late. We got things somewhat together and then drove down the road a little ways from our camp and went for a hike. We thought it would be fun to hike to Harney Peak. From the trail head it was suppose to be three miles so a six mile round trip. Well there was a fair amount of uphill at the beginning and the kids were not really in the mood to have to work that hard on vacation! Aiden found a walking stick which really helped but he was still pretty tired. I was very proud of him for walking as much as he did. He was really only carried a short distance. Kaylise hiked off and on but wasn't too happy about it. Bransen is just getting too big for the snugglie and was uncomfortable in it so he would get upset having to ride in there. We tried to take turns with him in the backpack carrier and me just holding him while Kaylise was in the backpack. It worked out fairly well but we were also getting a work out! We had several rests but the kids were just getting too hungry and tired so we decided to stop for lunch. At the place we stopped there was a little clearing in the trees and a ways off in the distance we could see what looked like a castle on the rocks. We took a picture and looked through the binoculars. You could see people walking around by it. We asked some hikers passing by if they knew what it was that we were looking at. To which they replied, "that's Harney Peak." Well we all decided that we had just seen Harney Peak and it was time to head back! We made it about a mile and a half maybe a little more. We did have one hiker tell us that if we went just a little farther down the trail there was a great view of the needles. So we did go that much further and take some pics and then headed back. We were all just too worn out to go that far with three little inexperienced, not so willing, kids with us. Aiden was able to hike much faster and happier on the way back to the car though. I think because he knew he was headed back and each step took him one step closer to the car! Overall they really did pretty good for not being exposed to hiking much and especially not with big ups and downs (it's pretty flat in Lubbock!) After we made it back to the car we decided to go just a little bit farther up the road to a tunnel. There is a turnoff for parking and lots of rocks to climb on. We had a lot of fun playing around there for a while. We even had our picture taken standing above the tunnel. We just look like little bugs on the rock though‼ We did get to watch a bus come through the tunnel too. That was entertaining. It barely fit. I think the tunnel was 8'4" wide or something like that.

After climbing around we went back to camp to get the briquettes started and dinner going. Grandi and Grandpa took Aiden and Kaylise and went back to their hotel to do a couple things before dinner. We had steaks, tin foil potatoes & carrots, corn, and apple cobbler. It was really yummy. We haven't done dutch oven or cooking on briquettes much so this was quite the experimental trip for us. Overall I think our camping went pretty well. We were all ready to get back home to our own house and beds again though. We had a very enjoyable dinner and some relaxing time after dinner. Then we pulled out the glow sticks, made some popcorn and got ready to go to the laser light show at Crazy Horse Memorial. As I was getting the glow sticks ready one of them leaked all over my shirt before I realized it was leaking! The kids and even the adults had fun with the glow sticks. For the laser light show you just sit in your car and watch from the parking lot. We really enjoyed the show. It was great to spend time with Grandi and Grandpa and do so much with them.

family tree

Kaylise had to make a family tree today for homework to take back on Friday. We were suppose to cut out leaves and write family member names on it. Then draw or print a picture of each person. We opted to print. As we were gluing each picture on Kaylise would say this is my favorite person. Then after about the third one she says, "all of my family is my favorite I've ever had."

Tonight she gave the lesson for FHE and she talked about love. She was really cute to watch as she called up helpers and asked them to tell about love. She ended with telling us that she knew love was important. It was a very good lesson and she came up with and carried it out completely on her own!

For the activity we went to the elementary school and rode bike, scooter, and pulled the wagon. It was really fun to watch them have so much fun. Kaylise was really cute on the scooter. She would get her speed and then hold her leg up and balance. It made me think of a figure skater! I wish I had taken my camera with me. Bransen had fun pulling the wagon around. Aiden was loving going fast on his bike and racing with Dad. It was a fun evening.

I needed it too because this morning I was trying to get some cleaning and organizing done and didn't get too far because Bransen kept wanting help. Then I finally thought I had him distracted and the next thing I know is he is drawing with pen on the nice white door I painted a couple months ago. I tried to clean it but will have to do some touch up painting. He also drew on his hands and legs. He kept looking at the pen marks and saying, "paper." That's where the ink should have been that's for sure.
This afternoon Aiden came home and had some trouble being kind, happy, and obedient right from the moment we walked in the door. I'm glad we finally turned things around after our meltdown.

Rushmore Cave

Aiden comments

We were visiting on the phone with my parents for a little bit this evening and Aiden was telling them about his day. He started talking about his "big smarty pants brain" and all of the things he can do with it because, "it takes control of anything, except at the end of the day." I guess that's when the small brain takes control again and lets the brainiac rest!! :) I just love this guy and the things he comes up with.

red

Having one red headed child in the family has been the topic of many conversations since Bransen was born. People are always asking where he gets the red hair from. Neither of the other two have red hair and neither to Tim or I. There is a fair amount in mine but it's not that obvious. A couple times shortly after he was born you would get the joke about him coming from the mailman. Well yesterday the mailman brought me a package and Bransen had not yet gone down for his nap. I really like our mailman. He's a great guy. Anyways we were chatting for a minute and he asked me if I was babysitting. I didn't quite understand at first and then he says, "oh is this one yours too?" He looked at Aiden and Kaylise and knew that I had them but somehow it slipped past him for the last 20 months that I now have three children!! Then he commented that Aiden looked just like his dad, Kaylise just like her mom, and Bransen I guess is just a good mix. I was pretty amused!

I also get lots of comments when it is just the kids and myself. People will look us all over and then say Bransen must look just like his dad. Right! I've given up even bothering to say no not really. I'm not sure what the big fuss is about. People will also say how much they just love red hair and oh it's so cute... etc. Well I don't have anything against red hair but I sometimes feel like it could make the other kids feel bad that they aren't cute enough or good enough because they don't have red hair. I love them no matter what hair color or any other physical features they have. I also get the temper question a lot. And just for the record he is actually a very well behaved child I would say he's much milder than Kaylise was. Red, black, blonde, brown, I don't care they are wonderful kids and I love being their mom. I will probably always have to answer the hair questions too. I guess unless I carry a sign around so I don't have to explain to every curious stranger or friend we meet!!

Reptile Gardens

The second time around!!

more sitting bull pics

I thought I had a few others!

awesome parents

Aiden's school had a chuckwagon lunch yesterday and the parents were invited. He has lunch/recess from 11:25-11:55. Kaylise gets out of school at noon but it only takes a few minutes to get to her school so we decided that we could both go to Aiden's lunch with him. He was pretty sad when he couldn't have his grandparents come for lunch last month so we really wanted to be there for him. We went and had a great time. It was fun to be able to eat with him and let him run and play and visit for a few minutes during the day. They don't really get much play time at school and Aiden is usually pretty wired after school because of it. So I wasn't really in a rush to get him back to class. When we took him back his class had left two minutes before we got there. So then we drilled Aiden on "where do you go/ what do you do after lunch?" We wandered down the hall for a bit and finally found his teacher because Aiden was not remembering! So we dropped him off in his computer class and headed out the door. Just as I got out the door I looked at my watch 12:05. And then it hit me. We are suppose to be picking Kaylise up five minutes ago. So we ran home called the school to let her know we were on our way and jumped in the car. She was waiting in the principals office looking through books when I got there. I felt terrible. Then as we were heading home I asked how her day went and she tells me that they had a little party today but I forgot to send her with something. I remembered several times on Thursday that it was a taste show and tell on Friday but just kept putting off getting something for her and in her backpack. So not only did I come fifteen minutes late to pick her up but I forgot to send her with show and tell. But hey we had a great time with Aiden! Talk about feeling like a winner of a parent. We loved one and forgot the other. Luckily she was pretty forgiving and we had a fun afternoon.

Sitting Bull Caverns

Thunderhead Falls

motorcycles

Motorcycles and the tired travelers on the way to Thunderhead falls after leaving Spearfish.