Lovey Dovey

There really isn't much I can say here, except that I love it! We took a walk last week after a rain storm down by the creek and these 2 were like this most of the way. They were deep in conversation and it was just adorable. Why can't they be like this all of the time?

Monarch Tagging

We went to the Hitchcock Nature Center last week and had the pleasure of participating in their monarch tagging event. We love doing this each year.  We took our butterfly net and went searching for monarchs.  We were so surprised at how many different kinds of butterflies we saw this year, some kinds I haven't ever seen before.  We had a blast chasing those darn monarchs!  It was a successful adventure, as both Skyler and Lily both caught a monarch, tagged it, and released it.  Now we have 8 more tags to put on monarchs that we catch on our own.  We plan on going camping this weekend, so hopefully we will be successful monarch hunting then!

Our camping trip

We decided at the last minute to go on a camping trip to celebrate the three day weekend.  We have had our eyes on a great camping location for a while now, but it was closed due to tornado damage and cleanup.  Well, we were so excited to find out it was open now.  There are only 8 camp sites, they cannot be reserved, and they are hike in only.  We left right after school and were the first ones there!  We so thought we would not get a site since it was a holiday weekend and the forecast was so nice, but we did.  We have decided that our little camping site is a secret little gem out there and not many people know about it.  We plan to keep it that way.  We got there and did some hiking to decide which camp site to take, hiked back to our car, hiked back to the site with most of our gear.  We left the kids at the site to look for kindling while we went back for one more load.  We got back to the site, Chuck and the kids got the fire going and then set up the tent while I got the food ready.  After a bit, I cooked the burgers on the grill and then we ate!  After that we went on another hike in the semi-darkness.  Lily scared and we decided to go back.  We sat around the fire and I read some stories and then we had s'mores!  It was at this time that we started to hear the coyotes.  I felt a little freaked out about it, but kept my cool!  We cleaned up and headed to the tent for bedtime.  We were all pretty tired!

In the morning, we got up, started the fire and decided the best thing to eat for an appetizer to breakfast was s'mores and hot cocoa!  We then went on another hike and would have loved to go further, the kids were having a blast, but we had to be at the nature center for Monarch tagging, so we headed back.  We decided to skip breakfast.  We all got changed, cleaned up the camp site, packed up and hiked out.  It was everyone's favorite camping trip and we can't wait to do it again soon.

Omaha Nighthawks Practice

I took the kids to watch the Omaha Nighthawks practice. Unfortunately, it was the hottest day of the week, but we still had fun. Skyler got to see some very cool plays and players and asked a lot of good football minded questions. I got to see Ahman Green and Jeff Garcia up close and personal! It was very exciting! I have loved football for as long as I can remember and have been a fan of both the Packers and the 49ers for many years. Seeing two famous players from those teams within 10 feet of me was wonderful and we plan to go to a few games of theirs too!

Lily's first day of school

Lily was so excited for school to start. She had her open house a week before school started and everyday after that she would ask so excitedly, "Is this a school day?" I would tell her no and she would be soooo sad. When the day finally came, it was the only day she didn't ask if it was a school day. When she finished breakfast and walked past the couch, she saw her special first day of school outfit and then she finally asked if it was a school day. When I told her yes, she ran to Skyler's room and said, "Skyler, today is my first day of school, it is finally a school day for me! " She was just too cute about it. The hard part was keeping her occupied until school started!

South Dakota Part 1

The first stop of our summer trip to South Dakota was The Corn Palace. It really was a very neat thing to see! We were caught acting corny!

From there we went to the Badlands National Park. I have been there before, but the beauty of it still amazes me. The kids loved it and were off running and trying to climb huge hills, it was scary! They also collected some very nice rocks from here!

And then, no trip to South Dakota is complete without a stop at Wall Drug! I just love this tourist trap. They have a great place for the kids to play in the back and they loved it!

From there we went on to Custer, more on that in another post!

Air Show 2010

I have been going to the air show or watching the air show for longer than I remember. I have always enjoyed it, but this year, I was not too excited to go to it. But, we did. Luckily, we met up with some friends and hung out with them all day! It so helped pass the time. The kids and the guys wandered around and checked out some aircraft while we stayed with the chairs and enjoyed the scenery :)

It was hot, but there was a nice breeze and we were in shade most of the time. The kids had a blast, so in that case it was so worth it. We got caught in some nasty traffic and lines last year, so we left a little bit before the show was over, got right on a shuttle and there was no traffic, so we were back at the school in no time. Perfect!! We have already decided that next year, we will watch it from the comfort of our house!