dinos

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

The day before we left SD for good to finally come home to Terry (can you tell I was ready?), I figured we'd better do something to get out of the house and make the time go faster. First we went to exercise Bo at the pond again. Good times. Though Noah did have to do #2 and we couldn't find a bathroom. That was interesting...

Then I took the kids out to Dinosaur Park! I hadn't been there since I was a kid probably or I can't remember I guess. Anyway, it seems so much smaller to me now. All those dinosaurs used to be larger than life.

Take this one for instance. We spent a lot of time climbing on this Stegosaurus as kids and it seemed like a mountain. I'm as tall as it is now.

This was still too big for Evie. I had to help her to sit on the head - there was no way she could climb it.

Triceratops. Evie was also too small for this one. Guess she was too small for all of them. Samuel was just chillin in his baby sling with mama. That boy does not like strollers much. Not that I could have used one here...

Tyrannosaurus Rex. Da big guy. All he's good for is sliding down his tail. And playing hide and seek under. Silly kids.

snooze

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

This is what we all felt like while in SD - exhausted. We are so incredibly glad to be home with daddy again. This is also what we did a lot of when we got home.

Storybook

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

When I was little my grandparents lived very close to Storybook Island - we walked there all the time. Now my kids love it too. We went there three times during our two week stay. Samuel doesn't like his stroller - weird right? So I had to haul him around in the carrier thing on my front not long after I took this picture. He's heavy!

So here's the kids on our first time there. Check out Rapunzel and Flynn Rider behind us. Yeah, probably not actually Eugene Fitzherbert but I like to think it is b/c I love Tangled.

the ranch

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

After spending two nights at my folks' house, we needed a change of scenery. So on Monday May 30, we loaded up (a lot of work with 3 kids!) and headed to Terry's parent's place for the following three nights. What's great about that is that his sister and my good friend Shari lives out there. In fact, she and Jesse and my very first niece lives in the same house we lived in before we moved to NE just a half mile from their parents.

Tuesday we went for a walk down to the bridge and enjoyed the swollen creek. We couldn't go over to Shari's yet b/c Evie still had RSV (she got sick 3 days before we left). We all did get to go swimming twice together at the Y later though. Fun stuff.

One of those afternoons Noah, Samuel and I visited Shari and Grace. She's so squishy! And she's the most laid back baby I've ever known. My kids were good babies, but they were nothing like Grace.

2 day apart cousins play. Chillin in their sleepers.

We discovered Samuel was strong enough to sit in this baby seat that Terry's folks had. What a strong 4 month old!

This photo is from the following week on like Wednesday, June 8. They were checking each other out.

At some point on this trip Noah lost his first tooth, though we couldn't find it. We think he swallowed it!

Day 2 of the 2 week trip

Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.

We arrived on Saturday May 28. Went to our old church, Parkview, on Sunday and saw some good friends there. It rained all day. Talk about depressing. My parent's house is a lot smaller than I remember when I was little. So we were getting very stir crazy. Monday turned out better. I took the kids with my dad to watch Bo, their dog, swim at his favorite pond. The kids had a blast throwing rocks into the water. While the kids played I talked to Terry - that was like a lifeline!

The day before we left, Saturday June 11, we went there again. This time Bo let the ball go over the waterfall. My dad had to traverse a slippery board to retrieve it from the stream. Isn't the dog supposed to retrieve?

Old MacDonald's Farm

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

On the first Thursday of our trip, June 2, we went to Old MacDonald's Farm with my good friend Faith and her 3 kiddos. They're all about the same age, even baby Norah born just a month and a half after Samuel.

The kids are having breakfast at my folk's before we hit the road to the hills. Samuel later peed through that cute outfit during the kids' train ride. He needs bigger diapers or something...

It was a really hot and windy day with no trees or shade. My kids were pretty whiny but we made the most of it. There were horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, pigs, etc. The baby nursery was definitely the cutest. Here's a little newborn goat. He was so cute.

After two hours we went to Faith's house for lunch and an afternoon baby nap - Norah on the left and Samuel on the right.