Summer Vacation 2010: Day 1

Day 1:
On Sunday, July 11, 2010 we departed Mitchell with our camper in tow. We detoured off the interstate to take the Scenic Badland’s Loop. Shortly into the loop it started raining, so we were not able to get out for many photo ops. From there we were off to to the World Famous Wall Drug to meet Stacey’s friend LaCosta and her family. Lauren and Emma enjoyed running around with her little girl Lilly while Stacey and LaCosta caught up.

Back in the truck again, we were off to Rapid City. As it was still raining, we killed some time when we got to Rapid and stopped for some supplies at Walmart and a fancy supper at McDonalds. When we got to the campground, we were able to get the camper set up quite efficiently and had a great night with the girls going to bed without much fuss (with a little help from the tv and dvd player).

Dad and his girls at the Badlands.

Mom, Dad, and Emma (picture taken by Lauren).

Mom and the girls.

Emma and her friend Lilly at Wall Drug.

Emma hiding out in a tee-pee.

Our first Mt. Rushmore picture, but it was at Wall Drug.

The girls with their picture on the mythical South Dakota Creature, the Jackalope.

Happy Birthday Aunt Tammy!

A Busy 4th of July

We kicked off the holiday weekend by going to see Neal, Robin, and Josiah at Grandpa LeeLee and Grandma Nana's house. Emma was thrilled to hold "baby siah." The girls and I went to stay on Wednesday night. We went to the pool Wed. afternoon. The water was a little cool for Josiah's taste, but he was a trooper.



Lauren got tired of the baby pool and looked longingly at the big pool.

My cousin, Brianna volunteered to take Lauren into the big pool. Lauren loved it!

Emma took many oppoturnities to "hold him." We heard that many times.

We went for a wagon ride on Wednesday evening. It was a beautiful night with plenty of wind to keep the dreaded mosiquitoes away.

Josiah was sleeping before we even left, and he slept through the whole ride.

Josiah lounging in his jammies. He even gave us a little Elvis lip.

The girls helping Aunt Robin get Josiah dressed.

On Thursday night we all headed to Grandpa John and Grandma Peggy's house for our next part of the weekend. Jared's grandma Fannie flew in to visit. We were sad to realize we had taken only one picture. On Friday we spent time with Grandpa Tony and the Hofer relatives. Jared golfed on Saturday morning in the annual Hofer invite. We had a very nice visit, and are just sorry we didn't take more pictures.

This was when Grandma Fannie was helping Emma put Dora bandaids on her owies (imaginary).

On Sunday we headed back to see Josiah and family. Emma got some playtime in with Josiah.

Aunt Megan showing the girls how to use snaps.

The Barbie closet was revealed to Lauren and Emma for the first time. My sisters and I had quite a collection of Barbies and accessories which Mom kept in this closet. There are a lot of little things, so Mom wanted to make sure the girls were old enough. I should have a picture of the reactions of Robin, Megan and myself. We were by far more excited than the girls.

Aunt Megan and Lauren had a great time setting up a Barbie playland. Emma had fun running around with things she confiscated when her sister wasn't looking.

Carnival

A local business in town had a children's carnival last Saturday. The girls were able to play on inflatables, they had their faces painted, and also watched a clown make balloon animals. It was lots of fun!


Waiting their turn for the slide. I may have coaxed the hand holding a bit. Notice how Emma is happy to grab on, but Lauren is very reluctant. I don't think it lasted much longer after the picture was taken.
This is as far as Emma got. She chickened out after that.

When life gives you lemons...

When we got home from church and eating lunch at Pizza Hut, we found that our wonderful neighbors had made a sign for our new lakefront property. The kids, Mitch and Molly, were enjoying the water with their inflatable boat. Lauren & Emma couldn't wait to ride along.

Interesting outfits and a Rainstorm

Lauren & Emma have been expressing themselves through interesting clothes. Lauren found this swimmin suit equipped with a floatation device in our camper. She found that it worked as a nice biking outfit.

Emma got new Dora underwear from Grandpa John (he found lots of Dora things for her, which she loves!). She decided that she should wear them where everyone could enjoy them with her.

She also decided that she needed attractive footwear to complete the outfit.

A rain storm last night left us with over 4 inches of rain. The water that had almost disappeared from our ditch has turned back into a lake on the south end of our lot.