Them babies, those boys, will be boys

We had the 20 week ultrasound today and the verdict is....

2 BOYS!!

They are very active and growing exactly as they should be at this point! We have not decided on any names yet.

Wild, wild west

One of my favorite parts of our trip was the variety of wild life we saw. Some how, on our first day out, Liz decided that we should have lists. So we had:

• lists of the times we left each morning
• lists for how much we paid for gas
• a list of all the license plates we saw
• lists of the DVDs that were currently in the disc changer (IMPORTANT to know!)
• lists of things we wondered but didn't know the answer to
• lists of the wild life we saw

Here is our list of wild life, and of course, we tried to capture many of them in photos. Not all the photos are clear, but I think you'll get the idea.


Deer - wrong turn off a scenic detour in Mosier, OR
Robin - Mosier, OR
Hawk - Columbia River Valley
Crow - Columbia River Valley
Squirrels - Mosier Rest Area
Bald Eagle - Wasco County
Ducks and Very Large (domestic?) goose - Arlington City Park, Arlington, OR
VERY large bird, possibly a eagle or falcon - Hwy 84, milemarker 185
Black, Blue and White Jay-type bird with really long tail - Park City Utah thru Wyoming
Small prarie dogs - rest area in Momma Sage, WY
Antelope* - Wyoming
Hawks - Wyoming
Snakes - On the road, Nebraska
Zebra- Cow** (actual note from Liz) - "Similar to zebra-mussels but much, much larger and less sharp"
Wild Buffalo - Custer State Park, SD
Baby Wild Buffalo - Custer State Park, SD
Wild Turkey-lurkey - Custer State Park, SD
Pheasant - nearly road kill - Northern Wyoming
Prairie Dogs - Prairie Dog Town, Greyclif, MT

*ANTELOPE - apparently, what we saw might or might not have been considered Antelope. A certain someone, who will remain nameless, insisted that what we saw could not have been antelope, because there are not antelope in North America. Of course, we argued the lyrics to "Home, Home on the range. Where the deer and antelope play...." That certain someone then read to us from a wiki page the following:

Confusingly, the pronghorn antelope of North America is not an antelope, and no antelope species are native to the Americas. The pronghorn is not a member of the family Bovidae, but the family Antilocapridae. True antelope have horns which are unbranched and never shed, while Pronghorns have branching horns, shed annually.

Disappointing, I know... but what they said, the pronghorn, we're pretty sure, that's what we saw.

**Zebra-cow - That same un-named person finished the phone call with a sarcastic "let me know if you see any ZEBRA." So the next day, as we drove through the plains of Nebraska, we passed a open grid cattle truck. I looked over and saw through the slats, of course, cows. And then I saw a nose, virtually pressed up against the grate watching us pass, and I swear - it was a Zebra.... ok... well I only thought that for about 3 seconds, just long enough to shout "It's a Zebra!" and then come to my senses and spend the next 5 minutes in uproarious laughter. It was of course a cow nose I saw, not a Zebra.... or was it? Or maybe, we had just spent a few too many hours on the road.....

5 YEARS

Happy Birthday to our Hannah

She's a good friend to all.
She's funny.
She is imaginative.
She loves to draw.
She loves her dolls and ponies.
She will try to sing along with any song she hears, even the first time.

To Noah, she is a wonderful companion, not intimidated by dirt, critters or even a snake.

To Zak, a true and faithful playmate. They could play all day long, just the two of them.

To Maggy, a guide and protector. Like a Mommy #2, encouraging, leading and keeping from danger.

To Daddy, Daddy's girl. She delights in storytime, in the dark, no book... just creating tales together.

To Me, a beautiful flower to guard, guide, encourage and protect (I guess that's why she's that for Maggy).

My baby girl, you'll always be, I'm so blessed to be your Mommy.

Life Moment

Forgive me for the break in our trip memories, but I just had to share one of our life moments from today. (I wish I had taken pictures for you!)

This morning the weather forecast was pointing to at least 85 and sunny. I hadn't planned on going with our church's Mom's group to the park. We are supposed to be recovering from travels and re-establishing a routine and schedule. But when I saw my children slink downstairs for breakfast and quickly retire to the couch to whine about the choice of oatmeal for breakfast, I thought we might provide a goal to work towards.

"If we can get thru our jobs (aka chores, but we don't use that word) and do a little math and reading before 10, I think we could meet the Mom's group at the park. They were going to meet at the place with the fountain you can play in."

Noah hopped up and asked for worksheets while eating his breakfast, and the other kids anxiously ate quickly so that they could get dressed. We didn't get out until a little after 10, and had to stop for 5 minutes at Bi-Mart to find some sandals for Maggy to wear in the water, and of course, at Black Rock Coffee for an iced Coconut-caramel macchiato for Mommy. (really Black Rock is a once-a-week or less treat for me... just for the record) It was about 11 when we rolled up to the park with sunscreen, towels, camp chair and a packed lunch, snacks and water bottles. The place was packed! Almost every spot on the brick benches around the fountain were occupied and many had taken up residence on the grassy areas near by.

My wonderful children enjoyed just about every minute in the water and on the adjacent playground, except for Maggy who was intrigued by the water, but less than anxious to get in. Eventually, some of the other kids from our group discovered the joy of filling zip lock bags and finding random places and people to unleash them on.... but only those also in the water. After about 40 minutes between the water and snacks, play began to move back and forth between the fountains, the snack bag and the playground. Most of the time, I was flittering between conversations with other Moms and helping my children with small needs: another sandwich, a slice of nectarine, a towel out of the bag, shoes on or off. There was virtually no time there that left me feeling over-worked or in need of more hands.

Maggy eventually wrangled me into pushing her on the swings, which she would happily monopolize until the sun sets. The mom pushing her young daughter on the swing next to me noticed that I was calling out to more than one other child periodically and asked "how many others do you have." I said, "There are four of them, altogether." And she wondered at how I could keep track of all of them. I don't think I came off as prideful or arrogant, but in retrospect, I am blessed to be able to boast:

"Well, my oldest is pretty apt to keeping the rules, so generally he'll let me know if anyone is doing something they shouldn't. And they generally don't go where they shouldn't. They tend to stay close to each other and play together. They are really pretty good kids."

And they are. Actually, they are pretty amazing kids.

I shortly there after, ran into an old co-worker. The last time I saw her she was pregnant with #2 and I had just had Zak (my 3rd). She was pretty floored when she heard that this one in the swing was #4 and would be joined by twins in the fall. She marveled that I would take everyone into Bi-Mart with me for a quick trip, let alone do my regular shopping with my kids, which I almost always do. This has been something we've always done, so they become trained to behave. But I am realizing too, they are AMAZING kids, and I am a blessed mommy, to be sure.

So here is where the life moment hits, that makes me feel the need to blog this... it isn't just to brag about my amazing kids.

We return home, everyone is happy and have been promised juice popsicles before nap time. As we adjourn to the back porch we find that Noah's new boots, that were recently acquired to replace the boots that the dog ate the tops off of, were left in the yard this morning with the dog and are now in the same state as the old boots. I literally bought those boots 4 days ago! I'm pretty sure steam was coming out of my ears and eye sockets. This was after I specifically asked him to check the yard this morning... "make sure there is nothing out there that the dog will chew up."

HOW COULD YOU MISS THAT!? THEY ARE BRIGHT YELLOW!

Maggy's boots were also sitting in the middle of the yard. Thankfully the dog only seems to have a taste for the boys boots. But still! He did not do as he was asked this morning.

...

So as the children have now adjourned for nap-time, I proceed to share with my husband via instant messenger that the new boots are now a loss. And we begin to realize how much we tend expect from our kids.

Yes, have high standards

Yes, do as you are told

Yes, take care of your stuff

I don't think I know I don't take the time to tell them how blessed I am to be their mom. Maybe I expect too close to perfection.

I anticipate this afternoon will be a time to tell them how blessed I am, how much I appreciate them, activities of their choice, and lots of hugs.

Dear Lord - thank you for the gifts that you have given me in my children. Let me never forget to show them how much they are valued and loved as they grow and learn. Let me be more of their biggest fan and less of a critic. Help me show them the love that you dole on me daily.

Mount Rushmore - Shrine of Democracy - Day 8

Our KOA in Hill City, SD was surprisingly close to the monument. This pull-off was actually only 3 miles down the road. We pulled off on our way to the monument and looked around. We couldn't figure out why everyone else was stopping or what they were supposed to be looking at. When we left the monument a few hours later, it quickly became clear, we had to look behind us.... perspective changes everything!


We had done a little reading prior to arriving in the Black Hills. We learned about Doane Robinson, the man who first dreamed of a sculpture as big as mountain in the Black Hills. He commissioned Gutzon Borglum, who had previously done a mountain sculpture on Stone Mountain in Georgia of Civil War heroes. They rode through the hills on horseback looking for the ideal spot along with Gutzon's son, Lincoln Borglum, who was only in his early teens at the time. They dreamed about who to commemorate in the memorial. They climbed and repelled the hills and mountain peaks in search of the perfect place. They began work. They made models. They blasted the hills with dinomite and jack hammers. They slowed and even stopped work to await more funding, admist the Great Depression. Gutzon himself passed away prior to the completion of the memorial, but his son, then in his 30s, completed the project.
The kids were particularly taken with the variety of quartz in the shalestone, collecting stones along the trail.
Plaquards along the memorial helped us to see what it was that made Gutzon, the son of Dutch immigrants, so passionate about the subjects of his memorial.

Memorial Day

From a site titled: Memorial Day History

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.... Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays)...

Although I consider myself to be patriotic and am grateful for the freedoms that we possess as Americans, I really don't think many of us know what our freedom means, or how precious it really is. I have recently heard my father-in-law share some of his experiences from the marshy battlefields of Vietnam, and having that personal connection seems to have shaken my sense of appreciation for what our freedom truly means.

Memorial day seems to have at it's core the focus of remembering those who sacrificed their lives, and may we never forget. But I also am moved to remember and appreciate those who were willing to make those sacrifices and were spared and able to come home.

While on our trip, we were able to visit the Veterans' Memorial Gardens in Lincoln. My grandfather, a WWII Vet, has been a part of the development and upkeep of this memorial park. It was initiated after the traveling Vietnam wall made a stop in Lincoln. There are bricks to commemorate specific veterans who are connected to the Lincoln area and there are Memorials to just about every area of service: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Medical, Coast Guard, Special Forces, Women Who Served, K-9s, POW-MIA, as well as specific Memorials for each of the wars. Here is a slide show from our visit. The Gardens also included a fantastic children play area. I thank God that we live in a place where our children can play freely.

Day 7 recap - Needles Mountains and the Mammoth Site

After about 12 hours in the car on Monday, Tuesday was a day intended for easy sight seeing and relaxation at the KOA. But it was the strangest thing! Everyone, except Hannah, was WIDE awake at 6 am. A leisurely camp-stove breakfast of pancakes, sausage links and nectarines,
some play time on the near-by playground and we were ready to go by around 9:30.
The plan was to get to the Mammoth site and possibly see Mt. Rushmore or the Crazy Horse memorial on our way back, but we were playing it by ear. We had figured that the Mammoth site would be about a 20-30 minute drive...

... that was until we thought we'd try to see something else "on-the-way." We had read about the Needles Mountain range, a unique area of large, jutted, and oddly shaped peaks that had originally been considered as the site for the President's Memorial.
It was decided that the Needles would too frail to stand up to the rigors of the proposed monument carving. I am glad that we took this detour. The scenic highway took us up along the edges of these odd shapes and even through them, as there were small tunnels, just barely big enough for the suburban to squeeze through, that had been blasted out of the rocks.

The Needles Highway brought us through Custer State Park. There, we were able to add to our wildlife list the likes of deer, vultures, wild turkey, prairie dogs, buffalo and even cute, little BABY BUFFALO! Apparently there are also wild burros that wander free in the park and are known for coming to car windows and begging for food, but alas, we did not see them.

The kids enjoyed the wildlife, but got quite antsy when it took us almost 2 hours to get off the Needles Highway. The temperature outside of the air conditioned car was getting to be about 98 degrees, and it wasn't quite noon yet. We were glad that we had brought the cooler in the car and were able to give the kids something to eat while we drove through the poorly signed town of Hot Springs, SD in search of the Mammoth site.

We did find it, and it was worth the wait!

The kids all got to help out the guide during the tour. Here, Noah and Hannah are caring a mammoth jaw bone. The things that look like shoe prints are the mammoth molars.

The backstory of the Mammoth Site: In the 70s a realestate developer was clearing a plot of land for a new development of homes when a dozer driver realized that he had come across something interesting. The blade of his digger had sliced a large Mammoth tusk. The clearing was halted and the developer sold the land for his purchase price. An organization was formed to begin processing the site and a large building was placed over the area. They believe that due to a collapse of layers of sediment, and an upflow of a natural mineral spring, a large sink hole developed and filled with water. So far almost 60 mammoth remains have been found in the site, all of which appear to be male! There are also other unique and unusual prehistoric or extinict speices of animal remains that have been found in the sinkhole. The site is actively being dug, and will continue to be excavated for at least the next twenty years.

While we were there, the Elder Hostile that supervising the digging, had volunteers currently working thru the dust and layers of dirt in hopes of finding something new and cool. We spoke to one excavator who was an intern at the Site, a paleontology major at the School of the Mines. He spends one day a week digging and one day a week working in the lab, analyzing the findings. He was currently uncovering a set of mammoth ribs.

This is the remains that they have named "Napoleon Bone-a-part" because through the compressing of sediment ontop of the remains, the bones were fused together. A complete specimen.

If we have opportunity to visit again, there are times during the year when children are able to get involved in digging. I believe that it happens in June and you need to be preregistered.

Noah is holding a full-sized replica of a mammoth femur (leg bone).

It was a great experience for all of us and I'd love to see it again in a few years as the digging progresses.


Although the children were napping for most of the ride back to the KOA, the shorter route this time... actually was only 30 minutes or so, Liz and I were just amazed at the deep red soil that would sneak out of the green prairies and mountainsides. I can't seem to express in words the wonder of the variety of landscapes witnessed in our small glimpse of our countrysides. Needless to say, each day we were amazed.

We drove right past the Crazy Horse Memorial site and decided to just drive up and see what we could see. We only got to the gate. The cost per car was $27, presumably because the memorial is still being created. We did not really want to get the kids up and out, but the view even from the base of the mountain was quite stunning. This would be place that I would like to return to, had we allowed for a bit more time.


It was a stinky, hot day, still hanging out around 98 degrees at 4 PM when we returned to our Kabin. Someone had decided to open the pool a few days early - what a blessing?! We all needed to cool off and it was the perfect outlet for the kids.

Dinner was pigs-in--a-blanket cooked by campfire, quickly followed by the necessary smores and dough-boys. The kids enjoyed toasting marshmallows so much, we ended up with more toasted than any of us could eat! And yes, that night, we all slept quite well.