blue skies, smiling for me

Omaha, Cheyenne, Ogden we've been lucky. No rain since Iowa. Thanks be to the driving gods! Scary beautiful country we have here. Sometime the road goes on forever, sometimes around a rocky bend- and still there are surprises. Like the camel I saw walking in a field with some cows! Aidan's new theme is HIT THE ROAD JACK! Both boys are back seat singers and have really kept the arguing down to once a day- which is nice. Well, we hit Oregon border today! Staying in Baker and home tomorrow!

iowa fun

We had a great visit in Marquette with Gramma Donna, Grandpa Bill and all the rest of the family! We got to visit with everyone solid-from Friday through Tuesday. You could have found us riding bikes, playing at the park, sleeping on the sofa, digging through the toy basket, laughing over old pictures, cruising the Mississippi, dinners out and lots of meals at the 'lodge' too! It was sure worth the drive! We had a great visit- including a visit to the folks interned at Manona and a side trip to grandpa's old place in Waterville- as well as the old swimmin' hole, Chet Spinner's place and Waterville Elementary.
Tonight we're in Omaha, Nebraska- so we're westward bound.

rushmore, bound

Well, we made it to Mt. Rushmore! We had breakfast, played a little and then headed up to see Abe Lincoln- and George whamummble-mumble. But yay! Abe Lincoln! He's Aidan and Henry's favorite president- but mostly because we let them have pennies in their pockets! We ran all over today. Stone guys, not so stone guys, dinosaurs, wall drug, corn palace and more dinos! Phew! We pulled into Sioux Falls around 10 and rapidly pissed off the person or persons staying in the room below us. Aidan gets pretty excited when you ask him to do something- and he figures it out all on his own- so he was bouncing with abandon on the floor- after finding a trash can and depositing Henry's diaper for me. Yippee! Well, again- tired, so nighty night- and here are a few pics from today. And can I just say again how much I LOVE the WPA and their works. Sign me, Smiling big in Sioux Falls, SD!
You may also note that Henry is decidedly mostly missing from pics today. Today was a toughie for MR. Grouchy-Sassy Pants and attitude to boot = very few palatable pics. Ah, tomorrow. :)

road trip 2009, fun

So, we're on day two of our road trip. First we stopped in Couer d' Alene, ID and now we're in Bozeman, MT. In CdA Aidan and Henry made friends with restaurant staff and got free cookies from Rhonda and Wendy. Then today they received hot wheels at the hotel from Dee Dee. If they could just make friends with a nice gas tycoon or hotel magnet! The boys have been good travelers- pretty patient and napping well in the car. They love going to the hotel and pushing the buttons on the alligator. Oh, um- the elevator. :) I'll post more tomorrow. Tired now.

a visit from uncle scott

Last weekend I taught on Mother's Day- so we celebrated on Saturday- which I later learned is also called Birth Mother's Day (which I happen to think is a total crock). We ate breakfast at grammy and grandpa's with the uncles, dropped Sean home to his slumber and traveled to the train station with Scott and grandpa. It was a great time-full of people, trains, enthusiasm, balloons, excitement, trains, clowns, oh yeah, trains. I got a migraine- but that magically passed just in time for me to drive home- and reappeared in time for me to take a nap with the boys when we got home.

santa, the green van and the summer job

What I'm nostolgic for; Senn's Dairy drive thru- fudgecicles, pop shoppe pop, drive-in movie play yards. These poor boys, they don't know the excitement of entering the drive thru- milk products, cow cut-out's, the promise of the frozen fudgieness. Also is lost the mystery of those tiny jewel-toned bottles of pop shoppe. And the comfort of viewing a movie from the theater swing set in their pajamas. So sad to me. Now, though, they hold the beautiful notion that Santa is working a summer job, here in town- in fact, driving down our street- selling ice cream from a green minivan. He wears his beard a little whispy, same smiling eyes, uh-hem- red turban, free candy. They have a jar of change- for ice cream sandwiches and visits from Santa. So lovely.

where have we been?

OK, I've been a total slacker. Poor Shaverville. It became my back burner, my thorn. Sorry. Again. I'll try to keep it up now. I'm trying some new time management skills, but we'll see how that progresses. Aries, you know. Love to start- not finish.
So, anyway. Look how big these boys are! They are smart and funny and talented. They sing songs, read stories, announce spiders, worms, ladybugs, bees as well as airplanes and helicopters and any number of trucks from the taco variety to the ambulance. Oh and we remodeled our bathrooms, so now they are all about the hammers and saws, screwdrivers, adjustable wrenches and plumber's tape!
Aidan is a sensitive little scamp who is learning how to turn up the cheese factor when he really wants something. You know when he gets to PUH-WEEZE, and you're laughing despite yourself- he's gonna win. Henry has made a ton of advancements in the past few months. He is still kinda tough to deal with Are we too much alike- that boy and I? He likes to talk back and PUSH buttons. Should I say hammer buttons? But he's smart and funny and out-laughs everyone for blocks around. Seriously, one day I will record one of his laughs- play it for the world and cure cancer or something!
Michael is doing well and busy with new responsibilities at work, I'm wrapping up teaching for this school year and we're all looking forward to our trip to Iowa later in the month and all the adventures the summer holds for us!