Rapid City, S.D. 5-15-10

We spontaneously decided to fly up to Rapid City, S.D. last weekend for Rod's birthday.

This is Old Town Rapid City - On "every" corner downtown sits a bronzed statue of a different president or a person of importance to the area. It was so fun. I was having quite an interesting converstion with this President.

Rod trying to read the document the President was holding : }

We were walking down the street just looking around and crossed this alley way and did a double take. All the way down the alley was "beautiful" graffitti...very interesting and unique! Look how clean this alley is.

Old Town Rapid City, S. D.

Crazy Horse Monument in Custard, South Dakota. Wow!! Crazy Horse was an Indian Chief who tried hard to stop "the white man" from taking their land and changing their ways. He finally signed a treaty with our military turning over the land believing ALL the promises our government said they would do for the American Indian. We lied!!! : { During the treaty signing ceremony, a solider stabbed him in the back and he later died. The Lakotia's [spelling not correct] of the Black Hills were captured and taken to reservations and "everything" was taken from them. After Mount Rushmore was finished, the American Indians wanted the white man to know that they too had a hero --> Crazy Horse.

This monument is totally donation funded. No government monies are involved at all. That's why it's taking so long to complete. It was one man's dream. After his death, his family now continues that dream. That little hole under Crazy Horse's arm is actually 10 stories high -HUGE.

This is the model the original artist had to sculpt before the mountain sculpting could begin. They push it in and out from under this awning to protect it from the weather. Compare dad's height to it!

Here's the best picture we could capture between all the clouds and rain that kept blocking our view. We were eating lunch in the restraunt when dad said, "There he is!" I jumped up, took the pic and then it disappearrred again behind the clouds. You can see the horses head and ear drawn on the mountain side under what will be Crazy Horse's arm [ear is on top and the eye is in the middle looking down the mtn.]

I thought these rocks were very interesting the way the formed in layers. It's granite! This is the rock they had to sculpt through.

Look at how this tree grew right up right out of the rocks - awesome!

Standing at the bottom of Mount Rushmore - Presidents Washington, Jackson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

Walking down the .5 mile trail around Rushmore and came across this mountian goat just eating his little heart out. Totally oblivious to us. He was a lot bigger than I imagined mountian goats to be.

Just a great pic of Rushmore!

This is what we saw as we entered the Mount Rushmore park. We toured the park walking and listening to these little audio tour hand-held gizmo's.

So we flew ourselves up to South Dakota in our little plane last Friday late afternoon. We literally become speechless as we look up at the skies and it "always" leads me into prayer. The view of the skies at about 9000 feet up are beyond awesome and the pics just don't do it justice. Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands."

Looking down at all the farmlands and the different ways the farmers lay out their crops, reminds us of how the Lord told man to subdue the land - Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."

May '10 visit to TX

My early morning coffee with the kids [the boys get milk with a little chocolate and vanilla syrups and Ali gets milk]. Noni gets BLACK coffee!!

Took a late morning trip to the park for a picnic lunch, feeding the ducks and the play ground. It was a gorgeous day.

Dad explaining nature and the boys listening intently.

Feeding the ducks stale bread. The water was a little far away for the kids to toss the bread into. But if they got closer, they would sink into the mud. Luckily, the ducks would come ashore and get the bread.

The playground was full of kids and parents. Great equipment that just invited the parents to get involved and play too. Mark is helping Alex, first, to hang and just slide across the bar. Tony patiently waiting his turn [cutie pie].

Ali and momma walking to the playground. She's getting so big and tries so hard to keep up with her brothers. Still holding onto that stale bread!

Momma and Ali sliding with dad waiting to help if needed : }

It takes both parents to keep an eye on all 3 kids. Check it out....all 3 are each going a different direction. Whew!!

Amy all dressed up and working at Lulu's Bow-tique. She really is very creative! : }

Standing outside Alex's school just before we walked him in.

Tony LOVES Alex's school room. Runs right in and makes himself at home. He'll do great here in the Fall.

When Alex arrives at school, he hangs his things up in his cubby, then has to sit and keep himself busy until all the kids arrive.

Alex and Miss Christina, his teacher.

Aliana watching Little Einstien. She loves the characters, music and little kids on it. I remember ALL the g-kids loved these DVD's.

Amy didn't have an apron for Ali to wear while hand painting in the yard. So she thought of using this bread bag and it worked! Ali is so tiny, she's precious!

Washing hands by the hose after finished painting the little white table. Even washing hands turns into a game....fun!!

Helping Tony write his name on the table under his hand prints. What a great idea! Look at Ali trying to play on the teeter-totter by herself : }

Alex pressing his painted hand onto the table. What great memories for the kids and mom [and me].

It was fun to watch the kids as Amy heavily painted their hands. It was like they were thinking, "Mom are you sure you know what you're doing?" Tony was very still and just watched.

Look how hard they are concentrating [check out Tony and that tongue] : }

All done and the proud artists are ready to display their handy work. Great job, boys! : }

Here's Amy working at Lulu's Boutique in between doing laundry, vacuuming, keeping track of the kids, holding Aliana, thinking about what to cook for dinner that night, waiting on the dishwasher to finish so she could empty it.....a great multi-tasker! And she kept it all together and had LOADS of energy and patience. A ture Proverbs 31 woman, really! : }

Another project - Chocolate covered frozen strawberries and cherries. Ummmmmm : }

And the end product!

The kids picnicing on the patio and trying to say prayers before eating. Notice Ali not wanting the boys to hold her hands : }

The Deno Den

I asked the boys to stand on the yellow line and follow it. They looked at me, then looked down the road, then looked back at me and never said a word. HAHAHAHa Follow the yellow brick road, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road [remember.....Wizard of Oz song] : }

We walked all the way to the top of the dam and son-of-a-gun the gates were locked. We were so diappointed.

Little Aliana walking down that long lonesome highway.... NOT : }

Noni and her precious grand-kids! <3

Learning to Golf

Rob is trying to teach Susan the basic ABC's of golfing but his competiveness got the best of him. As you can tell by Susan's stance, she's probably thinking, "You've got to be kidding. Of course you won whatever it is you think you won. I'm just learning!" Learning to golf with my "treasured" golfballs that I place strategically on the patio in a very special basket used as a converstaion peice : } I collect these balls as they come accidently into our backyard. So far I have about 2 dozen collected in the past 5 years. Not too shabby. Anyway, here's Susan swinging with her instructor standing close by observing and giving tips of this manuever.