Dad's visit to RockyFord, CO 5/30/10

Rod went to Rockyford, CO for 1 day over the Memorial Day weekend! Really, I took him to Eppley Airport in Omaha at 5:30am and he flew his plane back home and was in bed at 10:30pm. WOW, what a full day! This is the farm house in Rockyford where Dad [Pops] and Judy live. They've done quite a bit of work - landscaping, watering system, fenced in hot tub area outside master bedroom to the right below, plus things in the back and inside. It's a tradition to visit Mom's grave site on this particular weekend, so here are a few pics of the cemetery. It's been 5 years already since Mom passed away...unbelievable how fast time goes.

Aren't the flowers gorgeous! Peonies are everywhere. After I saw these pics, I had Rod plant a magenta Peonie in our backyard.

This is Corky and Frank. Corky and Mom have been best girlfriends since the 1st grade. I think Corky has to be at least 82 or 83. Can you imagine having a friend that long? They use to pretend they were sisters. : }

And here they are: P1, P2 and P3 as all the insiders know them : } Rod's 3 sister's- Peggy, Paula and Pattie.

Pops and his kids : }

Boystown Memorial Walk/Run

So last night dad tells me that we need to run over to Boystown campus to see the annual Memorial Day Walk/Run race at 8:00am. I have never been to this and we've lived here over 5 years now! We are usually out of town on this holiday w.e. and dad did go by himself last year [don't remember why I didn't go]. Anyway, here are a few pics of the actual Boystown campus where homeless, abandoned, orphaned and rejected kids live. There are about 360 boys and girls living there now. This is the "famous" icon of Boystown and it signifies "He ain't heavy, Father, he's my brother". true story of orphaned brothers and one was crippled.Boystown is an actual town in the middle of Omaha. It has its own Fire Department, Post Office,

and Police Department.This is the gym where everyone gathered to register for the race this morning
We had to park pretty far away from the starting place of the race. As we were walking these quiet streets of Boystown at 7:45am, sipping our skinny, vanilla latte's and talking, this group of runners ran by and it looked so scenic and peaceful to me.

Here is Boystown water tower, a local landmark.

The Family walk/run is just getting over. Loads of strollers and little ones running all over the place with numbers pinned to their chest. The kids loved it!

Here come the walkers to the finish line!

Fr. Boes [head of Boystown] and Dr. Pat Brookhouser [dad's boss] in the gym getting ready to hand out the 1st and 2nd place ribbons for the race.

This is the start of the 5K [3.2 mile] race. I was told there were over 3000 participants.

And they're off!!!
About 50" later, here are the first ones to finish the race. People on the sidelines were yelling and cheering them on. Pretty cool!

Colorado Springs, CO 5/10

Balancing Rock in the Garden of the Gods. The orange rocks against the CO blue sky was incredible.
We had to stop the car so these two could cross in front of us. Sure wish I was riding!

See that guy sitting on top!!

Cathedral Rocks - the rocks are sandstone, so the weather totally forms their shapes.

Pattie, Bruce, Leelo and Stitch [Corky's - brother and sister].

Pikes Peak

Garden of the Gods - enlarge this pic and see the rock climber!

The Kissing Camels rock....can you see them at the very top?? The awesome azul sky of CO : }

The travelers! It was very windy this day, no hunidity [of course] and very hot!

Pikes Peak - still snow covered in the middle of May.

Papa's birthday gifts 5-10

Papa was so surprised to receive 2 packages in the mail when we got back from Rapid City, S.D. One was from Emma Mae. She decided papa needed this duck that actually quaks when his back is pushed. You were right, Emma! Papa loved it and it's sitting right up on the side board in the living room for all to see : } Alex and Tony each made a wooden plane for papa besides the paper planes that are covered with special designs. The boys did an awesome job at painting and putting these planes together [with the help of their dad]. Look at papa....he's very happy with "ALL" his presents : }

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."