Back in the groove....

We are getting back in the swing of school. However I don't think Jackson is liking his early wake up call. Nana has been here for a couple of weeks so we were a little spoiled. It was nice to leave him sleeping in the morning to drop off Austin or let him hang on to the last few precious moments of a nap in the afternoon when it was car line time. But we'll make it! Lots of projects at home to start and before we know it, it will be time for Christmas! But I have a handle on it. I've already gotten a start on my Christmas Shopping!

Well, since we have been so busy I thought I would give a quick end of summer recap. We took a 2 week vacation with Scott's brother and his family in July. We did this 2 years ago and took a trip to the Grand Canyon. We saw some really cool places and decided that we would do it again and go see Mt. Rushmore. So we all loaded up and headed west!! Here are just a few of the highlights of our trip.


We started out on July 11th and headed to St. Louis, MO. We saw the Arch and rode to the top! It was pretty cool and REALLY TALL. I am ready for an unadventurous child. I wasn't about to let Austin go up there without me and he was all about going to the top! It was really neat when we got to the top. It was getting dark by the time we were there so it was getting a little hazy and you couldn't see very well. I'd like to go back again and see it on a clear day.

Here we are at the top!



The next morning after church we went to a place called the City Museum. They have taken all of the industrial surplus from building that were demolished around the city and made a GIANT hands on play museum for kids of all ages. There was a 3 story slide, skateboard ramps, large slides and places to climb, tunnels under and over head. It was AMAZING!!



Moving on...our next stop was in Kansas City, MO. We decided to hit up the zoo in the City of Fountains! This has to be the biggest zoo I have ever seen. We got there around 10 that morning and left at 2 in the afternoon and we only saw Africa! We were all tired and had only seen a small portion of the zoo. Jackson had a lot of fun seeing the animals. I think the big kids had fun too.



We were on the move again and headed to South Dakota. We spent the night in Sioux Falls and got up the next day and traveled to De Smet, SD. We visited the home place of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was really neat to see the area where she lived and how she lived. The kids got to make ropes and corn cob dolls (the boys made corn cob superheros) and rode horses. Jackson met a horse too. This one happened to bite him on the wrist 2 seconds after I took this picture. Jackson looked at me and smiled and then the little pony snapped! Jackson cried for about 2 seconds and then looked at the pony and growled!!






And Austin got to pick up a new accessory the day before we left. He had to get glasses this year. Scott has good eye sight. Me, not so much. So, I guess he took after me on this one. He looks pretty good though! So now he can see his books, now we just have to figure out a way to make him remember to bring them home!





Hold on to your hats...we're not done yet! I'll post more about our vacation tomorrow (trying not to bore you with the family vacation photos-- I have visions of you all sitting there looking at slide after slide of the neighbors vacation to somewhere you really didn't care about hee hee!)

Better get a few things done while Jackson is napping... like a shower!! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!