Mount Rushmore

As a parent of American children, there are certain places we are just "supposed" to take our children, right? Disneyland, Yellowstone, and Mount Rushmore. While Yellowstone will have to wait, we were able to cross Mount Rushmore off the list this summer.

And if we are going to be going on a road trip anyway, why not bring Vern and her family along for the ride? Vern and I drove up in one car with Samantha and the Caboose while the rest of the boys were in the other car. So great! The boys got along wonderfully, and Samantha was amazing with the Caboose.

While at Mt. Rushmore, we were able to catch the evening program, which included a video highlighting the presidents as well as a tribute to all the veterans in the audience. It was touching to hear the crowd cheer and applaud the veterans with Mount Rushmore in the backdrop.

Of course Mount Rushmore was all of about two hours of our trip. Diamond found Fort Hayes, a town constructed by the makers of Dancing with Wolves. It was interesting to walk around and see were the movie had been filmed.

Looks like Drew had had enough of Big Boy #1 by that time.

And it didn't take too long for the kids to wind up here:

Instead of Dances with Wolves, felt like we should be in the musical Oklahoma sitting in this "surrey with a fringe on the top."

I'm not sure what a bunch of historic cars were doing on the set of a Civil War era town, but the boys thought they were very cool.

Bear Country was another highlight of our trip. Here the animals roam free while the people drive around safely caged in their cars. The bears ambled amazingly close to the car thrilling everyone inside.

Vern and the elk:

We also stopped at Jewel Caves to explore the world's largest cave. The Caboose was too little to go on the "Lantern Tour" so the two of us opted for a slightly shorter version.

One of the highlights for the boys was touring "Cosmos", a little place in the Black Hills that optimises optical illusions to create water flowing uphill and strange angles that make you a little dizzy.


It was hard to even walk across the room!

We only spent a few days, but it was a great little getaway before returning to school. Thanks Vern for coming with us!

Scout Camp

Big Boy #1 went to his first Scout Camp this summer. When asked what he missed most about home he said "my bed and my toilet." Nice. Good to know that bed and toilet rank higher than Mom. Whatever.

I really can't complain. It was a very successful week wherein he earned SEVEN merit badges. (This is were I have to give a HUGE shout out to his Scout leaders who signed up the boys for everything possible, and then still did two extra merit badges with the kids during free time.) He just about earned his Life from that week alone!

BB#1's favorite part of camp was working on his swimming merit badge, even though it was also the hardest thing he did that week. The boys had to make a floatation device out of their jeans. BB#1 described that treading water while trying to take heavy, water-soaked jeans off in the deep end of the pool was far from easy. Picking up a brick from the floor of the deep end wasn't much better. But he enjoyed being in the water and accomplishing something that was difficult.

Although our troop only had four boys come up, BB#1 was able to camp next to the boys from our old ward and was able to spend time with his old friends, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

When we asked about the food, he said the best food was the ice cream and worst food was the mystery meatloaf, that one kid confused for steak. (Yuck!)

Diamond spent a couple nights up at camp with the boys. He's a good sport - especially considering that their tent was downwind of the outhouse. (Double Yuck!)

All in all, a week spent surrounded by beautiful trees, with a bunch of rowdy boys to hang out with was a great success.

Special Day

With another birthday comes another Special Day with Nanna and Grandpa.

Big Boy #2 was sure to get in all of his favorite things, starting with breakfast at IHOP:

Bowling with Nanna and Grandpa:

Back to Nanna's and Grandpa's house for games:

Then off to see Cars 2:

Yet another wonderful special day for Big Boy #2!

Baseball

Baseball has been a great this year. Big Boy #1 was able to be part of a really successful team and loved winning so many games. Big Boy #2's team didn't have such a great season, but he personally had a great year with tremendous growth.

Big Boy #1 played second base for most of the season.

He had some great catches and loved being part of a winning team.

Hitting was a bit tricky this year. Historically, BB#2 relied on the weakness of the pitchers to get walked. That strategy didn't pay off for him this year - the pitchers have become too good. It took a little to get the hang of playing at that higher level.

This year Big Boy #2 was able to get on the same team with his friends from the old neighborhood. They loved playing together and picked up right where they had left off.

This was Big Boy #2's first season pitching and he loved it! He is particularly proud that he pitched a couple no hitters and was able to take down the powerhouse Yankees. (I love the picture below. BB#2 plans to use it for his baseball card someday.)

BB#2's coach told me that he loved working with him. He loved that BB#2 has such a great love for the game, and is "all heart." Before the last game of the season, BB#2 hurt his shoulder playing dodge ball. There was talk of him not pitching at all but coach put ended up putting him in after BB#2 was good and warmed up. After his second strike out in as many batters, the coach just put his head back and laughed "He's not hurt!"


I really loved watching BB#2 pitch. Baseball is a slower game and most players only touch the ball every so often. It was great fun to watch BB#2 in the heart of it all. It's so rewarding as a parent to watch your child utterly enthralled with the thing they are doing.

Of course the Caboose wanted in on all of the action. He gots out and played with the big kids whenever he could.

He has even taken to being the umpire when the boys play ball in the back yard with friends. He's got all the motions and terms down. It cracks me up to hear him call "full count!" or "SAFE!"

Having both boys busy with baseball definitely made our summer hectic. That said, it really was a fun year. Both boys had positive experiences with good, upbeat coaches.