Summer 2019 - Omaha Zoo & John's 50th High School Reunion

Tuesday, May 14th - Tuesday, November 5th

I'm starting this post with a picture that is a year old, but it's a favorite of mine.

We got back from the Netherlands May 14th.  We were excited to have Kathy and Joann come on June 6th to visit for a few days.  Keira still talks about going to swim at their hotel (two times!) every time we drive by that hotel.  She thinks they should come again, so we can swim some more!



They also took us to Pizza Ranch to eat and play games.

Dress-Up Day!  Sour Power, Mrs. Candy Cane and Mrs. Licorice.  Imagination is a wonderful thing.

"Oh Digger, I love you!"

"My chickens love me, even if they do peck me once in a while."

View from the deck.

Picking flowers for Mom.

Sweet siblings.

"Look at me, Gamma!"

"I got yo dwink, Gamma!"

We left Helena on June 20th for our annual trip through the Midwest to visit family and friends.  John had a new co-pilot because we brought Dallas with us.



The rest of the family joined us a couple days later at Great Grandma's.



We had a big gathering at the park for Great Grandma's 85th Birthday, with most of her family in attendance, even Gary's family from Ohio.  So fun to see everyone!



We camped at the city park and swam a couple times at the pool.



Tuesday evening we went to my niece Erica's for a pool party and another family gathering.  So much fun!

Our grandkids, plus my little brother's grandson.

Thank you so much Erica and Ryan.



Hilary and Andy.  Braylon, Keira and Benny on the trampoline.

Hilary and Jeff left for a few days to spend some time with Jeff's family in Wisconsin.

We headed down to Lake Elsie Thursday to spend time with Claude and Jodi and the whole clan again.



Sweet smiley faces of my great-niece and great-nephew.



Hilary and Jeff came back on Saturday and Jeff headed back to Montana.  Hilary and the kids stayed with us for a couple more weeks and we headed down to Brookings on Sunday.  Monday morning we headed out to Robin's farm to see the animals.  Thank you Dee for letting us borrow your car.  Too many grandkids to fit all in one car anymore.

A very serious student paying close attention to all instructions.

Already giving rides.

Ride'm Cowboy!

Tally practicing her new horsemanship skills.

Thanks for the lessons, Robin!

Look at her go after only an hour of pointers from Robin!  Shows what a great team a good teacher and a good student can make together.

There was a whole herd of cats and Benny tried to catch them all.  There were also peacocks and chickens and goats.  What a fun time!  Thanks so much, Robin.

In the afternoon, we went to the awesome water park in Brookings and had a splashing good time.

Dallas found a new friend to play with.

Tuesday we went to the Children's Museum in Brookings, best in the state.

We had a roaring good time here.  We had to come back to the T-Rex several times to see it move its head around and roar at us.

The baby dinosaur was fun, too!

This little maze of huts was built from vines by a visiting artist and some kids a couple years ago.  There is also a fishing pond, a lazy river and spray fountains to play in, plus a giant harp-like instrument you can play with hanging golf balls.

There are many rooms full of wonderful fun things to explore inside, too.  There is a farm, a grocery store, a soda fountain, an auto shop, a room full of vacuum tubes, a giant Lite Brite wall, an art lab, a climbing tower and more.

Heading to Iowa on Thursday the 4th for more adventures, with John's little co-pilot taking pictures and the rest of the kids in back enjoying themselves.

Playing with Grandma's phone.

Arriving at Bruce and Gerry's cabin, where they so graciously let us camp and use the cabin.

Enjoying the view of the pond and woods.  We enjoyed watching fireworks in the countryside all around us.

Picture taken by one of the kids as they pretended to be serving drinks at the bar in the cabin.

While we were here, we visited John's folks.  We miss them lots and wish they could see all these wonderful great-grandkids.

We also attended John's 50th High School Reunion at the newly restored Warren Opera House in Greenfield.  Some of his classmates put on a Laugh In skit with Rowan and Martin and lots of the other characters.

I can't believe we are that old already, but I guess we didn't look too shabby.

Sunset over Iowa farmland, our last night at the cabin.  Thanks again Bruce and Gerry!

We got up early Sunday and drove to Omaha, where we started our tour of the zoo in the aviary.

Roseate Spoonbills

"Wish you were here, Dad!"

In the mid-sixties, the zoo received a Sumatran orangutan named Fu Man Chu.  Fu was very talented at creating and using tools.  He figured out how to use small pieces of wire from a light cover and bend and manipulate it to open locks.  After many mornings of finding Fu and the other orangutans outside, several people were accused of not locking doors.  It was later discovered that Fu was carrying a piece of wire along his gum line. He had figured out how to make a useful tool and how to hide it for future use.  Orangutans provide much of their entertainment by taking things apart.

Albino Alligator

We love butterflies.  A group is called a rabble.  A group of caterpillars is called an army.  Butterflies are used as an indicator species to check the health of an ecosystem.

The bouncy train kids can walk through...

....and the train that gives rides through the zoo.

We watched the giraffes and then went to meet Grandpa's friend, Doug, to get a behind-the-scenes tour.  Doug was one of John's classmates and the best man at our wedding.  He was also the head veterinarian at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha for many years until about two weeks after our visit, when he retired.  Congrats on your retirement, Doug!  We hope to see you this winter.

Doug took us to the second floor of the giraffe enclosure where we got to feed lettuce to the giraffes.  John found out his tongue was not nearly as long as the giraffe's.  Yuck!

The girls got into it, but Dallas was a bit intimidated.

Ben was pretty much indifferent.

"What did the Mama Cow say to her calf?  It's pasture your bedtime."

Next we got to go behind the scenes at the aquarium and feed lettuce to the sea turtles.

He also took us upstairs to show us where they do large animal surgeries and keep new arrivals in quarantine.  This was their latest new arrival waiting to be released from quarantine.

Thanks for the great tour, Doug!

We loved the aquariums and the penguins.

Tapirs

Okapis are the only living relative of giraffes.  They need to have shorter necks and legs to get around in their rainforest habitat, because there are trees with branches hanging down, as well as roots and tree trunks to dodge.

We wrapped up our day with ice cream and a few minutes running through the spray and fountains at the water park before the zoo closed for the day.  A long day, but the kids were amazing, even Hilary!

From here we headed back to Sioux Falls to spend a couple days with Dawn, where we camped at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds.  Everybody was completely worn out from the long day at the zoo.

"What did the nut say when it was chasing the other nut?  I'm a cashew!" Ain't nobody catching anybody tonight!

Dawn took us to the park to play and made us hot dogs and s'mores.

A perfect Grandma moment before heading back to Montana on Wednesday, July 10th.



Back home on the farm again, finally, on July 11th.



"We missed you Digger.  Did Carter take good care of you?"





I think the ducks missed us, or maybe we just missed the ducks.

Hilary and her tribe, plus one, waiting for the Stampede Kiddie Parade July 24th.

It was about a 15 minute parade, but they all got a haul of candy to take home.

Later we went to the fairgrounds and looked at the animals and 4-H exhibits and I took the two oldest girls to their first rodeo that night.  Tally is really in love with horses since her riding lessons with Robin.  John went back to Iowa on July 20th for a family gathering with some of his cousins on August 3rd (our 46th wedding anniversary) and to spend a few more days with Dawn.

Keira opening her presents at her 4th birthday party.  Jeff's parents arrived on August 26th for a week, so we split for a few days and went up to Havre, Fort Benton and Fort Assinniboine to do a little sightseeing.  More about that in the next blog.

Benny's favorite birthday gifts were a singing baby shark...

....and his own 4-wheeler.  WooHoo!

"Dude... your girlfriend keeps checking me out!"

I can't say that I blame her.  You are way cuter than your big brother!

Carter taking Delaney back to school for the fall.

Dallas started kindergarten and was excited to bike over to his school after a few days, to show us all the play equipment and tell us all the rules of what was allowed and not allowed at his new school.

He was trying to help Tally out, so she could do it as good as he could.

Yeah, Snow!

A few of Hilary's many flowers picked before the first frost and snow storm.  Can anybody tell me what the little purple flowers are?  They are still going strong after two snow storms in October and many nights of hard frost.

Happy Birthday Tierney and Tally, 11 and 8!

Shop all shingled and ready for winter (Oct. 6th).  No more leaky roof.

Dance Party on the deck.  I took the four kids to see the movie "Abominable" while Benny was napping Oct. 8th.

Tally called this masterpiece "The Great Grandma Disaster Collage".  She pretty much just stacked the whole contents of the toy box on top of me and giggled the whole time.

 "See my new bed?" 

"I got Bekka's (Grandpa's) phone."

The Bubble Queen.

"No, Benny?"

What happened to our Mom and Dad?  Ready for the Halloween Party!

Our pretty, princess pirate.

A last minute change of mind from Iron Man to a Giraffe.  Go figure.

Posing on the city trolley while Trick or Treating downtown.

"Trick or Treat, Julie!"

This place was the best!  We were in a very steep, hilly area of town and most of the houses had long flights of steps to their front doors.  This place had a tube running down from the upper deck with a speaker at the bottom to say trick or treat into.  Then they told you to hold your bucket at the bottom and they sent down a treats for each kid.

Happy Halloween all you Hoodlums!

October 1st was our ten year anniversary of living in the RV and we are still loving it!  I don't know where that leaves all you naysayers who were betting on how long we would last.  We are finally heading for warmer temps on Tuesday, November 5th.  Hope to hook up with some of you along the way.

Wishing Everyone a Warm Winter,

Tarra