They arrived at our home late that night while the children were sleeping.
Friday the boys had school to attend but they were really excited. It was only day 3 of school for the year!
Tiberias was very happy and excited for the school year to begin! Even Luke could not deny his excitement.
Friday Sterling took Dad and Mom to see Mt Rushmore, Wind cave, hiking and Dead Wood.
Athena and I had a relaxing morning at home then went to the mall for some fun and yummy lunch. Athena did not want to play at the playland even though we have not done it much this summer. She wanted to play in the arcade even though I wouldn't give her any money.
She wanted to play on the ridding toys and I gave in and spent $1 for her to ride an ATV. $1 for one ride?! Crazy.
She wanted to see the animals at the pet store so we did that. She wanted to see the cats and dogs at the toy store too...the ones that sleep and breath as if they are real. lol
That evening Tiberias' new best friend Jaycee had her baptism. She turned 8 in January but they postponed her baptism so family could come attend. They all came from Las Vegas.
The baptism was at 5:30pm. I am the primary president. Brother Al Stone was the bishopric member in attendance. The Hansen's relatives. And my kids were the only friends there. The Hansens are new in the ward. Moved here from Sioux Falls although originally from Las Vegas.
Melissa Hansen and I became quick friends. Ty and Jaycee became quick best friends. And Athena and Elsie became best friends. The Hansens live in our neighborhood and like me, they don't mind having other kids at their house to play. So they are happy to babysit for us and we are happy to babysit for them. It comes in really handy for going on dates.
The baptism was wonderful. I welcomed Jaycee officially into the primary and told her she is wonderful and that I love her. Even though their family has only been in the ward a short while I have spent a lot of time with this family and am getting to know them.
Jaycee received a floating pendant locket where she picked two of the charms and the third is a CTR shield.
Tiberias, I thought, would enjoy the baptism. Instead he dealt with a crisis of reality. He realized that going to school takes up half of his day and Mom takes up another 1/4 with chores, homework and outings. This means he doesn't have hours to play with neighborhood friends.
Despite the fact that he plays with friends at school, he was devastated.
Over the summer her struggled to deal with not attending school. But eventually he got use to it and loved being able to play with David and Alexis. And Gunnar and Aiden when they are feeling kind.
During the baptism Tiberias had many tears down his cheeks trying to deal with this loss of time with his neighborhood friends. It was sad. And of course he was a bit angry too...as is normal for Ty.
I tried to convince him to be happy for Jaycee on her special night instead of focusing on himself. That didn't work.
When we returned home from the baptism Sterling and the grandparents were there.
Saturday
This morning we ate breakfast and packed out lunches. We loaded up in our van and hit the road. We first signed the grandparents onto the military base for the week. Then we drove to the Minuteman Missile area. We stopped at Delta 09 and learned a little about the missiles. How the missiles use to be in a secured area such as the one we stood in but was surveyed from a good distance away for safety reasons. The surveillance was not camera but simply motion detector. A lot of times the detector would trigger a possible threat but it would turn out to be an animal or something simple.
We then drove to the Minuteman visitor center where we found our luck great: It was build your own missile day. They created their own paper rockets and launched them!
Emily Deveraux from our ward works at Minuteman Missile and she was in charge of the craft!
We also enjoyed the museum inside. The children earned badges for launching their rockets.
We drove to the Badlands where we watched the video at the visitor center. Then we went hiking in the badlands. The children loved climbing the rocks before the hike actually began. Lots of fun!
Sadly, Athena had woken up that morning with a runny nose and feeling a little sick and it stayed with her all day. She was a trooper though! Hiking and playing and being a daredevil.
She fell and bruised her butt there and got more bruises throughout the day. She kept saying "My bones hurt!" She even asked for a drink of milk to help her bones heal. Really though, it was bruising.
It was a hot day but not as hot as tomorrow is planned to be. I think 90 was the high today.
It was a hot day but not as hot as tomorrow is planned to be. I think 90 was the high today.
Our last adventure for today was Wall Drug. It is very fun for the kids. The wagons. The splash pad. The giant dinosaur behind the fence, the jack a lope. The gorilla who plays piano. The free water in snow cones cups.
We wore the kids out! And ate licorice in the car. We had Red Vines and Twizzlers...because that's how Tiffany rolls.
We drove home for some relaxation. Although, Tiberias was just anxious to go play with his neighborhood friends. So Ty left to play and the rest of us relaxed.
This evening we had Pizza Ranch pizza and dessert pizza while watching Star Wars Rogue 1.
Athena's physical state worsened. She is sick and will likely be too sick to attend nursery tomorrow. :(
This makes it hard on me (the mama) because tomorrow morning is when Ster and I leave for our 10th wedding anniversary celebration romantic get away! For four days without the kids! I already feel guilty leaving Athena for that long. Luckily she loves her grandparents and will snuggle up with grandpa easily.
In the morning Sterling and I will help feed the kids, bathe them and get them ready for church. Once they have left we can leave. We will have a long drive ahead of us but maybe the experience will be different without the kids in the car with us?!
Sterling and I can hardly believe we get to experience 4 days of being together without kids! And in a beautiful place such as Glacier National Park! To be able to go hiking every day and without the kids!? I can't really believe it yet.
We will miss them! But this is an experience of a decade!
No comments:
Post a Comment