Cheyenne – day 3

 Our last full day in Cheyenne was just as eventful as the first.  We went to the Nelson Museum of the West.  It wasn’t quite what we expected.  It was better!  It was what my children call a “dead animal zoo.”  Mr. Nelson is apparently a trophy hunter.  Who knew?  We were the only ones in the museum.  They had old-time country music playing on the intercom throughout the museum.  

I had strange emotions running through me as I gazed at this room.  So many of God’s creatures, stuffed and mounted.  And so many of them posed around the museum, out in the middle of the room with signs that said “Do Not Touch.”  You can’t put them in the middle of the room, out in the open, with no one else around.  So we touched them.  Almost everyone of them. It was awesome.  (Except this room below had a half wall in front of it.)
   
After the museum, we grabbed some Subway sandwiches and loaded up for a quick 15 mile drive to Terry Bison Ranch.  It had been raining most of the morning, but by lunch time, it was just really misty and foggy and only a little bit chilly.  This was our view while we ate lunch.  And of course, the picture doesn’t do it justice.  It was beautiful.  The mist and mystical.

The ranch was full of far more animals than just Bison.  There were camels, ostriches, turkeys (big ones) and big draft horses.  There was a catwalk we were able to use and walk over the pens and gaze down at the animals. It was pretty impressive.

Then came the train ride.  Mr. Terry built it himself.  It was very rustic and made for poor weather.  They have another one that is open air and looks like an old-timer train.  Black and red paint and such.  But because of the rain, we had the converted cattle car.  We passed several of the other kinds of animals (ostriches, camels, peacocks, etc.) on the way out to the bison grazing area.  Then the  conductor stopped the train and the bison came right up to us. 
They knew that inside the train was a 5 gallon bucket of food pellets.  So we fed the buffalo for about 1/2 hour.  Again, we were the only ones on the train so my kids had a blast having the pellet bucket all to themselves.
 
One of the bison was very tame.  Her name was Sophie.  Camille was the only one brave enough to feed it her by hand.

Did you know there is such a thing as a “Beefalo”?  They bred a beef cow and a buffalo and voila. Beefalo.  The only problem is they are born sterile and their bones usually aren’t strong enough to hold them up and they die early.  Guess you ought to leave things the way God created them.
 
Terry Ranch was awesome.  The End.

Cheyenne – day 2

These cowboy boots are found all over the city. The kids were very excited every time we passed one.
Cheyenne, Wyoming is a quaint little western town tucked into the lower corner of the state.  Downtown is full of one-way streets and just a few sleepy stoplights.  I kept asking Sterling, “This is the capital of the state.  As in THE Capital?” 
We started off day 2 with a tour of the Capital building, which was a really beautiful piece of architecture.  They have a full-size, stuffed bison off the main entrance and fossils in some of the floor tiles.  As we were gazing at the bison and trying really really hard not to touch it, the lieutenant governor noticed us and told us to go to his office and ask for a horse.  You should have seen the way my kids’ eye lit up as if fireworks were about to ignite right out of their corneas.  Well, we did as he directed and his sweet secretary went to the backroom and brought out several horse tie-pins.  The children smiled and murmured a thank you, trying to understand what went wrong.
We also went to the Union Pacific Railroad Depot Station.  We watched one of the massive trains pass under the bridge we were standing on and waved back to the engineer.  Then we went to the Train Depot Museum.  The lower level was actually quite disappointing.  Just pictures and descriptions on the walls.  Nothing interactive at all.  Until we went upstairs and boy howdy!  This level was full of luggage and other things that had been left at the depot and never claimed.  There all kinds of suitcases, including the things that had been packed.  Clothing, shaving kits, books, hats, other sorts of western wear, boots and high heel shoes.  It felt like imagination station!  And it was all authentic.  The real deal stuff that had been left behind.  The kids had fun playing on typewriters, dressing up, carrying around the bags and cases, looking at books and entertaining themselves. 
 
After that eventful morning, we grabbed lunch and went back to the hotel where I promptly put the youngest two down for a nap.  Then I set the top 3 up in the hallway with their workbooks and reading books.  No vacation from making our brains strong!  It was actually very cute.  They diligently worked on their books and read.  When they were finished I let them come in and watch Disney channel (Ugh) until the little ones woke up.  (See, I’m still a nice mom).  Then we were off again.
This time to the Children’s Discovery Garden.  Boy, did we hit the jackpot on this one.  I wish I could transport it home.  
Indeed there were gardens, you can see a little in the background.  Please meet the scarecrow.  This scarecrow is more a work of art than anything else.  It just had a magical feel about it and set the stage for the rest of the garden.
 
The small man-made lake was quite a draw for the kids.  Most of the locals were in swimsuits.  Although it was green and very mossy, the kids loved every minute of it. 
There were plenty of stepping stones and pathways for the children to explore. 

There were several educational aspects too, such as this raft. (And see the Indian village?  It had really neat drums inside the teepees). 

Bryce is checking out the watermill and windmill tower behind that.  There was also a water drill type of system for the harvesting the water. 

After I dragged them, kicking and screaming, (not really, just sort of), out of the water, we wandered around a bit more and found a building where they did other educational activities that require table, chairs, dirt, pots, crayons, paper, water, and all sorts of fun equipment.  When we finished our drawings, we found this puppet stage.  Soooo cool.  Sydney was the first to do a little production and the kids were enchanted.  Then they wanted me to do a show.  What?  Me?  Oh no, really.  I couldn’t. I just …. well ok.
I was so busy telling my story about a brother and a sister who were looking for a monster and only found cute little forest animals, I didn’t notice the crowd that had formed.  Gosh, if I had known, I would have prepared a little more. 

No, really.  There was a crowd but I didn’t take a picture because I was the girl behind the curtain.
All in all, it was a fabulous day, a wonderful city and plenty to keep us busy and hoping for more.

Cheyenne – day 1

The road was long, the sun hung in the sky like a balloon with just enough helium to keep it afloat.  We were on our way to Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Mile after mile of sagebrush and flat hills rushed by the car at 80 miles an hour to the rowdy accompaniment of Raffi.  Every once in a while, our attention was captured by spontaneous gardens of windmills.

After the 7 hour drive, we dropped Sterling off at his welcome dinner, grabbed our own meal and crashed at a local park to work out the wiggles that had been building during the drive.

With a smile and giggle, a hug and kiss, I tucked the kids into multiple beds.  Tomorrow would be the beginning of our Wyoming Adventure!

Camille’s Birthday

Camille decorated her own birthday cake.  I think she did a pretty good job.  I wrote “Happy Birthday” and she did the rest.  Then we ate dinner outside, our new favorite place to eat. :)  She ordered Hamburgers and Hotdogs and I was happy oblige, except the BBQ wasn’t working quite right and I couldn’t get the flame to do more than flutter.  So it took a long time to finally get dinner on the table.  Everyone was mighty hungry by the time the prayer was said.

Millie’s birthday activity was going bowling.  I love bowling.  I love the atmosphere, the noise, the lounging in chairs between turns, the anticipation as the ball rolls down the lane, the shoes, finding the right ball.  But I am really really bad at it.  And it hurts my heart.  It hurts so bad because I like it so much and really wish I could bowl without feeling like such a loser!  Anyway, enough of me.  The kids loved it and Camille said she wanted to do it because of the shoes.

Nice form, yes?

Then we went to Krispy Kreme for dessert.  We finished a box of a dozen.  I can’t believe we’re a full box family.  No leftovers.  Amazing.  I’m so proud.

I’ve decided to do a birthday interview for the children this year.  I started Camille’s interview with a few brilliant comments.  Way to state the evident.  Needless to say, I was a horrible interviewer and finally decided to just delete my part of the video.  With Sterling interviewing, it turned out great.

100 years - balloon launch pictures

Ahhhh.... the anticipation!!!

Making our entrance

Ready for the launch.

The launch

Watching the balloons until they fade away.

Cute girls!

100 years- Balloon Launch

Yesterday was the final day of our 100 year celebration.  To end the 2 week long party with a bang, we decided to launch 100 helium balloons into the sky.  There are some ideas, once planted in your mind, you cannot let go of.  This was one of those ideas.  It crossed my mind about a month ago and I knew I would have to make it happen, regarldess of any obstacles that may beset me.  I'm so glad we did it.

I rented a helium tank and the girls helped me blow up the balloons.  Syd and Mill did a great job handling the tank while I tied all the knots.  We had a system down pat.  

It didn't take long before our family room looked like a rainbow had exploded all over our ceiling.

Staring at all those balloons reminded us of scenes from various movies.  How about:

"Finding Nemo"

And what about

"UP"

Sterling got caught up at work and was late coming home.  By the time he finally arrived, lots of friends and neighbors had gathered to watch the launch.  We filled up a bunch more balloons for the neighbors to hold and started outside with our mushroom of color.  The only problem was that in the chaos of gathering the children and ballons together and then squeezing out the door, many of the balloons became tangled.  After waiting so long for Ster to come home, I didn't want to take the time to untangle, so we marched out as one entangled blob.  (Symbolic of family unity maybe?  a mother's condition during child-raising years?)

Everything turned out great.  We had so much fun.  A big thank you goes to all the friends who came to watch and support and love us.  And thank you Chris for the video.  And thanks, Diahan, for taking pictures.  I'll post more pictures when I get the pictures onto my own computer.  Needless to say, it was a fun 2 weeks. 

Now, what is our next adventure?

100 years - things I can do

One evening, I took the kids outside before bed and we tried to do things 100 times, in honor of our 100 year birthday.  We jumped rope, hoola hooped, and jumped the hoola hoop.  We skipped and tossed balls and had a grand old time.  And here's your chance to watch some of the things we can do 100 times!



Our celebrations are almost finished. 

Meeting Noah

Oh how I love our membership at Thanksgiving Point.  This is at the Children's Discovery Garden.  May I introduce you to Noah.  He's smaller in person than I anticipated.

We especially enjoy the fact that our cousins have a membership too and we get to go with them a bunch.

OK, Wendy.  Now we just need to talk you into getting a membership. :)

Camille's Kindergarten Graduation

I love elementary school.  I love it so much, it makes me cry.  I cry on the first day of school and on the last day of school.  I love seeing a hoarde of children on their bikes riding to school.  I love seeing the crossing guard stop traffic in all its hurried-ness, to see children skip, hop, run and gallop across the street.  I love walking down the halls and seeing artwork adorning the block walls.  I love the noise of recess.  I love the unity of teacher and parent working together to provide an exceptional education for our children.  Those blessed children who hold the future before them. 

Camille graduated Kindergarten.  I am over halfway finished with half day school.  The program was so cute.  Lots of cute songs.  I tried to video tape them but with Bryce crying into the camcorder and Rachel jiggling my arm, I quickly left the camcorder in its case and just enjoyed the moment. 

Camille was all smiles.

Rachel was not.

Congratulations, Graduate!

Thank you, Miss Parlmer

And here is Sydney with Mr. Larson, the most awesomely awesome teacher EVER!