Into the Badlands

Of all of the things that we did on our vacation, my personal favorite was our time spent in the Badlands NP.  I loved this place.  It is just so different-looking than anything that I've ever seen before.  Not only did we stay inside of the park (which was just fabulous), but we also hiked three trails and did the scenic drive.  Our favorite trails were the Door trail which allowed you easy access to the formations, and the Notch trail which involved going up/down a rope ladder at one point.  The Notch trail was pretty strenuous for us, but it gave the best views.

 We saw all sorts of wild animals within the park- including deer, buffalo, pronghorn (antelope), big horn sheep, rabbits, and prairie dogs.  We even stopped off at a place just outside of the park that let you feed peanuts to the prairie dogs.  These animals were so conditioned to being fed, that they let you come right up to them.  Prairie dogs in the wild did not do this.

I've not been to a lot of national parks, so I don't have lots to compare.  That being said, at this moment, the Badlands NP is my favorite.

Minuteman Missile NHS

On our first morning in South Dakota, we visited the Minuteman Missile NHS.  During the cold war the Great Plains were home to hundreds of ICBMs.  Soldiers manned command centers ready to fire at a moment's notice.  Many of these command centers have been decommissioned, and one has been made into a National Historic Site to commemorate this time in our history.  We started our visit at the Visitor's Center where we looked at exhibits telling us about the history of ICBMs in this area of the country.  Aunt Connie had sent us National Park passports, and we were sure to stamp those. One of the most interesting things that we learned was that there are still 450 missiles that are still active and ready to go.

After leaving the Visitor's Center, we traveled up the road to tour a decommissioned command center.  This is where the missileers would live and work.  We actually got to go into the underground bunker where the launch controls were.  The tour was very interesting.  Working at a ballistic missile site is definitely a job that I would not want to have.

Great Plains Road Trip

We have just returned from our Great Plains road trip.  We had a wonderful time exploring the state of South Dakota and also parts of Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming.   We did so much that it is going to take several posts to cover it all.  I'm going to start, though, by describing the loooong drive to our destination.  In order to reach the Black Hills / Badlands area of South Dakota, the kids and I left at noon on Friday, drove all of Friday and all day Saturday, met up with Brian in Omaha on Saturday evening, and then drove most of the day Sunday.  We spent a lot of time in the car, and most of the scenery looked like picture above- flat, grassy, corn, cows.  To break up the monotony, we made short stops to look at road-side attractions.  This gave us a chance to get out and stretch a bit and to see something other than flat grassland.

 Our first little stop was in Omaha.  Brian had flown in here, so we spent the night.  Once we met up with Brian at the hotel, we made our way to the historic "Old Market" area of Omaha which had lots of good restaurants and shops.  We were only in Omaha for a short time, but I liked the vibe that I got from it.  It is definitely a place that I'd like to go back and explore more thoroughly.  Anyway, Omaha is on the Missouri River and we noticed a little park and pedestrian bridge as we drove back to our hotel from our meal.  The next morning, we decided to go and check out the park before we left Omaha.  The bridge that we saw connects Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa and we thought it was neat that they had the state line drawn into the bridge so that you could see that you were standing in two states at once.  

The path that we took out west matched up in many places with the path that Lewis and Clark took, so we saw a lot of "Lewis & Clark" sites along our way.  As a matter of fact, our second stop was at the Lewis and Clark State Park in Iowa.  We stopped here because of it's proximity to the Interstate and because it had a replica of a keel boat- which is the kind of vessel that Lewis and Clark would have used.  The kids ran around a bit and checked out the boat.  They were also having some type of demonstration going on at the park, so we got to see people dressed in period clothing and some old Native American and European artifacts.  

 Our third stop was in Sioux Falls to see the falls.  These were beautiful.  The falls were right in the middle of the city and there was a nice little park with walking paths.  This was a nice stop.

 Our forth and final pit stop was at the Corn Palace.  This is basically a basketball gym that they have decorated with murals made by corn cobs.  The murals were cool, but other than that this place is a total tourist trap.  Not my favorite.

After a long, long drive we finally made it to our cabin in the Badlands.  This view from our back porch made the trip worth it.

Winshape

The kids attended the Winshape Community Camp again this year.  I cannot say enough great things about this camp.  The kids love every minute that they're there and they talk about it for the rest of the year.  This year's theme was "All", and it was about giving God "all" of you. The daily lessons were great, and the music and activities kept the kids pumped up.  Every camper gets three "skills" that they can participate in each day.  Olivia's favorite skill was sewing.  She had this last year, and it was her favorite then too.  Her other skills were crafts and basketball.  Owen's skills were lacrosse, man land, and secret ops (which ended up turning into boot camp).  He liked lacrosse the best.  I am so thankful that our community is a part of this great program.  The kids are already looking forward to next year.

Honor's Day

 The school year is coming to a close.  Today was the kids' Honor's Day.  Both kids have worked really hard this year and both received awards for "A" honor roll.  They were also recognized for the various clubs and activities that they participated in, and Owen got a t-shirt for having perfect attendance.  Cassie was visiting, so she and the boys were able to attend as were Gigi and Granny Mel.

End-of-Year Church Activities

The kids have been doing such wonderful ministry through the Wednesday night BLAST program all year. Each month, the kids complete a mission project.  This year's projects included a canned food drive, Christmas cards/ goodies to troops stationed overseas, projects supporting our Honduras mission team, and visiting the nursing home residents.  The kids also laid the foundation for a YouTube channel by creating and recording two original performances (one of those being a mime performance as seen in the picture).  To celebrate all of their hard work, the church rented an inflatable waterslide.  The kids spent four hours (!) on the slide.  I am so grateful for the Blast program and its leaders.  They work so tirelessly to teach our kids the value of giving back.

The kids aren't the only ones at the church who are having fun at the end of the year.  The ladies of the church had our first annual retreat on St. Simon's Island.  We rented a house and had a great time doing a Bible study, eating out, shopping, and sitting on the beach.  

Baseball / Softball

The kids have just wrapped up their softball/baseball season.  Olivia played catcher in the 10u girls division again this year.  She loves playing catcher, so I was glad that she was given an opportunity to play this position.  I thought that she had improved a lot since last year.  Her throwing was stronger, and she only struck out once all season.  The highlight for her was the game where she tagged two runners out at home.  She was so excited.

 Owen moved up to the 10u boys division this year.  In 10u baseball, they play live pitch.  This was a big change for Owen.  Even so, he did hit a couple of balls this year (and one ball hit him).  He played in the outfield, so he didn't see a lot of action on the defensive end.  But, he did what he was suppose to when the ball did make its way to him.  Both kids had fun playing, and that is the important thing.