Having Fun on our Way to South Dakota

Millikins didn't take too many naps on the way. But, she was so cute when she did.

Lulu on te other hand, she knew when Millikins went to sleep she could raid Millikins toy bag with no argument. Here she is taking Millikins new coloring book. She ended up getting caught by Millikins this time because she ended up chewing a corner off the cover.

Who keeps donkeys at a rest stop?!

Lulu getting her nature lesson in for the day

If you have ridden in the car with us in the last year you know that Millikins loves to point out cell phone towers, usually at the top of her lungs. So, we assumed we'd be hearing the call of, 'Cell Phone Tower!' all the way to South Dakota. Nope, we heard the call of, 'Horsey, are we taking that one home?' the whole way there instead.

We explained that a horse wouldn't fit in the car to Millikins but she came back at us that the horse didn't need to fit in the car because she would just ride it home. Then she switched to the 'we can just get a baby horse the' route. Does every girl go through the horse thing? I don't remember wanting a horse myself.

Anyway, back to our scheduled program. Here was the only cell tower that Millikins pointed out on the whole way to South Dakota; we did get a few more called out on the way home but not nearly as many as we saw.

Peek-a-boo...I see you!

I had to laugh that the hotels we stayed in had a see through band at eye level in the shower curtain. All I could think of was the movie psycho.

Lulu loves making this face.

We call it her Klingon face.

I know the anticipation is killer, but more is still coming.

Getting to South Dakota

I have to admit that I was pretty shocked at the state signage along the highway.

I seem to remember growing up that on road trips we saw signs of 'now leaving such and such state.' Apparently I made these signs up or they do not exist anymore, because we didn't see a single one while on our big excursion. Here are the state signage on our way to South Dakota.

The mandatory photo of the driver from a bored passenger. I have a few of these photos with Dave sticking his tongue out at me, but I thought I'd post a nice photo of him before I get into the 'fun' photos of him from our trip. :D

Lulu decided how far between rest areas we could make it. Her bowels decided to throw a pyrotechnic party all the way to South Dakota. So Millikins had one end covered and Lulu took the other end; but hey, at least our girls are sharing...right? Oh, and there was still the minor thing of having to feed a 6 month old every few hours. It helped with the drive to break it up so often. We stopped in some interesting places because when Lulu needed to eat there wasn't always a nice rest area available. Dave made use of a bush a few times, but us girls were more civilized and waited for the official rest areas.

I was the smart one on this trip, I made Dave put Lulu in her carseat. By the end of the trip when ever Dave would pick her up from me feeding her she would start fussing and crying; obviously this is early in the trip. :D

We found Paradise in Montana. It was just down the road to the left.

It was only 24 miles out of our way to make it to PARADISE!

We didn't make it though.

And we arrived! :D

I have over 2,000 photos to shift through.

I'll be posting more soon of our trip there and our adventures while there.

Hang in there with me, we'll get through this trip together. Then we'll move on to our current adventurous oh so exciting life.

Carsickness Fun

Yes, we have the evils of carsickness to deal with.

But, it's got nothing on Millikins!

Let me tell you, that girl can hold a bag like no one else.

Feeding Frenzy

Lulu is 6 months now. 18.5 lbs and 28 inches long.

And solely breastfed.

We need to get some solids in here sometime!

So, we are starting to 'throw the dog a bone' during meals.

Lulu has no interest in the spooned stuff.

So, we let her mung on softer food from our table.

Here are some of the highlights of this week.

Banana

I love her face it says to me, 'hey, I got food!'

Such concentration

Pizza Crust/bread

Oh, and just in case you were nervous about Millikins,

She too can eat!

Takin a break, she did attack that pizza bread after this in full force again.

Getting a lick in there

I guess she didn't really like it all that much. HAHA

This was the begining of the end. Lulu decided that it would be fun to paint with the bread. Fun stuff!

Nutra Grain Cereal Bar

I got smart after the pizza bread massacare to take her shirt off first. :D

I'll remember all these Mommy tricks sooner or later.

Attempts at Fireworks

Night view of Seattle, waiting up on the roof of a friend's condo building.

We got really lucky in our location! Indoor parking right downtown with a perfect view of the fireworks; and afterwords a nice place to crash for the night instead of driving home with all the drunks out on the road.

Although the location of the building was perfect the location of my tripod was not, so the photos are not composed as I would have planned in ideal situations. But, I couldn't stop everyone up on the roof from leaning in front of the lens over the railing. All in all, the photos aren't too bad, especially since it was my first time taking firework photos! :D I took TONS of photos, these are my favorite ones.

I swear this one looks like the death star blowing up!

I love how this one has almost a mirror effect going on

I love the contrast of the bright white against the neon pink against the black sky

Oh, and I love the contrast in size of these fireworks

Did you know we have VOLCANOS in Seattle!? Me neither!

But, I have the photographic proof right here baby!

I'm loving the chaos of this one. So many different types of fireworks going off

Part of the finale here. So many 'kabooms' as Millikins called them

The simplicity of this one steals my heart

Oh, and not only does Seattle have Volcanoes it's also haunted.

Check out this photographic proof of the face

It was a grand fireworks display.

It was a grand finale.

It was a grand 4th of July spent with my family and a new friend

Swimming Lessons

The YMCAs down/up this way put on a week long swim lesson for kids to get a jump start on lessons and pool/water safety for the summer. And the best part for the parent's pocket? It's only $10 for 5, 1/2 hour lessons! :D

First Day, getting ready to leave, in her Tinkerbell gloriousness.

Second day; I decided not to take photos during the first day craziness. Second Day, in the Nemo gloriousness. Strike a pose girl!

She is such a 'girl!' The other three are laying flat out just fine, and ours has her feet up like the pretty princess that she is. Cracked me up!

On the second day, she floated just fine on her back going to the rope.

Coming back from the rope, on the same trip, was not as much fun. She has a thing about putting her ears in, so she's not holding on to the float anymore and is holding her ears. Too funny. Silly Girl.

Jumping in, she did go fully under a couple of times this week when jumping in. But usually it was only to her chin, which is fine considering it's her first lessons. What I really liked was if the kids got unexpected water in their faces or went under more than they expected the teacher taught them just to shake off the water from their faces and to move on. Great lesson!

Millikins and her teacher 'MO' and the picture she colored for her teacher, Last day of lessons

Millikins went this far under all by herself! I was so excited to see this progress. :D

I think we have traded in Millikins for a water dog. For 1/2 of the last lesson her tongue was always hanging out. Silly kid.