Louisville day 2

6/30

Louisville Day 2

We woke up today to a little rain, which is actually pretty loud in the RV.  It was also the most humid day I've experienced since we left Denver.  This humidity is what I remember the midwest being like.  It is absolutely horrible and suffocating.  At 8:30 am it was probably in the mid 60's, and so humid the air conditioning in the RV was on full blast, and it still made us hot.  We were all pretty slow to get up.  I got picked up by an Enterprise rental car guy to get the minivan for today and tomorrow's excusrions.  I rode with him back to the Enterprise facility to sign all the paperwork.  Once I left it, was approaching 10 am quickly, so I went by Denny's on the way back to the campground.  I called in the order before I got there to save us 5-10 minutes which proved to be smart.  The farther South we go the slower people seem to move.  I walked into Denny's and was amazed to see a diner blow out a huge puff of smoke. I actually did a double take, as I could not believe what I was seeing.  I was amazed that you can still smoke in restaurants, and I assume bars, in KY.  

I took all of our food back to the campground and the kids, Tracy, and Aunt Colleen were all ready at the picnic table.  Everyone was starving and ate accordingly.  By now I know what each kid and adult likes to eat so it was simple to satisfy everyone.  After scarfing down our food, I showered and the moms got the kids packed up in our rental minivan.  We departed for the Louisville Slugger Museum.  

The Louisville Slugger museum is in downtown Louisville, a block or two off the Ohio River.  It's hard to imagine, but I assume many years ago the Ohio River was a major trade route.  We parked in a pay lot where you have to stuff the $5.00 into a little hole that is numbered the same as the space you parked in.  When we walked up to the pay station, there were two girls standing there staring at the pay station.  They asked us if we could help them, and clearly had an accent.  l showed them how to jam the money into the little slot and they laughed and said thank you.  They said they were from the Netherlands, and I laughed in my head, because I'm sure in the Netherlands everything is computerized and newer.  Most americans would probably be as dumbfounded as they were in the Netherlands trying to park in a pay lot.  

Louisville Slugger bats have been made for over 100 years in this area.  It was a very interesting tour and the kids, especially Davis, who has the attention span of his father, stayed interested.  Davis was super interested in every stop of the 30 minute tour. He ran to the front and followed the guide closely, which I have never seen him do.  At the end of the tour, everyone got mini Louisville Slugger bat as a free gift for attending the tour.  We went into the batting cages and all of us hit... or attempted to hit balls.  Austin, my soon to be 13 year old nephew, hit in the fast pitch baseball machine, like myself, and did well.  He actually broke Buster Posey's bat which he was very proud of (and amazed his cousin Davis).  The girls, Davis, and Caden went in the slow pitch softball batting cage and did well.  Before we started the tour I ordered a handful of personalized bats, which we picked up at the gift shop at the end of our time there.  

We took the bats back to the car and walked around looking for a lunch spot.  We tried to find a place on the river, but there was nothing down on the river front.  We settled on a sandwich shop that was average, but air conditioned.  I had been wanting to go to the Muhammad Ali museum, but didn't think the kids had the energy.  I told the moms I was going to run over there and check it out for a half hour while they finished up lunch.  I walked over there to find out it is closed on Mondays, and came back a few minutes later to chuckles from the moms. 

We learned not to pack too many activities into one day at Mt. Rushmore, so we packed up the kids and went back to the campground.  Tracy took the rental car to the grocery store to purchase food for dinner and breakfast tomorrow morning.  The kids rode banana bikes, jumped on the trampoline, and eventually Aunt Colleen and I took them swimming.  

We swam for a few hours.  The highlight for me was when the kids started having races from one side of the pool to the other.  Aunt Colleen and I joined in, and I was quickly crowned the best swimmer of the adults.  Before our race Davis asked if he could bring his lacrosse ball into the pool and throw it around with Arden.  I said ok but directed him to be very careful.  A lacrosse ball is rubber but is a little softer than a baseball, so getting hit with it definitely hurts.  Davis and Arden played fine for a few minutes, and then BAM, Davis threw it across the pool and it hit a man in the side of the head.  This had to hurt.  I immediately made him apologize and sit out.  I also apologized to the man.  After making Davis sat there for 20 minutes or so I called Davis over and instructed him to walk over to the man, look him in the eyes and say "sir, I'm sorry I hit you with that ball, are you okay"?  Davis did just as I told him and the man said "apology accepted young man, don't worry about  it".  Davis was shy after that and didn't want to go right back into the pool.  I was bummed he made such a stupid mistake, but proud I made him do the right thing and apologize like a man.  Hopefully he'll learn that lesson for next time.  

After swimming with the kids for a few hours I went back to the RV and helped Tracy prepare dinner.  It was really nice to hang out and talk to each other alone.  We realized we'd been so busy the last few weeks we really hadn't spent much alone time together.  We were excited to prepare dinner and hang out together.  We had steak, chicken, potatoes, salad, garlic bread and watermelon.  The little cabin we rented next to the RV for my sister and her boys has a propane grill, so it was easy to cook.  The kids came back right as the food was finishing up, and were starving.  We all ate in the RV tonight because it was so hot out.  After we ate and cleaned up, we headed outside to make a campfire and some s'mores.  

We went to the KOA store to buy some wood for the fire, and they said they'd deliver it in a few minutes.  We made our kindling and paper bundle and waited for our wood.  Once the wood arrived we lit the kindling and paper.  If you read my posts from Rushmore you'll recall I am horrible at making a fire.  I realized IT'S NOT ME!  It's the wood from the KOA.  We had a roaring paper and kindling bundle, and I put a few pieces of wood on it and it wouldn't start on fire.  I broke down and got the lighter fluid out, and still, the wood wouldn't start on fire.  Half a bottle of lighter fluid later we had the fire going.  I was glad to realize the fire wood the KOAs sell is the problem not me!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  We made some s'mores and played with sparklers.  It was so hot and humid, we were all sweating, and the chocolate was so melted it was dripping down the kids faces in the form of chocolate beards. We decided to go back into the pool for a little while and swim to cool off (and have a pre-rinse before shower time).  I can't imagine working outside in this weather.  It's 90 degrees and 90% humidity.  As I write this it's 9:30 pm and still 83 degrees out.  It's a big change for us coming from Colorado where it will be 90 degrees during the day and 55 degrees at night.  All with no humidity.  I'm starting to get concerned about the weather as I realize we're heading further South for the next few weeks.  

After showers, we put the kids to bed, and are now sitting here checking back in with society, our phones, emails, etc.  We are heading to Nashville tomorrow, and still need to figure out the plan for when to leave Louisville, and how many days to stay in Nashville.  

We are about halfway done with our trip at this point.  We've seen and done so much, I can't imagine 21 more days of this.  I'm having a great time with the family, and so far no one seems to miss home too much.  We are all very thankful I'm able to take this trip, and have made this RV our "home on wheels."

Favorite parts of the day:

Austin - breaking Buster Posey's bat in the batting cage

Aunt Colleen - watching her boys teach Davis how to dive into the pool

Tracy - asked another lady at the pool who was tanner, her or Colleen and the woman said Tracy was (every year Tracy and Colleen have a "who's tanner competition" in GA.  (Tracy later confessed that this was not true and never happened, she just wanted to mess with Colleen).

Davis - jumping on the trampoline when it was wet and sliding off of it

Me - eating a dinner we made in the RV, with all of my family and my sister, and her family. 

Arden- getting a personalized bat with her name on it and getting Super Uncle Steve (my brother who tells the kids to call him Super Uncle Steve since birth) a bat because he's nice and always takes us boating 

Caden - riding banana bikes and going to the museum 

Lightning bugs

On the road again

6/29

on the road again... 

Last night I went to bed really early, falling asleep around 8:30.  I'm glad I did because we we drove to Louisville today, from northern IL.  My sister and her sons came with us for this leg of the trip.  We left around 9:15 am.  The kids looked like they went through a serious battle with the mosquitos the last few days.  They both had mosquito bites that looked like welts all over their face, back, arms and legs.  Arden actually has one in her armpit. They haven't complained yet which has been surprising, and I'm thankful for that.  

We drove around the city (Chicago that is, see previous post) this route, not through it, as it's easier with a big rig like an RV, and you miss city traffic.  I always get a kick out of driving on IL toll roads.  They are permanently under construction.  I90 toll road goes from Rockford to Chicago, and since I was a kid I remember some stretch of it being under construction.  For you Denver folks imagine a project like the TREX/I25 expansion of the early 2000's FOREVER!  It's ridiculous.  We made it around the city in good time, and our first stop was the Hinsdale Oasis to get some coffee, gas, and take a little break.  Tracy and Arden walked to the Starbucks, while the rest of us gassed up and went to the bathroom at the gas station.  We had already used a little over ten gallons of gas so we put another $50 in!   The kids helped me wash the windows with the squeegee they provide, and they all had a blast doing it.  

Everything was pretty uneventful until we got just South of Chicago.  My brother called to discuss our plans for when we reached GA, and unbeknownst to me while I was on the phone the GPS didn't interrupt to tell me which highway to take.  I hung up with my brother and the GPS was re-routing.  I quickly realized we had driven 10-15 minutes in the wrong direction.  It wouldn't be our first detour of the day.  Surprisingly, it was our first directional mess up since we've left.  We turned around and got back on the right highway pretty quickly.  As Tracy pointed out, we are grateful for Siri, and not to be using a paper map.   It could have been worse.  

Another fun experience was crossing the state line from IL into IN. Tracy got all the kids to lift their hands and feet into the air and scream "welcome to Indiana".  She's been doing this since CO.  We've been through Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and now Kentucky and every time the same drill.  We also do this with our arms up in the tunnel heading up to ski. 

Tracy spent the morning resuming "mommy school" as "Mrs. Mommy" and had  her special guest teacher Aunt Colleen AKA "Mrs. Magoo" which the kids thought was a hoot.  

It was clear the kids were getting hungry, so we stopped in Merrillville, IN at a Cracker Barrel.  We thought it would be a good idea to have a good old fashioned lunch and share that experience with the kids.   I parked far away in the corner of the lot, as the RV takes up quite a few spaces.  On the way in I noticed Cracker Barrel has RV parking which I thought was cool.  Next time I'll park in the designated area, and not take up a half a dozen spots.  The front porch of the restaurant had a bunch of rocking chairs lined up.  Clearly the Cracker Barrel in Merrillville, IN is the place to be after church on Sundays.  The hostess said it was going to be a 20-25 minute wait.  I was feeling anxious about stopping for lunch as I was so focused on driving I didn't want to spend an hour eating.  After Tracy and my sister outvoted me 2-1 we decided to wait.  We hung out in the gift shop, and luckily about 10 minutes later the hostess called "Arden party of 7".  Our waitress greeted us and we ordered for the kids immediately, so their food would be out ASAP.  Our waitress was probably in her mid 60's, and my sister commented on how she was perfect because it felt like your grandma was serving you.  It was a good midwestern experience for the kids.  The kids turned crabby quickly, as we realized we were about 30 minutes behind the "hunger curve".  If you are a parent you understand what I am referring to.  That's the point that your kid turns into a monster from being hungry.  While we sat and waited for our food the kids played this game that was made with a triangular piece of wood with holes drilled in it for what look like golf tees.   The point of the game is you start with one open spot and you have to "jump" the others until you can't make any more moves.  If you are left with only one tee you are a "genius".  If you're left with three or more you're an "ignoramus".  We explained what that was to the kids when Aunt Colleen was left with five golf tees.  Austin won with only one left.  I got two.  The rest fell somewhere around "ignoramus".    I told the kids in the "olden" days this is the types of games kids had.  No ipads, iphones, etc.  My nephew Caden replied "it's fun too"!  He's an old soul so I wasn't surprised.  After lunch the kids became bored quickly so I went outside to rock in the rocking chairs and play chess with them.  A few minutes later the moms came out and we got back on the road.  

After a few hours we got to Indianapolis which is where we had our second minor detour.  Arden sat up front with me and was chatting up a storm and I missed an exit.  It didn't take long for us to get turned around and back on track.  We drove through Indianapolis and it looked like a nice small Midwestern city.  It's size reminded me of Denver, but a little smaller.  Indianapolis is about 120 miles North of Louisville.  We drove a little longer and got to the Kentucky state line.  Hands and feet up, and lots of yelling "welcome to Kentucky"!  Louisville is a really cool looking city.  Seemed newer and nicer than Indianapolis.  Our campground is 20 minutes South of Louisville.  We kept on driving and it wasn't long before we pulled into the campground.  

It was about 7:30 and Aunt Colleen and I took the kids swimming while Tracy set up the RV.  The kids definitely needed to blow off some steam.  This KOA is nice but nowhere near as nice as the Mt. Rushmore KOA.  If I graded the Mt. Rushmore KOA a 9, this place is a 4 or 5.  Lots to do, but just not as nice as the Mt. Rushmore campground.  Tracy ordered pizza and about 45 minutes later it came.  We got the kids out of the pool and ate on a picnic bench outside of the RV.  

It's good to be back on the road.  

Favorite part of day:

Aunt Colleen - the triple layer chicken fight in the pool  

Arden - getting here safe

Tracy - resuming mommy school 

Davis - chicken fights in the pool 

Caden - when we were eating pizza Aunt Tracy opened the box and the lid hit him on the head which was funny

Austin - jumping on this blow up trampoline they have at KOAs 

Daddy - when three kids got on each other's shoulders in the pool, and when the kids realized there were lightning bugs outside as it got dark and went crazy trying to catch them.  This was on my list of summer things to do on a previous post.   (Arden was busted later in the evening trying to sneak one in the RV at bed time).  

The City

6/25

The City

That's what you call Chicago if you're from the Chicagoland area.... The City.  The kids went to the city last week to go to the Shedd Aquarium with their grandparents when Tracy and I were in Denver.  Yesterday (Wednesday) my sister, her kids, Tracy, our kids and I, left for the city around noon.  We took the train from Crystal Lake and it took us about an hour to get there.  The kids were pretty good although we managed to have half of them, two of the four, cry on the trip.  

We got to the train station around 2:00, checked in to our hotel, and walked a few blocks to Millenium Park to hang out and see "The Bean", which is actually called Cloud Gate, which ironically I never knew.  I bet most Chicagoans don't know the actual name of the sculpture.  "The Bean" is a huge bean shaped, mirrored sculpture that hundreds of people seem to be at every day of the week, looking at their reflection.  We've been there before, but not with the kids.  We spent a half hour at the park looking at the various sculptures and gardens.  

The kids were starting to get tired so we walked back to the hotel to rest.  On the way we stopped and bought all of our Chi-town gear.  Blackhawks, Cubs, etc.  If you were to walk around Chicago during baseball season, depending on where you were in the city, people everywhere are wearing Cubs and Sox shirts or hats.  During football season it's all Bears and a few lowly Packers fans.  Now that the Blackhawks are hot, same goes during hockey season.  When I was a kid during the Jordan era it was Bulls gear everywhere, but that seems to have decreased.  In Denver, other than Broncos fans, I rarely see people wearing Nuggets or Rockies jerseys.  Not sure if it's the relative newness of the teams, or why, but it is interesting.  

After checking into our rooms and napping for a half hour or so we decided it would be best if we left for famed Wrigley Field early, to catch batting practice.  We arrived around 4:30 for a 6:05 game time.  It was surprisingly cool outside. Probably about 60 degrees and foggy with a cool breeze coming off of the lake straight in from center field. 

Wrigley Field really is an amazing place.  I've been to Fenway, and it has that same nostalgic feel to it.  It's amazing these places still exist.  Babe Ruth called his shot at Wrigley in 1932.  The first night game wasn't until 1988.  The scoreboard is still manually operated.  The kids had no idea the history they were experiencing, but they also had no idea there wasn't a huge jumbotron in center field, the bathrooms were 100 years old, and the junk food still tasted great.  The kids watched batting practice along the wall, hoping to get a ball thrown to them, while I went near the right outfield hoping for a guy to hit a foul ball to me.  None of us succeeded, but we had a blast. 

After hitting up the concession stand to get a few thousand calories of complete junk food, we took our seats.  We had talked up the junk food opportunities all day and told the kids they could get whatever they wanted.  We got nachos, hot dogs, pizza, cracker jacks, beer (for Daddy), popcorn and peanuts.  Ironically the kids ate it all before the 2nd inning!  The Moms tried to explain to them that you're supposed to spread it out over the entire game and have something every few innings to no avail.  After our nutrient free snacks they went through the usual ritual of starting a baseball game and the first few innings were slow.  The Reds scored one run in the first inning, and a few more in the middle innings while the Cubs scored one in the 2nd or 3rd.  Nothing too eventful during the game other than the kids enjoying ordering beers for me and various food from the walking vendors.  We planned on waiting for the 7th inning stretch because it's a special experience at Wrigley.   When I was a kid Harry Caray made almost every 7th inning stretch memorable.  I remember eating banana splits on my granparent's porch watching the Cubs and listening to Harry sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  He only announced for the Cubs for 16 years but it seems like he was there for 50 years.  Towards the end of his career after a few Budweisers he'd slur player's names and every fly ball looked like a home run to him until it was caught in the short outfield.  Classic Harry.  Now they have guest conductors sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at every game.  We missed Sting by a few days but whoever did it for our game did a good Harry impression even adding his classic "let's get some runs" at the end.  After we sang, swaying back and forth, we headed out to Clark and Addison to get a cab.  We gave up after half a block and used Uber.  Twice the cost for way less than half the hassle.  We got to the hotel around 9:00 which is pretty late for these kids.  My kids fell asleep faster than I've ever seen.

In the morning we all surprisingly slept pretty late.  Last night I promised the kids room service in the morning which lit up their  faces with a smile.  We ordered room service for 7 which is no small feat.  While we waited the kids looked jumped back and forth between the two beds and looked at the window washers on the building next door.  They noticed a worker looking out the windows about the same height as us in the building next door.  I told them to waive to them and try to get their attention and they'd wave back, which they did.  The kids laughed and thought it was hilarious.  The food arrived a half hour later and we made make shift spots for everyone to eat.  After devouring our feast, the kids went back and forth between the two rooms to call each other, while us adults attempted to hang out and talk.  They finally wore us down after an hour and we decided to leave for the train station.  

I'm sitting on the train now writing this post and can hear the kids blabbing over my headphones, which I'm sure the daily commuters love listening to without headphones.  Seems like Aunt Colleen and Aunt Tracy have it all under control.  

Last night favorite part of the day:

Colleen - explaining the bases to Davis

Arden - hanging out with her cousins at the baseball game

Davis - getting a baseball (for $20! from the gift shop) at the game

Austin - working with his Dad on the beer delivery truck in the morning when uncle Matt used the knife to cut the wrapping off the beer just as his Dad said "don't cut the cans" uncle Matt cut the can and beer sprayed in his face

Caden - Cubs game and watching Davis rolled off the chair during fave part of day

Mom - eating nacho cheese at game.  Ironically the way it makes her feel is her least favorite part of the day

Dad - singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch with my family, Sister and Nephews

48 hours in Denver

Tracy and I left Friday morning to go back to Denver for our friend JB's wedding.  We landed just after lunch.  We went to our house and it was strange being home without the kids or dog.  Given our rare freedom, we laid around and watched TV for a while.  I went to get a haircut later in the afternoon and Tracy went shopping.  The place where I get my haircut is across the street from my office, but I chose not to stop by the office, and get my mind thinking about work.  We both got back to the house around 4:00 and started getting ready for the rehearsal dinner.  We got to the rehearsal dinner around 7:00.  It was in Cherry Creek at a hotel I've never seen or heard of called the Inn at Cherry Creek.  The hotel is small and tucked behind a restaurant at 233 Clayton.  It was a perfect place to have the rehearsal dinner on a 2nd floor patio terrace overlooking Clayton Street.  It was mainly a few close friends of the bride and groom, their families, and out of town guests.  We have known the groom's parents for years, and had met his friends from St. Louis a few times, so it was nice to see everyone again.  I was surprised at how calm everyone was.  Going to weddings at 36 years old is much different than 26 years old.  We had a few drinks but generally took it easy.  We would change all that, Saturday at the actual wedding!

Saturday we relaxed at the house, and got picked up at our house by our friends Chris and Larina around5:30 for the wedding.  The wedding was at a restaurant near Wash Park called Cafe Bar.  There were 100-125 guests and the restaurant was a perfect fit for the festivities.  We had a few drinks and some appetizers and they started the wedding ceremonies.  The ceremony was officiated by JB's cousin Ben, who is a local sportswriter for the Denver Post, and an amazingly talented guy.  He gave a great speech and proceeded with the formal part of the ceremony.  The groom and bride each have two daughters, and the daughters all wrote vows and asked them to the other parent.  it went something like this:  "JB, do you promise to let us all cuddle in your bed and make us pancakes and watch cartoons with us on Saturday mornings?"  JB says "I do".  It was really cool.  It was also great seeing all the other guys from work.  My office is 40 or so people, mainly guys around my age, and a great group to hang out with in business and socially.  Having been gone for two weeks I really missed everyone and being together again reminded me how lucky I am to work with such great people.  I enjoy going to work everyday and sometimes allow myself to take how great the people are for granted.  

The next morning we woke up and went out for breakfast.  Our flight wasn't until 3:00, so Tracy paid some bills and sorted the last two weeks of mail, while I watched the World Cup.  We went to the airport and headed back to Chicago.  

When we got back to Tracy's parents house, the kids were very excited to see us and exhausted from their weekend with their grandparents.  I have a funny feeling they were very active, stayed up late and dined on regular helpings of sugar.  

It was such an interesting feeling to me having the stress of everyday life rush back in once I got back near my house.  It's hard to let myself mentally break away from work, and the last two weeks I've been able to do that successfully.  Once we got back into the neighborhood the stresses of home life and work life came rushing back in.  Even as I sit here Monday night I'm slowly getting back into "vacation mode".  

Today we took the train from Arlington Heights, near Tracy's parent's house in Buffalo Grove to Woodstock.  The train systems here are awesome compared to CO.  Ironically, when we got a few minutes from our stop, I got our luggage and walked downstairs and our long time family friend Donna Erwin was sitting there!  I was bummed we didn't get to talk for the last 40 minutes but we sat down and talked for a few minutes before we got to the station.  She's going to come over Saturday for a bbq so it will be good to catch up.  

Favorite part of the day:
Arden - going to auntie Rara's house and playing with her cousin Sophie
Davis - riding uncle B's long board (skate board)
Daddy - seeing old friend Donna Erwin on train and getting to Aunt Colleen's house to relax
Tracy -  When Sophie paid her for dinner in kisses (remotely as she stayed at her parent's house tonight)

Nothing like a big smile from a kid

Wednesday night my nephew Caden had a baseball game in Walworth, WI I went

to with my sister.  Tracy stayed home and put the kids to bed.  My other
nephew, Austin, had a game at home so we dropped him off, and left for
Walworth.  Walworth is about 15 miles from Hebron just over the border of
Wisconsin.  It's interesting seeing these small town teams travel all over
to field a game while I could round up enough players to field a game just
in my subdivision.  My other nephew Austin actually plays on the 14U team as
a twelve year old because they don't have enough players. 

Caden played catcher the first few innings and outfield in the later
innings.  There are all these rules now in Little League that were
interesting to me being a baseball player when I was younger.  The pitcher
can only pitch two innings.  Runners can't steal home.  I'm sure there's
many more I didn't catch.  Caden is 10 years old and I was surprised and
impressed when they started practicing before the game.  They were better
than I expected.  The game wasn't that exciting.  Lots of walks and strike
outs.  It was tied 2-2 until the last inning when the team from Walworth had
a big inning and scored four runs.  We finally got them out while they had
bases loaded and stopped the bleeding.  Caden was the 6th or 7th batter in
the last inning.  It was unlikely he would get up based on how things had
been going.  A few walks and strikeouts later and Caden was on deck (next
batter up for you non-baseball people).  The batter before him ended up
walking, and Caden came up with bases loaded.  He was the tying run.  He
took a strike and dug in for the second pitch.  BAM - it went flying down
the right field line.  I was sitting directly in line with the right field
line so I could see it was going to land fair by six inches or so.  The
umpire called fair and off he went around first base.  He ended up at second
base and could have made it to third, but the kid in front of him was really
slow and not sure if he should keep running.  Our whole side of the stands
were standing, clapping and cheering.  When he got to second base. he
paused, and looked over at us and had the biggest smile on his face I've
ever seen.  I was so proud and happy for him.  I remember hitting a home run
in Little League and jogging around the bases with a huge grin on my face.
Trying to stop because I was embarrassed, but deep down so happy.  I knew he
had the same feeling at that moment.  Seeing that smile was definitely my
favorite part of the day.  The next kid struck out, and the game ended
abruptly a 4-6 loss for the Alden-Hebron Giants.  None of the kids even
cared, especially Caden.  They shook hands, and Caden came running over to
me as excited as he was standing on second base a few minutes before.  It
was awesome to see the youthful excitement he and the whole team displayed.
Before the game, I promised Caden if he got a double or better I would take
him to the Dari.  Ironically, on the way back my other nephew called and
said they won their game so the coach was giving each kid $2 to go to the
Dari.  I told him we'd meet him there and off we went.  It was great seeing
all the kids talking about their games with ice cream spilling down their
shirts and all over their faces.  A high school friend of mine randomly
stopped by the Dari to pick up dinner which was interesting.  I hadn't seen
him in at least ten years.  

Thursday we woke up and cleaned up our area, as we were going to Tracy's
parent's house in Buffalo Grove via train.  We got to the train station just
after lunch.  We quickly realized the mid-day trains to the city are filled
with crazy people.  After being chatted up for twenty minutes by a lady who
was quite out there, the train arrived.  It's about a 40 minute train ride
to Tracy's parents' house.  The seat backs flip back and forth so you can
face the way the train is going which the kids found very interesting.
After the kids had some fun flipping the chairs back and forth we told them
to settle into a seat and relax.  Davis and I played Tiger Woods golf on my
phone, while Tracy taught Arden to blow bubbles with her gum and chatted.  

Thursday night we went to Tracy's sister's house for dinner, which was
really cool because all of her nieces and nephews were there.  I think it
was the first time in a while that all the grandkids from her side of the
family were together.  The kids played, while Tracy's sister Rachel and her
husband Brian cooked dinner.  We ate outside which was nice.  It was great
seeing all the kids playing together in the yard.  We left around 7:00 to
get the kids home to bed.  We had an early flight the next day to get back
to Denver for my friend JB's wedding weekend.  The kids were nervous going
to bed, realizing we were leaving in the morning for two nights.   

We woke up early Friday to get to the airport.  We woke the kids up to say
goodbye, and there were a few tears but I'm sure the grandparents spoiled
them rotten the whole day to make up for it.  We got back to Denver around
lunch time and to our house around 1:00.  It was weird walking into the
house with no kids or dog.  We laid around most of the afternoon, ran a few
errands and left for the party about 7:00.  Tracy is sleeping in this
morning, and I went out to breakfast to write this post.  Looking forward to
getting back to IL.  We're going to the city Wednesday and Thursday and will
be able to take the kids to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game which will be fun.

I wouldn't say I've been missing it Bob...

I've been gone from work for over a week now and like the link below I wouldn't say I've been missing it.

http://youtu.be/kXsIfpnThFA

We got here Thursday night and were so tired from Mt. Rushmore, Sioux Falls, and the drive across WY, SD, MN, WI and into IL, I haven't had the energy to think about work.  Once we relaxed for a few days, I started getting anxious about missing work yesterday.  After spending an hour or so having an internal conversation about how I needed to let go of work and focus on being present with my family, I was able to let go.  In a great moment of gratitude I realized the only reason I'm able to do this trip, and have the ability to let go, is because of the great people that I work with, supporting me on this trip.  My partner Jeff, and team Cody and Peter, have done such an excellent job. other than that hour yesterday, I've felt zero stress being gone from work.  My clients that I work with, have also been so supportive of the trip, it's been cool to see their support. 

Like I said above we've been taking it pretty easy over since we got here Thursday night.  Tracy and Arden left Friday after lunch to go to her parents house in Buffalo Grove which is about 45 minutes from my sister's house.  They went to host a shower for Tracy's brother and fiancé Saturday.  Arden was really excited to be a part of the festivities, and hang with her 2 year old cousin Sophie, who is like a living doll for her.  Friday night when my sister's husband got home from work, we did a time honored tradition in Ill, we went to Friday fish fry.  We went to the Rusty Nail in Ringwood, IL.  I assume the Friday night fish fry tradition was started because the Catholics couldn't eat meat on Fridays during Lent.  When we were kids Friday fish fry was a popular thing to do but I don't recall ever seeing signs for fish fry in Colorado.  I don't think the health conscious in CO would be too excited for fried fish every Friday night.  It was really good, and afterwards we went to The Dari, a local ice cream store that has been there for 50+ years in Hebron, IL.  (More about the Dari later).  My sister lives almost at the border of WI and IL so these towns have hundreds, maybe a few thousand people in them.  Between the towns are fields and fields of corn and beans all farmed by the local farmers.  All 60 or so miles from the 3rd largest city (Chicago) in the country.  The people in these towns are hard workers and all great, friendly people.  It reminds me of Mayberry on the Andy Griffith show except with nasaly Chicago accents.  Imagine Da Bears skit on SNL.

Saturday we didn't do much until later in the day when we went to a graduation party at one of the local farms.  I have many memories as a kid going parties like this at farms or in people's backyards.  The boys quickly quickly headed to the field where they started playing football with all the farm boys. These farm boys are a tough group. There were two little boys, probably 4 years old that were running around tackling each other.  That was their game.  One kid would run ten feet the other kid would tackle him and vice versa.  Most 4 year olds I know would cry if they got too far from their Mom.  Davis was the youngest boy playing football by a number of years, so nobody was throwing the ball to him. Since he wasn't seeing any action nobody was covering him and his cousin Austin threw the ball to him and he scored a touchdown.  He was so excited. He was probably the only kid playing under 10 years old.  Davis and I left early, as he was exhausted and my sister and her family came home later.  People in CO always hear me say the word "pop" instead of soda so I found it interesting the cooler was labeled "pop". Pics below.  

Sunday was Father's Day. Tracy came back to my sisters house with her parents, her sister, her brother in law and their baby Sophie.  All 13 of us went out for brunch, which I asked my sister to arrange.  I always enjoy going to brunch with a large group for holidays.  After devouring multiple plates of food we all went back to my sisters house to relax.  The adults hung out inside while the kids played outside.  After an early dinner we put the kids to bed and went to bed early. Monday we went to Magic Waters, a water park about an hour away.  When we got home the cousins had to each go to their baseball games so we stayed in wit Arden and Davis, and relaxed.  The kids went to bed early.

So back to the Dari.  We've gone there for ice cream many of the nights since I've been there and it is such a throwback of the old fashioned town hangout in these old farm towns.  Most every baseball team, win or lose, goes there after games, and since Hebron is such a small town almost everyone knows everyone there.  The owners are really nice and are second generation owners.  The little gray building to the left that is almost entirely covered by the RV is a barbershop which is also owned by a second generation owner.  We took my sister's mother in law with us to ice cream and she told us my brother in law got his first haircut there as a kid some 40 years ago!  For the record she said he cried.  If you see him feel free to bring it up.  Since we've been there a few times in the last week I asked if I could hop behind the counter and take a picture.  Being the small town Hebron is the owner said no problem!  (pics below).  In the background you can see the water tower and it is painted like a basketball which is the way I remember it as long as I've been around.  That is because in 1952 Hebron High School, from a school of 98 students, won a state basketball championship.  Ironically defeating Quincy High School.  I know a bunch of people from Quincy, IL.  Read the story here if you're interested - http://www.mchenrycountysports.com/articles/2012/03/13/r_qasvdw1lrkojgutwr9ah4a/index.xml

They even let me take an order or two 

A few more days here in IL and then back to Denver for my really good friday JB's wedding Friday and Saturday.  

Favorite parts of the day tonight:

Arden - fishing 

Caden  (10 years old) - getting a dirt bike 

Uncle Greg - when Aunt Colleen asked if he wanted to kiss and make up because he was crabby 

Colleen - when uncle Matt went to the doctor like the wimp he is (Chiropractor for the record - did I mention the 1400 mile drive?)  

Austin (13 years old in a few weeks) - crashing the dirt bike and fishing 

Davis - fishing and eating pepper right out of the garden 

Tracy - working out 

Matt - going last for favorite part of the day so Mommy didn't have to (Moms always go last it seems)

Days 4 & 5 - travel days

6/11 & 6/12

We woke up this morning and caught some more flying pancakes.  Davis was nervous and kept commenting how he didn't want anyone to watch him and was worried about what would happen if you dropped a pancake.  I told him they want you to, so they can feed the chipmunks, and he finally got enough courage to go after I went and caught one.  After Davis and Arden went, and successfully caught pancakes, this little 3 year old girl came up to try her luck.  The guy threw the pancake perfectly at her plate and she got scared and flinched and pulled her plate back so the pancake missed and fell on the floor.  No problemo - the guy threw another and it landed right on her plate.  After pancake time we got the RV ready and left.

We drove past Mt. Rushmore one last time and headed towards Rapid City.  Once we got to Rapid City the landscape started to change to plains just like the movie Dances with Wolves.  The further East we traveled after Rapid City it it was all rolling plains.  Every few miles there would be a Wall Drug sign advertising free water and "5 cent coffee".  I didn't plan on stopping for Wall Drug because a friend told me it was really lame, but I told Tracy about it and she said she definitely wanted to stop there.  It was only a mile or two of the highway which was convenient and they had RV parking.  We stopped the RV and walked a block to the store which took up a whole city block.  There is one street of stores that look like an old fashioned block of stores but Wall Drug has taken over the whole one side of the block.  It's probably the size of Walmart but filled with gift shop junk.  A few cool things they had were hand made old fasioned donuts and an old fashioned soda fountain.  Tracy bought two donuts to share and I took the kids to the soda fountain to get an old fashioned root beer float.  After our feast, we walked around and bought some junk and then Tracy took the kids to get cowboy boots (we talked Davis out of the bright red ones) and then we were off.

Sioux Falls has 100,000+ people in the town so as we got closer Tracy started looking for organic food stores for Tucker (10 year old Golden Retriever) and her.  They're both picky about eating organic food and please see the post from day one about forgetting Tucker's food.  We found and stopped at an organic dog food store and got carryout from an organic restaurant.  After picking up our food we drove past Sioux Falls just like Chevy Chase in European Vacation and Big Ben.  "Look kids, Sioux Falls".

We arrived at the Sioux Falls KOA in the early evening. This KOA was way smaller than the Mt. Rushmore KOA and reminded me of an old school RV park.  There was a freezing cold pool nobody was swimming in and it was clear this was a stopover point in between destinations for car travelers.  The one amenity the kids were excited about were renting those recumbent bikes KOA calls "banana bikes".  I was also excited to have a little distance from the kids.  I gave them $20 and told them to scram - everyone's a winner.  After an hour of the kids on the banana bikes and Tracy and I sitting on the patio finishing the bottle of wine we bought last night, we took showers and got the kids in their bunks.  Davis watched the Stanley Cup in his bunk on my Ipad while Arden watched a kid movie and then we put them to bed.

We forgot to do favorite part of the day so here are my assumptions:

Tracy - turning on the air conditioner
Matt - realizing work is totally squared away and my team is aweosme
Arden - getting cowboy boots
davis - catching pancakes at breakfast

We slept in Thursday morning which was nice.  After slowly getting everyone out of bed we got the RV ready, and hit the road at 9:00 am for an eight hour drive.  It was really windy like in Wyoming, throughout the rest of South Dakota.  It was uneventful through Minnesota except the landscape looked more and more like IL.  Corn fields everywhere.  Once we made it to Lacrosse, WI were were impressed by how beautiful it was.  We crossed the Mississippi River and the kids pointed out that is looked purple.  Once again I was reminded of Mr. Clark W. Griswold -

http://youtu.be/hUNMmSbkAG8

Growing up in Northern Illinois, we went to Wisconsin a lot, so once we were in Wisconsin I could feel how close we were to my sister's house.  The only problem is Lacrosse, WI is really far from northern IL.  212 miles to be exact.  Three and a half hours later we pulled onto Giant Oaks Road and there were Caden and Austin in the road waiting for us.  I backed the RV down their driveway, which was no easy feat, seeing it is windy and I would estimate 400' long.  I got out and could barely walk.  My hips and knees felt siezed.  Eight hours is my maximum one day driving time.  The kids were all so excited and so were Tracy and I.  I love being at my sisters house.  She has this awesome house on 2.5 acres in the country and the kids get to run around and have fun the whole time.  It's such a settling feeling parking the RV and knowing we could relax.  We sat in the RV for 15 minutes or so and my sister dutifully had a cold Miller High Life for me.  I deserved a champagne of beers after eight hours of driving.  I went down and showered after dinner and felt great.  The kids went to bed without a peep and Tracy and I fell asleep soon thereafter around 10 which is 9 MT.  My nephews Austin (13 next month) and Caden (10.5) slept in the RV which is hilarious to me.  I told them it was going got get cold as the low temp was 54 for the night.  They woke up when their Dad went to work at 5:30, and came in the house because they were freezing.  First thing Caden said when I saw him in the morning was "it was awesome" and "it was cold".

Favorite part of the day:
Greg - that we're all here safe and healthy and he wasn't at work
Colleen - making dinner and grilling out with family
Austin - us coming to the house
Caden - setting up the beds
Arden - getting off the torture bus
Davis - the backhand he had when we played hockey last night before bed
Tracy - being able to spread out her stuff all over Colleen's basement
Matt - getting here safely and arden calling the RV the torture bus

Tracy and Colleen keep interrupting me as I finish this blog post as they want me to write that Colleen had a home cooked meal on the table when we got there, Tracy already washed all our dirty laundry and colleen had all the beds, etc. set up for us when we got here.  Kudos to you girls!

Tourist day 2/June 10

We all slept better last night.  Everyone was completely wiped out so that helped.   I woke up at 6:45 and once again Arden peaked her little head out of her bunk.  I gave her an Ipad and walked to get some coffee.  Davis came out of his bunk about 20 minutes later after I got back from getting coffee.  There is a little coffee shop about 200 yards from the RV so that has been convenient each morning.

After wrestling the queen out of bed a little while later, we all decided on going to Pappa's Big Top Pancakes for breakfast.  They have a little tent here they aggressively refer to as the "big top" and for $2.95 you can have all you can eat pancakes.  Sausage, bacon and drinks extra.  Tracy brought her own food.  The whole trip she's been eating as healthy as possible so she brought a little greek yogurt, granola and fruit.  I paid for our meals and the cashier gave me 3 poker chips.  Two reds for the bacon eaters and one green for the sausage eater.  Someone kindly advised us to sit in the corner by the pick up area where you trade poker chips for pancakes, and the meat of your choice. When you go up for another serving of pancakes, they flip them over the counter about 10' in the air onto your plate.  We sat down and patiently waited for a customer wanting a refill.  Sure enough the man with the empty plate steps up, pancakes start flying through the air, he catches them and goes back to devour his prize.  I quickly scarfed down my pancakes so I could get in line.  I caught the first one.  Talked Tracy into catching the second one, and like the superior athlete that she is there were no problems.  We were notified by the staff the record for eating pancakes was 27.  We declined any competition, finished our breakfasts, and left for our activities.  Reptile gardens here we come.

We voted after breakfast on Reptile World, Rushmore Cave, Old Macdonald's Farm or Presidential Wax Museum.  Wax Museum got zero votes, Reptile World got both kids attention so we were off.  Patience permitting we'd hit up Rushmore Cave after Reptile Gardens.

When we got to Reptile Gardens, a crocodile/alligator show started right away.  We took our seats in the front row and out came a trainer to walk around in between 30 or so crocodiles, caymans and alligators.  The crocs and their buddies are cold blooded which he explained in a very long way makes them lazy so they basically sat around the whole time until he grabbed one and laid on top of it, holding it's mouth shut, etc.  He fed a few of the crocs, had a few more tricks and then the real crowd pleaser was when he went back into the building and came out with Fluffy the baby croc.  The crowd suddenly got back into it.  He kindly taped Fluffy's mouth shut and walked around the fence for all to pet and take pics with Fluffy.

After hanging with Fluffy we stopped for a 10:30 am hamburger snack as the kids were starting to get hungry.  Even though we were at Pappa's Big Top a few short hours ago, kids tend to eat when they find it convenient, so I'm not sure they actually ate any pancakes.  Once the snack was devoured and a little half lemonade/half water consumed, spirits were better and we were off.

A few lame exhibits here and there and then we got to the giant tortoises which were really cool.  We walked into this little wooden fence, closed the door behind us and about 20 feet away there was a 50 year old, 500 pound tortoise named Tank.  He was just laying there so the guy in the exhibit started rubbing his neck/shoulder which was kind of weird and up popped Tank.  When he stood up he was probably a foot or so off the ground and massive.  The kids rubbed his neck and shell and he just hung out there.  There were a few more giant tortoises, one of which was 108 years old.  There is basically no phone or internet service anywhere near Rushmore or I'd post pics and videos of these tortoises and the rest of our adventures.

After leaving Tank and his buddies, we went to a snake show and Davis' attention span started getting the best of him.  Just as the snake handler brought out the venomous snakes Davis looked over at me and said "I want to go Dad".  He gets his attention span from me, which is the shortest attention span in the world next to my brother's, whose attention span would actually measure in negative seconds.  On the way out we saw a prairie dog exhibit which was funny as we have prairie dogs all over Colorado and basically view them as rodents.

After reptile gardens, we drove back towards Mt. Rushmore and went to Keystone to lunch.  Keystone is the town after Mt. Rushmore on one side, Custer being the town on the other side.  Both of which are basically a few hundred feet or tourist shops and average at best restaurants.  We stopped at the first random restaurant and it was actually good.  We were 1 of 2 patrons and it was nice to have a meal that wasn't horrible.

After our lunch we went to Rushmore Caves where we planned on doing the two seater zip line and going through the Rushmore Cave.  Once we paid for our tickets it was clear Davis wasn't going to be able to go through a one hour walking tour, through anything much less a cave, without going on the zip line.  We ran to the zip line sat down and went down for our few seconds of fun.  It was pretty cool that we were able to sit in a chair lift type chair next to each other so we could experience it together, and once we got to the bottom of the zip line they pull us back up backwards so we got to experience it twice.  We were destined to do this zip line again after the cave tour.

The cave tour was pretty cool.  I did a cave tour like this when I was a kid but I can't recall where it was or when it was.  You know the deal; stalactites, stalagmites, etc.  Davis did pretty good but about halfway through he started asking the guide how much longer.  It was pretty funny.  Arden really enjoyed it.  She's more studious than Davis so she was asking questions and geeking out on it.  We made it out, tipped the guide, hit the bathroom then it was back to the zip line as I mentioned above.

We learned our lesson yesterday on pushing activities much past 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  We went back to the campground and Tracy went to do laundry while I made the kids watch movies in their bunks.  After 20 minutes or so they were ready for more action and I was basically sleeping, so I told them to take $20 out of my wallet and scram.  One of the really nice things about staying at a campground like this is it gives the kids the opportunity to be independent.  When I was a kid I recall riding my bike to my grandparents house on the other side of town or to school which was a mile or two (I mapped it, .7 miles to school and a little over a mile to grandparent's - I wanted to confirm how far it was for my uphill both ways stories to the kids).  These days the kids rarely are allowed to be independent and it shows.  Anyway, moral of this part of the story is give your kid $20 and tell them to scram once in a while.

After my brief nap I walked around to find the kids and they had been waiting at the bike shack for me to sign a release form so they could rent these little recumbent bikes KOA refers to as banana bikes.  I dutifully signed the form, and they were off on the bikes for about 20 minutes.  When they came back I took them in the paddle boat and then they asked to go on the kayaks.  I got in the open seat kayak and explained to them they can't lean or we'll tip.  Davis did ok.  We went around a 30 foot circle or so and he wanted to go back.  He wasn't excited about the possibility of tipping.  Arden got in and immediately leaned over and we were about one millimeter from tipping.  After giving her the quick kayak tour of a pond that is about 100' long we went back and it was clear they were ready for dinner.

Nothing exciting at dinner. Ponderosa Diner again, which I'm excited about never frequenting again in my life.  Had our daily favorite part of the day conversation and I started getting antsy about our pending departure so I left Tracy to pay the bill and went back to start packing up the RV.  After 20 minutes or so they came down and went swimming while I finished packing the RV.  I cleaned out the black water and gray water tanks.  I heard so many horror stories from people about doing this and getting yuk water all over them but it seemed pretty simple to me.  Hook up hose, open valve, open other valve, put hose away.  Pretty uneventful other than it brought back a memory of going on an RV trip with my family as a kid at around 8 or so and my dad doing the same exercise in the middle of nowhere in IL on the side of the road into a drainage ditch.  Times have changed.  Now there's special hoses and these little ramps for the hoses and the EPA would probably execute me if I were to do what my Dad did.

After showers the kids watched movies in their bunks while I sit here writing the blog and Tracy is reading a book about Tom Sizemore (she liked it if anyone cares to read).  The bunks are pretty sweet with them each having their own little flat screens with built in DVD players.  It rained really hard for an hour or so and as I'm finishing up the rain has stopped.  The weather is really similar here to Colorado, especially in the mountains.  Warm and super sunny during the day, cool at night and so far the same late afternoon rain storms we experience.

We are Planning to drive to Sioux Falls or if I'm feeling confident Sioux City tomorrow.  It is 14-15 hours to Chicago and I need to get Tracy and Arden to her parent's house in Buffalo Grove by Friday night as Tracy's hosting her brother's fiancés shower Saturday.  Davis and I will drive from her parent's to my sister's Friday night.  I only want to drive 5-7 hours each day so we'll have to work on the plan for the next few days while en route as the cell/internet won't work until we get closer to Rapid City.

Favorite part of day:
Davis - zip line
Dad - catching pancakes at pancake breakfast
Mom - taking Tucker for walks
Arden - zip line and rushmore cave

Wow... what a day.

I think we did every activity in Mt. Rushmore area today.  I woke up around 5:55 am, and as I walked into the front of the RV Arden peaked her head out of her bunk and asked if she could watch her Ipad in bed with her headphones.  Her early wake up would come back to haunt her later in the day.    While she sat in her bunk and watched her Ipad, I sat at the kitchen table and wrote our blog post from yesterday.  With no internet access I wouldn't be able to post it until later in the day.  Sunday night I made a bunch of notes in anticipation of waking up early to write our blog post for the day.  It was a pain to have to do the next morning so I'm sitting here Monday night writing today's post.  I'm going to list the activites from today as if I had to write a sentence for each activity this would be too much writing.

So...what did we do today?

-coffee at the KOA coffee shop
-breakfast at Ponderosa Grill (KOA's version of a diner)
-rented 12 year old Chrysler Sebring convertible (ironically enjoyed it)
-drove to Mt. Rushmore and did the Rushmore tour
-met the only living man who worked on Rushmore - 93 years young very cool
-drove from Mt. Rushmore memorial to Keystone, SD touristy metropolis and did impromptu helicopter for for 10 minutes
-hopped in our souped up Sebring convertible and drove to chair lift/alpine slide
-chair lift up to viewing point of Mt. Rushmore, lunch at the top which was one of the grosser meals for me so far, took alpine slide down
-filled out release forms and got in line for zip line/obstacle course - realized later kids aren't over 50 lbs so we were out
-drove 15 minutes to Bear Country USA - I wish the wifi worked around here so I could post pics and vids it was amazing - bears 3 feet from the car.

This is when the meltdowns started - kids were DEAD tired and needed a break.  In between spurts of screaming at each other and fighting we drove home to rest.  By the way it was only 2:30 at this point.  After a much needed rest in the bunks watching shows for about 45 minutes while Mommy went to town to get groceries, it was on again...

-walked to pool to swim
-got Arden an ear of roasted corn and fresh squeezed lemonade which she devoured
-went into freezing cold pool.  got out immediately and went into luke warm hot tub
-got Arden ear of corn #2
-played mini golf with kids
-Mommy came to meet us at the mini golf/activity shack
-got Arden ear of corn #3 and Mommy tried ear of corn #1 for her
-Davis, Arden and I ditched Mommy and rented this huge 4 seater bike that had a place for two people to peddle.  See comment above about ditching Mommy - I had to pedal myself and it was super hard.  For some reason those lame 4 wheel bikes like that are horrible to pedal.  You think someone would put some skinny pumped up tires on them so it wasn't so difficult
-Hopped on KOA 1940's era fire truck and toured around the campground until I hopped off when we got by our RV (I wanted the kids to have to ride to the other end of campground and then have to be responsible enough to walk themselves back - they made it alive believe it or not Moms!)

It was 5:20 now.

-went to store to get wood, etc.  (will post another time about how I suck at campfires and how to do a good one as I'm determined to find out how on YouTube)
-started a crappy camp fire that only made it because I doused it with lighter fluid 4 times.  Same with the crappy little charcoal grill I bought except 5 dousings of lighter fluid
-cooked and ate an awesome meal of steak, corn on cob (#4 for Arden today), potatoes, mushrooms and bread - all baked or grilled on my lighter fluid fires
-took showers because we reeked like a campfire not without first informing kids EVERY time you have a campfire you have to put it out before you leave to satisfy smokey the bear
-Tracy then freaked about the level of dirt in the RV. She has a weird thing about dirty feet, so she used half the tub of clorox wipes, "ice skating" around the floor with her tennis shoes to make it spick and span.
8:20 now I'm beat going to watch We're the Millers (I am downloading every RV movie known to man) on the Ipad and hit the sack.  

Kid's haven't said a peep since they laid down 15 minutes ago.

Fave parts of day:
Dad - walking to bathroom in am and guy is in his shorts and his wife is shaving his neck/back and driving to Rushmore kids we're on their walky talkies talking to each other in the back seat
Mom - the baby animals at Bear Country USA
Arden - Mt. Rushmore and Bear Country USA
Davis - sitting in front on the helicopter ride with the pilot and the alpine slide

Additional favorite part of the day:  Arden was sitting on my lap at the campfire and I asked her if she knew that there would be a time when she didn't want to hang out with Daddy on vacation and she responded that she will always want to hang out with Daddy on vacation.