Jeremiah's 1st Party

June 2008 Jeremiah's Party

Party couldn't have been more fun... He wasn't overly thrilled about his cake but he sure loved seeing all the friends and family who cared about. He was all smiles all day!

Home Sweet Home

We are home safely after a perfect four days on the beach. I had a little adventure with a lost wallet on the last day of vacation but the drama is starting to subside. The weather, waves and company couldn't have been better and I will get some more beach pictures posted up shortly.

Virginia Beach

We are having a terrific time on vacation. We have had two pleasant days on the beach and loads of fun visiting my sister and her kids. We visited the Cape Henry Lighthouse on Fort Story and enjoyed the climb and the view from up there. Later we swam in the Bay and even got a little red. Today we went to the ocean at Sandbrige Beach and while the water was a little (okay a lot) more cold, we enjoyed waves large enough to body surf and play around in. The girls found multiple crabs and Jillian enjoyed the body surfing greatly. My sister had a team meeting and pool party for her daughter's soccer team so we took the opurtunity to head out as a family and visit the touristy section of Va. Beach. We dined at an overpriced beachfront cafe and took a lot of pictures on the oceanfront. We windowshopped and had ice cream and before we knew it it was time to head back home.
We have two more days at the beach at we will be headed home after that.

Free To A Good Home

We are considering getting rid of one of our computer desks... let me know if you are interested. I will try to get a picture of it uploaded shortly but it is so messy I would be embarrassed to do so at this point...

It has room for a computer, slide out thing for a keyboard, three shelves and a hutch that goes the width of it.

I can even deliver it, but it would be better if you can arrange a truck, that way it wouldn't have to come apart.

It's twelve years old and was inexpensive to begin with, but it would be fine for a kid or for not very heave use...

100th Post

As the family blog creeps towards its second birthday, this is the 100th post.

But who's counting.

If you would like to see some professional portraits of Jeremiah, Jeanna recently took him to CLICK for his one year pictures. They have a very nice online gallery, though I do not know how long his photos will be up there. Jeremiah's Pictures

Hope everyone is having a good summer. I have worked about 9 days, am teaching two online classes, getting ready to head to the beach with the family, will go to a professional conference in Texas shortly after I return, head to my parents the day I get back from there, teach about five PD days in July, go to a PD providers retreat (get to bring the fam) at a state park. In between there we will have company from Tulsa, Jeremiah's party, tons of Netflix and a family weekend at a cabin at another state park.

I love summers off.

Vacation Update From Grandpa

first time in five days tha we has sun and no rain. It was a bit chilly and had a lot of wind.

 

We left the city of Custer and the Black Hills for the last time. Our first stop was Custer State Park and we did an abbreviated volksmarch there. Then the girls were able to get into the tail end of a junior ranger presentation on trees and even did a neat project in connection with it. We then visited the nature lodge and answered many questions. The we left and officially headed- east! We stoped at WAll Drug Store and dd some of the activities that we wee unable to do when we stoped there last week because of rain. We ate lunch, bought a few souveniers (another whole story in itself) then bk on the road again. We then hit the Bad Lands again, and this time with the sun shining and time enough for the girls to complete their third junior ranger program. They really enjoy doing thse programs and can be done in 60-90 minutes- with help! They even got to cimb on some of the geogological formations but no pictures as both camera were empty. Jesica had several pictures left, but took 8 trying t get a picture of  T-Rex roaring with its mouth open, but kept missing so tried again, and again, and....anyway- we al enjoyed the Bad Lands.

 On the road again by about 4:40 and drove to  where we crossed the Missouri River. Found a room with a pool and thus eded another fun day. Some small aches and pains appear and reappear, but some TLC seems to cure most all ills. Believe it or not, we had our first real tears today. Tragedy, in the motel hallway this morning as both girls tried to carry a box of toys, etc. to the car and made it about 4 steps from our room when Jesica fell and took Jillian down with her

  Big day of driving tomorrow--

 

    M7D

--
Jeremy Renner

Day 6

More vacation updates..

Tonight it is Dad's turn to watch the swimmers again and I'm doing laundry.  Had a great day.  Started out early with a hike up Mt. Crazy Horse, us and 10,000 others.  Dad did the whole 10 ks and the girls and I did about 6+-mostly straight up!  The girls did a fantastic job. When Dad got off the mountain we did lunch at Subway, then drove back through Custer State Forest, sharing the road with buffalo, deer, and actually saw donkeys at the side of the road, pulled over and they came right up to the car.  Cute. Went back to the Reptile Gardens to use our "rain check".  Great place.  Saw the shows, Jessica kissed an alligator for some guys filming a commercial, petted snakes, scratched the tortoise's necks, and had a great time.  Dad wouldn't pet the snake.

Ate dinner at a Bavarian Inn (Jess had grilled cheese and Jillian had popcorn shrimp.)  Went to the $$ store to buy more tissue, Jess still has a runny nose, but feels fine.

The girls have been great, Dad bought a 2nd hair brush so now all is just fine.  Heading East tomorrow AM, may do a walk in the state park, then to the Badlands so they can do the Jr. Ranger program there.

 

later, Mom

--
Jeremy Renner

Extreme Yard Sale, Extreme Heat

Day one of a two day yard is in the books... when preparation time is accounted for I think we made about three cents an hour but we did clear out a lot of goodies! We are doing one of those operations where nothing comes back inside.. in fact as soon as the AM rush starts to fizzle on Saturday I am going to start taking carloads to the goodwill. If you are in the area come on down for the bargains you have been searching for. It was about a million degrees out there...

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The Trip With Grandma and Grandpa

Here are some selections from my dad and mom's emails. They have Jillian and Jessica with them on a trip to South Dakota... enjoy!

Day 1

anyway- we got moving by 10:00 am on Monday and basically drove IS 80 due west. Got to Davenport, IA mid afternoon and did a volksmarch along the Mississippi River. We didn't walk too many kms as the girls haven't quite grasped the idea of walking with grandpa yet.Their idea ia to walk 5 minutes and then play, or sit for 10 minutes. Now you know why I am not filling out their km books. After an hour, we left town and got to Des Moines. Not a real exciting day, but did get in about 450 miles. Hotel last night had a nice indoor pool and we took full advantage of it. Hooked up with 2 other young teenagers and the 6 of us played "marco polo" for a good while. fun, fun- well as long as Jessica rode on my back- as she always wanted to be "it", but then she couldn't catch anybody- so we teamed up and that was fine.

today we leave in real cool weather after it had rained all night.First stop was at old Fort Dodge in central Iowa and they had several reconstructed building that were fun to look at.Jillian said the best one to see was the jail! um... then they also had a reconstructed stockade, or small fort, that also served as a local museum of Indian artifacts, military memorabilia, and furniture, clothing, etc. of 100 years (+/-) years ago.I think the girls enjoyed it, but they certainly have different priorities of what to see or not see. You can only say, "look at this, or that" so many times.. then off again on our way to South Dakota. After a quick 2 hour pass through Minnesota, we got to SD about 6:00 pm. Stopped at the welcome center and they both became temporary "Deputy Sheriffs-- badges and all! got to the hotel with an indoor water slide, etc... around 7:30 in Mitchell; ate a quick burger and all were in the pool by 8:15. We are now cooling down and it soon be "lights off".

tomorrow will be a big day as we will go to the famous "Corn Palace" which is here in town-then drive about 250 miles to the Badlands. Thursday and Friday we will be in Rapid City where Mt. Rushmore is, and a 100 other activities; Saturday we will walk the Crazy Horse volksmarch and then......decide what we want to do next.

will keep you updated. Girls are keeping journals and buying post cards, as well as cutting pictures out of travel magazines. In addition they are taking pictures--no guarantees as to how they will. turn out as Jessica has only dropped hers about 4 or 5 times!

day 3
after our rain and short swim (big slide was closed down) we drove downtown (Mitchell) and visited the "Corn Palace"-- an expo center whose outside pictures are made of corn. Interesting, but the girls found shopping in the gift shop much more attractive. Two more gift shops later, we gut out of town by noon. Drove on to where the interstate crossed the Missouri River and were able to do a volksmarch there-nice walk along the river and out by a Indian School, which took a lot of explaining on why they got their own school, etc., etc....

After the walk we drove out to the Bad Lands--weather was chilly and a few rain drops were mixed in, but saw some deer, prairie dogs and sheep up close. Not sure what they thought of rock formations..but we tried!

We are camping out tonight in Wall, SD, of course made famous by the Wall Drug Store. Will hit it first then on to Rapid City and Mt. Rushmore. Will be in and around the Rapid City area for 4 days, so, at least not a lot of time in the car- finally. Missed the big rain storm but had a little rain on and off--we are now in mountain time zone.

day 4 (or is it 40)

Actually, for as bad as our weather has been, we did a lot today. Started out at the famous Wall Drug Store. Of course, Jessica wanted to spend every cent she had (on wonderful stuff like "the cutest pink plastic pony" made in China.) while big sister Jillian lectured her and didn't spend a bit. Actually neither of them did.

Then we headed to Mt. Rushmore. Had to stop and get Jillian a second camera as she has had a good time taking pictures. Had lunch there in the dining room, the girls did the 'junior ranger' program and got their badges, and we visited all the museums and exhibits in the rain. We even saw the carvings between clouds. Cold, yukky day.

Left there and visited a reptile farm (out of the rain) then drove to Deadwood to check in to a very rustic little place. Ate dinner, then hit the pool and hot tub to warm up. The girls are still swimming, with Grampa watching, they have hooked up with a couple of little girls and are having a ball. Jessica's nose is still running like crazy, but she says she feels ok and believe me she has not slowed down.

If it is decent tomorrow we will do a walk here in town then head towards Devil's Tower and do another. If it is still cold we will find a Kmart or the like and buy the girls some long pants and maybe find an indoor water park.

Jessica wanted to call and tell you she has finished a chapter book. She bought a Junie B Whoever book at the Corn Palace and has finished it. Gee, it was quiet in the car for a while.

Phone connections not very good here. mom