Adventures in South Dakota

A couple weeks ago we headed north on a road trip to see Grandpa Hudson and Grandma Brenda.....one of our kids' favorite places in the world to be! Casey has been itching to get up there to go fishing with his Dad for months, and we had a difficult time making it happen. Finally he and his Dad both had a weekend free.

Chase did a lot of this while we were there.

I hung out at the house with Chase while the rest of the clan took Grandpa's big boat out on the lake. Here's the catch of the day!

We were asked to bring the Halloween costumes and plastic Easter eggs with us??? They had a fun idea of having a Halloween Hunt for the kids since they never get to spend either holiday with the kids.

Chase LOVED swinging in their backyard! Grandma got back from the grocery store to find him hanging out here. She was so excited because she had just talked Grandpa into hanging the swing up recently in hopes that the grandkids would visit soon and get some use out of it.

We had a huge propane tank when I was little and I loved playing on it. Couldn't resist getting some pics of the kids on this one!

I also took advantage of their willingness to pose for some individual photos. Something that I don't have a chance to do much with the older kids. And they have some beautiful spots for taking pictures!

Miss K hadn't had a nap, so she was a little less cooperative (at first.)

But sometimes unwillingness makes for cute pics!

And she eventually warmed up to the camera :o)

Love how Kyndal's eyes pop in these!

Pumpkin Stroll

Well, these days I always seem to be a few weeks behind on my posts :o) Oh well, better late than never, right?!

One of our new traditions (this was our 2nd year) in the fall is going to the annual Pumpkin Stroll at our elementary school. We filled up on waffels from the Waffelman first and Kyndal and Corbin each purchased a book at the book fair. Then we headed outdoors to burn off some of those calories with a stroll around the school. Three times around = one mile.

The Waffelman doing his gig.

Stuffing our faces!

While Casey and the big kids jogged 3 times around the school, Kennedy stopped short at the playground.

The evening was great until little Miss K threw a major tantrum. She was NOT done playing. Life's tough when you're 3!!

Butterflies...

For months, Kyndal has been begging me to take her to the spa to get her nails done. Thanks to our good friend, Jodee, for tipping us off to a reasonable place not too far from our home. So a few weeks ago we headed out for some M&M time and she got her toes and fingers polished. I had Chase with us so I didn't end up getting a pedicure like planned, but I will next time!

She wasn't sure what to expect, and looked a little uneasy at first, but I think she really enjoyed the pampering!Kyndal picked out some hot pink polish and asked for butterflies. I made the connection later, they had just finished a section on the development of butterflies at school...so this was the perfect way to top it off (even though I hadn't planned on it!)Here's a picture she printed off at school during her studies of butterflies.
Kennedy and I had fun making M&M monster cookies at home for our one-on-one time and just this weekend Corbin and I snuck in a trip to the Rocket Fizz for our time. It was our first trip there and we'll definitely be going back. Especially since it's one of the businesses on our Pogo card!