Girl is One Month

When little girls turn one week old we have a party. When little girls turn one month old we embark on an adventure. This was a special adventure as it was her FIRST trip to South Dakota. Obviously from the picture below it was just any other day to her.

She was a great traveler, as most babies are. It was a long ride. We had to drop Minnie (the mini van) off at the airport for Darren when he flew back, stop and buy some jeans for Blase and Rex, quick stop at the post office, stopped by the dentist to see the 4 oldest boys' pictures on the TV for the NO CAVITY CLUB, and a necklace/baby girl charm purchase stop at K-Mart. THEN and only then were we ready to head WESTWARD!!! When we travel through Wisconsin, by way of Tomah, the boys always watch for the cranberry fields about 2 hours into the trip. So that means we have about 2 1/2 hours of "when will we see them" questions to put up with. As if that isn't excitement enough, Brech Earl decided that he didn't enjoy reading the book he was looking at or the lunch in his stomach - SOOO McDonalds chicken nuggets decorated our van. By this point I am so tired of our vacation that I'm ready to turn back around - only 3 hours from the house.

Besides the cranberry fields, the boys also keep their eyes peeled for cemeteries so we can pray for the deceased, "Army man" tanks, helicopters and cannons, airplanes (crop dusters are our favorite) and unusual things. That eye was about as unusual as it can get. That thing was HUGE...taller than a pickup and longer too.

I do believe the "person" statue is taller than me - but we didn't stop for proof. That gives you an idea of how massive that eye is. Who would seriously want that in their front, back or any yard????

We stopped at Sparta, WI to spend the night. The boys went swimming with Dad, while Gianna and I bought diapers at Wal-mart and socks for the boys. The next morning we went to Mass at a lovely church near Cashton, WI. The Institute of Christ the King has a parish there. The church was by far one of the most beautiful small town churches I had been in. It is an old church with a German background. Next time we attend Mass there I am determined to take pictures. After Mass we drove and drove. Here is a picture of a sleeping girl as we crossed the border into South Dakota. There again - just another day for her. We did our traditional stop at Cabelas and proceeded to Darren's parents' ranch. We arrived in good spirits, but READY to be done travelling. We slept good that night!