Now We Are Six

The End

by A.A. Milne

 When I was One,

I had just begun.

 When I was Two,

I was nearly new.

 When I was Three,

I was hardly Me.

 When I was Four,

I was not much more.

 When I was Five,

I was just alive.

 But now that I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

I think that poem fits our Rex.  He's a smart one.  Last night during the rosary he came and sat on the couch next to Darren and I.  He said that he was going to put this in his memoirs someday.  Then he proceeded to ask exactly what memoirs were.  I guess Owl from Winnie the Pooh is our new summer school instructor around here.  The things they pick up from a cartoon.  Next thing you know I'll have a 6 year old writing his life story for everyone to read.  "Chapter 37 - the day I caught an orange butterfly in the yard and let it go 3 hours later."

 Can you guess the theme for the party??

 The. Best. Ever.

 (from a brother who is far away, and doesn't know he gave a gift)

 Correction - The. Best. Ever.

 Correction - again, The. Best. Ever.

All The. Best. Ever.

Happy Birthday Little Man!  We wish you the best of God's blessings this coming year.  We can't wait to see how much you grow and how much you learn now that you are six.  We love you, Rex!

Adam's Graduation Party

My brother, and Godson, Adam graduated from high school this year.  Part of the reason we were down in SD was for his party.

 Gianna with her Great-Great Aunt Rosalie Simons.

 Adam

 We ate cake (some of us in a little house).

 They played some volleyball.

 Most of us just sat around and talked.

 My mom is determined to get a picture with her "triplets" every year until they graduate.  I wonder how many years it will be before she will be sitting on their laps.

This is the Lego quilt I made Adam for his graduation.  I put denim on the other side.  This was a pain for one reason - each circle that I stamped had to be heat-set for 2 minutes.  That took awhile, but lucky for me my sister let me borrow her iron so I had two going at a time.  I think Adam enjoyed it. It was fun to make, but I did make a few mistakes.  I made him promise to never measure it to see if the squares and rectangles are even.  I can tell you right now - THEY ARE NOT.

South Dakota Storm

These are pictures that Darren took at his folks house while we were back.  They had a horrible storm (tornado?) come through.  There was damage everywhere on the place.  Makes you think twice about South Dakota during the spring/summer.

Darren, Blase, Stephen, and Cormac spent a couple of days helping with the cleanup.  There were also some neighbors and family helping out as well.  It will be awhile before things are back to some type of normal.  I am just glad that there were no injuries.

Family Day, Day Two

Hello!  We are so glad you are able to come along with us on our second day of touring the Black Hills.  We have a big day planned and hope you are up for the journey.

 Our first stop is to Thunderhead Underground Falls.  You should take a few minutes and visit their website. They have a history page that is fascinating!

 Hope you don't mind, but we want to stop for a picture here with the train.

 Ok, that's nice...let's go home.

 It looks kinda dark in there.

 Yup, its dark in here.

 We are getting closer now.  WHAT?  You can't hear me?  I said "WE ARE GETTING CLOSER NOW!" Its pretty loud in here!  WHAT?  I said "ITS PRETTY LOUD IN HERE!"

 Hurry up, take that picture and let's get back outside.

I SAID, OH NEVER MIND, JUST SMILE!

 (You actually get fairly close to the waterfall.)

 This is a shot looking out towards the entrance.

 This is looking back towards the waterfall.  It was cold enough in the tunnel that you could see your breathe.  The younger boys were quite worried about the noise.  Gianna had her daddy so she was all good.

We drove by Pactola Lake after our visit to Thunderhead. 

Interesting story - there was/is a town at the bottom of Pactola.  My dad tells a story about one of our relatives had a house in that town.  I remember thinking as a child that there must be fish down there swimming around, cooking in the kitchen, sleeping in the bedrooms, living life as we live up here.  It may have made a good cartoon.  Either way, I still think its neat to say our family had a house at the bottom of the  lake. 

 We are almost there....DUCK!

 We have arrived!  Roll up your windows, get out the camera!

 This guy charges a steep price to get in.  Each of these pictures are priceless...or pricey.

 Cute baby and its mommy!!

 Arctic wolf, overheating. 

 reindeer, again overheating

 There is a baby on the right.

 I think Brech sleeps like this.

 Ummm, haircut anyone?

 Goin' for a swim.

 I wish I had gotten a picture of the bear trails.  Normally a trail is just one path, correct?  Well, with the bears there are two paths, one for each side of their body.  It was actually quite adorable watching him or her walk along the path.

 This is a baby bison and his/her mommy.

 Would you like to stop and watch the baby bears??

 You want a piece of me???

 I may be little, but I'll fight ya.

 Tired already, huh??

 (These bear cubs were watching the other two fight.)

 Kid, you just don't know when to give up.

 GIVE UP?  SERIOUSLY!  I'm just getting started!!!

 This is on the other side of the pen.

 This is a good pole.

 Mine, all mine.

 BACK OFF, BETSY!

 Its MY pole!

 (Yet another fight over yet another pole!)

 I WON.  HA HA HA

These bear cubs were worse than a bunch of rotten boys.  I don't think I saw one of them sit for more than 3 seconds.  I know every bear cub picked a fight or was in the middle of someone else's fight.  The boys got a kick out of it.  We watched them for a good 15 minutes.

 I jumped when it moved.  I kid you not!  I wasn't expecting it to be real as still as it was standing.

 I was really glad there was a fence between me and those eyes!

 Bear Country was a success!  

One recommendation though - don't wear a dark green shirt and tan pants when you visit next time.  Some guy thought I worked there and was asking me questions.  I didn't mind and explained that my parents owned a sod farm, thus the green shirt.  That man's poor son was embarrassed though.  All he said was "I knew this would happen."  Parents anyway!

 We made a quick run to the top of Dinosaur Park hill only to be rained on.  This picture could have been very cool, but I missed the lightning strike in the distance by a second.

We ran, literally, over to the next dinosaur and posed.  Then Dad came up the hill and said "TIME TO GO!"  We will have to continue our Dinosaur Park adventure on the next Family Day in South Dakota.

That was our day.  Thanks for coming along.  If you have few minutes we are headed to Cabela's for some shirts, fudge, and gun browsing.  After that we are going to Aunt Courtney's for stir-fry and pizza.  See ya soon!