Things I saw on our trip across....

We are finally at the place in our journey where we will be hanging out with family and friends more than sightseeing. These past few weeks have been so much fun! This trip has been a blessed one with great weather (we missed snow and tornados by days) and great times.

A few things I saw....

Local entertainment at Pike's Market.


Beautiful waterfalls at Spearfish, South Dakota.....The larger waterfall is where "Dances with Wolves" was filmed....or is it Dancing? I don't remember. Didn't really like the movie. =)




The President's Park. We found this completely by accident. It is a park with large sculptures of every president. This pic was for you, Jeff. ;-)
Will President Sproul be the fiftieth? Please let it not be so. ;-)




Mt. Rushmore....so much more than just this picture. It is a beautiful park. The kids were able to do a booklet where they learned different items and became junior park rangers. It worked. Ky could point to each president when named. =)

Here I am being interviewed by CNN. They asked me what I thought of Hilary and Obama....this was the day before the South Dakota primaries. (Also two days before Hilary conceded the race) I doubt the interview was ever filmed, but I was nervous.

EST!!

We are now in the Eastern Standard Time zone!! Indiana specifically. Wow. I realized today that in less than a month we have been in five different time zones. What happens when you take three children in five different time zones? Well, bed time goes out the window, BUT the kiddos will sleep in longer than they have ever slept beofre. We had to wake Josh and Sean up at nine one time!! Shocking. We'll be headed to Jamie's sister's house tomorrow which should get them back on track as her three kiddos sleep only until six...hmmmm...must be Sproul genes.

I will post pictures someday when I don't have three kids and a hubby waiting for me to jump in an indoor pool. =)

Miss all my "western" friends. Will see my EST pals soon. Love ya!!

Spokane to Mt. Rushmore

Spokane, WA

While we were in Hawaii, we purchased a Military Lodging book that listed all the military lodges in the world. Since military lodges, traditionally, tend to be cheaper than regular hotels this has been helpful. We loved our place at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, WA. It was literally a place....a two bedroom single floor house for $43 a night. Awesome.

Spokane was great too. Honestly, I loved pretty much all of Washington state. Spokane has a fun park right in the middle of downtown. There is a huge Red Wagon which is actually a slide, a gondola ride where you go right over the falls (scary but fun), and a whole bunch more. We spent two days there although we tried to spend three without success.

These are a few pics of the drive to Spokane from Lacey, WA (near Seattle) Kyla got to touch snow for the first time. Sean for the first time in his little memory. They were thrilled....me not so much. Brrrr.



This is a monument to the WIld Horses. It is so beautiful. Jamie climbed to the top. We stayed below and ate cookies (bribery to keep the boys from following Daddy)


A few pics of Spokane.
This giant red wagon was a hit with my active kiddos. =)



Last but not least....

I had to take a pic of this poor mother and father with all those children. It reminded me so much of my life herding them from one place to another......of course at the time,I was taking the pics and Jamie was well....A picture is worth a thousand words right? ;-)

Across the country!

Aloha....hmmmm, I guess all I can say is hello now. =( Nah, I lived in Hawaii for thee years, so "Aloha!" =)

On May 15th, we flew into Seattle that had a temperature of 68 degrees at nine o'clock at night. Nice. The following weekend consisted of balmy "Hawaiian" weather. Very nice. On Monday the temp dropped down into the fifties. Not Nice at all. Brrr. We were able to get a clear look at Mt. Ranier which is a beautiful mountain near our friends' house....but forgot the camera. Here's a pic of Mt. Ranier on a less than clear day. We spent eleven fantastic days with our friends (who are awesome by the way) where we made a few trips to Seattle- Jamie went to a ball game, I went to Pike's Market and the Space Needle, and we took the kiddos to the Pacific Science Center as a fam. Pike's Market was so much fun....definitely leave the kids at home or take them to the zoo which is what Jeff and Jamie did while Kathryn and I were in Seattle.

Riding the "Hamster Wheel" at Pacific Science Center (PSC)

Playing chess at PSC. (Oh by the way, they had a wonderful tropical butterfly exhibit....think Hawaii with lots of butterflies. Nice and warm which was nice since the temps had dropped down to the upper fifties.....so beautiful...until my daughter stepped on two of the butterflies. *Sigh* Leave it to Kyla to end up on a "Wanted" poster at a museum.
A pic of the sign at Pike's Market Place. The Space Needle.

OK, I need to go fix dinner, so other pics will have to wait. FYI: We are now in South Dakota near Mt. Rushmore. We have been to Spokane, WA; Butte, MT, and Spearfish, SD. Three days here, and then we head to Minneapolis. More later. ;-)