Allie and Nate got to go to the RC carnival at school.  They got their faces painted and had all sorts of fun as a reward for reading.

I wasn't home when Nate got home, so he had Jason take a picture of his face paint for him...

His new favorite thing to do is to play with the hose.  He finds things to squirt.  He especially likes it when there are ants or bugs to wash away. 

He's a funny kid.

A Quick Trip

Mike doesn't get much time off in the summer, so when we have time, we snag it.  On Thursday night, Mike texted "10 hours to Mount Rushmore.  What do you think?"  The following conversation included snippets of my stress about not being there for my calling on Sunday, and that I had volunteered to chaperone the field trip at school on Friday, and could the motor home really make it?  We decided just to figure it all out.  I told people I wouldn't be there on Sunday and then spent Thursday night getting things loaded into the motor home so we could take off after I got done with the field trip the next day.  

 We drove until we couldn't drive any more and then woke up and drove some more.  We got to Devil's Tower pretty early the next morning.  It was amazing to see.

It really just comes from no where.

There was a fun park at the KOA next to the tower, so we played for a little while.
The Leprechaun had an unexplained loss of power the night before, so we couldn't use the pump or any lights.  Mike tried to get it fixed, and after plugging it in at the KOA for a minute, it re-set and we were on our way again.

We made it to Mount Rushmore just a few hours later.  It's smaller than I remembered as a kid.

We loved the video telling us about building the monument.  The kids liked the visitor's center.  You could select a picture and then watch it blow up when you pushed down on the dynamite detonator.  90 percent of the monument was created with dynamite blasts.  That was really interesting to me.  They had it down to a very precise method.
I found it incredible that no one died while building the monument.  We watched stories about some of the workers and it was just really cool.

Allie was excited to see part of the Gettysburg Address on the wall "it was the hardest part for me to memorize too!"
So we got a picture.

It's crazy that they would do this to a perfectly beautiful mountain.  The tree hugger in me cringes, but it is pretty cool to see.

 We found Utah on one of the pillars outside the visitor's center.

It was hot, but it was a beautiful day.
I hope my kids will remember going to see Mount Rushmore.  It's pretty incredible.

Candyland

Just outside of Mount Rushmore, there's a store called Candyland.  How could we pass it up?

 My kids thought they were in heaven.  I'm not going to lie, I thought it was pretty great too.

 They had all sorts of odd things...

We tried to make Allie drink the Barf one.  She has a puke phobia...

No way was she ever going to drink something like that.  The cashier told us that they really do taste like what they say they are going to taste like.  Can you imagine choosing to drink that?!

We let the kids pick some treats and then paid enough money to buy 10 pounds of candy somewhere
else...oh well, it's all an experience right?

The Bonneville Shoreline Trail

Jason and I got to accompany Allie and the fifth grade on their field trip to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and to play at a park.

 Jason was so excited to ride the bus and to experience his first field trip.

He got pretty scared when he saw the sign for what wildlife we might see on the trail.  The rattlesnake was especially scary.  He didn't want to hike the trail after seeing that.  But he got brave and did it anyway.

When we got to the park, he had fun playing with the older kids.  This game was one where people grabbed your legs and dragged you under the parachute.

There were three people who could rescue those getting sucked under.  It looked a little chaotic to me, but they had fun.

It was a hot day and I had a million things to do to get ready for our trip, but it was fun to go on the hike and see Allie with her friends.  I'm glad I could go and do that with her.

Awards

These pictures were taken before I got my new camera, so they are pretty dark.  I had to document this day though.  Allie got some awards at school.

First, they gave her for the Great American award.  Only 5 girls earned it this year.  They are all from Allie's group of friends.

This award was well deserved.  Allie spent countless hours memorizing.  She had to write the Pledge of Allegiance, recite the Star Spangled Banner, memorize all the presidents, memorize the Gettysburg Address, the Oath of Allegiance, and the Preamble to the Constitution.  She also had to identify all 50 states and their capitals on a map, and answer the questions to the National Citizenship Test.  It was really hard for her, but she learned so much about herself and discovered that she can do hard things.  Way to go Allie!

I went to the NOVA program to see her be awarded for the the Great American Award, then my neighbor pointed out Allie's name on the program.  I didn't know she was getting the Super NOVA award.  They described it as an award to recognize that she did well in the program as she completed a rocket and had a media free week, and she is good to others.  She exhibits NOVA skills of friendship and kindness, and is good in the classroom.  It's pretty cool that she was picked to get that award. 

The police officer told her she had a firm handshake and she was proud of that.  She told me that her Primary music leader taught her that a firm handshake is a good thing to have, so I guess she took that to heart.

 

Way to go Allie!  I am very proud of you!