Samuel turns 4

On August 1st, our nephew Samuel turned 4. We attended a birthday party for him on the 2nd at his house. We had a lot of fun playing with most of our nieces and nephews.

Why give them toys if all they are going to do is play with the box? When I walked into the room where all the toys are kept, this is what I found. Jack and Samuel pulled all their toys out and were sitting in the box.

Who's the bigger kid in this picture?

Taking a big breath to blow out all his candles.

Jack wanted to blow out a candle too, so Matt lit one for him to blow out.

Nina having fun playing with her Uncle Matt.

Megan's Wedding

On July 27th, my step-sister got married. It was a very hot day, but it was fun.

My very cute niece, Izabella.

Izabella with her mom, my step-sister Megan

Rachel, Ellen, and me

Matt and I

My step-brother, John, performed the ceremony.

My dad and step-mom

My mom said she can't remember the last time we were embrased in a hug like this.

OOPS!!!

Ok...so I realized this morning that I forgot to explain why you needed to keep in mind the size of the Crazy Horse Memorial. All of Mount Rushmore (yes...all four Presidents) will fit in what looks like Crazy Horse's hair. So Mount Rushmore is very small compared to Crazy Horse!!

Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore

So this morning we woke up in Custer, SD. We were on the road again by 7:30 and headed to do a little more sight seeing. We went to two different National Monuments-Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore. Both were pretty amazing, but if I had to choose, I like Crazy Horse much better.

This is actually what Crazy Horse Memorial looks like right now. I know it is a little blurry, but we couldn't get close to it at all. One thing that is really amazing is that the little hole in the mounntain is actually not so little. It is actually big enough to hold a ten story building!!! From here it looks so small.

This is what the memorial will look like once it has been completed. I don't think I will ever see the completion of it in my lifetime. There is a lot of blasting that still needs to be done. According to our literature, they do the blasting primarily in the Fall and Winter. Pay attention to the area behind Crazy Horse's face; I will explain more later.

As you can tell it is me and my two sisters. We are actually sitting on the hill that Mount Rushmore is carved and George Washington's head was in the background, but I cropped that out.

Matt and I in front of the monument.

Rachel, Ellen, Matt and I walked a really long way to as far as we could to the base of Mount Rushmore. There were 250 steps that we had to walk; needless to say I was really exhausted when I reached the end.

Some More Pictures

So Thursday morning we set out for home about 9 in the morning. We had so much fun un Seattle at my uncle's house and in the little towns surrounding the city. Thank you so much Uncle Robbie!!!!!

This was a different view of Washington. On the way home we headed straight across Washington to eventually get to South Dakota.

It was so windy the day we set out. Keith had to fight to keep the RV on the road. We actually went to a little look-out point somewhere in Washington and we were being pushed by the wind!! I was actually able to get a good picture-I just had to prop myself up against a rock.

Matt was my wonderful photographer most of the way. He sat in the front with my step-dad and was the navigator. I don't know if you can tell, but in the distance of this picture is dust that was blowing. It looks like fog, but it was just that windy!

Matt thought it was really cool that this flag was standing straight out.

These two have been two peas-in-a-pod the whole week. Matt is truly a big brother to her-from the teasing to making sure she was ok.

Yup-we went through Idaho again!! (Only the little part of the state at the top)

Some of the hills of Idaho. (This was Matt's favorite state-really he just liked to say "Idaho")

Finally in Montana. We stayed the night in Missoula and got up the next day for another full day of driving.

There sure were a lot of hills on this trip!!

I think this is the only picture of the two of us - me and my twin sister, Rachel.

While in Montana we were driving through Crow Country, which is an Indian Reservation. The Battle of Little Big Horn actually took place here. This is a view of the cemetary. It is very similar to our Jefferson Barricks in St Louis.

We walked all around the battlefield. They had little markers where American soldiers had fallen. It was really neat to be able to see a part of our country's history.

This was an iron sculpture at the monument.

In Wyoming again.

The upper part of the state was prettier than the middle. I think this is where Matt finally got to see mule deer.

On The Road Again...

...or so Matt has been singing on and off since we got back in the RV this morning. I don't have any pictures to post right now, but I am sure I will by the end of the day. Just thought I would give everyone an update that has been keeping up with our trip.

Port Townsend

Today we went to Port Townsend. It is about 30 minutes North of my uncle's house. It was really pretty there. We walked around a few shops and then ate lunch.

This is looking at the port as we were driving into town.

The town was full of a bunch of victorian houses. It was really neat to see the different styles and colors.

Here is a picture of the town courthouse.

After we finished in downtown Port Townsend, we went to Fort Worden. It was an old fort back in the day that they now turned into a State Park.

A look across the water is actually Canada!!!

This is an old lighthouse.

This was once soldier's barricks. They have turned officers houses and the barricks into places that people can stay and even rent for parties.

A Day Off...

...well not really. Today we took a day to just lay around the house and do some laundry. Uncle Robb had just a few projects to do, so Matt and Keith worked outside this morning.
Uncle Robb had some bamboo plants that he wanted removed, so Matt had to take an ax to it. Him and Keith took turns swinging the ax because they said it was just like hitting concrete.

The finished product.
Mom and Rachel are washing off the driveway after the guys got done with it.

Matt and Keith did a few more little things around the house while they were at it. I think it was driving Matt crazy to not be working for these last few days.

Downtown Seattle

Yesterday we spent the whole day in Downtown Seattle. It was really a sight to see. I think we spent a total of 8 hours in the city and boy was I tired!!

Here is a picture of us kids with my Uncle Robb. Here we are on the ferry on our way to Seattle.
View of the Space Needle from the ferry.

Here is the market. They were people everywhere.

This is just a view of Seattle down one of the streets.

We did get to up into the Space Needle and you could see for miles!! This is actually Mt Rainier. We woke up yesterday morning and you could see it perfectly!

A view of Seattle from the Space Needle

This was after a long day of shopping and sight seeing. We were all so exhausted!

Uncle Robb took us to Chief Sealth's grave; he is who Seattle is named after. There is this big plaque telling the history of it all.