South Dakota!

One of the perks of traveling to other National Parks is that you get to take in all their beauty!  While on my week away to South Dakota I am being spoiled rotten off hours to make up for all the pain and punishment of having policies and procedures beat into my brain during the day!  Monday night we went through Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park.  The drive is breathtaking and indescribable!  I had initially told Bear I didn't want to see this territory with out him and the boys.  Well that changed in a hurry when the girls form the office told me, no way, no how was I going to come this close and not see it!  I saw animals in their natural habitat.  From buffalo to wild turkeys and pronghorn to prairie dogs!  I am kicking myself for leaving the nice camera at home and having to take pictures with my iPhone!  But at least I have something to show the kids...either way it doesn't describe the true beauty of the area.  We ate at the Blue Bell restaurant which was a great experience in itself.  We saw the destruction of the wild fire from last week.  The damage to the forests was so shocking to see, but the silver lining is that no homes were lost during the 9,000+ acre burn.  Tomorrow we are heading to Mount Rushmore and then out to dinner.  Thursday night it is back to Rapid City to a "block party" of some kind in their down town area.  Apparently every Thursday night the downtown is blocked off and there is all kinds of businesses that come together to have sales, street dances, music and food.  Convenient for me, since I am staying in Rapid City that night to catch an early morning flight out on Friday.

Happy Birthday Bear!

When you turn 36, what do you really want for your birthday?  Well in Bear's case it was mimosa's, zucchini bread and to watch the sun rise.  So we made zucchini bread yesterday.  I ran to the liquor store for champagne. I ran to the grocery store for sparkling juice for the kids.  When I came home he asked where I had all been.  I told him and he said, "I wasn't serious."   Well, we did everything he wanted except watch the sun rise!  Forget it.  I half wanted to wake him up when it was rising but didn't.  We did add to the festivities and I made fried venison steaks.  We toasted a Happy Birthday to Bear with our mimosas and enjoyed a very odd yet satisfying breakfast.


Tammy sent a super funny jib jab. A little "jab" at Bear and I because we have been doing the Insanity Workout.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Cash Register=You WILL learn how to count back change!

 How many people reading this know how to count back change?  How many teenagers do you think know how to count back change?  With out the cash register, calculator, phone app...do most people know how anymore?  Well I learned at Fast Eddie's when I was 14 and by golly, my kids are going to know how too!





 The kids had ventured to the out door shop last night with Shelby.  I gave them $5 to buy lures and jigs and crap for something to do.  Then I came home with a cash register from my boss (since they are moving to Alaska, they are finding all sorts of things to pass on to my kids).  The thing still works and works well!  At first the boys were just banging around on it and printing out receipts and enjoying the fake money...

But I quickly realized that I could teach them about money a bit more.  Parker had learned some money handling, change counting and recognition this school year.  I am certain my kids' brains have rotted all summer and they don't remember a thing.  So we did a quick run through of the "monies" as Emmitt likes to call all money and set the kids to work.  Parker quickly made his own out door store and handed us each a pile of play cash.  We pitched in some real coins and he rang us up as we purchased items from his very cool store.  At one point he told me I couldn't be behind the register (I was only trying to help him give me my change back) and that I had to stand on the other side because I am a customer!  The nerve! 

Grandpa quickly realized that it was cheaper to buy fish from the store than it was to buy the jig.  Parker was charging like $70 for a jig and $3 for a gun case!  That concept was missed a bit.  But Bear sat there and helped him read the numbers on the register and count us back our correct change.  No granted he is a bit young to do the math part of counting back, but he quickly caught on to which bills were bigger and how to add the coins together.  It was pretty amazing at how fast it came back to him. 

Emmitt scored some huge discounts, I think he got one because he is the brother!  But the cash register sits in my living room and it's new to the boys, so of course they want to play with it, so I plan on cramming as much money math into them that I can!

Parker asks Siri...

So when you push a button on my "smart phone" you can ask it a question and it will usually search the web.  Parker does it often (when momma doesn't know the answer) and this time he asked it 'what crickets like to eat'...well, let's just say she was "unclear"....

by the way...crickets eat: other crickets, grass, bugs, and strawberries!  Which is what we fed them!