Badlands-Day 2

Today we spent the day alternating between the outdoors and the sweet, sweet air conditioning. the temperature topped out at 112 according to our car (I heard it was more like 102 though). In the morning, we drove Sage Creek Rim Road to check out some wildlife. This was a dirt road, so it was pretty slow going, but we did see a couple of animals.

Mountain goats we spotted.

Us with the badlands in the background.






After that, we went on a hike-Door Trail to be exact. It was smoking hot, and we didn't exactly follow the trail. Dave did an excellent job in his backpack, but we were glad to get to the comfort of the a.c. in the car.

On our hike of the Door Trail.

We regrouped back in our cabin before heading out to the Minuteman Missile Site, which is between the turnoff for the Badlands and the city of Wall. It was pretty uneventful there, but the story behind it is pretty cool if you're interested.

Then we went back to Wall Drug-mostly for the air conditioning, but I also needed to get an ornament (I collect them from places we vacation). Then it was back "home" to our cabin for the night.

Here's our cabin. Pretty nice!

I'm hoping Dave goes to sleep easier tonight-he's been sleeping fine, but won't go to sleep until around 10 or 10:30 our time. He's all messed up!

Dave and Josh starting a fire in 95 degree heat.

Tomorrow we're heading towards Mt. Rushmore. We're staying in another KOA, but I'm pretty sure this one doesn't have air conditioning and a bathroom in the cabin! Hopefully we don't roast.

Badlands-Day 1

We made it to the Badlands National Park today. I am currently blogging from the front of the KOA because our cabin was out of range of the wireless they provide. Along the way, we had a couple of stops to make before we arrived at our destination.

Random roadside attraction. We didn't actually go in, but we saw so many signs for it on the road, Josh insisted we at least stop and get gas at the exit.

We stopped in at Wall Drug-it takes up almost an entire city block. They offer free ice water and 5 cent coffee. We ate a pretty decent lunch and walked around.

I guess they love giant sodas in the town of Wall, SD. Here's Josh with his 52 ouncer!

Dave was asleep when we drove through the park on the way to our cabin. These are just pictures I took from the car window.

Pretty spectacular huh? Tomorrow we are heading out to check out some wildlife (hopefully!) and do a couple of hikes before it gets too hot. Josh informed me it will be 105 tomorrow. blech. And then in the afternoon we're going to Minuteman Missile Silos. They are decommissioned missiles from the Cold War. Should be cool-and air conditioned!

On the Road!

We left bright and early this morning (3:45!), and had a very uneventful drive. Dave was awesome, he slept the first 5 hours and the last 1 1/2 and watched his tv shows in between.

We made it all the way to Mitchell, SD-just 4 hours from the Badlands. Since we arrived mid-afternoon, we went to check out the local touristy place...The Corn Palace.

The entire outside is designed with corn cobs and various other plants. They change the theme every year-this year is American Pride.

Josh and Dave with the giant ear of corn.

And them being "corny".






We're about to go to bed so we can rise early again to make it to the Badlands. I'm going to keep a running tally of miles traveled and hours logged.

Miles: about 800, I don't remember exactly!

Hours in the car: 13

Here are two pictures from before we left. Dave fell off the bleachers at the softball fields (don't worry, he was fine). He did receive a nasty fat lip from it though.

Scowling at me when I asked him to say cheese.

Here is his fat lip. Poor little guy!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will update again in a couple of days.

Vacation Preparations

In less than 5 days, Josh, Dave, and I will be embarking on our journey out west. We've been planning this trip for over 9 months, so I am way excited to get going! The past several weeks we've begun packing and even cooking for our trip. (We're taking most of our dinners with us, thanks to the Food Saver that Dad and Kyra got me for my birthday!)

Here's our itinerary for those who are interested:

*Leave Thursday the 14th super early, hoping to make it somewhere into South Dakota
*Friday and Saturday (15th, 16th) we'll be staying in the Badlands
*Sunday, Monday, Tuesday (17th-19th) we'll be at Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding areas
*Wednesday (20th) we're staying in Cody, Wyoming before heading to Yellowstone the next morning.
*Thursday, Friday, Saturday (21st-23rd) we'll be in Yellowstone
*Sunday morning early we leave to go visit my grandma in Kansas. Depending on how far we get, we'll either stay one or two nights with her before coming back home, probably on Wednesday

For most of the trip, we'll be staying in KOA campgrounds. Mostly because it's one of the cheaper options, but it also allows us to be able to hang out outside once Dave goes to bed. They are also pretty family friendly and have playgrounds and a pool, so Dave will enjoy that stuff. In Yellowstone, we're staying in the park in their cabins. They look pretty rustic, so we'll have to see about those!

I promised my mom (who is supplying us with internet for the trip) that we would update the blog with our latest outings every couple of days. So, be looking for a post around this time next week.

Until then, here are some pictures and videos.






Tony and Dave sporting our new hiking backpack.












Dave fingerpainting with my mom. Here's the video.











Pumped to ride his four wheeler.









He's saying "uh-oh" after turning his mower over. I think he was expecting me to be very sympathetic about his situation.




Here's the video of Dave with goats from the zoo. Goats. And finally, a video of his car sounds. Sounds.

19 months old!

Sorry for the hiatus in the blogging, but our internet has been a little harsh lately. And by harsh I mean not working. Anyway, here are some mediocre pictures of Dave on his 19 month birthday.



This attempt came after the bath. I thought I could get him excited about his favorite book-Things That Go, and get him to smile. Not successful.








Here's the best one from the bath. You can see that he found the sign and drenched it!







On Thursday, my brother came up to visit us for the weekend. We went to the Fort Wayne Zoo on Friday.





Dave and Tony checking out the sharks. If you look at the middle right side of the picture you can see one.










The boys looking at the giraffes.





Dave and I enjoyed some outside time this weekend (as we normally do).





Here he is showing me the planes that were flying by. We live really close to the local airfield.











Apparently Dave likes to shovel coal? I love his expression.







Saturday and Sunday we hung out with Josh's parents, and my mom came up Sunday morning to see us.





Dave really enjoyed some watermelon.











Hanging out by the pool.









And I'll leave you with the world's happiest toddler. Loving the bath!





I have a really cute video of Dave with goats, but I'm waiting to upload it until our internet is more cooperative. I'll post it next week.

Lots of activities and a belated Father's Day

We have been pretty on-the-go the last couple of weeks, so here's a catch-up to what's been going on.

Last Sunday, after hearing Chad (our bro-in-law) preach, we went for a picnic at Fort Harrison State Park in Indy.




Dave loved playing with the water fountain and Sophie joined in on the fun.









Isn't Sophie cute?!












Working on his biceps.











There was a huge slide built into a hill at the park. Here's Josh, Dave, Chad and Sophie.


































On Wednesday, Dave and I went to Indy to meet up with my friend Chelsea and her son Nick. They have a pass to the Children's Museum, so Dave and I got to have some free fun. We mostly hung out in the playscape area, and spent some time chilling with the dinosaurs. Then we went to hang out with Dora and Diego. I took three pictures before my camera died.





Pretty terrible picture, but you get the idea. Nick and Dave really liked Diego's cat.






Finally on Saturday, we took our cottage to Quaker Haven. We go every year to have some fun in the sun.





Dave liked playing on the beach. The conditions were definitely better than when we played in Florida.












Josh caught a fish, which really intrigued Dave. He even touched it a few times.







We had a pretty uneventful Father's Day. Worked again, so I let Josh sleep in a little bit in honor of his big day. Dave got Josh an I Am Second bracelet and key holder thingie.

Finally, here's a video of Dave eating blueberries and spaghetti. Chowing down.

50th Anniversary Celebration

Josh's grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last Friday, and we all came together on Saturday to honor them. Josh and I are hitting 5 years in August and that feels like a big accomplishment...I can't imagine 50!

Sorry for those who aren't family-here come a bunch of family portraits!




Mary, Dave, and their kids-Veronica, John, and Divana.










The Osborn Family.







Sievers side.








Bowyers and Smiths represent.









Everybody together. What you don't see was me sprinting into the picture after setting my self-timer. I'm sure it was super graceful.





After we ate lunch, we headed back to Josh's parents to continue the party. The siblings' families were asked to each put together a short tribute to Mary and Dave.

I don't have any pictures of our contribution, but here is the video. Anniversary Song. Josh's sisters Emilee and Brittany wrote the lyrics and Josh rocked the guitar. Hopefully no one is mad I put this up for the world to see!

Veronica and Mike (Josh's aunt and uncle) put together a hilarious Jeopardy game.




Everyone laughing (probably at Mary and Dave's expense!) while playing Jeopardy.







Josh's mom asked everyone to bring ugly 50th anniversary gifts for them to open. I think Grandma's Mary's only request of the party was not to receive any ugly 50th items. At first, they weren't sure if it was a joke or not and tried to act grateful.





This was probably the 5th or 6th present. I love their expressions.





Not to worry, they received an actual nice present of a weekend trip to Michigan.

Happy Anniversary to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dave!

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's

On our days off, we almost always go over to Josh's parent's house to hang out and get away from the campus. We don't have any private outside space here, so it's really nice to go somewhere else-especially because they have a pool!




Josh got Dave this giant bubble sword thing. I think he likes it!







We definitely have a little fish on our hands-he absolutely loves the water.






Dave and Grandma








Dave and dad. Video of Dave going underwater.











This was Dave's reaction when he was told it was time to get out of the pool. He's trying to climb back in.












Contemplating life after a full day of activity.







We have also been putting in quite a bit of time at our local playground here on campus. Here's a video of him on the slide. He also enjoys sniffing the flowers that we pass on the way to the playground. Smelling flowers. At the end of the video, he starts picking the flowers and throwing them in the air-no idea where he got that from!

No work for us this weekend! We have lots of plans including Josh's friend and wife coming up to visit, Josh's grandparent's 50th anniversary party (which I'm baking cupcakes for), and we're watching my brother-in-law Chad preach for the first time on Sunday. Busy busy! Hope everybody has a great weekend!

18 months!!!

Well I feel like I officially can't call Dave a baby anymore now that he's 18 months old. I guess we'll just have to call him a "big boy", which is his preference nowadays. Here are a couple of pics from our 18 month (in-home, pre-bed) photo shoot.



Anybody remember the Seinfeld where George poses on a couch? I think Dave was channeling George here.












We had to do a scene change to get any cooperation. Poor Horton was blocked out by Dave's sign.







Mom scored this awesome semi-truck and car set from Craigslist last year. Dave absolutely loves it.






And here's a video of him playing with it. Semi-truck video.












Dave was perched in his Bubble Guppies watching chair looking cute, so I snapped a quick picture of him.






And here is a video of him playing outside. Outside on four wheeler. He would spend all day (and does sometimes) outside if he was making all the decisions. I park myself in some shade with a book and let him run around most days. Thankfully, he has the Bowyer complexion and hasn't shown any signs of sunburn.

For about the past week, we've known that Josh's great-grandma Roberts has been pretty ill and in the hospital. Last night, she passed away, and it has been both a blessing and a struggle for the family, so please keep them in your prayers. It is really incredible that Dave met his great-great grandma!