In RI

Well, hello all. My parents, Dar and I drove the 8 hours up to Newport, RI yesterday and discovered that YES, I have a husband! Wow, it was a remarkable find. Our little family has missed each other terribly. In the little bit of driving around we have done I have surprised myself at remembering the roads and recognizing where we should go. I didn't expect that. I mean we were here only 6 months and most of my driving was to and from work at the time. Anyway, my point today was to let you all know that now having been reunited with my laptop, I have added backlogged pictures to all our posts. Sorry, I know it's a pain but what can you do!? I'll post back later with all the fun stuff we'll be doing up here....well, ok, maybe not ALL of it. But you get the idea. :)

Great stadium, not so great game!

Last night My parents took Dar and I up to Frederick, MD to see the Keys play. The Keys are the minor league to the Baltimore, Orioles. The stadium is so geared towards kids I was amazed, not a single minute went by when Dar was bored. Which is a remarkable feet when there are 9 innings to sit through. The have a kids play center with moon bounce jumps, one just to jump and one to jump and climb/slide. There was also an inflatable that you could pitch into and one which had a very clever outlet of air to suspend a wuffel ball in the air so you could hit it (Dar's favorite game.) *bragging moment* Dar was as good, if not better, at hitting that ball then some of the kids aging 6-10! :D They also had a playground and a merry-go-round. They also had fun little competitions with gifts from their sponsors for the contestants on the sidelines between each inning. Afterwards, they had all the kids line up on 3rd base and let them run the bases going from 3rd to 2nd to 1st then home. After all was said and done I think that this was the highlight for the Dar, he wanted to run it again. He passed the 4/5 yr old in front of him and beat him home which I thought was pretty impressive for an almost 3 yr old. (Sorry, bragging... again!) Once this was completed and a little too much talk for my tastes they had a fireworks display which was Dar's first! He did remarkably better than I expected. See, after last 4th of July when he turned and ran crying from a little ladybug fireworks that I did at our house we thought he was kinda a pansy when it came to loud noises and bright colors. Totally not a Butler trait! However, he kept my hands firmly over his ears and actually really enjoyed it. So even though the game was painful to the degree of suicide for the Keys. (14-0) It was a wonderful relaxing, fun filled Friday evening. So for hopeful future successes...GO KEYS!!!

Beach Giggles

After dropping Grandma at Great Aunt Gracie's house, Mom Aunt Helen, Dar and I headed to Ocean City on Thursday to enjoy our "girl's day out". ( No I didn't mean to leave Dar out, we just figured he doesn't have enough testosterone to exclude him in our label. :) Dar has never been to the beach where the temperature of both water and air led to any inclination to submerge even your toes into the waves. So I was surprised and, a little frantic to stay close to him, when he courageously plowed into the crashing surf. He absolutely loved it. It was non stop giggles for hours on end. His favorite part at first was going right up to where the waves crashed and then running away just in front of the wave as it spread out on the sand. Then his euphoria was taken to new heights when I took his hand and led him right to where the waves have the potential to knock the waves out from under you. Of course every time, without fail they knocked his little legs out from under him as I held him up. His giggles turned to dropped jaw, bright eyed, top volume laughter. It was so catching he had everyone around him laughing too. I can't believe we didn't catch it on film! It was so adorable. I was even more surprised that nap time came and went without even the slightest hitch in his ever running stride. We went for what was intended a walk down the beach but really ended up being more, running, jumping and collapsing into waves then I had the strength to keep up with. By the time we got back to our canopy my arms and legs were jelly from holding/catching our 30 pound energizer bunny. I literally stumbled onto the blanket and tried to coax Dar to lay down next to me hoping he would take a very late nap with me. It wasn't until he saw his silky that he no longer struggled with me on the subject. One thing is for sure...we won't be taking his silky away from him anytime soon. All in all, it was a lovely day with perfect weather, great memories, fun shops, great food and miraculously NO SUNBURN!!

Surprising twist

Well, Dar surprised us, we ended up doing almost 11 hours in the car. We made it as far as Cleveland, OH. I was pretty impressed. We made it to my Parents house by 3:30 Friday and we were all ready to get out of the car. Louis stayed with us Saturday and then headed up to RI after Church on Sunday. Can I just say...I HATE EAST COAST HUMIDITY!!!! I never care to move back here permenantly that is for sure. It is enormously overpowering to me. Unfortunately Dar doesn't seem to mind, all he wants is to be outside. :( Mom and I (or their dog for that matter) can't keep up. Anywho, I guess there won't be much exciting from us for a little while. We will be going to "sightsee" in RI in a couple weeks, we'll be back in touch then.

Halfway There!

Well yesterday we past the halfway mark and moved into the central time zone. It was a long day in the car and Dar was a fabulous traveler. We went into Omaha, Nebraska to see winter quarters; they have a pioneer center there. It was pretty cool. I would have loved to spend more time there and read more of the stories, but there is only so much you can expect of a 3 yr old. We walked across the street to see the cemetery grounds and the temple which now stands right next door. Dar was like a pinball just bouncing off of surfaces. It was very peaceful and we got some lovely pictures. We ended up staying in a motel 6 in Council Bluffs. Apparently, the family in the room next to ours was housing a banshee because there was screaming well into the night that definitely cannot be excused on a colicky baby. Louis knocked on their door more than once concerned they were abusing their child, after the second time things quieted down. Between sticky humidity (man I miss the west) and the smoky smell I didn’t sleep well. I have never been more thankful that Louis is driving right now. We hope to get to Indiana sometime before stopping; of course we will hit the last time zone change about the same time. We will stay somewhere on Lake Michigan, that should provide a good opportunity for Dar to run around. I think Dar might be done with his car seat, today he isn’t doing quit so hot as yesterday.

Mountains and mountains of rocks…I mean heads.

Tuesday afternoon found us at Crazy Horse memorial which is…crazy. They have been working on this sculpture, which will end up being the largest in the world, for 60 years. Louis came with his family back in 92 and in the sixteen years since then the only thing that has been accomplished is…the face. That’s right in 60 years the only piece of the statue that is completely carved out of the rock is the Chief’s face. Above you see what it will eventually look like, and in the background, what it actually looks like. The horses head is only painted on the side of the mountain wall where eventually it will be located. The original sculpture was so adamant about it being a non-profit memorial that they only function on donations and admissions to the park that he twice refused a 10 million dollar donation from the federal government. The result is to never see it finished I am convinced. Now Mt. Rushmore on the other hand was completely astounding, even going through the great depression it only took 13 years from start to finish. AND they used the blasted off rock for the pillars, walkways, and archways leading into the memorial. Very resourceful and very classy look I might add. The rock in the Black Hills is mesmerizing. I’ve never seen rock that is so light colored when dry and SO dark when wet. It absolutely sparkles, it’s fascinating. Alright, enough rambling about the rock. Rushmore only took a few minutes before we hit the highway again. On the way up to our hotel we stopped at this complete tourist trap which boasts an alpine slide. Louis and Dar went up the lift to come down the slide while I took pictures. Dar surprised us; I thought he would be scared of both the lift and the slide, boy was I wrong. As they got on the lift Dar hollered down to me a cheery, “Bye Mom.” I waited for them to come down the slide assuming they would be going slow and seeing a terrified look in Dar’s face. NOPE! They come whipping down there and both Louis and Dar are laughing there heads off. He absolutely loved it and Louis even said it was really cool. Dar of course wanted to go again with me, but it was getting late, we were getting tired, and it was not worth the fee to go again.

Geyser Galore

Yellowstone was fun…hot…but fun. We had been preparing Dar to see Elk, Deer, Moose, and Buffalo the whole ride up, he was excited. However, much against the park’s reputation we only saw two Buffalo, and of course the one we saw while he was awake wasn’t until we had already past it and he didn’t really see anyway. He LOVED the geysers however, and there is no shortage of those in the park. We first stopped at the midway basin, got out and walked to see a geyser that never stops apparently. We also saw the painter’s pots which were interesting. Dar loved running the whole way around the boardwalk. Next stop was Old Faithful. We were about 45 minutes early for the next eruption but about 1 hour overdue for a nap, I wasn’t sure Dar was going to make it but with the opportunity to run and the unfailing bribe of ice cream we managed keep tantrums out of the scenario. Needless to say he has been raving about the geyser ever since. Butler boys have a tendency to love anything that explodes, Dar however, we discovered this last 4th of July, can be a pansy when it comes to the sounds of the explosions. Our son, I am sad to say, is afraid of sparklers, the only ones he liked were the bang snaps you throw on the ground and that was only because he was able to stomp them! The geyser was a perfect compromise however, since there were no sound effects. The drive out of the park was mostly along the shores of the lake and it was incredible scenery. It was very peaceful in the mountains, but that could have been my own perceptions since Dar was zonked out in the back. J That night we stayed in Cody, WY. A cute little tourist town; one of their main attractions is a re-enactment played every night in the streets of its founder “Buffalo Bill’s” final stand. Which I have to say for a Wild West gun slinger being shot in the back at a poker table is not exactly going out “in style”.