So Far Behind-December 28, 2017

I have lost all track of time in the past two weeks. We are thrilled that Santa has come and gone. Now we must take down the decorations and get it all behind us for this year. I had such great plans for taking pictures of the girls opening gifts. They were dressed in their Christmas clothes and looked so sweet. I handed out the gifts and had my phone beside me. A crashing plane full of screaming passengers would not have made as much noise as what we had in this house. It was unbelievable. I had a chance to take only 3 pictures or so and none were good. So much for Christmas memories.

This is one of rare times when Daisy was not smiling.

Gift opening is serious work.

 

I am not sure what Hannah's facial expression is saying.

But I can tell you she is playing with Zoey's gift.

 

 

Zoey was not into posing at all. So, picture-wise our Christmas was a bust. But the rest of it was very nice. I am making a vow that I will live 2018 at a more relaxed pace. I always feel like a hamster running on that crazy wheel.

 

I wish you a New Year full of good health, wealth, happiness and the fulfillment of your long sought after dreams.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of crazy Daisy-December 17, 2017

While I have a minute I wanted to post some pictures of Daisy. She is a few days from 15 months old. Of the three, she is the funniest. We laugh constantly when she is with us.

She does not care what you put on her head or face

as long as you don't separate her from her tiny mini

vanilla wafers that come in a cup.

 

 

Repeat: she does not care what you put on her head.

 

 

I did not take this one.

Repeat: she does not care what you put on her face.

 

 

This needs an explanation. Daisy has picked up the habit of putting

things in her mouth and moving around like she has a cigarette in

her mouth. No one in the family smokes so she is not copying anybody.

This is a pretzel stick in her mouth and she is talking to Jerry.

 

You can probably see why I said we laugh all the time we are around her. We can hardly wait to watch her open her gifts on Christmas. That will be funny, too, no doubt.

 

 

 

 

Another sunset-December 15, 2017

 

Taken at Hays, Kansas on our way back to our temporary home from WinStar.

The sun seems to be pushing the hazy smoke out of the way as it sets.

 

I do have pictures of WinStar to post and pictures of little Daisy. We babysat all day today and will be doing the same tomorrow. So, hopefully by Monday, I can get the other pictures posted.

Sunset-December 10, 2017

We are on our way to WinStar, the second time in a month. Tonight we are in McPherson, Kansas. It's a nice pleasant little town. We found an excellent Mexican restaurant and we ate there again tonight.

While still on the road tonight, I took a couple of pictures of the sunset.

As you well know the western part of Kansas is as flat as a pancake. That makes for easy picture taking. We did not even need coats when we got to the hotel.

"Good Lord willing and the Creek don't rise" we'll be at WinStar early tomorrow afternoon. We can hardly wait. I hope to post lots of pictures of their Christmas decorations. (For the record, Creek refers to the Indians, not a stream of water).

Unusual cloud-Dec 6, 2017

 

Any of you who have followed this blog for a while know how I love clouds, rainbows and sunsets. 

This is the most unusual cloud I have ever seen in my life. It is a lenticular cloud but it has rainbow colors in it. A lenticular rainbow? So odd.

 

I wish I could enlarge this more so you could see the colors in the cloud better. We were on I-70 west of Denver where traffic is as wild as any place we have ever driven, well except for Dallas. I had to grab my phone and snap this before it was lost for good. Every color in the rainbow was reflected in this cloud. I so wish it had shown up better. It was not even possible to pull off the side of the road to take a picture. So, trust me, this is a real rarity. And, yes, we live in the land of the bugs, too. Those dots on the windshield are bugs that lost the battle.

Girls and Christmas-Dec 2, 2017

Since we have three little girls to help us enjoy Christmas we have unpacked every musical or lighted decoration we have had stored in various storage units for years. We almost don't have a place for all of them but they are on display. And of the three, Daisy is the one who has gone ballistic over all of it. She knows only two words, "Mine!" and "No!" but she still tries to sing along with these decorations. It has been a source of immense joy and laughter for us.

Daisy and Zoey enjoying two dancing Santas. Daisy wants both

of them going at the same time and you dare not let one quit

dancing. We had to give up and put them on the floor so she

could sing for extended periods of time.

 

This one is a little rock and roll guy like a Blues

Brother. It vibrates and jumps all over the table.

She squeals when this one plays.

 

 

 I meant to post this long before now.

The last time we were in Deadwood, we found these odd little orbs. They make a noise I cannot possibly describe to you. They take on a life of their own bouncing and rolling everywhere all by themselves. We bought 3. They are loud and very annoying. Within minutes of showing these objects to the girls Daisy had figured out how to turn them on and off. I have difficulty doing that myself. She likes to try to hold all three by herself. Zoey and Hannah have already grown tired of them and now find them annoying. Daisy can't get enough.

 

 

 

We will admit these orbs can drive us up the wall, but anything

that's this entertaining to little ones is worth every annoying sound.

 

There's nothing like the wonder of Christmas as seen through the eyes of a child. What a blessing.

 

Black Hawk-November 27, 2017

Today's beautiful weather was an invitation to go to the mountains, more especially to Black Hawk.

This is my favorite spot on I-70 headed west. It's the first time that

the snow capped mountains are in full view.

 

Layers and layers of foothills and mountains.

 

This is strip mining in the Rockies. It is very different from strip

mining in the South because here they are mining rocks.

Yes, rocks of all sizes. Brown, ugly, dirty rocks.

 

I have tried repeatedly to get a picture of this black hawk so

that the face is visible. I finally succeeded. This is a beautiful

piece of art. And it's huge. In the background on the top of a

hill is the Ameristar hotel. We have been tempted to stay there

so we can see what a view they may have.

 

This is the first time this has not been orchids. Instead it is

butterflies and poinsettias. Very nice. Inside the Monarch.

They are making great progress building their new hotel.

We are excited!

 

I must share this with you. Jerry found another female

machine that paid him good money. This was on the

Can-Can machine. There were only two machines so

we sat down side by side. The dancer was not as kind to

me. She applauded for Jerry and waved and smiled big

plus paying him. Not sure about him and the women machines.

The only man machine I could find was Zeus and he is nothing

to write home about.

 

And last but not least..............

Kid's car seats are good for more than kids. It works

great when you have breakable cargo on rough I-25. So happy a

cop did not stop us. He might have thought we were nuts!

 

It was another wonderful day that we were blessed to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice day-November 25, 2017

Our Thanksgiving Day which we celebrated on the Friday after the official day was one of the prettiest days we have had for a while. At least in the beginning it was. Bright sunshine, blue skies and warm enough to not have to wear heavy coats. The girls loved every minute until the north wind started blowing. We had to move the turkey fryer to the back yard and take the girls indoors. Until then they had fun.

Zoey has learned to swing all by herself. Little Daisy was as happy

as she could be as long as I was pushing her. When the wind came up

and we had to go indoors she almost had a complete meltdown.

 

This was Daisy's first ride in the Hello Kitty car. She was so

happy and so comfortable in it we were surprised. We thought

she might be a bit fearful. Not in the least. Hannah nearly gave her

whiplash a couple of times.

 

Hannah did not drive for long. Zoey is really good at driving and

enjoys doing so. They are always princesses now, no matter

where they go. Zoey was Belle. Hannah was Ariel.

 

Daisy is happy as a clam (does anyone know how happy as clam

really is?). So is Zoey.

 

What a fun day we had until it turned cold. It was great to breathe fresh air. Jerry fried the turkey and it was the best he has ever cooked. It was a good day with family.

 

 

 

Turkey-November 23, 2017

HAPPY

THANKSGIVING!

 

We have so much to be grateful for and we definitely are.

Have a wonderful day with your family and friends.

Last pix of WinStar-November 18, 2017

I have a couple more pictures of WinStar I wanted to share. There are not enough hours in the day to get all of this done on time. This will conclude this trip.

All the times we have been to WinStar I have never taken a picture of the pool area. So I took a picture this time even though it was raining.

If I were a swimmer this would be very inviting.

 

There have been a number of changes in the hotel as well as the casino. Lots of new restaurants, too. And there were so many new machines we could not even count them. To start with they have 6500 machines so we can't count them all anyway!

 

This one, a Harley Davidson machine, was brand new. We saw it

just as they uncovered it and immediately sat down. I won a little.

 

 

 

And then there was Tim McGraw. We did not play this one.

Some consider this to be the ultimate sell out to put your name

on a slot machine. But it's money I suppose. Jerry played the Elvira

machine and won decent money. And she bowed to him!! So funny.

 

 

I post this picture every time we go to WinStar. At this point wild

horses could not keep me away. I'd run the rest of the way to get

inside one of these hotel towers. It is a simply gorgeous hotel.

And every employee makes us feel like royalty.

 

I'm ready to go again!! 

 

 

 

Crazy computer-November 16, 2017

We have no cell towers anywhere close to us so we always have slow service. Our MiFi actually gets hot to the touch trying to give us a signal. Yesterday it quite working at all. And our phones did not work. Today is only slightly better. We are going to have to go to the drawing board and come up with a solution. In the meantime I hope I can post at least one picture.

If you have been around one year olds you know that their attention span is very short and they jump from one thing to another in the blink of an eye.

For a reason I cannot explain I was able to entertain Daisy (13 months old now) for a full 30 minutes with one homemade game. It is called "Destroying a sales flier from Joann Fabrics". Daisy and I were sitting in the floor together. She grabbed the flier and ripped it. And she giggled. So I helped her tear another page and she giggled again. So I got her really interested and I cheered every time she ripped a page. Then she started cheering and clapping her hands. It got to be so much fun I could not believe it. So I signaled for Jerry to take a picture. It does not show that she reached down and picked up as many pieces as she could and threw them above her head. What a squeal that got. Who ever thought tearing paper could be so much fun. These are the times I treasure.

Love this little girl!

Babysitting-November 13, 2017

We returned from WinStar on Thursday. We babysat two girls on Friday, all three girls on Saturday and accepted a long assignment by taking Daisy on Sunday for three days and two nights while the rest of her family goes to Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. It was fine when they dropped Daisy off and left. But when she woke up from a nap and her sisters were not here, she was not a happy camper. In fact it was almost impossible to console her.

I have a picture I want to post but Google will not let me. How annoying.

I will try again later and finish this post.

Catching Up-November 9, 2017

I had not even finished posting pictures of our trip to South Dakota when we rushed through Halloween and took off on another quick trip. This time we returned to one of our favorite fun places, WinStar World Hotel/Casino/Resort in Thackerville, OK. It is a place like no other. More about that on another day. I need to catch up on Halloween.

Our little "angels" were completely burned out on Halloween by the time they came to us to Trick-or-Treat. They grumbled when I asked them to pose for pictures. Well, one of them was happy to pose. She is always happy. So here they are.

You can tell they are exhausted. Hannah chose to be

Wonder Woman. Zoey wanted to be Cinderella.

Colorado weather requires extra clothes which takes away from

the costumes, but it's that or stay home.

 

Daisy did not get a choice. We bought her a baby

Snow White costume. And she was very happy to

wear it. I have decided her name should have been Joy.

 

We had no outside goblins to knock on our front door. That was fine with us.

 

We will be babysitting for the next 5 days so I suppose I might get behind on the blog again. There just are not enough hours in the day.

 

 

More Rapid City-October 20, 2017

Before I wind up this trip and start to plan another one, I'd like to share a little more about Rapid City. It is a great city. It is clean. And it is friendly.

 

 

This corner does not have a presidential statue. Instead this statue

is standing larger than life in front of Prairie Edge. We found Prairie

Edge years ago. It is four stories of the most fabulous art work and unique

gifts made by Native Americans, mostly Sioux, that we have ever seen

anywhere. We go there every single time we are in Rapid City. One entire

floor is just hand beaded art in all forms. It's just breathtaking. This store is a must see.

 

This was an old fire station that has been renovated to a brew pub/

wine store/gift shop/theater company. Somebody has a real nose for

successful business. We found in our travels around the country that

it is best to look for restaurants that attract local people. No chain

eating establishments. This is one such place. The food is out of this world.

This is also another place we go to every time we are in the area.

The décor in this restaurant is antique fire equipment in every

conceivable type. A fascinating place with great food and nice people.

 

For the record, I do not work for the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce. It's just a great place to visit.

 

Lost Springs-October 26, 2017

To the west of little Lusk, Wyoming is an interesting town named Lost Springs. The only sign of life we have ever seen there is one car parked outside of a bar. Low and behold, we discovered on this trip there has been an increase in population.

Lost Springs, Wyoming

Elevation 4997 feet

Population 4 (previously 1)

 



I can see a small travel trailer on the left of this picture. Maybe

somebody came to visit a resident?

It is blurry but you can see the bar and in front is one white vehicle.

 

 



The buildings are never in disrepair. They always look like they have been freshly painted. It is somewhat a mystery to me. There is not much available information on this town. One day when we have a few spare minutes we might just drive down Main Street. I wonder who the mayor is? Where do they go to shop for groceries? Lusk is the nearest place and they only have one tiny grocery store. They don't have a gas station, obviously. I'm sure there's no doctor or dentist. What keeps these 4 people here? Who maintains the buildings? Who does snow removal? I just have too many questions and no real way to get answers. This is such an interesting place.

From Wyoming to South Dakota-October 23, 2017

Going from Wyoming to South Dakota is like opening a door and going into another room. They are as different as daylight and dark. First of all, there are many, many more trees in South Dakota. And fortunately this time of year, the leaves are changing. Again, in no particular order I will share a few of the many pictures taken on this short but fun trip.

 

 

 

These houses are high above Deadwood. I wonder what kind of

view they have? I see a day of exploration in our future.  

 

This is a golf course between Deadwood and Sturgis. It is pretty

every season of the year.

 

A park in downtown Rapid City.

 

There are more pictures but this is enough for today. Hope you are enjoying seeing these as much as I enjoyed taking them.

 

To have been blessed enough to get to pick our home state we are very happy we chose South Dakota.

 

 

 

 

Wyoming-October 20, 2017

In no particular order I would like to share pictures of Wyoming as it is on the way to Deadwood, South Dakota.

It is rough and rugged country. Yet there is a beauty to it.

Not populated at all except by cars passing through.

It takes so little imagination to visualize how this earth was formed.

You can clearly see what was carved out by the oceans that once

covered the earth's surface.

I often wonder what history is buried deep inside these mesas.

 

On one trip we saw a dead animal on the side of the road. It was such a surprise to see that Jerry said it was the last living thing in this area and it ran in front of a car to end it's boredom and loneliness!

Rapid City-October 19, 2017

We were very blessed to make yet another trip to South Dakota, our adopted home. I have several things I want to share. So, as soon as I get all of the pictures transferred and arranged I will share on this blog.

Rapid City is a great city. We so enjoy going there. One of the most wonderful things you can see there is a huge display of bronze statues of all of our presidents through George W. Bush. They are life size statues and they are beautifully done.

This is Thomas Jefferson. He was over 6 feet tall, but very thin. The expression

and detail on his face is wonderful to see. There is a statue on almost every corner

of the downtown area. We have seen them all, but on this day we had business

to take care of and Mr. Jefferson happened to be on the corner where we were.

When the city started doing this they paid for the statues, $50,000 each, but soon ran

out of money. They asked for donations. The statues paid for by donations have

the name of the donor on a plaque at the base. This statue was paid for by the city.

 

If you are ever in Rapid City, please take the time to see these statues. It is very impressive. And when you look in the eyes of these statues you can almost be transported back to that time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peaceful fun-October 13, 2017

We had all three girls today and for once they were peaceful and played well together. Nobody got kicked or hit or sat on or pushed down. It was wonderful to see them be little girls!

I just noticed this is a terrible picture of Zoey. However, I look at

what this picture represents and it makes me happy. They all played

together. I must say another thank you to our friends in Birmingham

who gave Hannah the doll house several years ago. It's on its third

little girl and will still be used for a long time. Thank you, James and Gloria.

Snowing today-October 9, 2017

We woke up to light snow this morning. It is not a blizzard as national tv networks would have you believe. It is a very wet heavy snow which can create problems because the trees have not lost their leaves yet.

It's not a big snow storm. It is, however, cold. A high today of

37 and a low tonight of 25. We were not quite ready for this right now.

Daisy is one-October 3, 2017

Last Friday was Daisy's first birthday. More than the other two, she loved tearing her cake apart.

With a name like Daisy there is only one balloon bouquet to order.

 

First it is necessary to read one's birthday card.

 

She was happy to enjoy her cake. We are not the ones

who ordered a cake with black and purple icing.

 

She was not shy about putting her hands into the gooey cake.

 

Concentration is needed.

In this battle it was Daisy 1, Cake 0.

 

We had a good time watching Daisy enjoy her birthday.

 

I feel like should explain the pink bow. It was on her birthday card. I took it off and just stuck it in her hair. She never objected so I really should have moved it and made it look like it belonged in her hair. But she was having too much fun to interrupt.