GART Day 3 Black Hills National Cemetery Post 1

As we drove out from Rapid City, SD we came upon Black Hills National Cemetery. My Grandpa Charlie is buried there. We had an opportunity to stop and visit his grave. He was a wonderful man and my memories are so fond of him. I got to tell our children stories all about him; what he liked to do, how he met my grandmother, how he spoiled his grandchildren. It was very special.

My grandfather served in the Army Air Corps as a Sergeant from 1942 to 1945.

Our peeps. S - had Grandpa Charlie met you, he would have loved what a lovely young lady you are and what an amazing writer and spectacular reader you are. B - had Grandpa Charlie met you he would have adored your love of history and your imagination for living in any moment but the present! Tommy - you and Grandpa Charlie would have had so many talks about football and politics!

Thanks Daddy for taking this special picture!

GART Day 2

Great American Road Trip Day 2: Friday, July 3, 2009
States Traveled: Wyoming, South Dakota
National Monument: Mt. Rushmore

We left the Reynolds with their great conversation and wonderful food and drove through the Southeast part of Wyoming, we crossed into South Dakota and made it to Mt. Rushmore.

Clark, Ellen and the kids - next stop the world's second largest ball of twine!
To say he is excited is a complete understatement!

Super cuties!

Scott Nelson - this pic is for you!

We had an awesome seat for the fireworks...

however, the cloud cover made the show impossible to see.

GART Day 1

The Great American Road Trip Day 1: Thursday, July 2nd
States Traveled: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming

We invaded the Turners late Wednesday evening and that gave us a head start on Thursday's travel. We traveled in four states on this day and arrived at the home of the Reynolds'. The kids had a blast playing with Shelby and Ross. Tommy and I enjoyed visiting with Cassie and Larry. And Cassie and I stayed up way too early in the morning dicussing everything from parenting to pedicures to politics! Thanks Reynolds - you are a super duper schmooper family! And guess what? Pictures....


That is one big baby bottle!


Shelby feeds her calf...

...Sheridan helps from afar.

Shelby, 7 and Sheridan, 8

Ross, 5 and Brenner, 6

Boys will be boys...

The Great American Road Trip Film Class

I failed to mention that prior to our GART (Great American Road Trip), our darling dad brought home an educational film to be viewed by the peeps prior to visiting South Dakota. The film was North by Northwest. Now, it is a classic, however, we are quite strict on media choices around the homestead and I thought he had lost his mind bringing home an Alfred Hitchcock flick. It was not bad, the kids got to catch a glimpse of Mt. Rushmore, they delighted in calling Tommy "Kaplan" (Carey Grant character in the movie) and we had to fast forward through only a few parts. Not that I would recommend it for everyone, but it was daddy's trip research!

The Great American Road Trip (Preparation)

Ellen Grizwald here catching up on the week's past event. We are once again taking a cross country summer trip. It all started with the purchase of a van several years ago and we have logged some major miles on this baby! In 2007 we drove to San Diego from Dalhart and stopped at the Grand Canyon. Last summer we drove to Palm Coast, Florida and got to stay with the Wright Brothers. This year we headed up the middle of the country to Big Sky, MT. I'm hoping to download some pictures while we are still on vacation. I'll check back in a day or two with a day by day run down of our trip. We have had a blast...uh wait, "Clark, you are driving 80 miles an hour!". (hahahaha) Ellen out.

My summer through a chain link fence (2nd post)

Tball season is here! We've batted, scored and sweated and the season is yet half over! I love mom's pics through the fence to get a glimpse of their special player. B is playing on the Rockies team in the Christian Athletics league (lcaa), no pics of our sugar plum on this post, she'll get top billing next time around!

Tamaya, Tamaya, I love ya' Tamaya...you're only a state away!

We stayed at the lovely Tamaya resort in Albuquerque last week...and a couple of pictures too!

Cool waterslide!