Iowa - South Dakota - Wisconsin

Normally for Memorial Weekend we go up north to Michigan to go camping with my mom's side of the family (I missed being with you guys so much!!)...well, this year our youth pastor was getting married that weekend, and Dena's family is from South Dakota. We really wanted to support them, especially since we were the only ones from the church going.

Anyway, we had a great time...in spite of over 32 hours in a van (6 days, 4 days traveling) with two little kids...which had the potential to be terrible, but Titus was AMAZING. I kept looking back at him thinking "he is not my son"! :) Damaris on the other hand was as good as you can expect from a one year old I guess :) It was a bit more miserable with her, but she just didn't understand and did pretty good considering.

We left last Wednesday morning and headed to Iowa and spent that evening and the next day with Stephen's cousin Troy, his wife Angela, and their son William who was born in December.

Here are some pictures of our time with them:

We went to this place that rescues birds and takes care of them. They actually had a bald eagle, which I thought was cool. As you can see, some birds (smaller than Titus in size) have huge wing spans...no wonder they can fly so easily!!


Us...Them


This was amazing! They regulate how much water from the reservoir behind here flows into the river. It was dumping the water quite a bit lower than the actual river, which had to flow uphill to get out, which created this HUGE under current. We threw a pine cone into the water and it hardly hit the water before it was sucked down never to be seen again. I would not want to imagine what would happen if someone fell in there!! They had gotten a lot of rain, so the river was high and the amount they were letting out was more than normal. Troy said it was the most he had seen. I love water (as long as I am not in it), so this was fascinating to me!! The video below just does not do it justice, but it at least shows you a little bit of what I am talking about.


(I actually was standing up hill from where the water was coming in, so it doesn't really give you the perspective of how far up it had to travel)


We also went to this fossil gorge where the reservoir I just talked about went over the emergency wall (I don't remember the technical terms) and completely "carved out" and washed away all the soil that was in this area. It was pretty neat to see all the fossils in the rock. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the fossils...


Troy and Titus


Titus giving William a kiss...and all three of the kids (it was hard enough getting this "good" of a picture ;))


Stephen and Troy...William and Angela

We had so much fun...thanks guys!!!

Early Friday we packed up and headed the rest of the way to South Dakota. We got dinner, let the kids swim at our hotel for a while and then went to bed...we were pretty tired!! The next morning was the wedding so we packed up and drove to the church. Which, after driving through South Dakota, I expected to be this tiny country church...but it was huge and really nice and actually very thriving! It was exciting to see how God is using that Wesleyan church in a very unpopulated area. (I don't know if any of you have been in north eastern SD, but there were seriously times we could look in every single direction as far as we could see and not even see a building. And it was not like there were mountains in the way or anything. There were also times we were driving on a main state road and went miles and miles without even seeing another vehicle. It is just one of those things that you have to experience to really grasp - especially if you live in the Marion, Indiana area!! It was a beautiful area, though!)

Their wedding was beautiful, and we were glad we were able to go!! Here are some pictures of us at the wedding:

Snuggling with Mommy...What is she doing to me?!?


The boys...All tired out


Pastor David and Dena...Stephen's cousin, Mary Sue, was a bridesmade, so it was great to see a familiar face!


Driving into a huge storm (I wish pictures could do justice!)...Being illegal and letting Damaris out of her car seat to play for a little while. We took out the backseat entirely to give us more room. WE LOVE THE VAN!!!!!!

Thankfully the wedding was early, so we drove from SD to WI that night, getting in at almost midnight (1 AM our time). Thanks Josh and Jamie for being willing to let us in that late at night!! Josh did a GREAT job preaching the next morning (he is a very gifted speaker!), and then in the afternoon we went to Devil's Lake State Park which is only a mile and a half from their house! Here are some pictures of our time there:

Yes, that is a picnic table in the water! They also had gotten a lot of rain, and the water was much higher than normal. It was also VERY windy when we were at this end of the beach, so the waves were pretty strong. It was beautiful, though!


Jamie on the beach...Me and Stephen


Stephen and Titus climbing on the rocks...Our family


The lake...Josh and Jamie

Thank you Josh and Jamie...we had a great time, and appreciate you guys so much!!

Then on Monday (Memorial Day) we were on the road early once again to head home. It was a lot of driving but we had a great time...and were definitely ready to be home and done spending lots of time in a small, confined area!!

In other news...we decided to try potty training Titus, and that went over like a lead balloon :) So, we will probably just try once a month or so until we feel he is ready to start training. The 48 hours we tried this week definitely showed us he was NOT ready.

Here are a couple pictures of the kids I thought you might enjoy...

Damaris fell asleep on the floor...she wasn't even up more than a half hour, so apparently she was still tired!! The picture on the right is at another one of Stephen's softball games. One of these days I will get one of our team or the actual game ;)


Titus put soap all over his chin and I told him he looked like Santa Clause, and later he told me when he did it again that he was Noah from the Bible :) I thought that was funny.

Have a great weekend everyone!!