Walnut Grove, Tornados and finally getting there.

We woke up feeling very refreshed after sleeping in a king bed in an air conditioned room. After showering and packing up we headed towards Walnut Grove. There was an air of anticipation as we knew that by the end of the day we would finally be at our destination. Walnut Grove was not far and we were there in no time. I am sorry to say that although I had been looking forward to Walnut Grove I wasn't super impressed. They did have a replica of the dugout house that the Ingalls lived in but besides that, it was mostly about pioneer life in general. From there we walked to the festival that was in the park and stumbled  upon a garage sale where I bought a really pretty Gardenia vase and a rusty antique looking candle holder, all for $1. The festival was also a little bit of a disappointment. We watched the Laura and Nellie look alike contest for a little while and then wandered off to the playground. We needed lunch and all we could find were hot dogs for the kids and egg rolls for the adults. Very un-Laura.

When we got back on the road we started the final haul to Gull Lake in Minnesota. After driving for about 2 hours we stopped at a gas station for a little snack and a break. At that point, Kathleen told us that Jeff had called and that we might experience some weather on in our last 2 hours. Tammy and I jokingly asked her if we needed to prepare for a tornado? She laughingly assured us that although the weather was a little rough there weren't any tornados. A few minutes later we were in driving through a little town commenting on how amazing the sky looked. The clouds were black and orange and lightning was flashing, everything started getting really calm and we suddenly heard a siren starting. We kept driving and in a minute we were in the middle of a HUGE storm. It was extremely hard to see and there was thunder and lightning every 2 seconds. We watched as a tree branch fall,  hit a telephone wire and sparks flew everywhere. At that point all of the radio stations were on full storm coverage, we were listening and watching our map and realizing that we were extremely close to the tornado. At that point Kathleen called, and said "we need to hurry, you HAVE to keep up with me, we HAVE to get there quickly" Matt was uncomfortable because we couldn't see and we were hydroplaning a little here and there. There was a while there when it was really touch and go and we weren't sure if we were going to have to pull over and knock on some stranger's door with 7 kids, asking for shelter or if we might end up  taking cover in a road side ditch. We somehow managed to cross the storm's path and then stay ahead of it by about 5-10 minutes. I have never felt such a huge sigh of relief then when we pulled into the driveway.

Jeff's parents house is amazing, it is right on the lake and the view is beautiful! The McCarters are in one 'wing' and the Sieck's, Johnson's and us are in another. Jeff's parents, Papa Keith and Grandma Nene, are the sweetest most hospitable people I have ever met. They have embraced all of us, and have been so great with all of the kids. They don't seem to mind that there are 11 kids tearing up their house and 8 adults cooking, playing and parenting.

The kids have all loved playing in the lake, fishing, catching frogs, going to the water slides, riding bikes in the huge driveway, and playing in the basement. Everyone has gotten along wonderfully and it is so fun to watch these kids grow up together. I have been struck with memories of all of us camping last year and it feels like time is flying by. Part of me wants to freeze time and part of me is so excited to see what happens next.

Little House Feels Like Home

We woke bright and EARLY as the HOT Wyoming sun was beaming down on our tent. We all rolled around for about 45 minutes pretending that we weren't miserably hot and might go back to sleep before we finally gave up and left the tent. I am pretty sure it was about 6:30 am . We stuffed some bagels and Pop Tarts down the kids (I know my Dad will be mad at me about that!)  and went to get Kathleen and Tammy at their hotel.

This was the big day that I had been waiting for. We were finally going to be in DeSmet, SD and go to the Ingalls Homestead! This may not seem like much to some people, but I grew up memorizing everything about Laura Ingalls. My sister and I played Little House On The Prarie by the hour.  It was not uncommon for me to walk around for the entire day with a pair of my Mom's pantyhose on my head, pretending that each leg was one of my braids. 

We drove, switching driving partners and kids along the way.  When we got there we walked into the Visitors Center with Tessa nipping at my heels like a small dog, begging me for a bonnet. Of course I bought her one right away, Matt had to hold me back so that I wouldn't buy her the over-priced matching dress and pinafore. 

We walked all around the homestead and visited the barn, with 4 new kittens and a calf. From there we went to the house that Pa built and made butter, rested on beds filled with hay and tested out the old fashioned system for washing clothes. The kids could of made rag dolls and button string toys but they were very egear to get to the next thing, a covered wagon ride to the school house. We got into the wagon and the driver let all the kids take turn driving. 

The end of covered wagon ride brought us to the little school house. We put on our bonettes, and pinafores and sat at our little desks. The teacher talked to the kids about what life and school would have been like in Laura's day and what she might have eaten for lunch. 

After that we rode back to the barn and the kids took little pony rides, pumped some water from the well and we payed another visit to the kittens before we left. 

After we left there we drove to our hotel. Yes, I said hotel. After 2 nights of setting up our tent in the dark and waking up really early Matt agreed to a hotel :) We got there and Kathleen and I asked if  they could put our rooms close to each other, so Matt and I got an upgrade. It was heavenly. 

Fort Laramie, Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore

After our first KOA experience, we woke up ready to go the next morning. I was really excited about getting a shower first thing in the morning until I saw the huge line of teenage girls also waiting.  I decided it was worth it to wait in line, but after 30 minutes of standing there and listening to the girls talk about hair, make-up and boys in what seemed like a whole other language, I decided to just get dressed so we could go.
We got on the road and, after a breakfast stop at IHOP that left us feeling slightly sick, we were on our way. Our first stop was Ft. Laramie. We didn't expect to be so impressed, but the walking tour was amazing. We loved looking inside all of the houses, and the rooms were decorated with all of the artifacts that archeologists had found on the site. The kids loved it; Tessa especially enjoyed looking in all of the children's rooms. There were several rag dolls and dolls with glass heads that she liked.

There was a group of archeologists there and they had just uncovered a plot of boots, shells from rifles and a perfectly intact and beautiful perfume bottle that was absolutely beautiful. 

From Ft. Laramie we went to the Crazy Horse exhibit in the Black Hills. As soon as we rounded the corner up the hill we saw a huge mountain looming in front of us, we could immedietly see that it was the side of a face. We didn't have any cell service for the majority of this time so of course we were seperated from Kathleen and Tammy the majority of our drive. Once again though, we ended up running  into them right as they were pulling into Crazy Horse. It was a happy reunion as T & K had been chasing a few hours behind us all day. 

We went inside of the muesum with Brodie, Vera and Tully holding hands and Tessa, Fiona, and Ashton chasing along behind them. They spent some time examining all of the buffalo hides and Indian Teepee's. We watched a short movie on the history of Crazy Horse that Tully loved. After that we had dinner at the reasturant at Crazy Horse, I think we almost gave the staff a heart attack when we walked in with our SEVEN hungry kids dancing around. 

After that we headed off to Mt. Rushmore trying to get there before dark. I have to admit that after a really long day and seeing how huge Crazy Horse was, Mt. Rushmore was a little bit underwhelming. It was really pretty and very cool, but we were so tired! We stayed for a little while but we didn't make it to the light show. Matt and I drove off to another KOA to set up our tent in the dark and K&T went to a nearby hotel. 

Check out Matt's $3 Mt. Rushmore shirt that he got at Wallmart. The scary thing is we saw whole groups of people wearing the same one.