4th of July Parade and Picnic

The small town of Stuart, NE has a tradition of celebrating the 4th of July. This year was no different and so we found ourselves lining the streets of Stuart ready for the floats, cars, tractors, horses, bands, ambulances, fire trucks, and of course the candy.

The girls got festive with their red, white, and blue leis.

People lined the streets of Stuart to see the parade. Our family takes up quite a stretch.

Gabriella was a little unsure of this parade thing, but she was ready to try it.

Bernadette and Clare have done this a few times, so they scrambled for the candy.

Felicity caught on pretty quickly.

The girls were really enjoying the parade this year. It was a beautiful day - not too hot, not too cold,
hardly a breeze, and no rain.

There was a Team Jack float that the girls enjoyed.

And then it happened. Since we first saw the trailer months ago, Felicity has been talking about
the Minions in Despicable Me 2. The look on her face could only mean one thing:

This made her day, though we think she wanted to bring one home. Guess what she will probably
want to be for Halloween?

A family tradition for years has been to go to the parade and then meet in the park for a pot-luck picnic. We eat and talk and have a great time. Knowing we didn't have long before we had to head back home, we enjoyed this last meal with family before heading home.

Felicity and her cousin Payton are two months apart. They get along pretty well and we hope they
will be great friends someday.

We have a lot of family and friends in Atkinson and Stuart, but this year we had kind of a low turn out at our picnic. It was still fun and a small turnout for us is still a decent sized group.

Grandpa Joe, Brody, and Aunt Annie

Mason, Cousin Laura, and Aunt Kylie in the foreground, more family in the background.

Uncle Buh, Uncle Jeremy, Kinsley, and Mason along with more family.

Ella thought this was awesome and wondered why we can eat food like this with her seat outside everyday.

Sadly, our vacation was coming to a close. We finished our meal, said our goodbyes, and then headed back to our house near Lincoln. With a four hour car ride ahead, our trip wasn't over yet, but we knew it was drawing to a close. We were all going to be glad to get home and get back to normal, but would miss all the fun we had and would want to remember it forever.

Family Fun Night

We got up early on Wednesday, July 3rd to pack up and clean up the cabin. It took a little bit, but we finally had everything packed and ready. We hit the road and headed for Atkinson, back in Nebraska. The biggest adventure on this stretch was all the potty stops, but as we listened to our audio book (Peter and the Shadow Thieves) we managed to make the six hour drive without too much trouble. The best part was, we knew that Stuart was having Family Fun Night that evening as a part of their 4th of July celebration, so we were looking forward to that. After stopping at Grandma and Grandpas to drop off some stuff and take a quick rest, we headed to Stuart.

The girls were so excited that they ran in circles.

Even Zellie was excited and was moving all over in Mama's tummy.

There was a giant bounce house obstacle course.

With a slide at the end.

And pony rides

Papa walked with Felicity

And Mama walked with Ella.

But Clare and Bernadette rode by themselves.

Then we got snow cones.

We all got to choose our own flavor.

Bernadette went with a patriotic snow cone - red, white, and blue.

But Mama had to share hers with Ella.

Then we went inside to play some games.

They had a ring toss and a game where you tried to throw a ping pong ball into glass jars.

In another game you dropped your ball and hoped it landed on a good prize.

We did pretty good at that one.

Another game had you throw a Frisbee through a hoop.

Though it was harder than you would think, we figured it out.

But soon it was time to head back to Grandma's and Ella was letting us know it. It was then we discovered
that she loves having her picture taken enough that she was able to go from tears to this smile in about three pictures.

Once back at Grandmas, we had a small fireworks display before going to bed.
What a great way to prepare for the 4th of July festivities.

Reptile Gardens

Our family loves trips to the zoo. We go to Omaha or Lincoln's Zoo as often as we can. One thing we really wanted to do was to get to Reptile Gardens and see the unique collection of animals they had there. We arrive there at about 4 PM and though everyone else headed out by 6, we didn't leave until after 7. We started by going to the snake show, which Bernadette found fascinating. After seeing that, we checked out the tortoises. Grandma and Grandpa have pictures of Papa as a little boy riding on a tortoise, but they no longer allow people to ride them. They do let you go in and pet them, but just watch your toes. If these big guys are up and walking around, they weigh over 600 pounds (one was 800) and so if they stepped on your toes, or worse sat down on them, it would be a very bad thing.

Bernadette and Clare pet a tortoise just after it laid down.

Clare was even brave enough to pet it's head. It probably didn't hurt that she didn't realize how sharp
and powerful their beaks can be.

Bernadette even helped Lissie pet the tortoise.

The girls waited with Grandma for everyone to be done with the tortoises.

While we were there, one of the female tortoises was digging a hole to lay eggs in. The zookeepers were excited about this because it means there might soon be baby tortoises for them to take care of. After the tortoises, we headed over to the Gator Show.

We waited patiently for the Gator Show.

They didn't seem too excited at first, but once the show started, the alligators and crocodiles started
really moving around.

The highlight of the show was when they let us all pet a baby alligator. Bernadette and Clare
fearlessly approached and petted the baby gator.

Felicity was a little apprehensive at first, but she finally did it.

Before heading out, we took a group picture. Just like the previous day, we all wore matching shirts.
These shirts were made to help us show our support for Great-Grandma Seger who is battling lung cancer.

After the group pictures, we headed to the dome for the inside exhibits. We grabbed ice cream cones
first, then posed for this family picture.

There were a lot of really neat animals inside, including a giant crocodile (over 21 feet in length). His name was Maniac. Other animals of note were a Komodo Dragon, some very large and very venomous snakes, a chicken who could answer questions (though she wasn't very good), a bird who could swing by his beak, and much more. It amazed us all how Felicity would run right up to big snakes in their exhibits and point her finger at them, yell at them, or even try to surprise them; all things you should never do to a snake. We really enjoyed our walk through the dome. 

Then came the tricky part. The girls had each been given money they could spend on souvenirs. Some had been spent at previous stops, but knowing this would be our last major stop, they wanted to make sure to spend what they could. It ended up taking over an hour, but finally everyone had things they were happy with. We had missed supper at the cabin, so we grabbed a bite on the way and headed for bed, calling it an early night before we had to get up early the next day to drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house. 

Storybook Island

We had kind of a slow start to our second day as Felicity wasn't feeling very good. After a morning nap she proved ready to go and so we headed for the highly recommended "Storybook Island". Our kids were not disappointed, except when we had to leave.

Clare pretends to kiss the camel on Noah's ark. Camels are here favorite animal.

The girls pose by a pirate who just happens to have Tinkerbell on his shoulder.

Bernadette, Clare, Mama, and Ella drive the pirate ship.

We sure hope they know where they are going.

The girls drove the fire engine

Then Clare pushed Felicity on the swing.

High above the castle wall, the girls prepare to thwart any invaders.

What could be better than Papa reading a Dr. Suess book? Why, the Cat In the Hat, of course!

Felicity and Ella decided to ride Mary's Little Lamb. 

Bernadette flies her unicorn.

Felicity preferred just to ride around.

Clare, however, soared above everything.

Even Gabriella took a ride.

This time the girls found a crooked house from the nursery rhyme, not from the Cosmos.

The only time at Storybook Island that the girls were grumpy was when we had to leave...
Oh! and when posing by Grumpy.

We took a train ride around the park.

Papa barely fit in his car with Clare. He said he felt like a giant. We wonder if that is his beanstalk in the corner.

Storybook Island was a lot of fun and is definitely on our list of things we will do if we ever go back to Rapid City. And Papa says the thing that makes it even better is that it is free!