Catching Up

We've had fun the last couple of weekends, mostly consisting of great times shared with friends and family. The laughter, the conversation, the relaxation...lovely summer evenings.

For a few months this summer, all of the Duvalls are living in Colorado, so we finally found an evening that worked for all of our schedules and got together Saturday night (thanks to Whit's blog for the pics :) ).

This BBQ was also the inaugural get-together for our new chiminea. Andrew was soooo excited to get one! This is obviously the first summer for us in this house, so everytime a plant or flower blooms, it's like opening a little gift. I'd never seen a daylily this color before, so here's a moment of zen for you:

Weekend Projects

This weekend, we were a House o' Projects. It's kind of sick, but Andrew & I both really enjoy doing projects around the house. It feels so darn good when a project is done; it totally makes me enjoy that little part of the house or yard just a little bit more!

Andrew replaced the weather-stripping on the door between the house and the garage. The old weather-stripping had entirely ripped off except for about 3 inches, so you stepped on it everytime you used the door, plus it didn't do a whole lot towards insulating the house from the garage. The new weather-stripping is kind of thick, and it doesn't adjust up any higher, so you kind of have to put some umph in the door, but I tell you, there's no unauthorized air exchange going on under that sucker now!

On Friday, I saw a spot on the news about a product, Guard-n-Edge, that goes on top of the metal edging that's all over our yard. I refer to it as the "guillotine" edging because I know of so many people and pets that have injured themselves on that stuff. I've wanted to do something about the edging since moving in, and voila, here was a great solution! So we bought ourselves some Guard-n-Edge and we spent several hours Saturday installing it. I feel much better about the kids and dog running around the yard with the metal edges covered. Ooooh, edging....And the other project was this mound in the backyard. It was previously covered entirely with wood-chips, and as is wont to happen on a hill, the wood-chips just kept sliding down the hill into the grass and our neighbor's yard. So I raked the wood-chips up the hill and hauled rocks from other parts of the yard to cover the slopey parts, creating a little mulch-island around the trees and plants. And whoever landscaped the yard totally upsold the homeowners on rocks, they're about 8 inches thick in some places, so I easily found enough rocks in the other beds around the yard to do the project withouth leaving bare spots. The boys had a lot of fun helping with this project - not a lot of things they like better than hauling rocks in their dump-trucks and little John Deere wheelbarrow.

Welcome!

Welcome to the world, little George Graeson Beach (goes by Graeson). Andrew's sister had a successful c-section (Graeson was breach) this morning in Virginia. Graeson weighed in at 6 lbs, 14 oz, measured 18 1/4 inches long, and has red hair. Max & Ben are so excited to have a new baby boy cousin! (No pics yet.)

Yeah!

So here's Benjamin,

and you know why he's enjoying that cookie? Because today is the first day he has gone all day without having an accident!!

Glory be.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Great Faces. Great Places. South Dakota.

I've figured out the campground's WiFi (yeah!) and thought I'd post some pics while the boys are napping. (I'm actually posting this a day later. The signal at the campground was too weak to upload pics, so I typed this Sunday at the campsite, but loaded pics at home on Monday.)

Let me first say this is the biggest KOA I've ever seen. It is much emptier now than it was earlier this weekend, but the campground manager said there were about 5,000 people camping here at its fullest on the 3rd and 4th.

There are about a gazillion little things to do around here. The boys picked Jewel Cave first, where we took a tour that lasted about an hour and twenty minutes through part of the cave. We bought them these cool National Park Passport books. Each National Park (or monument or historical site, etc) has a unique rubber stamp and date cancellation stamp that the boys can stamp their passport book with - just like the stamps you get in a real passport when you travel abroad. So as they grow up , they can collect stamps on our trips and have this cool souvenir from each place with the date they visited stamped in it!

On the 4th, we watched fireworks in the town of Custer.
The next day we headed to: It's this wildlife park that you drive through and see lots of wild animals up close from the safety of your car. Elk: Reindeer and babies: Bears, bears, and more bears: Bears in places you don't expect, like in a little cave right next to the truck: This morning we headed to Mt. Rushmore. Max getting sworn in as a Junior Park Ranger at Mt. Rushmore: Ben was in tears, ready for lunch, so he didn't participate in the swearing in ceremony, but he got a badge and certificate too.

We spent some time yesterday and plan to spend more time this afternoon at the campground; there's a pool, water-slide (which the boys LOVE!), putt-putt, etc. The campsite: Sacked out from fun: The weather's been great. Last night we got a good ol' thunderstorm in the middle of the night and it rained for a long time (brought back memories of the last time I was in Custer; that was the first time I'd really experienced thunderstorms), and I couldn't believe the boys slept through it. Another camper (from Minnesota) was shocked when we said this was a little more humid and buggy compared to what we're used to :). She couldn't imagine anything drier and more free of bugs...

On the camping front, we decided that from now on, we are using paper plates. It feels so wasteful, but I was walking back from the bathroom last night and saw another campsite where they were just pitching their paper plates in the fire after dinner...I was so jealous! And since we're burning them, it's not like we're making a bunch of trash. It was funny because Andrew brought up the paper plates thing after he hand-washed dishes for one meal. We both arrived at the same conclusion independently. Hmmm.

We are even bigger fans of cooking in foil pockets directly in the campfire after this trip. We tried a new recipe this way and loved it!

*If You Happen To Be Near Lusk, WY*: The rest area just west of Lusk is fabulous! Large playground with equipment for big kids and little kids, lots of grass, trees, shaded picnic areas, a couple of pet walk areas...very nice pit-stop.

(Added Monday night): Now, we are home after a thankfully safe and smooth trip. Dishwasher's running, laundry's going, truck's unloaded, and Andrew's out fetching a pizza. This evening's plan: looooong showers and baths for the kids. All in all, a really fun trip.

Happy 4th!

(a few days early)