South Dakota - Summer Trip

We made our annual summer trip to South Dakota to spend time with the cousins. 

I worked from Mom and Dad's office and Grammy took the children on an outing.

It was a perfect day to visit the pool.

Mom had quite a few big kids with her at the pool since Auntie Katie and Auntie Mallory were already back to school going to meetings, getting classrooms ready, etc. I still can't believe how early the school year begins in South Dakota! The academic calendar has sure shifted since I was a kid in SoDak.

Here is a selfie of Grandma and her little swimming buddy. Awww! 

The next day I worked until lunch and took the afternoon off to visit the Sioux Empire Fair. There was a free lunch and entertainment sponsored by the SD Pork Council - some of us were more excited about pork loin sandwiches than others. ;)

Next up - lots of barns to visit.

We saw all kinds of neat Ag related exhibits.

Leo was so happy to pet this precious lil piggy.

The best part of the Fair for me? Randomly running into a dear college friend Kari and her sweet daughter Charlie. I haven't seen her in years so it was such a treat to catch up. 

Guess who else we ran into at the Fair? Senator John Thune. Whomp whomp. 

As per usual, there were all kinds of dire warnings to keep hands out of the pens. These geese were so beautiful but not so nice.

Lucy's favorite animal was the llama - no surprise there! 

Grandpa and Grandma took a silly picture with the crew - there were just the perfect amount of cutouts for Abby to be the farmer, Roman was a sheep, Leo was a donkey or horse {couldn't really tell} Jules the piggy and Lucy the cow. Such a Fun and HOT outing. 

Here is our August birthday crew + the Storm kids in another cutout. 

Our next stop was the model train display. 

Okay, not to trash talk the Sioux Empire Fair but this was advertised as 'South Dakota's Largest Public Model Railroad Display' and it was pretty puny and underwhelming. I mean we just visited that Sioux City Train museum a few days earlier and that exhibit was like 10 times the size and complexity as this space. Not super impressed.

We stopped by the antique school house - it reminded me of Rhinelander and the museum complex at Pioneer Park. :)

We saw a magic show, the magician needed a volunteer and Jules was selected from the crowd! Yay! She got a prize for her participation and was a happy girl. 

The magic show was right next to a Fair petting zoo. There were so many animals to pet, these poor little critters must be overwhelmed by so many tiny human hands. 

I addition to the usual petting zoo subjects, they even had a zebra and a camel in the pen.

When were were exiting the space, I saw this! You guys, as if this poor turtle didn't have enough trauma in its life with a thousand kids touching it every single day, the dang goat is standing on top of his shell. Ai yi yi!

We left the fair and hightailed it to the nearest Dairy Queen! 

We got a little bit of grief from certain family members who were upset that we didn't swing by the SDSU Dairy truck for treats but such is life! 

An afternoon at the Fair and ice cream cones? These kids are living the dream! ;)

Other than pool time, Fair adventures and time with cousins, our time at Grandma and Grandpa was filled with the usual, time honored and treasured activities of games and puzzles around the kitchen table. 

We left Grandpa and Grandma's house on Thursday morning and headed east back to Wisconsin. We had to remove a stowaway cousin or two who may or may not have been hiding in the backseats of our van. LOL. 

We stopped for a picnic and park time in St. Peter and made it back to Eau Claire by dinner. It was a great week; we made lots of memories along the way.

 

Road Trip to Omaha / Henry Doorly Zoo

After our family weekend in Iowa, the kids and I ventured on to Omaha for a quick getaway and zoo visit. Daniel headed back to Wisconsin for work but Grandpa and Grandma opted to join us. Our first stop on the journey was this Sergeant Floyd River Museum in Sioux City.

We learned the history of Sergeant Floyd who was an American explorer and part of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Historians think that he died of a ruptured appendix near Sioux City. Miraculously he was the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die during their trip. Here is Leo checking out a diorama of Floyd's burial on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.

This kid loves a good diorama so this was a perfect museum for him!

The big kids practiced driving a ferry. 

Gotta love a Lego ferry boat!

We rang the bell at the top.

We pretended to be a sea captain.

Lucy tried to replicate a photo in the museum. Here she is trying to be...

President Harry S. Truman driving the same boat. ;)

Hey - it was a pretty fun little place for being a Free museum and welcome center! A great spot for the kiddos to run around for a bit while it was raining outside. 

After we finished our time at the riverboat, we went on a quick walk down the path to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.

Here is a smaller version of Lewis and Clark and their pup Seaman, a loyal Newfoundland dog.

This place was full on animatronic people - including Sgt. Charles Floyd.

Here are Lewis and Clark talking about how they were affected by the death of Sgt. Floyd, you can see that they are burying him in this scene.

My L's really enjoyed themselves, this was part the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail so they even got official stamps for their National Park passport books. 

This other child was very crabby about the extra stop, he just wanted to get to Omaha to enjoy his hotel pool time as soon as possible. 

Look at all of these cool sculptures in the courtyard. 

We stopped to eat a picnic lunch by these critters.

The children insisted that we get a picture of this elk for their Dad. :)

After lunch we continued on our trip south to our hotel in Council Bluffs. 

Our hotel was right next to a Bass Pro Shop so you better believe that we stopped by to see the fish...

...and play some shooting games. ;)

Seeing the stuffed animals added to the anticipation of going to the big zoo the next day. 

We did some swimming in the hotel pool - always a favorite!

Nothing beats a pizza supper in a hotel lobby, am I right? 

The next day was Grandma Sharon's birthday! We kicked off her 69th year at the Henry Doorly Zoo!

I haven't been to this zoo in 25 or 30 years but it was just as cool as I remembered! This desert dome was still under construction when I was a kiddo but the habitat is complete and was a must see for the Storm children. 

Roman wanted me to snap this pic of one of Prince's distant cousins. ;)

Everyone loved the desert. Next we headed downstairs into the Kingdom of the Night space to see all of the nocturnal creatures. It was amazing - I don't have any pictures because it was dark but a great exhibit. 

We stepped into the sun and found a lion statue. Grandpa found a spot to sit for a bit and the rest of us went to the rainforest.

Such a beautiful day to celebrate Grandma Sharon!

When I was a girl, this rainforest habitat was the best ever! I remember visiting in ~1991 and buying a cassette tape in the gift shop featuring rainforest sounds. I thought it was going to be relaxing - rain noises, chirping insects, etc but it ended up being incredibly loud with howler monkeys and other screeching animals in the background. Haha! What fun to bring all of my kids back all of these years later. 

The crew enjoyed strolling through the rain forest!

Here is our August birthday team!

These two loved seeing the giant tree roots and fish in the water.

Leo said, 'Look, Mama! I am picking his nose.' Ai yi yi.

These pygmy hippos were so cute.

Next stop was the aquarium. I had to laugh because this looked like an advertisement for the HyVee Seafood market. Heehee.

A shark and a peace sign from Mr. Leo. 

I could watch tanks of jelly fish for hours! 

So fun to see the sharks and rays!

We had a picnic lunch and had some sibling love by the giraffes. ;)

We started to slow down and got tired of walking in the mid-afternoon ... 

...so we took a nice tram ride. 

It was a nice little break. 

We explored the gardens and sat on the sculptures. 

Mom loves butterflies so we needed to get some photos on the butterfly bench.

Leo and I played for a bit

while Grammy and the big kids went on the skyfari. 

It started pouring so we ducked into the Butterfly and insect house.

A hot and sweaty boy at the end of a long and fun-filled day at the zoo!

We stopped by the gift shop an picked up a few new friends on our way out the door. ;) Leo was thrilled to get this long tailed sifaka. {As a side note, this sweet sifaka is not allowed at Leo's school anymore due to being whipped around by his long tail and hitting other children! Insert palm to face emoji here.}

We headed back north and stopped for some baseball and a birthday supper at a sports bar in Sioux City. 

Love you, Mom! Thanks joining us on our adventures to Omaha.