it has kindly been brought to our attention (and rightly so) that we don't have very many pictures of the kids together. ok, practically none. fine, we haven't had one since cody was knee high to a grasshopper. this is our first step in a movement to mend the mistake, and move toward the future of dual-kid picture taking.
last saturday we went to ha ha tonka state park to see the spring. it is the result of a 100 square mile draining field. all the rain water pools to the place in the first two pictures. the water shoots out from under the cliff at 56 degrees and at a rate of 58 million gallons per day. that's enough to make a small river and turn your bones to ice. they made a boardwalk back to the spring. was a pretty fun little walk. you can then hike down to the place where the spring water meets the lake and ride the current into the lake. you can't see very well from the pictures but the area was steaming because of the 50 degree spring water mixing with the 80 degree lake water. really made your whole body tingle when you made the transition of waters. in the last picture you can see the lake water mixing with the cold-looking, aqua spring water. the water felt like it was melting ice water coming straight out of the rockies.
the last couple times that we have gone out to the lake ellen has been jumping the whole time. i literally spend a couple hours hoisting her out of the water and onto the dock so she can turn right around and jump back in...for hours. she loves it. all the other kids are also intrigued by this little "baby" that is jumping more than they are. crazy ellen.
cody is now strong enough to grab a huge handful of hair and pull till your eyes water. this also qualifies him for rides on your shoulders. oh, yes christi, we are now accepting donations for clothes. our washing machine broke and it is a long walk to the lake to do it by hand. the national guard is bringing us another washing machine sometime next fall.
we took out the shotgun last week and shot some fake birds. not quite like the prairies of south dakota with the ring neck pheasants, but it will do.
the kids love to get outside so we try and take at least one walk a day. ellen likes to push the stroller.
the last week or so it has been in the 90's consistently so we have spent much time down at the lake swimming, fishing, or in the sprinkler.
