Road Trip

I asked my family last November if they were interested in meeting us in South Dakota for a little mini family reunion this year...and they said yes! So we booked a family rental cabin in Lead, South Dakota for a week and all met up. My older brother and his family drove down from North Dakota, my parents and my younger brother and his family drove up from Missouri and we drove in from Colorado of course.

We were supposed to have the shortest trip and I think would have had I been a good navigator. Sorry Steve! :) I wasn't paying attention on the way up so we missed our turn off and ended up seeing a bit more of Wyoming than we had originally planned. We obviously didn't learn our lesson as we ALMOST made the same mistake on the way back to Colorado but luckily we stopped and checked the map.

This was Aly's first road trip so it was an interesting adventure driving 8 hours on the way to SoDak and 7.5 on the way back. She did fairly well but did get really sick of the driving and being in her car seat so much.

It was great to see my family, as Steve hadn't met everyone yet...and everyone else we hadn't seen since our wedding. We also celebrated Riana's 14th birthday while we were there...dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and ice cream cake! Yummy! Happy B-Day Ria Pia! :)

We had quite a whirlwind tour of the Black Hills and the surrounding area in just a matter of days. We saw Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Deadwood, Homestake Mine (most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere), and other cool places including Spearfish Canyon which was 'sick' according to Steve. Our cabin was great! The weather didn't cooperate the entire time, but we still had an awesome time! We made plans for another reunion in four years...however it was requested that we meet in a more sunny locale. Woo Hoo!

Aly's first BIG GIRL food

Aly has been really looking at Big Girl food for some time now and she always acts hungry...even though she nurses every 1.5 hours. SO...I decided to try her out with some real food to see how she did. We tried oat cereal to begin with. She actually didn't really like it very well. So we waited a week and half and tried again with the cereal mixed with breast milk...the second go around was a HUGE hit...she opens her mouth and tries to grab the spoon...very cute! She is already a healthy 12 and half pounds so I am thinking she is going to be a bit chubbier in the next few months rather than her sleek thin current self.

Riana's 8th Grade Graduation

High School is next??? What the heck?? Where has the time gone? Yes!!...Riana will be a freshman next year since she successfully graduated the 8th grade on May 28th. I really don't know how she grew up so fast but it happened. YIKES! :)

Riana had her commencement ceremony during lunch at the high school she will be attending - Coronado - she sang in the choir at the beginning of the ceremony. The ceremony was nice except for the overcrowded auditorium in which we could not find seats. After the ceremony, I took Riana and two of her friends to lunch and then they had a two day sleepover to celebrate graduation. A good time was had by all!!
Riana & Mikayla
Riana & Mr. Kriedel (Tech Teacher)


80's Flashback!!