Tennessee... Sounds good to me

This is Natasha Wilhelmina  or just Mina for short.

Michael and I are rather whimsical. So with a couple weeks of summer left, we headed east. I missed my old rocky top.

I forget about the mountains in Missouri. I guess it can be pretty too. 

In the past, Michael and I would just drive straight through from Idaho to Tennessee, the whole 1700 miles in one shot. This time we thought we would stop on the way out and on the way back. We didn't leave Rexburg until 5 or 6 in the evening on Friday, because the shop took forever to get our car back to us. I wanted a little more drive time during the daylight to get a preview of more places in Wyoming we might end up, but that didn't happen. I ended up in the backseat of the car between the two car seats, to keep the kids happy. This wouldn't have been so bad if I would have thought differently about how I packed the back seat. You live and you learn I guess. I did pack plenty of things to keep the kids busy though. Ivan loved being in the car when he was little so I thought Charlotte might be the same. Nope. Ivan, although he loved the car as a baby, requires much more freedom at this point in his life than is available to him in the car seat. So here I am thinking Ivan will be terrible and Charlotte will be simply lovely. Nope. They were totally opposite. They both did well the first few hours in the car, and fell asleep pretty quickly after the sun went down... at 10 pm. I had packed a bunch of things for Ivan to do in the car. He had toys, games, puzzles, a cookie sheet and magnets, a tablet with Talking Tom on it, and a slough of other activities. I thought I had overdone it with all the things he had. Nope. It was just enough. That way he had a variety of things to do and ways to stay busy while engaging his mind. Charlotte got pretty tired of being in the car and just wanted to be held, but that's what pacifiers are for.

Ivan really loved playing with the magnet letters. And he likes putting them on his fingers so much he fell asleep like that.

I can't say too many exciting things about the drive. It's a long 28 hours and we took it in a straight shot. Michael drove the majority of the way, that way I could entertain the kids enough to keep both of us sane.

Nobody even likes that arch anyway.
It's like a half-done McDonald's with no playplace.

I really wanted a good break in our trip and a chance to get out and stretch our legs, so we planned on stopping at the St. Louis Zoo (which is free). Every time we drive through St. Louis is miserable. There was the time with the moving truck and the lane that abruptly ended, the time with crazy bad backed up traffic, and the time I missed my exit. All of those were not fun. It was time to change our view of St. Louis. So we got to the zoo.... and it was closed. Boo! St. Louis = the worst.

This is all that we saw of the St. Louis Zoo the first time we tried to go. 

By the time we finally got to my parents we were exhausted. It was probably around 9 or so on Saturday night that we arrived at the nostalgic Dirt Road. Yep, that's the name, not a description. After all, it's the only Dirt Road in the south that's paved. The kids were so excited to be out of the car. Ivan even squealed with joy.

We all took turns jumping into my parent's above ground pool. My pictures weren't near as flattering...

Ivan loved being in the pool. LOVED it! He would jump from the deck into the pool, onto Michael of course.

He finally got brave enough to try the whole swimming thing out. 

We had the opportunity to go to my home ward while we were there. It was so fun to see so many people I hadn't seen in years. Getting the kids to go back in the car wasn't fun though. One of my friends from back home had actually moved to the Salt Lake area not too long after I moved to Idaho, and she was back visiting her parents at the same time I saw mine. So we both drove 25-28 ish hours to see each other when we're only 3 hours away out here! But that meant a bonfire at her place. She has a little boy that's a couple months older than Ivan and her sister has kids all around my kids ages. It was so good to see everyone.

Ivan loved Papa's tractor. 

Papa let Ivan drive!

And he loved playing with the chickens. 

And he loved all the baby kittens, even while the momma hissed at him.
This is his excited dance, cuz of all the animals. 

One of the days we were there, Ivan made it half way down the driveway before I could catch him. Mina was the only one with him and she stayed right by his side. So I took him for a walk down the road to the creek at the end and Ivan emphatically told Mina to go home cuz he didn't want her to be on the road. She was a good sport and stayed for a couple minutes there at the end of the driveway, then caught right back up to us. She even let Ivan ride her like a horse for a couple minutes. 

Another reason for the timing of our visit was for my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Pops!

And of course we can't visit my parents without my dad showing off the armory. 

Dad shooting the AK

Dad showing me how to shoot the AK. Not too bad for my first time, but I prefer the AR.

Michael being a boss. 

On the way home, we took our time. At least a little more time. This time we stopped at the St. Louis Zoo while it was open. And let me tell you, it was worth it! I was so incredibly amazed at how wonderful a place it was, and for it to be completely free!

Ivan was in love with the elephants. We must have stayed there looking at them for twenty minutes. 

He was so, SO excited for the big fish. 

This is my favorite picture of all time! Ivan thought the seals were pretty cool. There was a tunnel thing underground you could walk under and the seals would swim right next to you, or over top of you. Ivan was kinda nervous for them swimming too close, but he wanted to see them better. So he stood up on the bench where he knew he couldn't get down without help and watched the seals swim around him. Then this one came swimming right at him! Ivan must have thought he could come through the glass and eat him right up. This picture was only the beginning to his bad reaction. Ivan cried and immediately wanted nothing more to do with the seals. 

We stayed the night at a hotel in Omaha, NE (which means Nebraska, not New England). And we drove more north than we should have. But only because we wanted to. We went to the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and stopped for the night in Casper, WY to see Michael's sister Brenda. We stayed with Brenda and Gavin for a couple nights then finished our trek in one fell swoop. 

Do you see all that yellow? This is in South Dakota. That is a field of sunflowers. These fields went on and on like wheat fields in Kansas. It was actually pretty cool. 

Badlands National Park. When Michael worked at the Marriott, he met all sorts of interesting people. One guy that visited the hotel often, said that his favorite national park he's ever been to was the Badlands. What a load of.... Anyway, we figured we'd check it out and see what it was all about. And you do the hokey pokey, I'm getting off topic. The park was really neat. The whole place is super flat all around it and then you walk into this. Stunning peaks of cool colored rocks. It reminds me of all the Bryce Canyon photos I've seen, but not as cool. I'm glad to say I've been there before. 

You know that time when you do something weird right when your camera timer goes off and clicks a picture.... Yea. I was scratching my foot with my other foot and I really look like I have to pee! Thank goodness it's a desert and I was already dehydrated and obviously didn't have to go. 

Past the Badlands a ways is Mt. Rushmore. We took full opportunity of pulling off the road, taking a picture, and continuing our drive. There is no fee to enter the monument, but the fee for parking is something like your firstborn, second if they're really cute. 

The side of Mt Rushmore. The mountains in this area are all really cool. And the next 30 miles was just littered with deer all over the place. A little scary, but mostly just plain awesome. 

This is how Charlotte kept herself entertained. Wow, my arm looks really hairy!

We missed the South Dakota sign on the way in, so Michael flipped around and got it on the way out.
Looks like there isn't much for the youngin's to do in this place. 

 We really had a good time seeing Brenda and Gavin. For those who don't know, Brenda is Michael's twin. And I like to think she's the sister I got to pick. They are living in Casper right now. She is working as a physical therapist and Gavin is working at a furniture store, a really nice one, and going to school for his bachelor's in social work. Their apartment complex had a sweet play ground and a pool. The sides of the pool had metal on them, so it would heat the pool? But it was still cold. Thankfully, Charlotte had no interest in swimming, so I got to be with her and they had to swim with Ivan.

Jumping in. 

Hey ladies!

On our way from Casper to Rexburg, we got to see some new parts of Wyoming. This pretty place is known as the Red Rocks. It's not too far from Dubois, which we think is a really pretty area. Along the side of the road here was a guy peeing. That was funny when I turned and saw him and told Michael to drive away or he might flash us. 

There was a sweet Bighorn Sheep visitor's center in Dubois. We stopped there to change diapers and to get a break from the car. The skull here belonged to T-bone, a bighorn sheep native to the area. He had congenital problems that caused his horns to go straight out instead of curling, like normal sheep. This didn't stop him from participating in mating rituals and he is even thought to have fathered a few males in the area due to the shape of their horns. I thoroughly enjoyed this visitor's center. 

It was good to be home by the time we were done.