Onward, to Chamberlain! Happy 4th of July!

On Friday, I woke up at an early 6:50 AM after spending the night with a throwing-up sick child. I was off to shoot senior photos of Jeanne's daughter Claire. After only getting about 5 hours of sleep, I was a bit blurry eyed, but nothing a FEW gigantic coffees couldn't fix. Ha.
I met Jeanne and Claire at Ballereana Dance Studio to start our series of photos. We were supposed to be the only ones there, as Claire had reserved the studio for photos from 8 to 10 AM. No such luck, apparently. There was a Zumba class scheduled for 8:15 AM, and yep, they did their Zumba despite our plans. So... we had to wait. There was no sense in wasting time though, so we shot in a much smaller room that was painted red and had a ballet bar in it. We got some very "moody" shots, and frankly, I'm so excited to see them!
After the Zumba ladies danced their way out of "our" studio, we set up a few fun shots of Claire at the ballet bar there. The window light was there, but nearly unusable because of the dark skies and rain clouds hovering overhead. Jeanne posed as an assistant for me, outside, in the drizzle, holding my amber covered flash. Thanks Jeanne!! ;)
After we finished up at the studio, we shot around Sioux Falls, first at a bridge in the drizzle then at the amphitheatre, then did a few shots downtown at a location that Jeanne had scoped out. We took the last shots at the hotel that I'm staying in, in the lobby. What fun we had!!! I can't wait to work on the images when I get home, I must say that I haven't even peeked at them yet! I'm dying!
I met up with my parents who had taken my kids to lunch at Cracker Barrel, and off we drove to Chamberlain. I think my parents must have sprinkled some Ambien on their grilled cheeses, both of them fell asleep immediately in the car and stayed asleep for two hours to Chamberlain. Kaitlyn was sound asleep, still, when I woke her up at Casey's Welcome West. It was a very relaxing drive.
Aaaahhh, Chamberlain. Easy life, nice people, beautiful river and scenery, and GREAT pie. :) We spent the next few days at Cedar Shore hotel along with a slew of people there to celebrate the 4th of July. Most everyone was able to attend the reunion except Mike Casey and is family. We missed them desperately, and said a blessing and cheered them around the table at Terry and Sharon's house that night before dinner.
We all gathered at Terry and Sharon's house for lasagna and good laughs, and to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They even had a BAR set up outside in their back yard! What an awesome idea!! The kids played their hearts out, and we had such a great time catching up with everyone. Mom and I got to give Terry and Sharon the book that we had worked on together "Fifty Reasons Why We Love Terry and Sharon". We got input from a lot of people in the family for our top 50 reasons why we love them so much. They loved the book, I'm so happy Mom and I got that accomplished!
That night was another restless night for James. He tossed and turned in his bed (and was talking in his sleep) until 3 AM when I finally realized that I should probably give him some Tylenol. That worked... and we all slept comfortably until 7:30 or so. Needless to say, I was a bit of a wench that day... so tired and not really in the mood to celebrate. But, all of that changed as time passed in the day and we had a happy 4th of July. It was great to see cousins and play with everyone, even if we didn't quite get to chat as long as I had wanted.
The kids got to stay up late for the fireworks show. It didn't start until 10:20 and even I was starting to get bleary eyed. The fireworks were great, the kids weren't even scared. They were further away this year than usual, which was a great thing. I think they nearly blew up the marina last year. ;) Ha.

Courtney and me in Chamberlain. Fun fun!

I was giving Kaitlyn cake, and with every bite she would say, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?" from her low tones up to her highest tones.

Mom at the piano at St. James Catholic Church in Chamberlain, SD. They had a mass in celebration of Terry and Sharon's 50th Anniversary, but I wasn't able to attend. :(

Dad, me, James and Kaitlyn on the Cedar Shore marina walkway.

James, Pops, Grandma and Kaitlyn on the dock.

James runs up and down the ramp, fulfilling his need to obsess with ramps on a daily basis.

Mr. and Mrs. Terry Casey. Congrats on your 50th! We love you!

Kevin and kids at Cedar Shore Bar-b-que on the 4th.

Kev and Ben.

Me and Bonna Casey.

Kari (Matt's fiance), Jeanne, Maggie, Molly and me during the bbq.

Kaitlyn saying hi to Sutton.

Run, James, run!

Strong Ben!

Kevin enjoying some sports on the lawn.

Jack and James chillin'.

Cameron giving James a piggy back ride.

Fireworks time! FINALLY!

Happy 4th of July!

Cookie monster.

The old Chamberlain bridge, slated to be demo'd this week. Mom says she remembers this bridge from when she was little.

My parents... this was the view I always had when growing up and riding in the middle seat of the back row. This really cracked Mom up when I told her "this is what I used to see as a kid... the back of your heads." :)

Onward, to South Dakota!

We said goodbye to the Neiperts and Grandma Marilyn on Tuesday, and when we dropped them off at the airport, Kaitlyn cried. I'm not sure if it was related to the fact that they were leaving, or that she couldn't get out of the car and go with them. She cried and whined for nearly 5 minutes on the way home, so I kept repeating what she was saying. "I'm gonna miss Grandma! I'm gonna miss Bennett! I'm gonna miss Harrison! I'm gonna miss Aunt Beth!" For 5 minutes.
The rest of that evening I spent time packing and getting things ready for our trip to South Dakota. Nathan wasn't able to take more time off of work, so I decided to try traveling with the kids alone. I got us packed along with a bunch of photo equipment to photograph senior photos of my cousin Jeanne's daughter Claire. I can't believe that girl is going to be a senior in high school next year... it seems to me like it was not so long ago that I remember her as a beautiful toddler. Now, here she is, a grown up girl, and still beautiful. I can't wait to work on her photos when I get home.
Anyway, I got side tracked. The kids and I left Florida on Wednesday and headed on Allegiant on a direct flight to Sioux Falls. What a great thing. I heart Allegiant for having direct flights. The plane ride went smoothly, with naps for both kids, and a little iPod action for me. No complaints, really.
After the flight we headed over to my Uncle Todd and Aunt Patty's house for pizza and fruit (and BEER). Jason was there, as well as Kevin and his kids (they were on our flight). We had a good time letting the kids run around outside and play. By the time we got to the hotel, unloaded our bags, changed rooms due to AC problems and then got into bed, the kids were exhausted. I was too. We had a good night of sleep though and were rested for the next day's fun.
On Thursday we had a lazy morning and then headed over to see my Grandma Doris (my dad's mom, and only living grandparent). She is living in an independent living facility in Sioux Falls that is brand new and absolutely gorgeous. I asked her if she was happy there, and she said, "Well if I can't be at my house, this is where I want to be." So that's great. GREAT. She really enjoys being there, and now that she's in Sioux Falls, it's easier for her family to go see her.
Kevin and his kids, my parents and my kids and I went over to her house for the later part of the morning. We were given the grand tour (we even saw where they show movies and play Wii bowling), and then hung out on the lawn in the sun and watched the kids play football and play with rocks. Perfect South Dakota weather. It was hot, but cool enough to be comfortable in the shade.

Great Grandma Doris and 5 of her great grandchildren.

Grandma Doris and Cameron.

Kevin, Grandma and me.

Kevin, Grandma and Ben.

Kevin, Grandma and Jack.

James and Kaitlyn were playing with the rocks, and putting them down in the holes.

Cameron told us that Uncle Todd taught her how to throw the football the right way. Uncle Todd should have been a quarterback I guess because he taught Cam how to LAUNCH the thing. Good job Cam!

After a much needed lunch at Culver's and naps at the hotel, we went BACK to Culver's to get ice cream for the kids. We were on our way to Jeanne's house, so we went through the drive through. I ordered them chocolate shakes, and pleasantly, to my surprise, they were able to make them just like James wanted it... with M&M's in it. What a mess Kaitlyn made in the back seat. I got them shakes in the first place thinking that they would have normal lids on them with straws in them. No, instead, they had lids like you get on a mocha, with the dome and a gigantic hole in the center. Dang. I removed the spoons from the shakes (licked them clean! :)), and left the straws in there and told the kids to drink it through the straw. Alas, as usual, I forgot I was talking to a 2 year old, who didn't pay any attention to my directions and was trying to use her straw as a spoon to scoop it into her mouth. Yep. Chocolate shake... everywhere. Awesome. Of course by the time I had noticed what she was doing it had been long enough for her to drip all over. At that point, there was nothing I could do besides let her finish it. I got the car cleaned up when we got to Jeanne's house. Sigh.
The kids had an excellent time at Jeanne's house jumping on their trampoline and then having a water balloon fight. Fun in the sun! Mom, Molly, Courtney and Jeanne and I sat on the porch and sipped our cold drinks while the kids played. Ryan and Kevin were out throwing the baseball and then had a small soccer game going on with the Hassel girls and Kevin's kids.
At one point, James was left alone playing with the hose that had filled up all of the water balloons. He turned around and said, "Friends? Where did all my friends go?" Oh it was so cute and sad at the same time.

Anna, Maria, Kaitlyn, James, Gabe, Alex, Cameron and Jack fill up water balloons.

Molly and Courtney chilling in SD.

Molly and Mom.

Alex Powell was so much fun for the camera!

Cameron told me about a small spider web near the hose what was covered in droplets, so we photographed it. Good luck seeing the web... :).

For dinner that evening, we were hosted by Dick and Bev for sloppy Joe's. The kids didn't eat much, which turned out to be a problem later in the evening. We had a good time chatting and laughing as usual. When we got back to the hotel, James was complaining of a sore throat so I gave him some ibuprofen and put them to bed. The problem? James was up at 12:30 AM throwing up. He threw up three times in an hour and then finally settled back down for the rest of the night. Poor thing... stupid mama. Never again will I give him ibuprofen on an empty stomach.
This blog is getting long, so I'm going to divide it into parts. Keep reading! :)

Sand castles and kayaks.

Sand castle time!

The "babies" were in charge of shoveling sand into the bucket.

That's Marilyn out in the kayak.

Group shot! All who built the castle say, "AYE!"

Bennett's turn?

Time for a little bit of a show... or movie. Disney's Incredibles.

Silly kids. Bennett and Kaitlyn were playing with each other so well today, running around, pushing each other around, kicking each other. It sounds like I'm kidding, but I'm not. They were roughhousing and enjoying it, laughing so hard!

Adorable "Harrison John Deere Green." He told us today he wanted his name to be John Deere Green. Apparently, that is his favorite country song. I overheard him playing a few minutes ago and he was calling himself "Harrison John Deere Green." :)

Sweet Bennett... chewing on a pool toy!

A few from today... only a few... I'm tired and going to bed.

As you can see from the photos, we had a very long day on the beach. God gave us a beautiful display of clouds today, along with plenty of sun and even some dolphins swimming near the shore. What a beautiful day!

James got his wish, we went to the pool first today.

Mommy? Mommy? Where's my Mommy?

Harrison and James LOVED jumping in the waves. Even more, they loved going out into the water with us holding them. Beth and I are stunned that James is liking the beach so much.

Jump James!

Check out the clouds in these photos!