The wiiiiiiiiiind! Also corn Palace and indian village.

Last night the wind was brutal. The tents flapped and shook all night. I slept better than past nights because dad got me an air mattress, but the wind kept me up a lot with all the noise. Evvie and i got up around 6:30 for the day and got dressed. Dad helped me get the camp stove off the trailer and i made everyone eggs and bacon for breakfast. After we cleaned up we headed out to see the worlds only corn palace. Every hear they decorate the outside with murals made entirely out of corn and local grasses. We watched a video of the history of the palace then 14 year old max gave us a tour. I was impressed with what a good job he did.

After the tour we got some popcorn then went across the street to this cool castle looking building. Turned out to be a guy trying to shill his own religion, but the kids had fun playing in his indoor playground and his display of Solomon's temple was cool

After we got away from the weird religious store, we grabbed some lunch at burger king and went to a local park to eat it and let the kids play. While we were there, the kids found a toad and got to hold it for a but before they let it hop away.

Next we got back into the car and went o a prehistoric indian village dig sight. We watched a video, looked at a recreation of one of their dwellings, and visited the dig sight. No one was currently working but we could see the holes where they were digging and see lots of the artifacts that had been found. They had boxes of bones you could touch and james had a lit if fun looking at the dog bones and figuring out what they were. They had a sand pit outside where kids can dig up plastic arrowheads and trade them at the gift shop for a real one! All the kids enjoyed digging.

After the museum we headed back to camp. Evvie fell asleep in the car so grandpa sat with her while mom and i took the rest if the kids to the pool. Shockingly, she slept for an hour and a half in the car! She normally wakes as soon as the car stops so we must have worn her out! Once she was up she and grandpa came swimming with us too untill it was time to make dinner.

 After dinner james and wes went back swimming and elinor sat with evvie in the tent to try and get her to sleep. Elinor got to chat with her friend while doing that so she was excited to help. Mom and i did some laundry and packed lunches for tomorrows drive. We got the kids to bed around 9 and after cleaning the campsite up as much as we could because it is supposed to rain mom, dad, and i drove back to the corn palace to see it lit up . it was really pretty. Then we grabbed some dessert at McDonald's and went back to camp to hit the hay. We drive to mt. Rushmore tomorrow.

On the road again, to south Dakota

Evvie slept well last night but was up bright and early at 6am. We got dressed and then started breaking down camp. It didnt take as long because we only set up the tents and cots. After we were all packed up, we ate some cereal and then got on the road. We passed by lots and lots of corn fields, and a huge wind farm! We stopped at a rest stop for a potty break and they had one of the blades of a wind turbine there and they are even bigger than they look, and they look huge from the road!!!

Our drive today is a bit shorter so we scoured the internet for a cool place to stop. I found a guy that built a giant spider sculpture out of a vw bug. It was only 2 miles off the highway, so we decided to stop. It was a fun little detour. We filmed a little segment for our youtube show there too.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving. We finally got to our campground and got out to discover that there were gale force winds.  We got one tent set up, and realized we were going to need a lot more stakes. Dad went off to the store to get those so mom and i took the kids to the "waterpark" attached to the campground. They had a nice little splash pool with baby slide, a pool with a huge waterslide and a hot tub. Once dad got back, the big kid and i got out to help set up the other tents.... And catastrophe struck. One of our tents ripped in the wind! We finally got the other tent up and decided to squeeze me and evvie in with the big kids instead of wrestle with a 3rd tent. It was late by the time we finished so instead of getting the cook stove out, dad took us out to mexican. After dinner i put the kittle kids to bed while the big kids spent some more time in the pool. Now i am charging up my electronics befor i head to bed myself. Fingers crossed for less wind tomorrow.

On the road to lake ahquabi iowa

Thankfully evvie slept much better last night and only woke up once in the night but only briefly and stayed asleep till after 6. As soon as we were all up and dressed we started breaking down camp. We discovered that some "friends" (raccoons?) Visited in the night and had a feast. They ate our breakfast donuts and managed up unzip our lunch cooler and stole several lunches. Dad and Evvie lost their sandwiches, the cherries were raided, and several bags of chips and cookies were stolen. Rude little trash pandas. It took us about 2 hours to pack everything back into the trailer and eat breakfast and get on the road.  As we were leaving the campground Dad saw a turtle on the side of the road. I hopped out to pick it up so the kids could see it without unloading everyone. When i picked him up... He PEED. Like a HUGE stream of pee. Luckily i was fast and he missed me. Little stinker.

We drove a long time today. We passed through st. Louis and got to see the arch from the highway. St. Louis was supposed to be our first stop on the road trip but because of the carona shutdowns nothing is open there yet so a drive by was all we got.

Later in the day after many hours in the car we stopped at another little road side attraction a thresher museum. We only had an hour and a half to explore so we had to go pretty quick. One big barn had lots of historical artifacts from the history of farming. I liked the display about the role of farmer wives and all the work they did. The kids favorite part was the other barn, where 100's of old steam powered tractors (and other tractors) were kept. The kids were allowed to climb on them and pretend to drive too. After the museum we got back on the road for another 2 hours to our campground. Because it was so late dad grabbed us some pizzas to eat in the car. We got our campsite set up pretty quick, since we only unloaded the tents and cots. Once we were set up, it was pretty much time for bed. Tomorrow we head out to south dakota and the corn palace.

Rend Lake

Today started very very early. Evvie woke up many times last night and was up for the day by 5am. I am So. Tired.

Everyone else got up around 6, 6:30. Elinor and i built up the fire from the ashes of last nights fire and then i made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. After breakfast a big storm passed by. We only got a tiny bit of rain, but there was lots of wind and thunder and it was very dark. Later in the morning we all went down to a tiny beach and the kids had fun swimming in the lake. It was so beautiful down by the water.

When we got back from the lake we had lunch then quiet time. Evvie (and the grownups) we over tired. I got evvie to finally fall asleep and she took a 3 hour nap! I even got to sleep for about 1.5 hours. After quiet time grandpa took the 3 younger kids back to the lake for an hour while mom, Elinor and i packed lunches for tomorrow drive and made dinner.  After dinner we hung out around the fire untill about 8:30 when we started getting ready for bed. Tomorrow we leave for our next stop, we have to pack up the camp site and head out.

The Great American Road Trip -leaving home

Today we left for our month and a half long camping trip across the western U.S. we finally got everything packed and were on the road by about 9. The kids did really good in the car, not too much fighting or whining. In Paducah Kentucky we stopped at the National Quilt Museum. It was really neat. All the kids enjoyed looking at the beautiful quilts. After the museum we had just about and hour or so of driving left before we got to our first stop North Sandusky at Rend Lake. We found our campsite and started setting up our camp for the first time. There was some disorganization as we figured out what to do, but it will get better each time we do it. We made chicken quesadillas for dinner then built a campfire before bedtime. Evvie did not take to tent sleeping very well. It took her over 2 hours to fall asleep and she got up 3 or 4 times during the night before waking up for the day at 5am. I am sooooooo tired. I hope i can make it through day 2.