family of PERPETUAL MOTION

our coastal cowboy.

in memory of the curls:

these pics arrived in my inbox today and made me so happy. they reminded me of our fabulous trip to nebraska (where they were taken). the boots you see above were found a the local thriftstore for $4 along w/ a matching pair for asher for the same price.

we stayed at ft. robinson, (see link) an old military fort with a lot of history. it was beautiful and there were so many fun things to do. we took a hayride up to the buttes for a chuck wagon breakfast where the boys mountain climbed to their hearts content, we went horseback riding, and watched a rodeo where afterward the boys were invited to lie down on cowhide while holding on to a rope for dear life as they were drug behind a horse around the arena!

which is how i nearly ended up shortly before this picture below was taken. ms. maggie mae (nilsson) raced passed me yelling, "yah, yah" in my horse's ear who promptly heeded her command and took off in a dead run. i managed to stop him, one foot out of the stirrup just seconds before we disappeared into the tree you see. this is me giving her a friendly shove. punk.
we spent three days at ft. robinson w/ all 5 of micah's siblings, each of their spouses and their 8 hildren in a three story house. there were 10 kids sleeping on the 3rd floor in bunk beds and all of the couples had their own room. so. much. fun! there were lots of cousins and extended family in the neighboring homes, too.

one night we all sat out on the porch and reveled in the magic of the most incredible lightening and thunder storm (and were glad that brian wasn't electrocuted by the live wire that was knocked down by a fallen tree).

we then headed up through the black hills of south dakota and custer state park to mt. rushmore. the drive was unbelievable. think wild buffalo grazing right along side of the road and big horn sheep literally running along side our car!! a tour through wind cave national park, the mammoth site and bear country usa were among other highlights of the trip!!

thank you kippy for getting us all there!! it was such a memorable experience!!