Teagan's Birthday: Family Party 6/30/07

We had all the grandparents (both sides) and aunts/uncles that could make it to a get-together for Teagan's birthday. I had grill duty, so most of the pictures were taken by Nikki - although I took the ones that Nikki is helping Teagan with the gift opening. (Nikki always looks exceptional, but she was looking especially exceptional that day :-))

Teagan's 2nd Birthday & our 11th Wedding Anniversary

June 28 will always be a busy day in our household; mainly since it's our wedding anniversary but also of high importance is Teagan's birthday as well.

An easy compromise on where to celebrate the occassions was TGI Friday's: a definite step up from any fast food chain that the kids like, but still very kid-friendly. The free ice cream for birthdays might have come to someone's mind as well. :-) (
Aside: I can't explain it, but I LOVE TGI Friday's. Normally, I don't get into chains of this type, but there something about the atmosphere and food that I love. Their burgers are exceptional. They have a new Turkey hamburger with whole wheat bun, and I order a side of sliced fruit - delicious and [moderately] healthy all at the same time. I order the same thing everytime I go there...)

Anyway, Teagan decided to show off her new Dora umbrella to everyone in the restaurant, and we got a few other pics of the family as well.

Vacation: The Farm (6/23/07)

Both my parents grew up on farms in Southwest MN, and farming is still in our family's blood. My mom's only brother, Uncle Dave, still works a farm in the area.

Karsten has a definite interest in farms, and we want to try to expose the kids to this type of life so they understand the work involved and appreciate what goes into producing the food they eat. Thus we try to get out to the farm at least once a year.

When we were coming through on our way home from the Black Hills, they were just finishing spraying the crops for weeds. There was still some hay to be cut, so Uncle Dave took Karsten and Kiera out about 90 mins in the tractor to cut it down.

Uncle Dave seems to be pretty impressed with Karsten's knowledge of the farm. He said that Karsten was wondering why they couldn't bail the hay by pulling the bailer behind the cutter. David said that the hay needed to dry before it could be bailed, otherwise it would rot. Karsten in turn asked why he couldn't a "furnace" to dry the hay between the time it was cut and bailed. Dave said no one had come up with a way to do that, but if Karsten could he could make a lot of money with that idea.

There are no working prototypes yet, but we're already cashing the check ;-)

Vacation: Storybook Island (Rapid City, SD) 6/22/07

We planned to head back to Brookings, SD to visit with my brother, grandparents, and other relatives on our way back home. In order to get there, that meant a quick trip through Rapid City and Storybook Island.

Storybook Island is a free park operated by the city and a private trust. Most of the attractions are themed from popular children's books. It's more or less a playground, but it kept the kids busy and subsequently burned a lot of energy as we began the 5-6 hour drive to Brookings.

Vacation: Spearfish Canyon (6/20/07)

After spending the day in Deadwood and Lead, Papa suggested we take the drive through the Spearfish Canyon. It was the opposite direction we needed to go in order to get back to the cabin, but it was worth it.

Hopefully these pictures will do it a little justice. My only real problem is that there aren't any places to stop and take pictures when driving through the valleys. The way to get the good pictures is by hiking - something we didn't have the time to do.

These pictures were taken using my new tripod...the steering wheel of our minivan.

Vacation: Homestake Mine (Lead, SD) 6/20/07

After going through Deadwood in the morning, we drove a few miles to Lead (prounced with a long "e" sound) to see the Homestake mine.

At one point, this town had a population of over 10,000. Today, the population is only around 3,000 since the mine is now closed. In it's heyday, the mine more or less WAS the town of LEAD since it owned, built, and operated: all the roads (so employees could get to work), the hospitals (with full family medical and dental coverage), the library (the largest in the state in it's time), an opera house (seeting 1,000 people, the schools, and even the local power plant. The mine even gave discounts on the houses and sold them at cost of materials only and free land.

The mine claims it is the country's largest gold mine, but the company had to shut down in early 2002 when the cost of mining was more than the cost of gold recovered, refined, and sold. The primary factor that led to the shutdown was the sheer depth: 8000 ft. Most mines don't even reach 5000 ft.

Overal, the kids liked it pretty well, too.

The tour doesn't allow you to go down in the mine. You only get to see what's above ground. For more pictures, info, and history, you can access the Homestake Mine website.

The first picture is of the open dig (Again - no pictures of the mine underground). The second is of one of the 5000 ft cables used to access the mine shafts. (There is another room this size 5000 ft below ground so the mine could potentially go 10,000 feet down). We also had a little bit of hail as well...

Vacation: Deadwood, SD 6/20/07

On Thursday, we took the drive up to Deadwood, SD. Home of gold mines, brothels, gambling, and Wild Bill Hiccup (I know it's "Hickock," I feel like being juvenile at the moment) Of the notorious items mentioned above, only gambling is still prevalent today. Come to think of it, gambling pretty is all that's in Deadwood. There really isn't a lot to see in Deadwood without going past a slot machine. I saw a sign that claimed Deadwood had 80 casinos - if that's the case, then this town of 1,380 has a gambling dependency. I've been to Las Vegas, but Deadwood seems more over-the-top than Sin City - mainly because there are other things to do/see in Vegas that Deadwood simply can't offer.

From an architectural view, the town has been beautifully preserved and restored. One can't help but get a sense of history in this little town - even if much of that history is somewhat dubious.

Vacation: Custer State Park-Sylvan Lake 6/19/07

We spent the middle of the day hiking around Sylvan Lake. I took way too many pictures for a lake only 1.5 miles around or so, but these are the best of the lot.

Vacation: Custer State Park-Needles Highway 6/20/07

On Wednesday, we spent most of the Day at Custer State Park. In the morning, we drove the Needles Highway through the park. It was amazing...I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.