May II: South Dakota

Before we left on our drive, I went to the dollar store to buy myself a peaceful trip.  Bunches of small nonsensical, yummy, fun, and silly things, to be given each hour.  One of the first ones was bubble gum.  Here I was trying to get them to all blow big bubbles at the same time, but instead mostly got funny expressions.

Hm, I've seen better, Marcus.

More like it, Luke.

Woo, go Kailey!  She wouldn't go any bigger because she didn't want it to pop on her glasses.

Festive shades were another prize.

And party blowers for reaching South Dakota!

And earplugs for when they started squabbling.

These pics are out of order and I'm not taking hours to fix it.  I found this old hat in Jim and Karina's guest room, where Kailey and I stayed a night.

Of course Karina had the kids over for a project, as she always does.  The boys made pouches out of leather.

And the girls sewed bags.  Guess I didn't get any pics of the finished projects!

Karina's peppermint, looking so healthy!  (hehe, she's tried more than once to get rid of it.. unsuccessfully).  Remember my wooden "tea garden" crate that I wanted to grow peppermint in?  My mother so nicely brought home some of this very peppermint for me!  Special, indeed.

A pit stop at Cracker Barrel... of course.

I was very pleased with my meal of chicken w/bacon and cheese, and a sweet potato on the side!

I thought this was so nice to see at the motel we stayed at.  Apparently it was like the theme of my trip or something, as I had never seen it before and then saw it twice more after this!

Traditional picture on the way out.

Panda Express in Denver.  Kailey had never had it before and was quite alarmed!  Ha, actually she said she was looking at a plane or something.  Either way, she wouldn't smile nicely, but she really did like it.  For those of you (Debbie) who are angry that we didn't eat at Quizno's in the Denver airport, consider this.  I had told Kailey for weeks that we had to eat at Quizno's, walked a great distance at the airport to get there, and their toaster was down!  Now, I don't know about you, but I don't eat "hot and toasty subs" that are made without a toaster.  So we turned around and went back to Panda Express.

One day I went shopping with Mom in Watertown.  In Herberger's, I almost lost her.  Thankfully, I know my mother quite well and followed my nose to the purse section, where I quickly located her.

For Eric:  LOOK at the size of those barns!!!!

I liked the looks of this homey kitchen sink/window.

Ohh, my.  I went into a knit shop and saw this adorable sweater, and next thing I knew, I was walking out with the pattern book, and high hopes of someday being able to knit an identical one.

Darling Krista and the scarf presentation.  She was unsure if she was allowed to laugh, or if it was a serious gift, thus the expression.

Picture of driving through Volga for Eric and Debbie!  I lived in that town for a couple months of my life.

Ready to depart from FSD.