Medora!!

On the Fourth of July our family went to Medora, ND to visit our friends the W. Family, and to tour the old west town! We stayed one night at the Trapper's Kettle Inn. They had some neat things outside - a tepee, and old wagon, a big buffalo and more!

According to the Medora website, "The town of Medora was founded in April 1883 by a 24-year-old French nobleman, the Marquis de Mores. He named the town for his bride, the former Medora von Hoffman, daughter of a wealthy New York City banker."

We had a very enjoyable day there, eating a picnic lunch at the park . . .

 looking at all the little museums and gift shops . . .

 watching horse-drawn carriages go by with the badlands in the background . . .

eating ice cream . . .

and yes, Caleb and Mr W. decided to try climbing part of this HUGE mountain!!! :-)
You can see how big it is in this picture . . .

 . . . and here you can see them climbing - just barely though.

Here I zoomed way in!!

Lydia and Abby had a fun time together!

 

This is where dad may have worked if he had lived a couple hundred years ago! :-)

 

Ethan and Aaron had a blast at the park together!!

 

We enjoyed playing some soccer . . .

 

 . . . and watching a parade!

 

Mr. and Mrs. W. (and no, that's not his necklace, it's Abby's!!) :-)

 

That afternoon we drove through Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
It was a neat experience to see a whole town of prairie dogs!

 

Aaron got pretty close!

 

Someone told us we should visit Wild Canyon (in the park), but when we stopped, all we saw was a few wooden steps. What was so special?

THIS!!!! My camera can't even begin to capture the beauty we saw at this canyon!! As soon as you get to the top of the steps, there's a HUGE drop-off. It was SCARY!! If you stray off the path you'd practically fall down a deep gorge. Then off in the distance was a winding river and beautiful hills. Wow!! (this is a panorama using 10 pictures, I think - sorry it's so small!!)

Mom took this picture of whoever was there at the moment! :-)

That night we saw the famous Medora musical. It was very patriotic and professional . . . and sort of "family friendly" . . .to the world's point of view, anyway.

 

Before the musical started (it's all outdoors) there were two wild elk very close to the stage area!! A cowboy on a white horse had to chase them away. :-) 

After the play, we drove back to the city of Medora where they put off a HUGE fireworks display!!! It was the best I've ever seen!!

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention: as we were driving along in the national park, we turned a curve and there was a wild buffalo!! Here's a few more pictures . . .

 

 

So if you're ever headin' up that way, I would definitely recommend seeing the town of Medora, and the Badlands!!! God's creation is just completely marvelous!!

TRAILER!!

Here is the trailer to Shining in Her Corner!! Finally!! :-) If you can, watch it in 720p HD. Check out my updated website to find out more about DayStar Productions!! Enjoy!

A Visit from Aunt Jan

Last week my Aunt Jan came to visit us all the way from Washington state!!! We love her SO much and always look forward to seeing her!! And I was so excited because my new camera came the same day she did. So yes, all these pictures are taken with my new camera, but I didn't have any time to figure out settings and such, so everything is done on auto mode. :-)

Mom picked her up at the airport, and they arrived home late (after a midnight meal at Applebee's!!).

The next day Caleb and Daniel graduated from a Police Academy (six days of learning all kinds of things - meeting an FBI agent, going to a court house, being handcuffed, and more!).

 

We made a healthy dessert of bananas dipped in organic chocolate chips and walnuts - YUM!

 

Aunt Jan got in a little trouble while making them, though.

During the week she was here, I worked on editing a LOT!!! Praise the Lord I made the deadline and it arrived safely in San Antonio (trailer coming soon)!!!

Lydia enjoyed giving Aunt Jan a ride on our Prowler . . .  AJ was a little scared, though!

Mom and Aunt Jan had fun shopping for a new purse, and since they couldn't decide what they liked the best, they just brought them all home!!!! :-)

On June 20th we celebrated Father's Day with cards, gifts, hugs, kisses, pizza, and cheesecake! We love you dad!

 

Us girls had a blast putting some old fashioned dresses on . . .

 

 . . . we did get just a little carried away.

 

Caleb taught Aunt Jan the basics of shooting a gun - she's a regular Annie Oakley!! :-)

But she's not so good at being a farm girl. She thought the poopy eggs were kinda gross.

Ethan loved playing "army guys" with her!!

Even though AJ is mom's sister-in-law, they're been like sisters ever since mom was 6 years old!

 

We enjoyed staying at The Lodge on Detroit Lake, and the boys had fun kayaking . . .

 

 . . . and it was pretty neat to see all the geese and goslings up close.

We took a family picture by the lake . . . first a silly one (dad said he's showing his good side) . . .

 . . . then a nice one. :-)

We stayed up late roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores.

We love you Aunty Jan, oh yes we do!

We love you Aunty Jan, and we'll be true!

When you're not near us, we're BLUE!

Oh Aunty Jan, we love you!!!

(this is a song we like to sing to her!!)

 

Thanks for caring about each one of us . . . you are special!! Love you, AJ!