Family Vacation

to Georgia and Florida

As you can see, Dalton was not excited about flying.  We had to give him some Benadryl to knock him out so he would get on the plane.  His anxiety was so high, we didn't know if he was going to enjoy the trip or not.  Thank goodness for those plastic grocery bags.  He woke up just 20 minutes before we landed.

Daniel & Hayden enjoyed the flight trying to figure out where we were over the mid west.  We flew out of Denver and landed in Atlanta, our flight lasted 2 1/2 hours non stop.  It was great.

After landing we got our rental car, it suppose to be a caddy but they were short on luxury vehicles (DARN!!!).  I much preferred the minivan.  The cadillac was cheaper than the mini van to rent, but the substitution was much appreciated by all.   This is Stone Mountain.  We enjoyed our quick stop before they closed. 

Russell decided that a ride on the Duck was a necessity. The duck goes only 5 mph on water and about 40 mph on land.

The driver allowed each of the boys to drive while we were in the water.  Hayden was the first he asked.  I thought it was because Hayden told him he had a drivers license.  But as you can see, it wasn't.

Dalton was having the time of his life.

There was a sign by the door that said, "Tips Appreciated."  Russell felt like it was nice he let the boys drive, but we paid enough for the tickets to ride.

This was a drive by picture of the pecan trees in Georgia.  The orchards were just beautiful.

We experienced all the crops they grow there.  This is a field of cotton.  Russell  just had to stop.  But, that was okay by all.

This is Plains, Georgia.  Jimmy Carter lives in this town.  If you are there on the right Sunday you can hear him teach the Sunday School class in his church.  We tried boiled peanuts here.  Can't say any of us are big fans.

On the boardwalk in Plains, we all enjoyed some peanut butter ice cream on a bench outside the store.  The one thing we all agree on is that we do not like the gnats.  It was hot and humid and the gnats were horrible.  We kept swatting them to no avail.

We went to the Agri-rama.  The boys fed some animals and were able to grind some cornmeal that we bought and brought home to make some cornbread cake. 

This is one of the many tree lined streets.  They were beautiful, but it was nice to get out of the cover. 

On Sunday, we attended church with some friends that moved from Scottsbluff to Jacksonville.  The Burmiesters were great hosts.  Before we left the eastern side of Florida, we needed to see the Atlantic Ocean.  We drove right out onto the sand to get this picture.  Then on to Orlando.

My first request was to ride the teacups.  As you can tell Daniel and Hayden did not have the enthusiasm that I did.  I remember riding them when I was a child at Disneyland. 

As you can see, Dalton did not have the excitement either.  He threw up all the way to the entrance of Magic Kingdom.  We did not come all this way to sit at the hotel and miss out on the happiest place on earth.

As you can see, he did begin to feel better. It only took him about an hour of anxiety and he was back to normal.  This is the small world ride.  I loved it too!  So did Dalton!

You can't visit DisneyWorld and not take a picture of the castle.

I told you I loved It's a Small World ride.  Had to take a few pictures because I loved it sooo much!

Can't you tell Russell and Dalton loved it too?

Look, it's Goofy.  This is our one family picture at Disney World.

You can't forget Minnie and Mickey.  The topiary was cool.

For not feeling so good, he seems to pose for lots of pictures and looks fairly terrifying in this one.  Watch out for the mean guy.

I loved the parade in the middle of the afternoon.  The song played over and over as the floats, dancers, and Disney character went on by.  It was way too hot to be in those costumes.

The resort pool was fabulous.  The boys had lots of fun swimming at night when it was dark.

The beautiful sunrise from the 17th floor of the resort.  It was such a brilliant orange.   The final day we headed to Epcot Center.  We had a wonderful time there, but as you can see no pictures.  It was my job to get the camera, no one said, "Remember the extra battery."  And yes I forgot it.  This part of the trip was just as eventful as the rest:  Dalton threw up, we rode great rides, we had a few arguments, we left the park, we returned to watch the awesome fireworks show, we returned to the resort to sleep and then we went to the Orlando airport to fly back to Denver to sleep in our own beds.  We loved our vacation, but are happy that it is only a memory now!

The Junior/Senior High held their awards assembly the first part of May, considering school gets out May 16th.  Daniel was invited to come.  No wonder, he had a great night receiving many awards for his academics.  This one was for being in the top 10th percentile in at least three of the four national standardized tests.  Daniel's were in General Science, Math, and English.

Their was only four who received the award for the top 10% of his 7th grade class.  As you can see his class consists of barely 40 students in the 7th grade.

Daniel also received the award for being part of the 7th grade quiz bowl team.  They did great at the competitions this year.  They traveled to Chadron, Sidney, Gering, and several others.  The honorable mention was when they won 1st place in Chadron!

Hayden took a family and consumer science course this semester at school.  He learned to make key lime pie.  He made one for our family and I have to say he is quite a chef.  It was really and truly good.  He learned a new tip to get the juice released from the key limes.  You don't need to roll them on the counter, just put them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, the juice with pour out of them.  Great thinking Hayden on that time saving tip.

Look at the fine meringue on top.  Perfect peaks and toasted to perfection on top.  Great job and I can't wait to see some more of your hidden talents in the kitchen; maybe cleanup?

On April 5th, I was able to complete the challenge that our Family History Representative gave the ward in January, to complete 2012 names indexed.  I was truly proud of myself.  I received this award in Sacrament Meeting a couple of Sundays later with two other people.  It is completely addicting!  Now its time to start the next 2012 names. 

 PINEWOOD DERBY 2012

Dalton designed, painted and glued everything to his block of wood to make a coal fired train.  He painted it silver, hot glued the black rocks and added the weights to help it get down the track.  Once he decided to put graphite on the wheels, the train took off.  He won about 7 of 10 races.  All the kids had a good time.  He can't wait until next year, he wants to buy the derby car kit now and get started.  Russell tells him that its one thing to start early but this is way too early.

He really did a good job!

BASKETBALL SEASON FOR DALTON

Dalton played basketball on a Western Nebraska League.  He is getting better all the time.  He loved the basketball hoop that Russell put up in the shop.  There are days that he can be out there shooting for over two hours.

He is number 20, Go Dalton, make the basket.  He made several for his team this year.  They played each Saturday for about 4 weeks.  Now he is playing on a school sponsored team that has only lasted 2 1/2 weeks, the tournament will be this Thursday and Friday (April 26 & 27). 

Math Counts

STATE MATH COUNTS CONTEST IN LINCOLN

We took the boys out of school on Friday the 16th to drive the 6 1/2 hours to Lincoln. We had a fun trip and were able to see many things during the day. It was extremely warm when we arrived in Lincoln, 85 degrees, absolutely beautiful. The picture above is taken on the University of Nebraska at Lincoln campus. It was wonderful to see the tulip trees in bloom.

On Saturday, March 17th was the contest for Daniel. He was chosen to go by his math teacher to participate in the county contest and won 2nd at the Western Nebraska Community College campus a few weeks earlier. The day of the contest in Lincoln was fairly cold. He was glad that he brought his coat.

When the contest was over, Daniel placed 42nd out of 78 contestants throughout the state. We went and got some ice cream on campus, they do not have anything on AGGIE ice cream. We decided to drive all the way home that afternoon. We arrived home at 10pm and enjoyed our time away. It's wonderful to be able to take a family trip like this one and have the school and math counts pay for 95% of the trip. Way to go Daniel!!!

Basketball

Dalton played basketball this year, he loved playing. I love watching him, his ability has gotten better over the past two months of practice and tournaments. He is number 20. He is such a good shooter.
Congratulations Dalton on a great season!

THE KLONDIKE? WHY?

I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would want to sleep in the snow when it is only 8 degrees. Russell, Hayden and Daniel along with the scouts and dad thought it would be fun, especially since it has been the only real winter we've gotten.

Dalton and I had frozen burritos for dinner heated in the microwave and decided to take the boys some hot chocolate since they forgot that. By the time we headed home from the foolishness, the temperature gauge read 8 degrees. That night Dalton prayed that all the scouts would wake up alive in the morning. I said AMEN to that!

I think my boys were ready to come home after breakfast. I packed them an already made omelet with a toasted English muffin on top that all they had to do is warm up by the fire. The Bishop tried to keep up with pancakes for all the boys who forgot their breakfast. The Bishop said to Russell,"Mama sure do take good care of you!" You better believe it!
I still don't see the thrill of a Klondike!!!

Back to the Shop Project

When we returned from Cody, we must have had some fierce winds while we were gone. The roof of the shop had been blown off and the insulation was shredded. Now, its someone elses turn to put it on this time. Thank goodness for insurance. What would have taken us more than a week with NO wind, only took them less than two days with slight wind.

While the roof got replace, Russell was able to focus on getting the lighting parts ordered.

The lighting turned out well, there should be no complaints about the shop being too dark!

The night came and Russell turned on the lights. The shop is a wonderful place to work at night with good lighting. Now the next project is the heating, then it will REALLY be a great place to work when the wind blows.

Mills Family Christmas Party in Cody, Wyoming

We stayed at a beautiful cabin in the hills west of Cody.

There was plenty of room for everybody. Each family had their own bedroom with plenty of beds for each person.

The kids all bring a gift that is age appropriate and the kiddos draw numbers and then choose a gift based on their number, until feelings get hurt because someone steals the gift someone else wants. But everybody goes home with a gift from the cousins.

Dalton and cousin Flint loved swimming in the jacuzzi tub, I don't think the floor loved it as much and they did. They do have swim trunks on.

The adults love the white elephant exchange. Russell took the apple eye pad, and the blue tooth, a sticky blue gem for the tooth. I took a fabulous picture of the Mills' 1980's blue fantasy van framed in silver. What a complete hoot. Dusty was so pleased to have the apple eye pad considering he mentioned getting one all weekend. Doesn't he look good in it?

Russell ended up with the chocolate bar, not bad. I ended up the the trained pet rocks. Couldn't have been happier.

A beautiful picture of the cabin as we left Saturday morning to head home.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun weekend!!!