South Dakota

Well, we've returned from another highly successful foray into American Touristland, this time to the lovely Black Hills of South Dakota. We stayed at Hart Ranch, in a cabin that had plenty of sleeping space for all of us, as well as a bathroom, kitchen, and private indoor swimming pool. Here the kids are wishing me a Happy Father's Day. I got my usual Father's Day presents - hugs, kisses, affection, and 100 pounds of pure cane sugar.

We brought our bikes along with us to enjoy the great outdoors. Here is our standard family biking setup (except when Eli gives me a Turbo Boost and I shoot to the lead).

Here is Jorgen showing off one of the birthday presents we gave him. It's always good to give gifts that bring out the evil side in children.

Milena was very happy - for her birthday she got a new dolly. It's nice for her to have one or two girl toys.

There, now stop complaining!

Pictures To Keep You Happy

Since we're leaving tomorrow for a week in South Dakota, these old pictures will have to keep you satisfied until I return and post new pictures. Here is a picture of Koleman crushing Eli - January 2, 2005.

Here is Milena playing with her Polly Pockets Christmas gifts - December 24, 2004.

Koleman makes a great big splash - June 7, 2005.

Kelson really gets into his ice cream - May 10, 2005.

Eli and Koleman show off their vertical leap - April 9, 2005.

Eli is the happy monster outside the doll house - October 16, 2004.

Not Florida

OK, I'm done with Florida! Now on to something else. Here is an outfit that Milena picked out - all by herself.

This is one of Milena's favorite summer outfits. She says that it matches perfectly, "Stripes and stripes!"

An amazing Tower of Children!

Crash!

Last Florida Pictures

Since we are leaving for South Dakota in a week, I figured it was about time that I finished up these Florida pictures. One of the last bits of excitement we had was going on a SeaLife boat trip from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They took us out into the inter (intra?) coastal waterway, in between Clearwater Beach and Clearwater city. I like this picture because it's my best ever "I'm taking the picture but I don't want it to look like I'm taking the picture" picture. Got it?

Eventually all the kids went over to Grandma and Grandpa's side of the boat. That meant Michelle and I were able to smooch.

One of the exciting things about the boat trip was seeing dolphins. I have a nice camera, but it definitely isn't certified for use in National Geographic wild animal shoots. It's darn tough to get a decent picture of the dolphins. Here are the few pictures where I actually got the dolphins in frame.

And the closeup of that picture. It's a dorsal fin!

The captian told us it was a mother and baby dolphin. I believed him at the time, but he probably figured he could have told us anything and we would have believed him.

Look, TWO dorsal fins!

For all I know, that's just a big grouper.

Looks tasty to me.

Tortoise? Horseshoe crab? Anaconda? We'll just pretend it's a dolphin.

I need one of those imaging software programs they have on CSI, then I could sharpen up the image, zoom in on his eyeballs and see the reflection of the killer.

On the trip we stopped at some weird island created by the US Corps of Engineers in the 1920's. Or at least that's what the captain told us. Anyway, the kids got to get out and play in the water - and that's what is important.

Kelson looks for shells.

During the boat ride they dropped a net and pulled up some of the fascinating sea life of the area. The aquarium people put the specimens in little containers that the kids got to bring around to all the people on the boat.

When Koleman brought along his container, you needed to look fast, because once he thought that you had seen enough, he was on to the next person. No messing around.

I assume that once we left the boat, they had a big barbeque and ate all the things that we collected. They told us that they release the animals back into the water, but I highly doubt it.

Lowry Park Zoo, Visit 2

We went back to Lowry Park Zoo for a second visit, since we only saw half of it the first time around. Milena was all ready for a fun day at the zoo!

Tiger butt!

Baby camel butt!

Rhino butt!

At the Lowry Park Zoo they rescue and rehabilitate manatee. (Manatees?) Before they release them, though, they remove one of their ribs to be used in photo opportunities. Kelson obviously did not want to be in this photo.

Here is a manatee, before they remove a rib.

Frog butt?

They had a very nice sting ray petting pool.

See how brave I am? I touched one!

I called this gator "Stubby".

Keg butt!

Koleman and an eagle.

Milena and Eli get ready to ride the animals.

Kelson is excited! (And he didn't get scared on this ride)

I think Koleman is going to be dissapointed.

Bison butt!