Day 33 and 34--Bozeman, MT and Yellowstone National Park

A quick and easy 6 hour drive took us from Gillette, WY to Bozeman, MT to visit Tiffany's cousin Lisa and her 11 year old son, Carson.

Lisa and Tiffany have always been good friends and they had a great time catching up and being together.
Cade and Carson have developed a great friendship as well, so we all had a lot of fun.

From Bozeman it's only and hour and half drive into Yellowstone National Park so we made the trek with intentions to just stay for a little while and take a quick peek at the Park.  But, before you knew it we hiked to a waterfall, then to another waterfall, we saw a buffalo, had to see another waterfall, we checked out some geysers, and suddenly we had been at the Park for 8 hours.

But, it was worth it.  The views were incredible.  It felt like you were looking at a painting, not at real life.

As parents we think that looking at views is pretty cool, but to the kids that can be a little slow.  But, there was nothing slow for the kids about checking out the wildlife.  First, we saw a buffalo grazing and pulled the car over quickly.

So that was kind of cool, but it was nothing compared to what happened later in the day as a buffalo walked right up next to our car so close that we could've reached out and touched it.  No question, it was the highlight of the day.

We didn't make it to Old Faithful, but we did see a different set of geysers that were really cool, and left the kids with all kinds of science questions that I had no idea how to answer.

 They also had a great time playing by the river.  Brady especially liked gathering up sticks that were in the shape of a gun and then trying to holster all of them in his pants.

We left Yellowstone exhausted and hungry, and a couple of the kids were asleep before we made it home.  Cade didn't fall asleep and when we got home we googled what would happen if the volcano under Yellowstone ever blew up.  Google it if you want to freak yourself out!  

Day 32--Mount Rushmore, SD

Let me summarize most of our day for you with a picture....

15 hours in the car today.  Killed a lot of bugs on the windshield.  15 hours is not a misprint.  Before we left on our trip we had friends telling us that we were crazy for wanting to drive around the country with 4 kids, and days like today were the reason why.  So, you see in this picture the endless, lonely road, the dead bugs, and the styrofoam plate with crumbs from the sandwiches Tiffany kept making all day.

We left Mason City, Iowa at 7am, drove north into Minnesota, across southern Minnesota, and then across the entire state of South Dakota, and into Wyoming, where we pulled into our hotel at 10pm.

I wish I could tell you some about some great conversations, witty dialogue, and fun family time that we spent.  The reality is that it was kind of boring.  The good news is that the kids didn't really complain and we had a good time.

Really there were 2 highlights of the day, and I'll share them out of order.  The second highlight was almost hitting a deer on the desolate roads of Wyoming at dusk.  The deer jumped out in front of our minivan while I was doing 70 (ok...75....ok.....77) and I swerved hard to avoid it.  The deer decided to speed up and keep sprinting in the same direction that I was swerving.  Fortunately at the last second he stopped and we missed him by a few inches.  In the end, it's really not much of a story, but the kids couldn't stop talking about it.  They are really excited to share with their friends about how they almost died at the hands of a massive gazelle (that's what they decided it really was....instead of the truth that it was a fairly petite deer).

But, the real highlight of the day was stopping at Mount Rushmore.  To be honest, I wasn't really that excited about Mount Rushmore.  Yes, I love studying Presidents and I'm a U.S. history dork, but I thought Mount Rushmore would be something that you looked at from a long way away and after 5 minutes would say, "ok, that was cool...now back in the car kids."

Instead, it was truly inspiring.

Day 31--Iowa

As we drove across the Mississippi River and looked down on Iowa before us, Brady yelled out from the backseat "Is this Iowa?", and as anyone who has seen the movie "Field of Dreams" knows, there was only one answer I could give, "No, it's heaven".

We've been building up Iowa in our family for a long time.  You see, Macy's best friend in her orphanage, Moses, was adopted by a great family in Mason City, Iowa.  So, for months we've been talking about Iowa, and telling Macy that we would be visiting Iowa sometime soon.  And soon came today.  

And, speaking of "Field of Dreams", before we could make it to Mason City we had to make a stop along the way at the actual farm where they filmed what is maybe my favorite movie ever.  They have preserved the baseball field and farm to look exactly like it did in the movie.  It's not commercialized and they let you go out on the field to play.  And it was......perfect.  

Part of what makes "Field of Dreams" such a great movie is that it's a perfect blend of nostalgia and sentimentality, mixed in with Father/Son relationship themes, and baseball in it's purest form.  And, to be honest, I am all of those things....sentimental, a father and son, and I love baseball.  So, to be on this field playing baseball with my boys was, well, heaven.  

Tiff and the whole family got into the spirit!

I could've spent hours here, but we were all anxious to get to see Moses and the Barkemas.  We quickly purchased the movie from the Gift Shop (which was our only cost of the day...there was no admission charge to play on the field) and the kids watched the movie again as we drove through the cornfields to Mason City.  

Macy got more excited and more hyper as we got closer and closer to Mason City.  By the time we pulled in the Barkema's driveway she was practically sprinting out of the car to see Moses.  And judging by the smiles in these pictures you can see that she loves her best friend from Ghana.

And, I think he might love her back....

We had such a fun afternoon and evening with the Barkemas.  We took a spin on their boat on Clear Lake and did some serious tubing.

After tubing we came home, ate some dinner, and the kids kept playing in the backyard.  While the kids played, it gave us a chance to hear about Jeremy's last trip to Ghana, and his trip to Moses' village.  We didn't have the chance to visit Macy's village, so it was cool to see pictures and hear the stories of what the villages are like.  

We spent a week in Ghana with the Barkema's back in October of 2012.  At that time, we all thought we'd be bringing our kids home in the next few months.  But, the Barkema's, like us, had a really difficult time getting Moses home from Ghana.  They had even more paperwork issues than we did, but their patience has been rewarded.  They have an incredible family.

Day 28-Day 30--Mokena, IL, Chicago, IL, Morris, IL

After a fun day at the waterslides, we slept in, did some laundry, swam in the hotel pool (again!), and then loaded up for a 5 hour drive to Mokena, IL.

My cousin John, his wife Danielle, and their 4 boys live in Mokena on the outskirts of the suburbs of Chicago.  If you did some quick math, you realized that meant there were 8 kids in their house that evening....and 7 of them were boys.  And they had a blast together.  They played basketball, baseball, 4 square, ping-pong, and box hockey.  In the midst of that they found time to eat dinner, cook smores over the fire, watch the MLB All-Star Game, and pose for this picture...

But, the highlight of the evening was having almost the whole Didrickson crew together.  My cousin Abby and my Aunt Loleta and Uncle Charlie drove down to Mokena for dinner and it was fantastic to have so many Didrickson's under one roof....we were just missing "Little Charlie","Big Ed", and "Uncle Curt"!

  I always love the conversation when this group is together.  We talked everything from Chicago politics to school boards to the rules of golf to adoption to how to raise 4 kids.  I'm not sure we solved any of the world's problems but we had a lot of laughs while we did it!  John and Danielle are so much fun to be with.  Easy to talk to and easy to laugh with.  We absolutely hated leaving the next morning.

But, because my whole side of the family calls Chicago home, we made sure that the boys got at least the flavor of the Windy City before we headed back out to visit more family.

I don't think many people realize that Downtown Chicago in the summertime has it all.  Parks, beaches, views, skyscrapers, culture.  Giving it 3 hours wasn't enough.  But, we got our taste of Chicago, and then drove about an hour and a half to my mom's hometown, Morris, to see lots of cousins and Aunts and Uncles.

My cousin Garrett and his wife Jody opened up their doors to be "homebase" for all kinds of family to come and visit.  Their two kids were perfect playmates for our 4.  Jack is 8 years old and is on his way to being a great athlete.  And Emmy is 4 and played so well with Macy.  Along with my cousin TJ's 2 daughters, Margaret and Audrey, it was non-stop girl play for Macy.  And, after having to sit through so many hours in the car with her brothers, it was ideal for Macy to make so many new girlfriends.  The cousins spent a lot time playing in the pool...

And, poor Cade is working so hard during this sabbatical...

Besides the pool, the boys spent hour after hour in the backyard playing baseball.  It was typically dads versus the kids, and I gotta admit that the kids gave me, Garrett, and TJ a run for our money in every game.

The two days in Morris were ideal for relaxing after lots of driving and sightseeing on the trip.  While the kids did all of this playing, Tiffany and I got to catch up with family that we hadn't seen in too long.  My cousin Amy, and her little boy Aiden drove down from Rockford and rekindled her friendship with Tiffany.  My Aunt Cindy gave up her home for us to stay in, and like always we had lots of laughs with her.  I got to spend lots of time with Garrett and TJ on the golf course and in the backyard.  My Aunt Miffy and Uncle Tom, as always, told non-stop stories that leave you laughing.  Couldn't ask for a better 2 days.

Day 27--Sandusky, OH...yes, Sandusky, OH

It's Cade's Birthday!  For the last few months he was acting a little bummed that he would be out of town for his 12th birthday away from all his friends.  So, Tiffany and I did a little research to try to find something fun to surprise him with.  Turns out we surprised the whole family with a trip to Cedar Point Soak City for a day at the Waterpark.  

We kept it a surprise until we were 1 minute away.  When we woke the kids up early in Buffalo, NY this morning, they kept asking "why are you waking us up so early for a 4 hour drive to Cleveland?"  "What are we going to do all day?"  Tiffany and I managed to keep avoiding their questions.  We've gotten good at that.  As we were pulling into Cedar Point (which is an ENORMOUS amusement park...we just went to the waterpark side of it), they still didn't understand what we were doing.   

Finally, we told them we were going to a waterpark  and they couldn't wait to get after it...

Here's the 12 year old working on his tan in the wave pool...

The boys were good sports and had to play for a little while in the "kiddie" zone so that Macy had some company....

The kids loved the enormous intertube ride...especially late in the evening when there were no lines....

The park had tons of rides, including one that had 6 tubes that we could take the whole family down at the same time.  Great family time and great memories.

We arrived at noon and literally didn't stop for food or drink until the park closed at 8pm.  We played so hard for so long that Brady fell asleep at dinner sitting up, while the rest of us didn't leave a crumb on the table we were so famished.

A perfect 12th birthday party!