We have been living the mobile life to its fullest of late. I have not had solid internet connection for a long time. We left for a real vacation to Lake Poinsett in South Dakota on June 24th and returned to Sioux City to do our first Solar Seminar on June 29th. That’s right! We took several days off, IN A ROW, and hung out at a lake house. I grew up around Lake Poinsett and I have many memories of my grandparents there. I was so happy to have my family with me at my childhood lake. My brother Jeff lives in the area and he had his daughter Emma there all weekend. My mom even flew up from Austin to be with us!

On Saturday morning we all went to the Hamlin Church and put my dads ashes in the ground. He is now in his final resting place. The closure is an emotional relief for me. I am grateful that I could be there with my Grandma and my brother for this final ceremony.

My Dads Burial

Levi dropping off flowers for Memorial Day

We were in town over Memorial Day weekend and that was an amazing experience for us. There is quite a difference between spending Memorial weekend in a big city vs a small All American town. We went to a service at my grandparents cemetery. My Grandfather (my moms dad) was a Veteran and they had a large flag for each Veteran buried at this cemetery running along the perimeter. Each flagpole had a Veterans name on it.

Dempster Cemetery

We had a few meals with my uncle Howie and aunt Cathy while we were in town. So great to have a cook for an Aunt! We didn’t have internet service at the lake (a difficult gift) so we were forced to stop working most of the time. Richard did go to the local bar/restaurant to use the wifi a few times. I thought this was ironic as this is the same bar that my fathers alcoholism was probably established and my very long time sober husband was getting dropped off there for a few hours while I went to the playground with the kids.  Kind of weird! Richard even read part of a book that he had been wanting to read for awhile now called Abundance. It really was a great vacation. Topped off with S’mores by the campfire one night. Can’t get any better! On our way to Sioux City, we were able to meet my aunt Linda for lunch in Sioux Falls. I wish she hadn’t been on her own vacation. Then we would have been able to spend more time together but at least we were able to visit at the end of the trip.

Piper, Emma and Levi

Canoe ride!

Grandma with us by the lake!

Great Grandma and the girls

On to Sioux City for our first Solar Seminar. We stayed across the river, in Nebraska and our RV view was of a Casino Ship. At night it was all lit up and was a sight for the kids to stare at. Very nice stay there. Next, was Council Bluffs. We stayed at a Casino parking lot. The view was…concrete. The great thing about this tour is that we will get to see some great spots and the not so great spots are only for 24 hours! Richard put in a very long work day in Council Bluffs and I was starting to get a little cabin fever. Could it be the lack of internet? I’m useless for work with out it! I Google searched “things to do with kids” and found an hourly daycare at ANOTHER casino. I called the place and found out anyone can use the service and the casino had a coffee shop right upstairs from the daycare and they had free wifi. Yeah for internet! I decided it would be great to try to separate from the kids. The truth is, they have only been with me or family (that includes Cathy and Ryan as family). I have never left them with strangers before. I told the front desk that this was a separation experiment and that I would be right upstairs doing work. I called them at 45 min to check on them. They had put Levi in a separate room for little ones and Piper was to be in the big room with the older kids. The gal told me that Levi was a little upset so they asked Piper if she wanted to come be with Levi because he was having a hard time.  She was apparently very proud of her Big Sister Job and went and hung out with him for awhile. He calmed down right away and she was able to go back out to the bigger area. He calmed down because he found the dinosaur box. It really is his obsession…dinosaurs…all the time. So I told them I was going to let them stay for as long as they could handle it because I thought this was so healthy for all three of us. Then, about 15 minutes later, they call me. A toilet over flowed and for health regulation reasons all kids needed to be picked up. Ain’t that some sh*t! Oh well! Maybe it was a good thing that I picked them up before they missed me and went into meltdown. They were so happy to tell me about all the fun they had and it was such a positive experience. And it got me thinking….

My newest business plan for my someday future: Hourly drop off daycare in the same building as a coffee/bakery shop, massage, mani-pedi salon with free wifi. I would love a place to bring my kids that allows me to stay in the same building (because I’m that kind of control freak) and have any of these services available to me. So that is my someday plan, for now.

On to my here and today drama. Ticks! We went for a hike around our RV park yesterday afternoon and Piper ended up with a tick in her back. Last night while watching a movie I had one crawling down my arm. This morning, Levi had one attached to his arm. I gave them major scrub downs in the bath last night after we found Pipers. So Levi got his in the RV sometime. I have the creepy crawlies to no end and I don’t know what to do about it. I put nail polish on both of them and Piper’s just flaked off. After it was dead I pulled Levi’s off because his was in a spot that he could mess with. This morning I researched it better since clearly this is going to be a problem here and found I should not put anything on it Just pull them straight out! I have an uncontrollable urge to throw a fit and beg for my grandma like we use to as kids in South Dakota when we got ticks. She was a nurse and she would put her cigarette on them to make them back out. Not the approach I want to use on my kids but I do wish she was here so I wouldn’t have to deal with this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We will be here at the Newton, IA KOA until Monday night and then we will begin the Iowa tour until June 14th. This work schedule will be a long rough road. But we will survive and have fun doing it too!

Levi is ready to work!