And Now...a Message from Dad (w/ lots of photos to follow)

It was the best of times and the worst of times.

This has been the longest I've been laid off of work with the least amount of money; yet amazing with positive thinking, how things just work out. No I haven't been mindful the whole time but a great experience for me to really connect with my boys and understand their needs. With Karen volunteering at the Breadroot, I had to take on the the task of care giver. I think Karen was even a bit amazed at how well I did (although I did want to pull my hair out or theirs sometimes). I hope we all took something good from this time as I know I have.

Although I'm not too fond of the SD winters to say the least, we have had a great time when the weather was forgiving. We have gone dirt biking, kayaking and a stay at Grandpa's. The farm and ranch that I grew up on is always fun to visit. We helped Grandpa fix fence, check fowling horses, feed horses, work cattle, ride four wheeler; we shot guns, and shot bow and arrow. OH yeah, we even did a little "prairie surfing" (see following video) "pulling an old water ski behind the four wheeler". Gramps videoed us with his phone.

The kayak trip was an overnight deal with the weather being 60 degrees the first day and 25 overnight. We saw plenty of birds like Blue Herons, ducks, and Canadian Geese. We even snapped a shot of a Goose nest with big old eggs in it. When we pulled over for the day, we
set camp up and then the boys commenced to go tribal by collecting spires, hiding in trees and crapping in the woods "like a bear". After a hard day of foraging and paddling, we settled in for the night. Stone started chopping on some wood, and he commented, "I guess I'm on the night shift". After the chopping became too annoying, Saylor fired him and I thought a good distraction would be to sing a song, so I started singing Bob Marley's 3 Little Birds. Well, Stone joined in the singing, but then he was singing at the top of his lungs, "don't worry.....about a thing.....cuz every little thing....gonna be alright" AND chopping his wood! Just had to laugh. I thought we would be all right with two sleeping bags but was corrected when Stone and I shared. It was a long night.

In the morning, which came quick, we all arose together and started the fire for coffee, cocoa and oatmeal. We played for awhile and decided with it being so cold we would scratch the rest of the trip and plan for a later launch. Mom came to rescue us with help from Sage and Emma but they
didn't leave without eating the fine cuisine of hot dogs ala grill.

Our day of dirt biking was the first time the whole tribe was able to go along. Sage road with me but it won't be long and he will be solo. Karen honed in her old biker skills from when she was a Harley Babe. Nothing more bad ass and sexy than a mama kick starting a bike. The
sunny after noon was filled with leisurely rides and hiking up mounds of dirt.

Now the time has come for me to start work for the season and looking back at our adventures, I would have to say it is a great life.