Summer Livin'

The yellow sun shines with a rosy magic in the summer months, like the days will go on forever. 
And then suddenly, they're gone! 
I look back over these pictures and they feel like they happened so long ago.

We had  a hotter than usual start to summer, which meant the Arizonans bought an AC for the new house... and on the much cheaper side of things, got to jump in the cold lake even sooner.

Chris, Stephanie, and the girls joined us for a couple weeks in July

and the cousins quickly became best friends.

July 27th we embarked on our 28 hour road trip to Nebraska piling luggage, snacks, electronics, and a pack n' play into a Honda Pilot with just enough room for six people to sit cross legged. 
The next day, before heading for Grandpa Anderson's hometown, we visited Mount Rushmore on Sawyer's birthday. It's one of those iconic sites that you can't fathom 
until you're standing beneath it.

Finally, at midnight, we slowly drove into Stromsburg, NE, population 1,142. Never have I experienced small town America like this. It was all there: Lisa's Hairstyling, Yungdahl's Apothecary, Hometown Market, Ericson's Hardware, the grain elevator in the background. 
This snapshot is the Norman Rockwell of our trip.

Right there on 4th Street, the boys could gaze at the Victor Anderson Building,

named after their great great grandpa.

Here's an excerpt about it: "When the Victor Anderson Building was originally opened in 1913, the building’s design was extravagant but also well ahead of its time in that it featured electrical lighting surrounding the top perimeter of the building.  Unfortunately, the Victor Anderson building also began to deteriorate leaving the rare and extraordinary lights to burn out and remain dark for over 80 years. When Bob Berggren, proprietor of the Rose Colored Glass, acquired the building, he took on the task of restoring it. On June 7th, 2013 a special lighting ceremony was held to celebrate having the building illuminated back to its original design! One hundred years to the day, the lights were once again turned on while local residents celebrated with dancing in the streets!"

A monument to our boys' Anderson legacy

Within days, our boys saw four stone carved Presidential faces completed 74 years ago and a restored, landmark building 102 years old where their great great grandpa toiled the days away. Such big moments on our trip, though not to be outdone by the precious, small ones.

Like catching fireflies for the very first time

Like the first try of a crab apple

Like a pony-tailed toddler on daddy's shoulders to walk the mere half mile to

"main street" for orange soda and coffee

Like John Deere rides from a neighbor who dropped by some homegrown cucumbers and tomatoes

Like puzzles with Mom Mom

Like pickup soccer games with cousins in the unfenced backyard

Like a 5 year old parked on the driveway, solemnly waiting for his older brothers to finish their unsupervised bicycle ride around town and play with him

Like an exciting lunch in the only corporate restaurant in town: the "new" Subway!

I know small towns are romanticized, but coming from an Arizona city girl, 

it did feel like we were on a tv set. Think Gilmore Girls.

We didn't stay in town for the whole week, spending two days in Kearney, NE for Landon's Master's Graduation. Three challenging years that felt like they would never end culminated 

in a memorable ceremony and a celebratory BBQ on the university lawn.

We visited the Strategic Air and Space Museum, where even Elliot learned how to identify a missile.

The SR-71 Blackbird is still considered the world’s fastest aircraft!

Next, we walked the State Capitol building in Lincoln, taking an elevator all the way to the dome on top and gazing out at the city below. When we first arrived, Sawyer ran ahead into the building and then came sprinting back out, "Mom, can I go up the stairs of justice?" This self-titled dark staircase to the second floor just proved Landon the historian was not the only one excited to see the Capitol.

hanging out on the Capitol steps...

For our last day in Nebraska, we toured the Omaha Zoo,consistently rated one of the top zoos in the nation. Kellen and I palled around; we tended to speed through the exhibits 

a little faster than the others thanks to a five year old's lack of interest in details.

No family-of-six outing is complete without a slap-to-the-forehead moment, this one courtesy of Sawyer. While leaning over this very railing, gazing at the sea lions barking in an adjacent pool, he dropped his brand new Nebraska hat in the restricted, employee area. With no employee in site. For half a second...ok more like a full minute, I considered letting Trenton just jump in and grab it. Then the perfectionist, first born in me could only picture getting kicked out of the zoo, or even worse, yelled at for breaking the rules. Thankfully, a kind stranger tracked down a food court worker to call someone and not long after a zoo worker let herself in the exhibit and handed Sawyer his hat. I thanked her profusely and she said, don't worry it happens more than you think, at least you didn't jump in after it like some people! {insert guilty laugh} "Really, people do that?!"

The gorillas were a family favorite.

But the real highlight of the day was Elliot seeing a real giraffe. Since birth, she has had blankets, stuffed animals, pictures, and books of giraffes to steer her in a direction chosen by Landon. 

It worked. Giraffes are her favorite animal! Watching her delight in the tall animals 

loping around only ten feet away was incredible.

After Omaha, we woke up at 4:30 the next morning and started the trek home.

This time we had two stops to break up the drive: the Wyoming State Capitol building... 

... and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. That's a mouthful. It used to be named the Custer National Monument until President Bush renamed it to honor the fallen Indians as well. 

This is part of the "Peace Through Unity" Indian Memorial built in 2003. 

This is Last Stand Hill, where US soldiers retreated in the face of thousands of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians. They have markers commemorating where fighters from each side fell and died. In 1881, the granite tower in the distance was built as a tombstone for the US soldiers' remains. It was a little eerie to stand at the top looking out over the plains of grass 

and picturing the Indian warriors surrounding the hill 

as soldiers killed their horses to use as breastworks trying to survive.

Landon tried to convince me we could hit up the Helena, MT State Capitol on our way home too, but I thought one historical site per day was pretty good! We'll save that for another trip.

Arriving home, August was upon us. And then one morning, we woke up and it was a school day. 

Kellen {Kindergarten}

This kid. So excited to join his older brothers at Ramsey, he even wore his uniform to open house before school started. His best friend from pre-K is in his class, so maybe that helped...but he walked in without hesitation, without even an extra glance at me. By the second day, he informed me I didn't have to walk him to class because he knew the way.

Sawyer {Second grade}

With a little luck and a little bit of the pushy mom, Sawyer got in one of my good friend's classrooms, a first year teacher I knew from Starbucks. He's become her hero, with that quick wit to make her smile and that empathetic tenderness to boost her confidence.

Trenton {Fourth grade}

My oldest and he doesn't let me forget it. "Almost in middle school, mom. Almost a teenager, mom. Only two years left at Ramsey, mom. Can I join ThinkIt Science after school, mom? 

Olivia wants me to do it with her." He's convinced he's going the whole school year without cutting his hair. We've decided it's an issue of independence we can let him enjoy; 

let's see how long our resolve lasts.

This new red door will see many school pictures to come. My four, changing every year. What a beautiful one to start...Elliot, the one staying home, gazing in adoration at her older brothers.

And now a close-up of my spunky, little minion. So Blessed.