Our Weekend

Thursday we woke up to a down poor of rain. Tanner still wasn't feeling that great. We went to the store and got him some medicine. Then we went to the butterfly house of Sioux Falls. None of us knew what to expect. We had a blast. We spent about 2 or more hours there. Geremy really wanted one to land on him. We told him they had to choose him. Just as we were getting to leave, one landed on him. He was so happy. I missed the picture but he did get one. I'm the only one that didn't have one land on me. I wasn't chosen. The kids keep asking to go back. We've told them we'll see another one in Grand Junction.
Next we went to Sioux Falls. We had lunch at the falls. It was fun. We then drove to Grandma and Granpa Reep's home. We got in late and had a wonderful Macaroni and Cheese dinner. It was nice to know we didn't have to get up and go the next morning.
Friday Grandpa took us to see where Grandma grew up. We saw where she went to school too. Then Aaron did the laundry and took the kids swimming. Grandpa was amazed at how well the kids and Aaron swim. I stayed back and made dinner with Grandma and had a nice talk. We had ham and cheesy potatoes and pretzel jello. Yum. The kids were all wound up so we went to a park. Don't go to a park at dusk. Anyway, they had a lot of fun. We found a walking trail. That was nice too.
Saturday we had to take Geremy's sleeping bag to a laundromat. That was frustrating. We got off to a 2.5 hour late start. We then went to the houses that Grandpa and Grandma raised their kids in. We also saw the church where they were married and Aaron's dad was "baptized". We then went to the "Mall of America". Good grief. The kids went in the ghost shooting ride and the 6 of us went on the roller coaster. We had 10 points left (because the chaperones on the roller coaster were free) so Aaron and I wanted to go on another ride. Tanner wouldn't let me go so the 4 of us went on the roller coaster again. Mattina Ann and AJ were very patient and good about it. All those rides cost about $50. Oh well. It was the first big roller coasters Tanner and Geremy have been on. They loved it.
Saturday evening we recorded Grandma Reep on video. She did a nice job. Then Grandma wanted the kids to settle down and go to sleep. She didn't know how to settle them. I told her to sing so Grandpa sang some songs while Grandma held Geremy. Geremy then asked if he could sing a song. He sang "I am a Child of God". Grandma was so impressed with this song. She couldn't believe the feeling it brought into the room. She asked us to sing it again so the whole family sang all the verses. The spirit in the room was amazing. Geremy started a wonderful missionary experience. Nice job little man.
Sunday said good bye to Grandma and Grandpa. She said that she probably won't see us again. I told her that she will one day. We then went to Minnehaha Falls and off to Ft. Madison. We followed Rita. She took us a different way than we thought we should go but we made good time and got here. Thank you Rita.
Brenda and her kids are with us now for the rest of the trip. We went on a walk last night after the kids went to bed. Aaron and I saw Fireflys for the first time. Aaron even had one crawl on him. It looked like it was under his skin. It was fun to see.
This hotel is frustrating for us. It could be a nice place. It's just way run down. The air conditioner is super noisy and Aaron can't sleep with the noise or without the cool air. We've talked about moving to another room. We'll see what happens.
I found that we were charged twice for our first hotel. That didn't sit well. I called Expedia late last night to fix it. They put me on hold for about an hour. I'm still waiting for another call to take care of it this morning. I WILL get my money back.
The video's are a little out of order. I hope you enjoy them. I will put more video's on tonight. We are off to have fun now.