Stacy's and Curt's two boys, Dane and Brett, came to visit us for a few days. On Wed. Bob picked them up in Storm Lake. From there they went to Sioux City. I wasn't able to join them because I had a doctor's appt. here in Sioux Center. Oh well. They visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center after eating a nice meal at Golden Corral. Mmmm those chocolate covered strawberries were pretty good. They also visited the Visitor's Center there which is a boat on land next to the Lewis and Clark museum and on the shores of the Missouri River. They also visited the Floyd Monument and Palmer Candy Company. Then I met them in Le Mars for ice cream. Of course.
I drove down to Le Mars with the convertible, and the boys took turns riding it home. Brett rode first from Le Mars to Orange City.
We visited the Staples Outlet Store, not the office store, and got a few bargain items. Brett got a little sewing kit, and Dane got a whistle with a matching lanyard and a flashlight.
Then Dane got to ride to Sioux Center in the convertible.
When we got to Sioux Center, we had to go swimming. Sioux Center has a great swimming pool, and the boys seemed to have a great time.
They really enjoyed the lily pad area. I tried it, but it's wasn't for me. Bob, on the other hand, was able to do it quite well. They did it over and over again. Such fun.
Brett decided he wanted to try to jump off the diving board by himself and without a life jacket. To be safe I was in the water with him just in case he needed me, but he did a great job, and after several times, he had lots of confidence, and I gained confidence in him too. Eventually I could let him go off the board while I took pictures.
Another popular area was where the slides were. There are two slides, and the right one is soooo fast and furious. Brett was proud of the fact that he went down that right one about 15 times the last day we went swimming.
Other fun.
Splashing into the pool after going down the fast and furious slide.
Off the diving board some more.
Dane's new feat was to be able to go all the way down to the bottom of the 10 ft. water. He tried several times and several different strategies until he finally did it. Then he did it over and over and over again. It was even hard for me to get down there.
More diving board jumping.
More going down to the bottom.
More slides.
The next day we drove to Sioux Falls to go the the Kirby Science Center at the Washington Pavilion. We were there from about 10:30 till 5:00, closing time.
Lifting the car in the background.
The fourth floor was the favorite area with lots of fitness activities, building cars and racing them, music, and creating animation movies.
This was one of Dane's favorite places. He could play a variety of virtual games like soccer, volleyball, baseball, etc. He could do it by himself or with a group.
The horizontal climbing wall was a lot of fun. It had a huge sponge rubber pad on the floor to soften any falls.
How fast can you run?
How fast can you bicycle?
Here you had to pump a lever to create energy to make a train go. Dane was able to do that easily.
This activity used your brain waves to move a ball. The more calm you were, the further the ball went. I tried to disturb them to see what happened.
Cool!!!!
Here you designed and built cars and raced them on the race track. We spent a lot of time here too.
Making laser light designs.
They had a talk about the bed of nails and explained that you could lie on a bed of nails because of the concept of weight distribution. Several people were willing to try it. Dane almost did it but decided at the last minute not to do it.
But I decided to try it. It was definitely a weird feeling, kind of like a lot of prickling. Afterwards I had to have Bob scratch my back to get the tingling to go away. I never thought I'd lie on a bed of nails, but I did.
Here we are in the space area of the museum.
Gasping for air.
Trying to dock a shuttle with a satellite.
Programming on a computer to direct the rover to do maneuvers on a Mars landscape.
More virtual games.
We ate at the Da Vinci Cafe at the museum and had to take a few pictures of the Mona Lisa and some of her many smiles.
After the museum closed, we caught the free trolley and went to Falls Park where the real falls on the Sioux River are.
We took the elevator to the top of the tower at the park and got a good overview of the river and falls.
This was the old mill that was on the river, and it had a water wheel to use for grinding.
One of the fun things to do at this park is to climb the rocks along the river bed. Of course the river is quite low so there are lots of exposed areas, but there always does seem to be a lot of exposed areas for climbing. The boys were so proud of them selves to be able to climb. Even Grandpa Bob was able to climb. I took the pictures. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
We had some fun just hanging out at the house, playing the Wii, playing ping pong, and building and playing a Harry Potter Lego game.
Oh Yea. We went to Casey's Bakery too. But Brett decided he really prefers the fried cinnamon rolls with maple icing that you can get at Casey's General Store.
We didn't get any pictures, but the boys went shopping at a sporting goods store in Sioux Center, and I found out they are big Green Bay Packers fans. Brett picked out a Packers towel/blanket for himself, and he picked out a Packers set with a bib, a bottle, and a pacifier for Jenna Joy. That was thoughtful of him. Dane decided to get players cards for the Packers and a couple of other teams.
Saturday, after hanging out at the house, eating at Pizza Ranch, and getting some Casey Bakery rolls for Mom and Dad, it was time to head for home.
Traveling in the car isn't the most fun, but I guess you have to do it to go to the places you want to go. Here the boys are trying to entertain themselves with their marker boards. Hiding from the camera is also fun to them.
A sneaky shot from the mirror on the sun visor. It worked great. Gotcha!!!
Guess who?
I think the boys had fun, but there's no place like home, and being back with Jenna Joy and Mom and Dad is really THE BEST!!! Hope there will be more visits in the future.
