Summer days

Today I think is the first day the kids and I have done nothing but sit at home and watch cartoons. We were not up early enough for an outside activity before the heat got too much. Our neighbors baby is staying with us today and Ansley is such a big helper! I think she will be a great teenage babysitter in the future.
We spent last week at Fort Morgan at my friend Linde's house. (Thank you Linde!) It was so nice. We went to the beach each day, went swimming, ate ice cream and watched the ferry launch and Fort Morgan, watched the sunset. It was a great time. Luke and Sara came for a few days before they moved to NC. We are going to try to ride up there toward the end of July to see their new house near Fort Bragg. Judy, Steve and Elizabeth came over for dinner one night too which was lots of fun.
Before we left for the beach, Ansley had a dance recital. This was her 3rd year of dance and she did really well. She took tumbling, ballet and tap this year. She is opting out of dance next year so she can try Upward Bound cheerleading and then maybe gymnastics.
Here she is on stage so the picture is a little dark

Here she is with her friend Shannon before their tap dance.
And ready for her tumbling routine. I can't get my scanner to work, but her "official" pictures from the dance studio are cute, so I am going to put them up when Jamey figures out the scanner.
8 days til we leave for Ukraine!

Dauphin Island and a new haircut

The Lakota Indian Tribe - South Dakota

The Duke family spent last week on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota - home to the Lakota Indian Tribe. The week was spent on service projects throughout the area from construction, to clothes closets, to soup kitchens to nursing homes. It was a great week for all of us and Jamey and I have said several times that we both feel called to participate in mission trips together and with the kids. Actually, by Thursday, I was a little worried that Jamey felt called to move to South Dakota and teach there! :-) Of course, I would follow him gladly wherever he went. I was so in love with him last week - he worked so hard and spent much of the time working on scaffolding 2 or 3 stories up. And heights make him extremely nervous!!
I learned so much about the hardships of Native Americans. Until the late 1970s, it was still illegal for Native Americans to practive their own religion/spirituality. The people there was so kind though. It was great to meet them and learn about them. Many of the people in their 50s and 60s endured horrible abuse and forced religion at mandatory boarding schools set up by the church. It has taken years for the people there to accept kindness from white people (understandably).
I am going to post a few pictures below. Of course, I took over 200 so this is just a small amount.
Here is a little prairie god popping up! They were cute, but made this weird chirping noise. They also kiss each other!

This was a town we visited one day that was set up as a town from the 1880s. Many movies have used this town as a set.
This is a Catholic church on the reservation near the house where Jamey worked on the siding. It is purple! And the reason it is purple? When it was time to paint the church the last time, the adults argued fiercely over the color choice. Finally, the committee decided that bc the adults were arguing so much, the children would get to decide the color. And the kids voted for purple!
Here we are watching the sunset on the Missouri River.
Here we are entering the Badlands National Park. It is hard to describe, but so very beautiful. There was an ocean and underwater volcanos many years ago that casued this rock layer formations. They are still finding fish fossils today. The Duke family at a waterfall

We went to a Buffalo and Elk preserve. The buffalo would walk right up next to us! There were signs everywhere warning that the buffalo will kill or seriously injure you if you got out of the car. So we stayed IN the car!
Here is Ansley and Jen (a friend from church) working on one of the service projects making pillows for the children on the reservation. After Ansley finished her pillow, she brought it to the mission to put behind the counter. A child from the reservation will come in and pick out the pillow that Ansley made and take it home! She was very proud.

My two cuties - At a random dinasuar park in Rapid City, South Dakota. Apparently after the war (in the 1930s)the WPA was all about creating jobs, and one of those jobs was to make these giant dinasaurs. Very strange, but the kids loved it and the view was pretty.

And here we are at Mt. Rushmore - it was beautiful and really impressive. It was cold, raining, and very overcast, but we all enjoyed it. The kids even seemed to be impressed with Ms. Rushmore.
We are glad to be home! Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and prayers for safety.

End of the school year

The past few weeks have been a little crazy. Ansley finished up school (K4). We are preparing for our trip to the Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota - we leave this Sat. But I wanted to share some pictures.

Ansley has a great school and a great goup of kids. Here they are at the Pascagoula Beach pier. Not a great beach, but the park was fantastic.
Ansley with her teacher and the kids in her class. Ansley was lucky to have Ms. Tipp this year. She did a fantastic job with the kids and taught them so much. We feel blessed to have had her teach Ansley and hope we can get Stephen in her class in a few years.
K4 graduation night - Ansley and Grandad
Here is Ansley walking hand in hand with her best friend Carson. They have the funniest relationship. It is precious to watch them take care of each other like old married people!
Here we are after the K4 program.
Here is Ansley with Ms. Tipp (sorry it is sideways)
Here is Ansley singing her heart out at the program. She did a great job and I have to brag that she won female student of the year!! Top grades and behavior. We were so proud!
And of course, Mr. Stephen has been busy too. There is a gymnastics teacher that comes to his daycare once a week to teach the kids and this lady worked miracles! Parents were invited to come to the last class to watch so of course Stephen had about 12 people there to see him! He did a great job and followed directions so well.

The market in Catherdral Square downtown is always fun. My mom and Ansley walking through the park
3 days of school left! I am so excited to be done for a while. I love my kids and I am so looking forward to being with them through all our summer adventures.

The Ice cream truck....I mean van

Ok, well the ice cream woman in our neighborhood drives what my friend Sarah and I used to refer to as a "kidnap" van. But she is very nice and sells lots of yummy ice cream that is marked up in price probably 300%. Anyway. We of course must buy when she comes in the evenings and tonight was no exception.
Ansley chose a Dora popsicle, while Stephen chose a batman popsicle.

On a side note, neither of my children have ever watched any movie or cartoon with Batman, Spiderman or Superman. But they know exactly who each one is! Strange.

countdown to summer

We are seriously on the countdown to summer now. I am actually not dreading tomorrow (dreading is really not the word considering I do actually like my job and my coworkers and I know that everyone can't say the same) but I am so ready for summer. We have so much planned but also have 4 weeks or so with no travels or commitments and that will be fabulous too.
May 30 we leave for a 7 day trip to South Dakota- More specifically, the Lakota Indian Reservation. A group from our church will be spending the week working on different projects there. The kids are going with us, so I am really looking forward to us all discovering that area of the county together. We will be able to see a lot of really fabulous and beautiful outdoor areas all while hopefully helping the people there with whatever we have to offer. I hope that it will be a trip that Ansley will remember. Of course, Stephen will not but it will still be a great time for us to be together.

Our 2nd mission trip is to Ukraine (most people say "the Ukraine" but Luke says that the people there do not like you to refer to their country as "the Ukraine", but rather just "Ukraine") Anyway - Jamey and I leave June 25 and will spend a week working in an orphanage outside Kiev. We are then flying to London to spend a few days sightseeing before heading home. I am so excited to be able to have this oppurtunity with a great group of people from church. But I am also struggling with the thought of leaving my kids for that long. They will be absolutely fine and happy staying with Jamey's parents, but my heart will be with them the whole time. I am already praying that God will give me a peace while I am away from them. Some very kind and generous people have helped us to be able to make this trip financially. I hope that I can do as much good inthe Ukraine as I possibly can to make me worthy of the prayers and financial donations of friends and family.

Here are a few pictures - Ancley spent the last few days of swim lessons learning to dive. She really does love to swim.

Stephen spent the time at swim lessons throwing the dive toys into the pool. I asked, "don't you want to swim with Ansley?" He replies, "No, that pool too wet."Here are the kids eating supper outside. We like to eat outside when we can - before the swarms of misquitos show up, along with the blazing hot weather. This night we all ate juicy peaches and laughed as we tried to catch the juice before is dripped all over us.


One night last week we went to see Disney on Ice. I think this picture showing Ansley's and her BFF Carson's expression says it all. They loved it! Makes me crave a trip to Disney...Jamey and I keep telling ourselves we need to wait, but it is getting harder and harder to hold off on a trip to Disney!

The park, swim lessons and other adventures