last summer's summer road trip ~

the night before we left grama's house,

both girls started out sleeping in the porch ......

then grama joined ella .....

...... and zoe slept in bed with me : )

the next morning we were all ready to go ......

with our bag of mini-donuts!!

first stop, the cabin:

then on to south dakota -- and cousin sophie!!

the girls can not get enough of that dog ....

we also did a quick road trip to madison, south dakota and saw
the house my mom grew up in and where i spent many
summers .....

we had ice-cream in town ...... 

the girls stood on the steps of the church grama and grampa
were married at ......

we drove by the house that my grampa lived in when
he was a boy .....

and the house my grama lived in when she was a girl ......

and the house my mom lived in when she was real little .....

a big highlight was visiting my great auntie helen --
98 years young, with hair done, make-up on and nails painted : )
such a special time ......

later that day uncle doug (my mom's youngest brother)
brought us to the sioux falls zoo --

the girls got a kick out of this sign and had me take a photo
of them by it so it looked like we made a quick trip to
africa while on our roadtrip to south dakota : )
ha -- 7 year old humor!

the carousel ride was fun .....

so was milking the giant cow .....

watching the two goats 'be happy' together was
interesting, watching the dad and his kid's reaction to
the spontanious happy moment was quite entertaining .....

a day in the south dakota heat pooped these two out and
they slept hard under a beautiful homemade quilt that
auntie linda made .....

next morning scooter-riding seemed extra fun
with extra long driveways
and sidewalks galore ......


and just hanging out in uncle doug and aunt linda's
amazing backyard allowed for more fun photos ....

love this plaque that was somewhat hidden in their

garden full of flowers .....

before we left some more family photos ....

mom's maiden name is 'soule' .....


and last goodbyes to cousin sophie!!

then it was time to hit the road again and say hello
to nebraska .......

where we joked about all of zoe's boyfriends .....

which she didn't think was as funny as we did : )

it was hot, hot, HOT outside!!!!

but not too hot to have fun with cousins at the hotel ....


and not too hot to do some nebraska exploring .....

back at jody and matt's farm the fun continued.
simple pleasures of finding toads ......

zooming around in the kid 4-wheeler with cousin lexi .....

going for a ride in matt's new toy .....

drinking wine with my super fun cousin jody .....

jessica .....

and richard, too!!

visiting, playing, photos .....

..... firecrackers fun .....

.... and finding fireflies that lit up the evening sky ......

fireflies that traveled back to our hotel ......

and were our natural nightlight that night .....

...... until they were released the next morning ......

meeting up with more cousins on our way out of nebraska
just added to the fun.

i sure do love my soule family!!

could these kids be any cuter??!

the baby was a hit ..... 

then it was on to IOWA .....

the finale:  walnut grove minnesota
and laura ingalls wilder adventures!!!

poor zoe, family joke about her 'boyfriend' doc.
she still didnt' think it was funny.

in front of the actual hearth used on the little house tv show!!!

ella's favorite hat ~

zoe's favorite hat ~

loved this ~

it isn't a roadtrip until someone has spent time in the clink ~

ella was fascinated by the outhouse toilet ~

pa's REAL FIDDLE!!!!!

pit stop on the way back to buffalo --
dinner with kiddie cocktails and bikers heading to the rally.

we love our summer road trips with my mom.

love them love them love them.

gramas sure do know how to make the little things extra fun!