Indian Arrow Heads

My boys have gained a love of Indian artifacts from my dad. Dad's farm sits up on a knoll along a little creek, so it was a great place for Indians to camp. On our last day, Dad planned an expedition where we went back in the buffalo field to go on an artifact hunt. The kids had a great time finding ancient treasures!

Showing Grandpa Fred some of their cool finds.

Looking...

Checking in the tee pees...

Cowgirl Rachel checks out the other tee pee.

Grandpa picked up some cool arrow head collections for them at an auction. These arrow heads were found in the eastern mountains. Now they each have the start of their own collections--and are very excited about that.

Square Donuts on the Banks of the Wabash

When I was a kid, I looooved going to my Grandma Wilson's house in town. She lived in the apartment above my Grandpa's doctor's office. I thought it was really cool to sleep at Grandma's house because we could hear trains while we slept or I could listen to the radio while I talked on her phone. Sometimes it meant making yummy cookies or playing King Oil. Other times it meant a trip to the laundromat, a quarter to play Ms. Pac Man and a Square Donut! So as is tradition, I had to take my kids to get a square donut...which would beat a Krispie Kreme a million to one. We stopped by Fairbanks Park on the banks of the Wabash River to enjoy our breakfast...and let the little rascals play on the playground for a little while:)

That evening afternoon we met up with cousin Sheri over at Aunt Rita and Uncle Dan's house...for a swim just like the old days. Sheri was about six and a half years older than me...this is her daughter Lydia with Rachel...Sheri and Angie Jr.



And her daughter Hannah with Shea...

Return With Honor

We all have those events in our lives that we can remember where we were and what we were doing. One of those occurred for me last October. I was sitting in the Marriott Center with my kids for my cousin Chris' last BYU basketball blue and white scrimmage. My grandpa called my aunt and said that one of my childhood friends, Dale Griffin, had been KIA in Afghanistan. Dale was one of those bigger than life kind of guys and it was so hard to believe he was gone. The next morning, the world woke to the image above as the President of the United States greeted Dale's body at Dover, Delaware.

In April when Gene and Dona were out here visiting, we took them out for dinner. They help me remember that I too can do hard things. Their optimism and hope was so inspiring as they talked about the previous five months and how they had endured them. They talked about the thirty-five years of preparation they had for that moment when they learned Dale had been KIA. They talked about people from all over the world who had reached out to them. They talked about people from our close-knit 2nd ward family who had wrapped their arms around them. And they talked about how they had made it their mission to reach out to the other families who had lost sons in the explosion that had killed Dale.

On Memorial Day, we had taken our kids to visit the graves of Matt's grandparents. We have been trying to teach them the importance of honoring not only the soldiers who have fought and died for us, but also our ancestors who sacrificed for us. While we were in Terre Haute, I wanted them to also visit Dale's grave, which was marked by this griffin. As we saw all the little trinkets that had been left there, it was a reminder of all the people who were missing him. The freshly turned earth next to him reminded us that he is taking care of his little sister now. Thank you Dale for the sacrifice you have made for us.
We will never forget.

Billie Creek Village

When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite field trips of all time was our trip to Billie Creek Village in Rockville, Indiana. So, Wednesday morning we headed there.

Here is my family on one of the world famous covered bridges of Rockville.

They're really there...trust me!

Maybe I loved it because they had cool people there doing the "old" things like making candles, lye soap, pottery, fresh ground grain or in this case, hand carved monograms.


Maybe it's because I felt like I was living a piece of Little House on the Prairie (my favorite TV show). I felt just like Laura when I would go sit inside this cute school house. This was my favorite building...guess it's the teacher in me!


We had to stop by the general store for an old fashioned piece of penny candy...that's now 27 pennies.

There are lots of cool old buildings that we got to visit...a livery stable, grain mill, candle maker, printer, farm house, governor's house, baptist church, potter, woodcarver, school...and of course the doctor/dentist office. I showed the kids some dentures as incentive to brush their teeth better... they eat their candy...go me!

Turkey Run

One of my favorite places to go in the summer was Turkey Run State Park. We used to go there every year with our youth group and tube down Sugar Creek. When Matt saw Sugar Creek, he said, "Well if that's a creek, I'd hate to see a river!"

Before we headed out on a hike, we enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch along side the squirrels. Braden wasn't really happy to be there, so he used the blueberries for a pillow.

And Shea was wiped out from the busy week, so she spent most of the afternoon looking like this on Matt's shoulder:)


And just to prove that I do exist...here's a picture of me on the hike through the beautiful forest.

And stairs. Lots of them. While we were hiking, some random person stopped us and asked if we were the people with the Idaho plates they had seen in the parking lot. Just wondering what it is that makes us look like we were from Idaho...was it the six kids we had with us?! Just curious. I didn't realize people from Idaho had a "look". And if they do, she was a bad judge. We are one state to the south.

Thanks goodness for rest stops! At least we knew we had an ice cream parlor just waiting for us to stop by and say hi to motivate us to finish the trail. Thanks Dad and Brenda for the fun day!

Red Neck Cruise

Fred offered to take the kids on a ten cent tour of the river bottoms. Let me tell you what...when a Wilson does something, they do it in style!

The kids were in for a real treat! Fred hooked his Rhino up to his boat, loaded up the family and they were off on a red neck cruise.

The princesses of the cruise--Meghan and Rachel--pose with Captain Fred.

Unfortunately, where they were cruising was out in Dad's flooded fields. It was just two years ago when they had another devastating flood, that not only wiped out 80% of their crops, but also flooded all 30 rental houses. Not good timing. Dad says this late June flood is the latest flood they have ever experienced. At least in the flood of 2008, they were able to replant most of the crops, although is left them unable to fulfill a corn contract. This year, the rains continued and they were only able to replant a very small percentage.


Brian, Rachel, Braden and Meghan along for the ride.

The motor on the boat had a hard time with overheating. The kids were certain they would die stranded in the water...even though it was only knee high.

And this, my friends, is why Michael wanted a flooded farm cake for his birthday.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

The vacation our kids look forward to most of all is a trip to the farm. Who ever knew Indiana could be such a choice vacation destination? We were not really excited about the 24 hours in the car (and yes, that is ONE way!), but it was not as bad as we had anticipated. That's what I always say...anticipate the worst and you'll always be pleasantly surprised. Just kidding. I am grateful for technology that has come a long way...like my phone that has a buck hunter game and Matt's laptop with a monster truck game and the portable DVD players...sanity savers!

And yes, that is Johnny Depp in the back seat with Michael:)

We arrived late Friday night in anticipation of the plantation party to celebrate Dad's March nuptuals at Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana. We got right to work helping prepare for the party. The boys loved helping Grandpa plant the flowers. It sure was a hot, humid welcome to Indiana! The temps were in the nineties with 1000% humidity! The party was grand, the company great and the food delicious! It was fun to see some of our old friends that I hadn't seen in twenty years.

Sunday we were all wiped out from the long party day and Michael was sick, so Matt stayed home with Michael while the rest of us went and played at Fred's. Monday we got to go on the softball/baseball circuit. The kids got to go see Toy Story 3 with Grandma Karen and then we all headed over to Farmersburg to see "The Meghanator" in her final tournament game of the season. It was really fun because one of her teammates is the daughter of one of my old softball teammates.

After Meghan's game, we headed over to Wilson Field in Prairie Creek to watch Tristan's game.

It was fun to revisit where I played softball when I was a kid. It was great to see all the improvements...like smooth fields and lights...that I always wished we had when I was a kid. I do still miss the out houses. Those were replaced many years ago with flushers (At least we can still go visit one of them at Dad's cabin on the water shed.) There was a pick up softball game going on the open field. I enjoyed watching my kids playing there with their cousin Meghan and one of my childhood friends as the pitcher. It was also fun to see many of my other old friends who are now the moms and dads and umpires...I sure miss that small town atmosphere.