TravelingMel

Mom, Anders and I went to the Demolition Derby during the Park County Fair. It was extremely loud.

This is how Anders and I watched the whole derby.

The cars are revved up and ready to go. Anders really liked the tractor that picked up the logs around the arena to let cars in and out. He'd be upset that I don't know the name of that type of tractor. I call it the "claw thingy."

A kids' bike race spiced up the time between heats (matches?).

I didn't get any photos of mom, which is too bad since she bought us elephant ears (and she's pretty.) I was too busy holding my hands on Anders' ears to do much else.

Livingston can be an odd little town at times. Like when you are driving home from the grocery store and you notice there is a carnival in the parking lot of the discount store. "Oh," you say. "A carnival. Of course."

It's one of those carnivals with squeaky rides and weird games and interesting people. You know we went.

Taking flight.

Riding horses.

Anders is excited to ride the dragon.

Until it starts moving... Luckily they stopped the ride for him after two rounds.

Driving cars.

Yesterday it snowed. I love snow as much as the next person, maybe more, but it did make me regret putting tomato and basil starts in the garden. I knew it was too early, but I wanted it to work. I think the tomatoes will pull through in their capsules of Wall O Waters. The basil, despite the green tubes, is probably a goner. No big deal, I'll wait until Memorial Day and plant more.

Experimental tomatoes and basil stand strong (I hope)in the storm.

The real bad news that arrived yesterday is our VW Passat needs a new motor. Even replacing it with an used motor will cost about $6,000. (I did not add an extra zero, that's the actual price; if you want to throw up a little go ahead.) The car is worth about $7,500, so I don't see us fixing it.

Part of me is glad that we will be a one vehicle household. Less expenses, less impact on the environment. Part of me is sad to give up the freedom to go where I want, when I want. There will be some shuffling, but we'll figure it out. And we can always rent a car for a day with all the money we are saving.

What sucks (sorry, mom), is that we had tossed around the idea of selling the car before it broke down and padding our coffers.

Anyhoo...I was feeling kind of down when a package arrived from my good friend Tiny Jen. Inside was a book:

Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

The book is about a little bear that gets a package from his gramps. Inside are five seed-related activities that help him learn about seeds, germination and life.

In addition to the book, Tiny Jen packed the stuff we needed to do the same activities as Buddy Bear. How freakin' cute is that? I just love seed activities and I LOVE Tiny Jen. I know it was technically for Anders (just like our ant farm), and he will have so much fun with it, but I'm going to have even more fun.

So much fun and potential in a little package, just like a seed.

It really brightened by car-saddened day to get that.

Anders asked, "Will you take a picture of I and Finn eating muffins?". Of course, I will.

** Did you know that if you click through one of my Amazon links and buy something from the site I get a (very) small commission? It's true. So, next time you want to make an Amazon purchase consider coming here or to Your Wild Child and clicking through--you don't even have to buy what I linked to. You know I need the money for a new car

I posted about our trip to Prairie Dog Town on my other site, but I'll add a bit here.

I was planning a Saturday field trip for the boys and I and thought I'd check out Greycliff Prairie Dog Town State Park. I'd seen the signs from the highway (little did I know I'd seen the whole park from the highway) and wanted to check it out. I invited my friend Madeleine and her two boys--Logan, 3.5 and William, 1--plus the little peanut in her belly. We also planned to go to the park in Big Timber either as a back up or addition.

H and I took the boys to the Big Timber park last spring. It's worth looking at the pics if you are an Anders/Finn fan because they have changed so much, or if you want to check out my butt.

Prairie dogs are an important food source for endangered black-footed ferrets. Blah, blah, blah you can look it up if you want to know more.

We mostly followed the "big" boys around and tried to keep the little ones from falling in the holes.

A little slice of prairie dog heaven adjacent to the highway. Those tunnels must be rocking and rolling.

Peering down the hole and checking for prairie dogs.

This kid needs a stylist. What is going on with his hair? (I say that like it doesn't look like that everyday.)

In case you wanted to know.

Throwing rocks and dirt into the home of an innocent prairie dog family.

Prairie dogs trying to pull William into their underground lair.

Logan and Anders ran all over the place, crouching by each hole and demanding we come look.

Next we went to the park in Big Timber because it is so fun. It was hard to convince the boys to leave even though they had to be tired. (Not that being tired ever slows them down.)

Welcome to the park.

William is super adorable.

After the pow wow.

I love their faces!

Finn loves swinging.

You can see all 56 pictures here. What can I do, my kids (and the prairie dogs) are so dang cute that I can't cull the photos.

I don't know if I'll ever be totally comfortable at a rodeo. Those poor calves and steers getting wrestled to the ground. They hit the dirt pretty hard.

Still, I like the rodeo. The Western culture: cowboy hats, belt buckles and boots. Now that I am taking a horseback riding class I understand a little better how much skill it takes to stay on a horse.

I took the boys to the MSU rodeo on Friday. We went to the slack event: the first go-‘round for cowboys and cowgirls who compete in timed-events. If their times are good enough, they get into the "real" rodeo. It's during the day and it's free, two things we like.

We met up with my friends Tiffaney, Jeff, Eva and Kyle.

Tiffaney took a couple photos for me.