Chee-cago, Saturday

This post was greatly delayed due to complications (when we returned home) with our beloved pug Toby and general craziness of school life right now (March and April are always my busiest months). SO, without further ado...the second half of our trip to Chicago.

We started out our day at The Field Museum. We could have spent a TON more time here as they had so many cool exhibits. I decided to take a picture of the first time we found from each persons country (for the girls) or state (for George and I). So, Australia (Amy), Germany (Daniela), Nebraska (George's home state) and South Dakota (my home state).

Precious Opal from Australia

A woodcut depicting the fall of the Ensisheim meteorite in Germany.

Rhino bones from Nebraska

"Sue" the most complete T-rex ever found from South Dakota

 I think I win for coolest display from our countries/states. It was a lot of fun looking at awesome artifacts from around the world and learning more about them. We walked to Shedd Aquarium after we finished at the museum. It was CROWDED at the aquarium! We didn't get a lot of pictures there due to the volume of people but they had some neat exhibits. My favorites were the dolphins and the penguins!

Watching the dolphins swim

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

We drove to Fremont, NE that evening and returned home on Sunday. It was a quick tour of Chicago, but a great one! I think we were all glad we went and took a small vacation from life and school here. Tonight George and the girls are out enjoying the foot of snow we received yesterday and I am cuddling our poor little pug Toby and listening to Lola bark at the crew outside. Pictures of a snowman (or something like that) will be coming soon. Happy Sunday night!

Chee-cago

This is post #1 about our trip to Chicago, IL with our girls. I will probably post at least one more time with more photos after we are home again but I wanted to log what we've done thus far. First though I will start by saying that we have all survived so far but the trip has definitely had its moments of craziness!

CTA Bus system--I hate you! I maybe would have different feelings if we actually knew our way around the city but, well, we don't. Every time we tried to go somewhere we would first have to locate our bus stop and it seemed as though each time we would either miss the bus we were supposed to get on and end up having to wait in the freezing cold OR we would head the right way, think it was wrong, turn around, walk the wrong way, figure out IT was wrong, and finally turn and head the right way--the same direction we went the first time. SO FRUSTRATING! I am SO happy tomorrow will be a drive, park and then walk between the two attractions since they are super close to each other kind of day. Not so happy that tomorrow we leave the Windy City because it seems there is so much more to see and do!

Okay, on to what we've been up to:

Wednesday night we drove from home to Fremont, NE and spent the night. Thursday morning we left early and headed for Chicago. We knew we had arrived when traffic on the interstate was moving at a whopping 10 mph one minute and 80 mph (which by the way is at least 15 over the limit) the next! We checked into our beautiful motel (which we got for a GREAT deal) and then began our adventures. We spent Thursday night at the SkyDeck in the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). It was awesome to see the city lights from way, way, way up in the sky!

Beautiful Chicago

Our feet above Chicago

George and the girls

Me and the girls

Chicago lights

We ate delicious deep-dish pizza and then returned "home" to the motel.

Friday morning was the Museum of Science and Industry. We could have easily spent the entire day there...SO much to see. Friday afternoon brought us to The Art Institute of Chicago (which I sadly have no pictures of). Friday evening we ate at Al's #1 Italian Beef where we all had delicious dipped Italian Beef sandwiches--all except Amy who ate a lame-o Italian Chicken sandwich that was the size of her head! After returning to the motel and spending some time hanging out, watching "Duck Dynasty," the girls and I headed down to the Navy Pier. (George has been fluctuating from sort of sick-really sick the entire trip and needed to rest so skipped out on the late evening activities.)

Amy at the Museum of S&I...butterflies landing on her shadow.

Amy, Dani, and George--lightening!

Chicago skyline near our motel

Flags at the Navy Pier

So far, despite the difficulties and George's illness, we have had a good time. Lots left to see tomorrow and we've barely even made a dent in all there is to do here!

P.S. The title of this post is lovingly dedicated to Miss Dani--she says Chee-cago in a super cute way :)

No Place Like Home!

This weekend we FINALLY got to stay home with no plans, no schedules, and nowhere to be. I'm pretty sure we all felt the same about our weekend home--wonderful! We have had the chance to show Amy and Dani a bit about our lives here and they had been on one of our horses and ridden with me leading the horse during one of their first weekends here, but we have not really had a chance to show them and teach them some of the things we wanted to until now. This weekend was relaxed, fun, and just what we needed. In fact, I am currently avoiding work on some pressing matters because this is the weekend and I just want to enjoy the end of it. Enjoy, I am...being outside, watching the girls ride, loving the countryside, I am so thankful for this place I call home.

Looking out over the cornfield on Grandpa Ed's place.

One of the things we didn't know if the girls would want to learn was how to drive. Lakeview is the perfect place to teach beginners how to drive. Few cars on the road, no law enforcement to speak of, and nice, muddy roads to challenge them with! Dani and Amy both expressed an interest so yesterday we began giving them lessons. We have been told we can do this but have to take full responsibility if someone gets into an accident. So the girls are driving. Sometimes it is a bit herky-jerky as they get used to the amount of pressure to use on the gas pedal and the brake. We are teaching them that 35 mph around a corner probably is just a tad too fast! But they are driving and loving it and their smiles and pride when they do a good job are so worth the heart attack I sometimes think I am going to have.

One of the things BOTH girls really wanted to do when arriving here was to ride horse, a lot. This weekend they got to do that. We spent a couple of hours both Saturday and Sunday afternoon at "Grandpa Ed's Place" (which is where my Great-Grandfather Edward Logterman lived). My parents own part of the place and the ride-able horses and expectant cow mamas are currently there because my brother Rob lives in my Great-Grandpa Ed's old house. Amy had ridden some before coming here and was quite excited to do more riding while here. Dani had never ridden but definitely had a desire to do so as well. On Saturday, Rob saddled both "Bucky" and "Red" up and the girls rode and rode. Amy took to the horse like she had never quit riding and Dani was a complete natural in the saddle--riding with the wind almost immediately. These girls seem to have no fear. We did the same today. Rob saddled them up, the girls rode, and then we unsaddled them. The next step will be teaching them to saddle them. I am sure they can both easily do it as Dani is already getting off, opening gates, getting back on, etc. We have two little cowgirls in the making!

Dani and Amy letting Bucky and Red get a drink.

Smiling for the camera and complaining about me
taking so many pictures of them :)

Amos (a young man that my parents have befriended)
rode the 4-wheeler around with the girls.

It has been a good weekend for our little family. Lots of rest, relaxation, and fun to rejuvenate us for the coming week.

Sale Day

Things have been pretty quiet here on the blog but the same was NOT true of our life this week. Originally the Logterman Family Bull Sale was scheduled for Monday but due to the blizzard, my Dad and Uncle Duke decided to postpone to Tuesday. We fully expected to have snow day on Monday but that did not happen--we just had a two hour late start. We also expected that if we had school we wouldn't be able to get out, but the plow went through in time and we made it to school on Monday. Monday was a bad day, I will leave it at that.

Tuesday was a good day. We slept in a bit, drove into Valentine and had lunch with some of the family, and then watched the sale. The bulls sold pretty well. Dani and Amy thought the auctioneer was pretty crazy as they had never heard anyone talk like that before. Other than that, Dani spent some of the time taking sneaky pictures of a cowboy she found amusing:

Amy, well Amy was tired:

Kind of like this little guy. (I have a hilarious picture of her sleeping but she BEGGED me not to post it so I won't, mostly because I don't want to lose my kitchen helper.)

On Wednesday it was back to school, Kids' Club (Amy has been helping with this and seems to enjoy it), and Youth Group (both girls attended again).

On Valentine's Day (Thursday) we attended a dinner hosted by one of the churches in Cody. The girls helped cook and serve at the dinner and we attended as a couple. It was a good time but a late night.

Here we are, Friday night, sitting in the living room hanging out and enjoying being home! Amy is hoping we will be able to do some horse riding tomorrow but other than that no one has any plans for this weekend. It will be good to be home!

I will leave you with a couple pictures of the bulls we were selling and one of my amazing parents!

Angus bull

Hereford bull

Dad and Mom Logterman

And here's one last picture for your entertainment...Lola getting a bath in the sink (notice the two roses in the back, the girls' Valentine's Day present from their Host Dad...what a guy!):

Lola says "Good night everybody!"

Fry Bread Blizzard

Our week was fairly uneventful but the same cannot be said about our weekend. This week we only had three and a half days of school due to Parent-Teacher conferences and a Teacher In-Service day. Monday and Tuesday were normal, routine days as was Wednesday with the exception of Kids' Club (which is a Bible study for the elementary children that the girls helped out with) and Youth Group (the Bible study for the Junior High and High School kids). On Thursday the girls went to Valentine with my mom after school and then came home and hung out with Rebekah while George and I were at conferences. Friday was pretty uneventful until we (Dani, Amy and I) left to go make fry bread for the Music Department concession stand that was to be held on Saturday. While the girls loved eating the fry bread at first, six hours of frying and one flour fight later they may not feel the same. We spent most of Saturday working the concession stand and serving up Indian Tacos.

Amy taking a little break after waiting on
 people in the concession stand on Saturday.

We rushed to make it home before the blizzard arrived. Although we did not get as much snow as was predicted, the wind created some monstrous drifts that will most likely make it impossible for us to get to school tomorrow. Amy and George walked down to my parents' house for fun this evening. Here they are getting ready to leave the house and walk into a Winter Wonderland:

You may notice that George is already rather snowy looking. This is because he went to check the roads and got stuck. He spent some time trying to dig out and then decided to just walk home.

God is good, all the time!

Yesterday was a rough day of school. Everything went well in the morning until I reached the high school. I knew that the "drama" that happened at the dance on Saturday night would certainly carry over into Monday and it did indeed. I spent a good hour talking to and comforting students that were upset by the events. Due to this, I went home drained of energy and feeling as though I had been run over by a truck. I wasn't sure how I was going to be a good "mom" and wife and actually prepare supper when I arrived home. So, I took a few ibuprofen for my throbbing head, drank a glass of juice, took a deep breath, and started making supper and cleaning the kitchen (which was quite the disaster). (Amy helped by emptying the dishwasher. These girls are amazing in so many ways, one of which is their willingness to help out.) As I worked, I found new energy and love for life and by the time dinner was on the table I felt like a new woman--I love cooking! God is good--He gives us ways to relax and enjoy our lives.

Today was better. MUCH better. At lunch time a fellow co-worker was telling me that my brother Jon was an awesome young man (or something to that affect!) because he helped her daughter (who is at UNL for her first year away from home) out of a bit of a jam and went the "extra mile" to make sure everything was taken care and she would be okay. I enjoyed talking with her about this because I love that man SO much. He is one of the finest young men I know. The day only got better because today this man I have loved since the beginning of his life, my dear brother Jon, found out he had been excepted into Veterinarian school. What a celebration I had when I heard the news. The tears of sadness from yesterday have turned into tears of joy. God is good--He gives us moments of joy when we most need them.

God is also good in sending just who He knows we need. As we were looking at profiles for students, we originally chose Amy and a girl from New Zealand (we had not yet seen Dani's profile). I was crushed when we found out Miss New Zealand was going to be going to Texas instead. Really though, this was a huge blessing in disguise. I believe God knew we needed Dani and so He arranged it. One of our fears when we decided to host foreign exchange students was that they wouldn't feel "at home" and comfortable enough to help themselves to things in the fridge, cupboard, etc. Well, those fears were wiped away when Dani reached into the fridge, pulled out the bag of chocolate chips and started eating a handful. I laughed because I was so happy that she felt comfortable enough to do that. Tonight, she helped herself to salad (that I had not put on the table) during dinner (she LOVES salad). God knew I would need her to make me feel like things are as they should be and our girls are settled in. (Amy has also shown signs of feeling at home: she took over the remote this afternoon!) God is good, all the time, in every circumstance!

Dani enjoying her salad while the dogs wish
they could help themselves to food as well.

Winter Formal & Winter Riding

This week was "Spirit Week" at Cody-Kilgore. We have a week in the winter that is sort of like our homecoming in which we dress-up each day in crazy costumes. Our family didn't really participate in the dress-up days but we did participate in the dance at the end of the week!

We have not had a lot of usual "winter" weather in the last couple of years so we were excited when it began snowing Monday afternoon. Plus, Amy was rather excited about the snow as she doesn't often get to see snow! Here is a picture from Monday night. We had a great evening playing in the snow and waging a snow fight girls vs. George!

Winter Wonderland!

Amy playing in the snow!

All of the snow put us in the mood for Winter Formal! While George and I ran a concession stand at the school Saturday afternoon, the girls stayed home and Rebekah came over so they could all get ready for the dance together. When we returned home, we found three lovely ladies all ready for a good time. I think both Amy and Dani had a good time at the dance.

Our beautiful "daughters" Amy and Dani

Our girls with our "adopted" daughter Rebekah

A bunch of the girls at the dance!

Cotton-eyed Joe...a really crazy dance in which they all form
lines and skip around the dance floor in a circle.

Sometimes Cotton-eyed Joe gets a bit
too crazy and people fall down!

Toby and Amy

Ivan teaching Dani how to "pretzel" a
popular dance to fast country music.

The crazy DJ - Hey Arnold (a.k.a. George)

Our Saturday night was a late one but a fun one. There was a bit of "drama" at the dance but I won't go into any of that since it didn't involve any of our girls.

Sunday morning dawned bright and too early. We attended church, ate at my parents' house (as is our custom) and the girls watched what they decided was a "stupid movie!" while George and I took naps. After we awoke, I took Dani and Amy out to ride horse (George went grocery shopping for me...what a wonderful husband). Amy had ridden before but today was the first time Dani had EVER been on a horse. We had a bit of trouble catching and saddling the horse as I haven't ridden myself for nearly 10 years but we got the job done. The only thing we were unable to do was adjust the stirrups so for today, I had to lead the girls around. They will get the chance to take the reins and ride on their own soon.

Amy was a complete natural with "Red" and I look ridiculous
because I wasn't supposed to be in the picture!

Dani trying out riding for the first time.

She did a great job and seemed to enjoy it
despite the setting sun and cooling temperatures.

We hope to get them up on the horses again soon and let them ride on their own. We went out a little later than I had originally planned to so it was starting to get chilly and with the cold Dani has had we decided we better get inside. We live so close to where the horses are kept that I am sure we will be spending more and more time with them throughout the semester (especially when the weather gets warmer).

Now on to a new week and new adventures! Tonight marks the end of week two. These girls are seriously wonderful.