Author Archives: Heidi Phelps

Today would have been my Oma’s 98th birthday. It is also this girl’s 12th birthday! It is appropriate that they share a birthday, as they are very much alike. They are outwardly quiet and appear to be easy going and always gentle. Inside they are analytical, fierce, perfectionistic, and utterly brilliant. My Oma went to […]

Today was a driving day, and so a lot happened, but not much seemed to happen. We realized that we had not explored Sioux Falls enough to know what the East side of the state is really like, and we need to experience all of everything here. We took the 90 for speed. It was […]

Brandon’s planned vacation work day turned quickly into Brandon’s vacation flu day. We decided to get away from camp and let him be miserable with his germs by himself, and hopefully avoid getting his gross bug in our systems. There were two items on our “let’s do that” list for today. First, we wanted to […]

This morning we went to church in Rapid City. There are no Anglican churches in Rapid City, so this time we went to one of the local Lutheran churches, and found a sense of family there. People welcomed us with opened arms! Sunshine and the boys made instant friends, and even Kiara put aside her […]

Today is “explore downtown Rapid City” day. We’ll need our strength. Good thing the chuck wagon chef brought his game on this trip and is wearing his food fancy pants today. If he makes something for me that isn’t vegetarian, at least it has bacon! This camp ground has a pool, and that means that […]

Convince me to love Rapid City. Today is day 1 of exploring this town we may move to. There are several reasons that we put Rapid City at the top of our list as we were researching. 1. Reasonable weather2. Reasonable cost of living3. Reasonable homeschool laws (downright great homeschool laws)4. Lots of fresh air […]

On the road again!!! The Midwest has “dinosaur gas.” What that means is that certain gas stations have a dinosaur in front of them, and kids climb on those dinosaurs. Today was the day that we finally fueled up at a dinosaur gas station. Sunshine and Atticus have been BEGGING us to stop at every […]

We left Brookings today. I forgot to take a picture of the community pool, so here’s a quick shot of it as we blasted past. So we are on the road again. I think I love Brookings and maybe want to move there. It’s not the most practical place to live. There are some drawbacks […]

I am officially in love with Brookings. Here are the delectable details: Small town feelFarmersAdorable downtownCollege vibe without the clubbing optionsBig stores available (Lowes, Walmart, Joann’s, etc.), but these stores are off the freeway rather than a town feature. You have to drive to them. Perfect selection of needed stores downtown (coffee shops, restaurants, hobby […]

We lived in Brookings today. But first, a cicada came out of its shell on our tire! These guys fill the air with their music and wander around in their sludgy, brown bodies until one day, they pop out, all green and shiny and beautiful! Kiki put this guy on a leaf by the creek […]