Summer Nebraska Visit

We look forward to this trip every summer! We are always so thankful for this visit to see family and find a few adventures while we are there.

A Bit Of Nebraska History

The Sioux Army Depot was the only U.S. Army Ammunition Depot in Nebraska during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. It’s mission was to receive, store and issue all types of ammunition (from small arms to 10,000-pound bombs) and general supplies.

The depot occupied 19,771 acres and included 801 ammunition storage igloos. 

The Navy built in this location due to the proximity to the area's three railroads, the abundance of underground water, cheap natural gas and electricity, the stable workforce, and the distance from either coast (being well beyond the range of Japanese or German bombers). At one point during World War II the facility was producing over 40% of the U.S Navy's munitions. It manufactured 40 mm shells, 16-inch projectiles, rockets, bombs, depth charges, mines, and torpedoes. Production peaked in June–July 1945, when the depot employed 125 officers, 1,800 enlisted men, and 6,692 civilians.

When the depot was deactivated on June 30, 1967, they sold the land and igloos to several area farmers and a local coop.

This is the quick Google version of this bit of history, but it was so fun to teach the kids about this during our visit! Brad grew up just using these as storage igloos for their farm. :)

A small glance at the igloos.
Yes they wanted them to look like they were just part of the ground if someone was flying above!

Checking out the shelters where the workers would go to test out the ammunition.

The rectangle building is what we were inside during the previous picture.

Inside an igloo. So much space!

The door of an igloo.

On the roof. Make sure you look out at all the others you can see!

More Adventures

They love clearing branches for their hideout in the trees.

Treasured trampoline time!

Playing Clue.

Brooklynn helped make this for the town.
 "Proud as a Peacock of Potter."

You can even have lunch on the "patio." :)

Pinball games while hanging out at the duckpin bowling alley!

Sweet girls resetting the pins for duckpin bowling!

Sundry Tinroof Sunday Ice Cream Treat

S'mores

An inland lighthouse (one of seven in U.S.) built during the great depression.

Lake Time

Such a different lake atmosphere from what we are used to...
we enjoyed being able to relax right by the vehicle and in the shade of the trees!

Catching bugs!

Building tents!

Wii time!

Gator fun!

We also got a chance to watch Glow Volleyball which was a fundraising event that Sarah put together!
Sarah, Karter and Hannah were all on a team.

Of course, you can't forget one of the boy's favorites from our visit...golf! 

Brad and Makin made sure to play Potter's course early in the week.
This is a very short hole, but they were super excited that
Makin was about 6 inches shy of a hole-in-one.

I'm a bit bummed about the team pictures from the two-day tournament this year but still going to include them for the memories!

Brad plays in the morning with his cousins both days.

And in the afternoon with Makin both days.
This year the afternoon team was Makin, Grandpa and Grandpa's friend Tim.

Brad is always completely exhausted by the end of this tournament, so we will have to see if he can keep playing with two teams, but he sure has fun!

Grandparents with The Grands!

Thanks for a wonderful visit Grandpa and Grandma!

Oklahoma Stop and Colorado Adventure

We wanted to give the kids a little extra fun since our travel plans have been postponed so we decided to spend one night in the mountains on the way to visit family. Since my parents are right along the route to Colorado, we spent an evening with them to break up the drive and enjoyed quite the busy evening!

A friend of Dad's offered a chance for the kids to fit in a horseback ride!

Some time on the swings the next morning before the drive.

We enjoyed a visit to the mountains which we kicked off with a great putt putt course.

The mountain air must be good for our golf!
Lots of holes-in-one at this course!

This may be my proudest hole-in-one...through a little stream!

You can catch how excited they were for this double-decker hole!

Lorelei enjoyed a swim at the hotel pool (Makin deemed it too cold) while I grabbed us some pizza.

The next morning we headed out bright and early for Trail Ridge Road. Because of restrictions, we had to make sure we entered the national park between 6-8 AM. I actually still almost can't believe we got in! I feel like God was showing me an extra special blessing with this. We could only sign up 2 days before we could enter, which meant we were on the road. As my alarm went off at 9:01 AM on the drive, I got online on my phone to sign up, (which opened at 9 Central Time) and as I looked at the time slots they all said they were "not available." This means there were 70+ people who signed up before that minute I got on!? What in the world? After a few minutes passed I continued to click on the time slots and amazingly enough someone's session timed out and I was able to get us signed up! I was soooo thankful. (Before that Brad and I had decided we were going to enter the park before 6 AM if needed!!!)

As hard as it was to get everyone going nice and early, we really loved that there were so few people heading up the mountain with us! So nice!

We also found a great app that was a tour guide for us while we drove and it made it such a great experience as well.

Now for the pics! :)

This was probably one of the kid's favorite stops.
These little chipmunks came right up close, even though we were under strict instructions not to feed them, they still wanted to talk you into it!

Makin and I walked a bit here (you can see the trail back below him)
and this area is technically considered tundra.

The focus here is on the tall poles. (I think about 12 ft.)
They are here so that when there is snow all over the mountain,
the plows can see where they should plow to clear the trail for spring traffic. 

One of their other favorite moments: having a snowball fight in August!

Throwing some snow at the camera.

We straddled the Continental Divide.
This was pretty anti-climatic. :)

Continental Divide Location...Still fun to see the lake in the valley though.

Lunch Covid-Style along the river.
All Brad and I will remember from this moment is being on the phone dealing with a possible water leak discovered at home. It all worked out in the end but it wasn't too fun at the moment!

Venturing out into the stream.
The water was ice cold!!!

We had more time than expected so we couldn't resist giving them a chance to try out bumper boats!
Brad did this activity as a child growing up too.

The boys wrapped up with a water balloon fight!