...it just goes to show you that there is Beauty Everywhere - if you just take the time to stop and look...
So we stopped in DeSmet, South Dakota - where Laura Ingalls lived with her family for a time - she chronicled her De Smet memories in The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years. Her daughter Rose was born there.
We stopped to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder exhibit...
...a view of the little town - it's quite typical of small North and South Dakota towns...
The Surveyors House - The Surveyors' House was the first home of the Ingalls in Dakota Territory. Laura Ingalls Wilder described it in great detail in her book By the Shores of Silver Lake. By today's standards it's very small but Laura wrote that it was the biggest home she had ever seen. 
...Just some fakin' bacon and some vine ripened tomatoes and lettuce from the garden...
...so good...
...we often find coffee colored arrowheads and pieces washed up on the sandy beach...
...we've been told that there was a Native American site 1100 years ago that is now covered by the lake (many lakes in ND have risen significantly in the last ten years)...
...before...
...I loved the lace pattern and the little fluted edge it produced....
...but I whacked them off above the ankle...
...rolled the yarn back into a ball and picked up the stitches - I increased 6 stitches for one more lace panel...
...and after...
...You just mix up the Kool-Aid double strength and pour it into the Popsicle Mold...
There were a few parts of the 'test' still to pass - here he had to swim all the way across the pool without coming up for air...
...then the fun starts - the rest of the day is free time - they got to jump from the Lifeguard's stand...
...so Scout just spent the rest of the class doing just that...
...there were a few games for kids to play - here Scout is trying to win a 'pop' - it amazes me all the different names for Soda Pop there are - I grew up in the 'south' calling all 'pop' 'Coke'...
...anywhooo, I digress...and there was a petting area for the youngsters to get familiar with some farm animals...
...so simple - so good and so good for you...
...This is my newest favorite combination...
...and stirred until everything was combined...
originally I was just going to shape it into a boule on our pizza stone but then I remembered my little pyrex loaf pan and decided to use that instead...
...I put it back in the oven with the light on - I find that's the best place to let bread rise - it's draft free and the light gives just enough warmth...
...It turned out perfectly...
...and so I'm beginning to think there's no need to knead...haha...
...I think this was even easier than setting up the bread machine...
...most are destined for the freezer - but handfuls have been eaten fresh...
...aren't birthday's the best...
...I had to add a few fresh blueberries to mine...
...but Scout wanted his plain (I don't mean plain-plain - of course he had Maple syrup and fakin' bacon with) - don't you just love it that I've picked up on the colloquialism that ends a sentence with 'with' - HA...
...upside down...
...right side up - and I ate mine with no syrup or anything - so good...
...Jack was so curious about the different 'smells'...
...oh my - it's a new Waffle Baker - what fun - let's go make some waffles right now...
...remember those RAINBOW presents - they were some cute shoes...
...and some yummy tea...
...we have tried all three teas - Scout's favorite is the Cherry - I love them all...
...and who doesn't love new white tennies - I know I do...
My Birthday Cakes are traditionally Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing - or 'Chocolate Overload' as the Man calls it - he prefers yellow cake with chocolate icing or chocolate cake with white icing - but it was my Birthday...
