And the walls came tumblin' down

7:00 AM: Get to work early, so I can leave early to fly to South Dakota with Ella.

9:30 AM: Get a panicked call from Paige in the parking lot of Walmart, saying she has another kidney stone, and can't drive anywhere.

9:37 AM: I arrive in the Walmart parking lot, having shaved approximately 5 minutes off my previous "drive home" record time.

9:45 AM: Back the direction I came from, we arrive at the ER with three boys in tow.

Couldn't keep track of the exact time: I wait while Paige gets checked in at the ER, then drive the kids to our friend's house (thanks Denese and Eric!), then drive back to Walmart to swap cars, then home to pack all the luggage in the car, then to another friend's house (thanks Dilcia!) to pick up Ella, who was at VBS, then back to the hospital to say goodbye to Paige, my mom having now arrived at the hospital (thanks mom!), then off to the airport to catch our flight to South Dakota.

And yes, I felt like a lousy husband for leaving my wife in the hospital, but she told me to get Ella to South Dakota, no matter what.

1:30 PM: Arrive at the airport. Check in, find out the plane is delayed, so we leave for Target to pick out a coloring book (for Ella, not me.)

2:30 PM: Arrive back at the airport, head through security.

2:35 PM: Get paged on the overhead speakers back to the ticket counter. Apparently my pepper spray is giving the baggage screeners a coronary. Explain that it does indeed lock, and I have flown with it multiple times. They finally let it pass.

2:36 PM: Realize that in the five minutes since I went through security last, I lost our boarding passes. Crud. Get a new boarding pass printed.

2:40 PM: Back through security...

Sometime in here: Paige calls to let me know that she was discharged from the ER, with pain meds, and is headed to pick up the boys and go home, with the help of my mom.

Now I don't feel like such a lousy husband, since Paige seems to have passed the stone and is headed home.

5:30 PM: We finally take off, 2 hours late.

10:00-ish PM (SD Time): We land. First message on my phone is from Paige... "Back in ER"

Crud...

After that eventful start to the trip, it was a little hard to relax. But Ella and I tried to enjoy ourselves. The purpose of the trip was two-fold. To get Ella to Grandpa, so she could ride back with him to Michigan. And to shoot down a silo.

That's right. Shoot. Down. A silo.

(the one on the left)


Hooked the top of the silo to a cable, and the cable to a dozer, just for a little extra assurance...


We cut a few of the steel bands so there was a nice crumple zone...


Paige's grandpa took a whack at it with the sledgehammer. We then proceeded to hammer out about a quarter of the blocks around the diameter on the side we wanted it to fall towards...


Took a short break for a traditional Meyer game of marbles...


Then the fun began. There were three of us with rifles and shotguns. Three or four rifle shots, or two shotgun slugs would generally take out one block. We just kept firing, and worked our way around. After the last shot, gave it a little tug with the dozer, and that put it over the edge (skip to 1:09 if you just want to see it fall)...


All that is left is a pile of rubble...


The next day we were off to the family reunion. Ella and her three second cousins provided plenty of entertainment. Given that there was an American Legion display on the wall, the girls thought it was fun to march around the room...


And salute...


We took a break at the Volga city park...


And then settled in for a movie...


The four second cousins spent the majority of their time at the farm chasing around this kitten. That poor little thing will probably be terrified of little blonde girls for the rest of it's life. Although it did come and find them every time it heard them outdoors...


I think Ella is trying to convince Grandpa to bring it home with them. She just might succeed.

Finally, a picture of Ella with her great-grandpa Meyer...

I left a very sad little Ella with Grandpa (ok, ok, I was a little teary eyed too) to play on the farm a few more days and then road trip to Michigan. I headed home with Paige's mom (who moved her flight up a few days.)

Back in Phoenix, my mom had watched our kids all weekend, while Paige was in the hospital trying to figure out what to do about the kidney stone, with her friends from church taking care of her and assuring me that I should stay in South Dakota and try to relax. Paige didn't get out of the hospital until just before we got home on Sunday.

Other than a kidney stone or two... a great little trip!