Now that Clara is 4 – she is all grown up!

It’s funny how much a number means to a little girl when her birthday is approaching.   For Clara so many things were going to happen when she turned four.   She would be able to do so many more big girl things and be so much taller and bigger.   We have been hearing about this birthday for the past month at least and have been told she wants everything any commercial on TV happens to peddle to children.    Most of all, she wanted a rainbow watch – not even sure if this was on the commercial or she came up with this one on her own.

 

This year for Clara’s birthday and our anniversary we celebrated in Yankton, South Dakota.   For those not familiar with the area Yankton is about a ½ hour from my hometown.  Next to Yankton is a very large dam built on the Missouri River making it more touristy than other towns in the area.  I had a lot of fun going around the area seeing different sites that I hadn’t seen in 20+ years and even searching out new ones to explore like Devil’s Nest (abandoned ski resort which my Urbex/Rurex loving husband found out was near and became one of the must stops on our trip). 

Devil's Nest Ski Resort

Devil's Nest with Missouri River in background

 

It’s always fun doing tourist things in times when they are quieter – although we did run into plenty of attractions that closed beginning of October.   The Visitors Center that overlooked Gavins Point Dam was completely empty to run around in and enjoy.  The fish hatchery gave us a huge bucket of fish feed to take out to the rainbow trout in their ponds and feed.   The trout were in some cases over a foot long and really made you want to catch one as close up as they would come.   The golf courses overlooking the dam were also empty and picturesque.  

Fishing with Grandma



    

Feeding trout at the fish hatchery

 

But enough about the overall trip we need to talk about the birthday girl and what she enjoyed most about the trip.   Basically there were three things that made her birthday memorable:  kitties, presents and balloons.

We stayed in a cabin across from Lewis & Clark State Park and the office at the site had baby kittens – Clara would beg anyone and everyone to go see the baby kitties with her.   Luckily Grandpa Brodersen has a soft spot for baby kitties also so he was suckered more than anyone to trek up to the office and check out the kittens with Clara (and also sometimes Grace).   We constantly heard about how cute they were and how they were SO Adorable!!!!

 

 

Birthday girl and her favorite meal - breakfast!

The aforementioned watch was also a big deal.    I had gotten both her and Abby her cousin the same watch – and although I had hers wrapped – Abby’s was not.    When she found Abby’s she was sure she found her birthday present and was not happy to hear Abby was getting her watch (btw Katie if you read this – the watch will be in the mail soon).   So Clara’s first fit of being 4 was over her cousin getting the rainbow watch she had been asking for for sooo long.   Her mind was taken off her misfortune by Grace and Jason setting up a treasure hunt for her to find her birthday presents and looking throughout the house playing hot & cold to find them.    In the very last present was a rainbow watch!!!!!   It has been on her wrist ever since (except for baths).
 

Finally balloons.   Not much explaining to do with this one as what kid does not love balloons.    I think we started with five balloons in the pack – only one was pink though so that was the first of the problems.   Then they started popping and I gave a couple away to a friend’s daughter.   By the end of the trip – Clara was saying goodbye to just one Mr. Balloony – thank goodness we convinced her to leave it here and not have it travel back to Missouri with us.

So all in all it was a good time.   One more highlight of the trip (besides the beautiful fall weather) was walking the old Yankton Bridge from South Dakota over to Nebraska.   This bridge used to be how we drove to Yankton but it has since been replaced and now is used for pedestrians.   It was over a mile walk to one side and back and both the lower and the upper portions of the bridge are open for pedestrians.   The girls did great walking the entire bridge – with the incentive of an ice cream cone if they made it across and back.

 

 

 

The ice cream thumbs up!