Hooyer Huis

2008-08-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Last week we got up at 5:00 AM so we could get to we Living History Farms by Des Moines good by 9:00. They have 3 farm places. The first farm was how the Indians lived. There was a buffalo hide that they were tanning. Pots and gourds and utensils they made and a small garden. You walked along a path to the next 1850's farm. They had a milk cow, chickens, ducks, and sheep. The guys were out in the field with a scithe(?spelling) to cut the weeds/grass...They let us try it out. The women were in the house making meals over a fireplace fire. The bed in the house was 1/2 the size in length. Instead of lying down, they reclined against a cabin wall. They were making apple crisp for dessert. As we walked along the path to the 1900's house, we found mullberry trees...which was Michael's favorite thing. The 1900's farm had work horses in the barn, sheep, an old corn crib with a crank machine to shell the corn, a horse drawn manure spreader, carriage, wagons, and planters. They had a grape arbor and apple trees and pear trees. It was fun seeing the old fashioned things and how they were used. By the end of seeing the farms we were hungry and tired. We ate at a restaurant near Living History Farm called the Machine Shed. Portions were huge and it all tasted good. We went back to Living History Farms and visited the 1900's town with board sidewalks. The blacksmith was making knives and swords...James and Michael got to help make the forge hotter by turning a crank that blew air through the forge. The store/pharmacy had live leeches and the pharmacist made pills. There was a one room school house, church, bank, coffin maker, times period house and a mansion. Someone made brooms from straw. We had beautiful weather. It was fun seeing all the stuff. By that time everyone was tired. We took a quick trip to the gift shop. Back at the Holiday Inn the kids went swimming and then crashed. It was a fun day.

Family Picture

2008-08-19T05:02:00.001-07:00

Last week we spent a day at Adventureland, by Des Moines. Here's our picture.

Rie M

2008-08-17T06:33:00.001-07:00

Sarah was painting with watercolor last night. I thought her picture of Rie was pretty good, so here it is.

Rie flies to San Francisco on Saturday, so her time here is getting short.

She's been a joy to have. We will miss her when she leaves.

- The Hooyers

Trip to the Omaha Zoo

2008-08-07T16:30:00.001-07:00

Here's the first animal we saw at the zoo. An Austrian pygmy heifer, only 4 inches tall.

OK, so this isn't a picture from the zoo.

Rebecca and Rie were out taking pictures and took this one at Paul's place.

Charity and Rie in the haymow at Grandpa and Grandma Sandbulte.

I think they were looking to find some brome to take to the zoo to feed the pygmy heifers.

More preparation for the zoo trip.
Our big game hunters, James and Rie, sighting in their guns.
You never know when some wild animal will escape and charge you.
(See picture below)

It's true. Goats will eat anything, rocks included.

"The Jungle"

Jim S. and the kids met us at the zoo.

That's Gracie between Rie and Charity.

Levi is next to James.

My cap made the picture, too.

The butterfly house was new.
The fact that it was air conditioned was a big plus, too.

Another "jungle" picture -- the lower level this time.

Charity, me, Jim, and the twins.

We had just seen some huge fish, and Gracie is entranced with tiny guppies.

Michah is checking me out instead of the animals, .
Go figure.

Kings of the hill - Michael and Levi.

Cool hat Michael.

Here's the kids and me resting after a hard day at the zoo.

For more zoo pictures, go to Sarah's blog.

Rie's Pictures

2008-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures from our new guest from Japan. Rie is staying with us through August.

Above left: Charity and Rie

Above right: Rie visited the Mall of America before flying in to Sioux Falls.

Here's the "Bucket Brigade." James, Rebecca, Michael, and Rie. --->

Not sure who is holding the piglet, but this was taken at Grandpa and Grandma Sandbulte's farm. The kids spent part of a day there in the haymow, playing with the pigs, and swinging on the tree swing.

Sarah and Rie at Oak Grove Park. James and Michael came along with them and ran the trails.

We have two new ponies now. Sorry no pictures of them here.
The kids (mainly the boys) are riding them almost every day. It sounds like Dillan wants to ride them a bit, too. They're a nice size for the smaller kids, so hopefully they continue to get ridden a lot.

Rebecca + Roommates: Euro Journal Entry

2008-07-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

(Rebecca is wearing the "Italy" jacket.)
............................

Day 8: July 14, 2008

Hey parents! Today we spent the day in Lucerne, Switzerland. We got to sleep in until 8...and then enjoyed the luxuries of an actual shower. We loved having big towels. The breakfast here at Anker Hotel was good... we had delicious bread and fruit and stuff.

At 9:30 we went on a walking tour of Lucerne. We had this sweet guide named Blanca who was raised in the mountains near Lucerne. The walking tour was rainy and cold and we were all sopping wet by the end, but it was nice change from the humidity of Venice.

We went into a palace in Lucerne that had beautiful stone pillars. We then went across this beautiful wood bridge from the 1400s. There were cool paintings on it depicting swiss legends... part of the bridge burned down but was rebuilt. We saw a monument for swiss soldiers, The dying Lion. Mark Twain once wrote "This is the saddest rock I've ever seen". The tour ended there and we made our way to a swiss shop to buy souvenirs and presents.

We took a boat and then the cogwheel train to Mt. Pilatus (or as we liked to call it Mt. Pilates).. the height was a bit terrifying but the view was incredible! We went down the mountain in a cable car. We are all agreed we would like to live in Lucerne even though it rained..

****Paula, Elisabeth, Rebecca & Hannah****

Nymphenburg

2008-07-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

This was taken from the Euro tour web-site....

Munich guided sightseeing tour. Nymphenburg palace: lots of good, beautiful paintings, room of beauties. Crazy drivers! I have never seen so many u turns in my life. Also I went to the bathroom next to a computer hard drive. The food was good though and not to expensive. Dachau: To be completely honest we are speechless. The feeling as we walked in was one I will never forget. Everything was just silence even the talkative girls hushed their voices. As we drive away the only thing I wish more from the experience was more time. From being there I have a sense of sadness but I am also determined to do all in my power to keep the holocaust known so it will never happen again. However words will never be able to describe the experience. After visiting Dachau we went back to Marienplatz and did more shopping and exploring. It was fun and unique. For dinner we went to Hard Rock Cafe; the food was awesome! On our way home we took the tram and called it a night.*****Devan, Sara & Angelica****

Rebecca's Euro Trip

2008-07-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in Germany...

Sometime yesterday...

.............................................

I haven't seen any of Rebecca's pix on her site yet, so here's one from the tour web site.

Dad

Busy Weekend

2008-06-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is a busy weekend. Rebecca has a softball tournament. James won 3 events in the Hershey Relays in Sioux Center and has qualified to run in the State meet at Marshalltown, Iowa. Michael has a baseball tournament. I work. At times like this, it would be nice to be a stay at home(although traveling with kids) Mom. I'm jealous Janet! I just hope everyone tries their best and enjoys what they are doing.

This and That

2008-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

It's rainy and cool out today here.
Michael has strep throat and is now on antibiotics. He stayed home from school yesterday and today.
Loren is spreading manure today.
JANET, notice the new paragraphs that are indented for each new thought. :):):) Do you think Charity will notice?
By the way, it would be fun to meet at Worlds of Fun with anyone who can make it.....sometime when it's not quite so cold and rainy though. Let us know when you all plan to go and we'll see if we can swing it.

2008-03-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

The snow is melting!!! YEAH!!! We can see the gravel driveway. It's not all gone yet but it is 50 degrees out and we see some lawn!!! The cats don't huddle around the drier vent as much....And I found a fly IN THE HOUSE. A sure sign of spring. :)

The flu bug bit

2008-02-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

When Michael came home saying that 1/2 of his class was sick with the flu, I knew it'd be a matter of time before it came here. Michael and Charity and I are the only ones not feeling sick yet. Mark and Sarah, and Phil and Judy have left on vacation. Charity is sitting for Andrew and Casey at their house. Andrew was sick when Mark and Sarah left and now Casey is also sick. James was sick on Friday and stayed home from school. He is still running fever today, Sunday, February 17. Sarah started running fever today. Loren and Rebecca are not running fevers yet but are not feeling real good either. Oh well. Makes life interesting. :) Jolene

Frosting on our Trees

2008-01-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

The dense fog and the bit of snow we had made our trees beautiful. It has been icy here but is getting better.

Eugene, James, Michael and Dillon went tubing at Inspiration Hills. The snow was just right for tubing.

James and Michael and Derek had a Snow Derby with the Cadets. They had to start their own fire, pitch a tent, treat someone with a "broken" leg, and tie two different kinds of knots. There were several Cadet groups from the surrounding areas. Each group had to bring their own supplies and try to finish first.

One more

2007-09-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

There are 3 kittens, not just two. Two of the kittens look like Ashley, our very light gray cat. One looks like Stripes, a darker striped brown. We think one of the black cats is the mother. We have not gotten a picture of them yet. They are not in the open very much.

NEW KITTENS

2007-09-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

We found baby kittens under our front porch...you know...the porch with the swing. Loren and I heard them meowing. Loren looked and saw 2 gray striped kittens. They saw him and hid and are no longer meowing. The only way to get at them is to pull nails and tear apart the porch, which is not, I repeat, NOT happening. We are not going to tell the kids. We will see if any of them check out our blog. :)

Tent / Tractor

2007-08-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

We put this tent up at Okaboji for a fundraiser. It's a 60X100 ft. tent. Usually it would only take a few hours to put up, but because of the trees, it took all day.

You can only see the garage in the background, but the house next to the tent was quite fancy.

One bedroom was built adjacent to a miniture basketball court. It also had a home theatre system complete with a concession/popcorn area.

On Monday we took it down. Sarah came along to help. We ran into Tom at the Pizza Hut, and got to talk to him for a while.

Both Tractors are done, and I'll be in the fields next week. I'll be spreading from the Coop confinement for a week or so, then It'll be from the chicken coops. I'll have two of the spreaders this year. Stan and Rod will have the other two.

I had a GPS monitor added to each tractor to better map each field as we spread. With all the electronics, it's almost like driving a computer on wheels.

Phil is trying two way radios this year. They'll allow us to talk over longer distances with greater privacy. I'll have one in my tractor, and the trucks and payloaders will also each have one.

2007-08-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Ho, Hi Ho Its Off To Work I Go

2007-07-30T05:19:00.000-07:00

I've started work at Sanford Health Center, formerly known as Sioux Valley Hospital. I was hired as a labor and deliver nurse. I've been on the floor for 1 1/3 shifts...Otherwise I've been on orientation at the Stevens Center, which is located in the boonies at the north side of Sioux Falls. The monitors at Sanford are cool. They have telemetry units that the mom can be up and walk around. Tell you more when I've actually seen a delivery.

For my birthday, Loren and the kids gave me a picture frame that scrolls through a memory card from digital cameras and shows all the pictures from the card. It's like Grandma Hooyer's screen saver. I really like it.

Sarah and Charity are gone to work at Vonk's Egg Plant. They do a variety of jobs from working stacking eggs to cleaning the chicken coops to walking the barns looking for dead chickens. Rebecca is cleaning tents this morning for Stan Wynia. She also babysits for Sarah TG and Judy H. when needed. Loren helps Stan with setting up and taking down the tents. He's helped Owen Sandbulte when Owen was short a man. Only Loren is still playing ball. He plays slow pitch for the Carmel team. Last week Sarah played for them too because they were short of players.

That's all for now. Jolene

My kids and their kittens

2007-06-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

June 3, Sarah, Charity, and Rebecca got 3 kittens from Phil and Judy. These kittens are so cute and soft. Charity's kitten Teddy turned into Tiger. He loves to pounce and climb and explore. He has more Tigerish than Teddy Bear qualities. He has orange and white stripes. Rebecca's Sweetpea never scratches and does not like to rough house like her brothers. She will sit nicely in your lap. Sweetpea is striped lighter brown and black and is very photogenic. Sarah's cat Stripes is very similar to Sweetpea in color but just a little darker and loves to pounce and play attack and climb trees. Both darker striped kittens have an M on their foreheads so Michael thinks they should be his kittens. June 21 Phil and Judy had another batch of kittens ready for adoption. Michael got his kitten right away. Michael's kitten has 4 white paws and is named Boots. Even though Boots is a couple weeks younger, he tries to pounce and climb like the bigger kittens. He has needed to be rescued from the window well already. Phil gave us one kitten that Phil's kids could not part with and so one kitten was returned. James got his kitten today. Houdini came in a box from Phil and Judy's house with Charity(after Phil's kids were asleep...shh) Houdini jumped out of the box several times on the journey to our place until Charity put some heavy tools on the lid. Houdini was shy this morning and would hang on to your clothes with his claws.