Kaya is hanging out on the deck at the Holman farm in South Dakota.

I hope Kaya and Ava won’t mind that I have hijacked their journal. One day they can read these stories and smile at their goofy and romantic mother.

I didn’t have a chance to write about our trip to South Dakota but now that Drew’s parents, Dean and Vi, have come for a visit to us in Clarkdale, AZ, I must write a tale of two cities and one family.

I always love visiting the Holman family as Dean and Vi are very loving. They have an inspiring marriage, going on forty years this November, their “Ruby” anniversary. Even though they are more conservative in some ways than how I was raised, we get along really well and respect each other’s differences. Andrew (Drew) likes to mention that his parents raised their three boys to be unique individuals, which they are, and they get along well today. I really enjoy Drew’s brothers and I am proud to hang out with them. They are both married to very different types of women. The middle brother, Jon, has two girls. The Holman boys are clever at spitting back girls into the world. We joke with Joe, Drew’s youngest brother, that it is up to him to carry on the family name. Although, it would be sweet if he has two girls, as it would complete the female duo triad.

Anyway, enough storyline this is Kaya and Ava’s website afterall. When we visited South Dakota we had a lot of fun, visiting, and spending quality time with Drew’s grandmother, Dorothy, who is in her late eighties. I am especially close with her, as she reminds me of the nice relationship I had with my own grandmother. The two of us write each other letters and she is quick to understand stories and such, just as she is steadfast in telling them. Andrew and I did a video piece with her asking her about her Norwegian and German ancestors and what life was like growing up on the prairie. We asked her what she wanted to say to our girls when they were older, so as a child of the Great Depression, she replied, “to live conservatively.” At first I thought it was a stale thing to say but in lieu of the recent economic state of America, it was a most ingenious reply and she meant it in a loving way.

I have photos to post of our August visit to South Dakota, of which I will place here. Ava was nearing four months old and Kaya was twenty months.

Kaya at her Grandma Vi’s birthday party

The next image is of Andrew and Jon relaxing in the living room where they were raised.

Ava with her cousins, Abigail and Elizabeth.