There is no place like Nebraska...

Saturday Ryan and I packed up El Tank-o and headed East.  Our destination: The ONE and ONLY, Meadow Grove, NE.  This was Tank's first long car ride with us and we weren't sure how he would do.  He was a rockstar!  We had put towels all over in the backseat in case travel didn't agree with him.  For the first four hours I drove and he alternated between the back seat and having his front paws up on the the counsel and back legs on the back seat.  From North Platte to Kearney he slept in my lap.  Then he was the co-pilot the rest of the way home. 

This trip has been about firsts...first time Tank meets the family and his "cousin" Fred (the horse! (Adam & Ashley's chocolate lab)), first time Ryan get's to buy and shoot off fireworks, first time Ryan rides a 4-wheeler, etc. 

Fred--He's HUGE!

Fred & Tank playing fetch.

Half the Fireworks...

Ryan with all the fireworks.

True story:  We went to the firework place (one of MANY) and we saw fireworks that had 340 shots.  The cost? $79.95  Estimated duration? 43 seconds.  One could LITERALLY blow $80 in less than a minute!  Needless to say we did not purchase that.  We did get a lot of "buy 1 get 3" deals.  We also got some pointless ones simply because I remember doing them when I was younger...

- Smoke Balls:  They don't even do anything cool...just leak colored smoke

- Parachutes:  Light it, a parachute pops out, catch it...over

- Tanks: waste of fifty cents...they light, the MIGHT move, then they spark, over.  We bought two so we could race them...

Mine won!  Ryan's didn't even move!  

See the blue smoke?  (Sorry Ryan's so blurry)

Yay! He caught the parachute.

Lighting a flower-spinner thing.

We lit the big boomers at Adam's.  I like how Adam looks like a ghost in this picture.

Some in Colorado asked Ryan if the corn was really "knee high".  Here's Ryan, on July 4th (note him holding up four fingers) in a corn field in which the corn is clearly taller than his knee (see how he's pointing at it).  So yes, for those who are wondering, the corn here really was "Knee high by the Fourth of July".

Adam owns a 4-wheeler, because he's a farmer...they need  them to check pivots.  So on Sunday he told Ryan and I we could ride it.  I was leery, it's been about 10 years since I've been on one.  I remember having to shift and everything and thought it might be too difficult.  Turns out 4-wheelers are nicer than they once were.  Put the brake on, push a button, go.  We took it from his house back to town--approximately 3 miles on gravel.  Then we took it to the shop (a big chunk of land with a shop on it that my parents own) and rode around there.  Then we took it out to the river and on gravel roads.  We tried to get down to the river, but everywhere we tried the bank was too high and we couldn't actually get to the water.  Then we took it to a sand pit, then back to the shop.  we had a good time with it.  We might go get it again.  :)

Ah, Nebraska......the GOOD LIFE!