Mount Rushmore Vacation Part 2

 We finally made it!

We were here for only a couple of hours. We did one hike around the base of the mountain where we could see all four faces from a different perspective. I stupidly took the stroller again, thinking Grayson would definitely sit in it, but he is so stubborn he wanted to walk the whole time. And the hike ended up being half stairs that we had to walk down so that was fun having to carry the stroller up and down a hundred stairs.

After Mount Rushmore we had lunch and then split up. Mom, Dad, Adam, and Lynnette went on a helicopter ride to see the Crazy Horse Monument while mine and Joseph's families went to Rush Mountain Adventure Park for the rest of the day to play outside on obstacle courses, a zipline, a mountain coaster, and a 7D movie (whatever that  means). We also took a one hour tour of the Rushmore cave which was a really nice way to get out of the heat for  while.

Wednesday was another full day of fun. We started off with a tour of the Cosmos Mystery Area. This place was actually really fun and interesting. The kids loved it. They had two cabins that were built in a location where the earths magnetic fields are all screwy. 

We had lunch and toured the biggest candy store in South Dakota and had an ice cream cone. Then we spent the rest of the day at the Reptile Gardens. It is one of the biggest reptile zoos in the US and has a beautiful botanical garden. They had hundreds of different snakes from all over the world. Animals still fascinate me as they did when I was a child. They had all sorts of crocs, alligators, and caiman, and giant tortoises, and birds. I got to see some snakes that I've only seen on tv. I took this one picture of a viper that had beautiful scales. I kinda wish I had taken more pictures--they had one of the biggest alligators I've ever seen in my life. It was massive! but I didn't get a picture of it.

The kids got to pet the tortoises and as we walked to see the adult ones, they ran over to them because they thought it was funny to see one tortoise "trying to get a piggy back ride" on another tortoise, haha!

Some pretty flowers Hannah picked for me. It was the end of the day and I was tired, but she was so sweet to think of me.

The next day we went swimming at an indoor water park. It was actually a lot smaller than I thought it was from the pictures, but it was a lot fun. They had slides and a lazy river which is all that my kids needed. We were there for the whole morning with Joseph's family and then we split for lunch. We took Grandma and Grandpa with us to Storybook Island which was so cool! It was a free park for kids to go play and look at all these fun mother goose and Disney scenes. They had statues and play grounds all over and things for the kids to climb on. There was a carousel, and a train that you could pay to ride. We rode on the carousel. Grayson wasn't a fan. I wish we had more time to spend there because there was so much to see, but we had to get back so we could get to our dinner show on time. Hannah even found her unicorn! It was extremely hot; you can tell by their flushed faces, but what an awesome place for kids.

 

Trish's kids watched my kids and us adults, including Charity, got to go to a chuckwagon dinner and show. This was the perfect way to end our trip. Some much needed time together as couples and just adults. Dinner was delicious and the show was fun and entertaining.

We took off for home the next morning. We drove more than halfway to make the last leg a little easier, so we stopped in Casper for lunch at a really neat restaurant called Little Shop of Burgers which was horror themed. The decor inside was awesome! All sorts of horror movie posters and creepy dolls and black flowers etc... and the all the menu items were horror movie themed. I got the ooey gooey burger that was chunky peanut butter and peach jam and cheddar cheese. It was amazing. The kids got to color zombie Disney character pages. They had the Mad Hatter and Ariel. We stayed at another hotel for night and drove the rest of the way home in the morning.  Hannah ended up throwing up three times this trip all on different days, and Stephen caught a really bad cold, but other than that we had a blast and I can't wait for another trip like this. I loved having more family come with us to share our time together.

Mount Rushmore Vacation Part 1

I have been planning this vacation for the better part of a year. I've always wanted to go to Mount Rushmore and since we only live 10 hours away I thought this year would be the perfect time to go. After getting it all planned out Stephen and I decided to invite mom and dad to come with us to maybe help us out a little bit with the kids. They were happy to go with us and were so excited to go they asked the rest of my siblings if they wanted to come along. We ended up with Joseph and Adam's family joining us for a total of 18 people. We rented a beautiful and spacious cabin through Air B and B right on the golf course. That in it of itself was worth the trip--to be able to stay in a nice cabin in the Black Hills. Everyone stayed the night at our house the night before we left for Wyoming, so that was also fun for us.

We packed in a much as we could that week. There was so much to do we couldn't do it all. We took two days to drive there just so the kids wouldn't get too whiney in the car. Stephen and I were really anxious about that because we usually don't have good experiences in the car with the kids, but they were awesome! The whole drive they were pretty quiet and there was minimal fighting. We first stopped at the Fort Bridger State Historic Site just across the border in Wyoming. That was really interesting and fun to explore for about an hour and half. The kids got a half dollar coin from the museum for coming and looking at all their exhibits. 

This wooden horse is what the locals used as a punishment. If you got stealing or sluffed off your chores you were made to sit on this horse in the middle of the fort and hold up the 7 foot long sword upright for several hours. Apparently it was a pretty effective way to make sure people stayed on task and did what they were supposed to.

The next stop was Martin's Cove. Everyone made the 6 mile round trip trek around the cove except for me and Stephen. We walked to Devil's Gate. When Stephen and I returned we had some time left to look at the museum and take a nap while we waited for everyone else to return.

These two were two peas in pod the whole week.

Apparently Grayson wanted to walk the whole way by himself (no surprise there) but he was too slow, so he had to sit on Uncle Joseph's shoulders because he wouldn't sit in the wagon, haha.

I took the perfect picture of this Tiger Swallowtail butterfly in just the right light it almost looks like it was photoshopped in there.

We stayed the night in Casper and headed for Deadwood in morning. Somehow all three cars separated and ended up taking different routes to get there, so no one knew where the others were. We were in the front thinking we were in the middle. Everyone else stopped to look at the Sundance location where all the buffalo jumped and died. Ancient tribes would drive the bison into this natural sinkhole where they'd butcher them. We didn't get the notice in time to stop since we were ahead of everyone, so we kept driving and had lunch in Deadwood and walked around a bit. We met everyone at a playground so the kids could get out and relax and play for a bit. They had a merry go round there where I was pushing some of the kids and something happened to my wrist and I couldn't use it anymore. It was in a lot of pain; I couldn't bend it down or rotate it at all. Luckily mom brought her wrist brace that I borrowed for the rest of the week. Thanks mom!

We went back to Deadwood even though we--our family were pretty much done. It was hot, Stephen was sick with a cold, and we had already seen the main street, but we went back anyway. While we were there the kids were throwing tantrums because they couldn't go into every souvenir shop and buy something. As we were all crossing the street, Zander accidently stepped on Lucas's map and ripped it. Lucas got sad and angry so I told him I would stay behind and we could go back into the shop to get another one since we were just right outside. When I turned around to go inside Hannah bolted into the road into oncoming traffic because she decided she wanted to go with Grandma. It all happened so fast. Next thing I know I instinctively screamed her name and she veered back onto the sidewalk. The car stopped, everyone on the busy sidewalks on both side stopped and watched. I had a crying Lucas next to me while I was pushing Grayson's empty stroller and four year old Hannah who was scared to death not knowing what was going on. I had people come over to me to see if we were ok. One couple walked past me and the wife told me it was ok and it was all over. It probably won't be the last time something like that happens, and that it was ok for me to cry. She could tell I was scared and overwhelmed and so that's what I did. I cried. and she cried with me because she has kids and knows what its like. She was comforting, and I was so grateful for her. Then Mom came up behind me and grabbed me and I cried into her shoulder until I could compose myself. I was done. We were ready to go check into the cabin. So our family left and took it easy for the rest of the night.

These two got matching hats, so we had to get a picture

Dripped blue ice cream onto Daddy's head, haha!

I told the kids to strike a pose, and this is what I got.

On the balcony of the cabin