Day 4 - Going Home

On Monday, June 22nd we left the hotel around 10:00am and headed for home.  But, we made a stop at Wall Drug on the way.  Tons of shopping and I could have stayed longer but the rest of my troop was getting antsy.  We all did have fun here though.  Huge mistake though...I mentioned eating here before we leave but it was decided that we'd eat a fast-food in the car so that it went faster.  WRONG!  The nearest fast food was over 1.5 hours away, meaning we weren't eating lunch until almost 2:30pm.  (And to top it off, I forgot to get ketchup packets and all 3 were very upset with me...the oldest of the 3 being the most mad of all!). 

 

We drove all day long and took a little bit longer route on the way home to stop in Fairmont and say hi to my Grandma for a break.  I at first thought we'd be to her place around supper time but because of the way the day went, we didn't get to her place until after 8:00pm.  We visited with her alittle bit, then stopped to get some supper and drive the last couple hours home.  We got home around midnight.  The kids did great in the car the entire trip.  We entertained them with a couple of movies, coloring, snacks etc. and since they weren't sitting next to each other, they really didn't fight in the car which was awesome.  They barely slept though which I was surprised by.  In fact, Ashley was awake the entire way home and went to bed at midnight when we got home. 

We had an awesome time on this family vacation.  I hope that we'll be able to do more trips like this in the future.  It was fun, educational and we made lots of great memories.  And, we all survived!  

Day 3 - Afternoon

Recap: in the morning hours, we went to StoryBook Island and then to Bear Country.  We had a late lunch and then started our afternoon activities.  The first on our list was the Big Thunder Gold Mine.  We had a tour of inside the mine and then a demonstration of the mining equipment that was used back in the day.  The tour and demo was probably about 45 minutes long, which was about 30 minutes too long for Ashley.  The rest of us found it fun and interesting but she was bored pretty quickly.  We also paid for a pan to try panning for gold.  This part could have been really fun and enjoyable but because of a few bad attitudes towards the end, it just became chaotic instead.  We did find a few flakes of gold though which we brought home!   We also bought a pan and some gold rough to try our luck here at home too. 

 

After the gold mine, it was later in the afternoon already which meant it was cooler outside and time to go Mt. Rushmore - the main reason for the whole trip.  Amazing.  I knew it would be and it didn't disappoint.  We all enjoyed it and luckily everyone was in a good mood for this part of the day.   

I'm so so so glad we got this picture!  Family pictures are hard to come by.

We left Mt. Rushmore alittle after 6:00pm and within minutes, they were out.  We went back to the hotel and ordered in pizza since I knew that they were pretty beat, and making them sit in a restaurant probably wouldn't have been a good idea.  An excellent day!

Day 3 - Morning

On Sunday, June 21st (Father's Day) we had our busiest day of our vacation.  In the morning we first stopped at StoryBook Island which was free admission!  It was a great place for the kids to run around alittle bit and do something very kid.  It was basically a park with statues of story book and movie characters.  They had fun but weren't in to me stopping them every few minutes to take a picture at all.  So even though there were tons of great spots which would have created great pictures, they weren't too cooperative in them.  Oh well. 

 

 Our next stop for the day was Bear Country USA.  Bear Country was a 3 mile drive through a bear and wild animal sanctuary.  We had to stay in the car with the windows up the whole time.  It was pretty cool...lots of bears, wild cats, some reindeer, goats and antelope.  We would see bears just walking around, across the roads in front of the cars, sitting right next to the road etc.  Pretty cool literally being inches from a bear!  We all enjoyed this.  It was the most expensive stop of the trip though...admission was $42 for the car pass and then I stopped and spent equally as much at the gift shop getting some tshirts for the kids and a coffee cup for me.   

South Dakota Vacation - Day 1 and 2

With Mike's new job and him having the availability to take days off in the summer, we decided it would be the perfect summer to do our first family vacation.  We also both agreed rather quickly, that for our first vacation, a perfect spot would be South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore.  We had Christmas money saved up from Grandma and Mike's Grandparents so we decided to use this money to pay for our trip.  We left on Friday, June 19th when Mike got home from work.  We drove as far as Sioux Falls SD this night and stayed at my aunt Brenda's house.  It was great seeing her and equally as great not having to pay for this night of hotel!  Thank you Brenda!!  

On Saturday, June 20th we started out the day by going to Falls Park in Sioux Falls - part of the Big Sioux River.  I had been to this park probably about 10 years ago when we visited Brenda one time. Brenda came with us to the park which was fun to get to hang out with her for alittle bit longer. 

When we left the park we drove across the state all afternoon until we got to the Badlands.  The Badlands weren't on my "agenda" but when Mike was seeing the signs for a Badlands Scenic Route, we made a split second decision to drive thru this National Park.  Mike and I were glad that we did but the kids could have cared less, they were less than impressed.  There were spots to pull over and take pictures and explore and after being in the Badlands for less than 10 minutes, we had both kids crying.  Mike was taking Ashley's picture and after he did that, she, not paying any attention, took a few steps backwards and almost feel off a (small luckily) cliff...Mike caught her!  And Bennett was interested in the rocks and picked one up and dropped it on his foot.  The Badlands went downhill from there. (literally).  At one of the pull-off stops the kids stayed in the car and just Mike and I got out to look.  We were happily just taking pictures when all of a sudden without telling me, Mike ran over to do this (see picture).  My heart and mind were going crazy.  Prayers were being said.  Ahhh why did he do that to me.  He loved every minute of the adrenaline run though.  It was beautiful and I'm glad we took the time to stop and see this!  

Do you see my husband?

Here he is running back up and my heart was starting to get back to normal.

After the Badlands we arrived in Rapid City where our hotel was located.  We went to Denny's for supper and then to the hotel to swim for alittle bit...which was a waste of time cause both kids were scared of the pool.  To get the kids to sleep easier, our sleeping arrangements for the trip had Mike and Bennett in one of the beds and Ashley and I in the other which worked out great.  Days 1 & 2 were a success!

New Ride

We've been talking about it for awhile but a few weeks ago we decided to get a new vehicle - a 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan.  We traded in my Equinox for this van, mainly for more space but also to get something new before mine started needing fixes.  We had been very very lucky and had not needed any major repairs on the Equinox and we wanted to trade it in before things started breaking down.  The other reason, more space, was because just as the kids grew, we were getting more squished.  Also, this fall, I'll be watching a 3 month old baby a few days a week and since this baby will need to ride with me to take kids and pick kids up from school, the thought of taking the infant seat in and out of the vehicle every few days didn't sound fun at all!  An added bonus is that the money I'll make each month watching her will pay for the loan payment!  During the school year I bring some neighbor kids home from school too and they wouldn't have all fit during this next school year. 

 It was alittle weird getting rid of this cause that was my baby car - bought it right before Bennett was born - and I watched both kids grow up in the backseat.

So far we love the new van.  It is pretty loaded on the inside with leather, heated seats, a complicated (for me haha) dash panel, DVD player, and remote start.