Did you miss the first two days of our vacation? you can click: here
Day 3:
We drove by it several times on our first day in the Black Hills, but today we actually visited the museum and got a little closer to the Mount Rushmore memorial. It has a fascinating story on how it came to life. The kids loved seeing it and learning about the history. This is hands down one site you must see at some point in your life. We visited the memorial during the day.
Walking to the memorial...trying to not lose the little ones...they have their road ID bands on...just in case!:)
All 50 state flags represented
All of us!
Cool stuff!
Learning about history!
The kids being goofy!
and then again at night.
Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. Oh my goodness! My friend Amy G. showed us pictures of this lake from their vacation last year and I decided right away that this was a place WE MUST GO SEE. I was so right! It was beautiful! We visited on a perfect day...sunny and low 80's. Perfect day for a walk around the lake. We didn't know the terrain would turn from a normal light gravel path, to no true trail and just climbing rocks. It was quiet a hike with the little ones (and a stroller...thank goodness for a strong hubby who can carry the stroller). We all loved it! I could spend all day there. There were quiet a few activities that you can participate in...swimming at the beach, jumping off of rocks and into the water, canoeing, paddle boating, fishing...the list goes on. My friend Erin even attended a wedding there in May. I can only imagine how pretty that was! Also, this was the site to a scene from the movie National Treasure 2! I took a million pictures during our hike. Enjoy!
Our sassy little girls.
Getting ready to climb
Part of the hike
Can you tell...this isn't an easy trail for a stroller
Taking a break from the hike
Easton and I
Hiking
Sean having a pine cone fight with the kids
BFF's forever!
I believe this was our lunch...ice cream bars.
By the time we spent time at Sylvan lake we drove through Needles Highway in the state park. There were many tight tunnels that only one car can go through at a time. One tunnel was back up with people parked to the side with their camera's ready. We had no clue what was going on...turns out a tour bus was trying to make it's way through the tunnel. It took it a while. Here are a few more pictures from this day. These three activities filled our day!
Profile view of Mount Rushmore
Stay tuned...tomorrow...Wildlife scenic drive, panning for gold, and a paradise for kids!
We took our first family vacation last week. I was a little nervous about taking the kids so far without help from family. We love going down to Missouri to spend time with family, however this year we went up North to South Dakota. You are probably thinking...why on earth would you want to go to South Dakota. Sounds pretty boring. Well it wasn't boring. I would highly, highly, highly recommend going up to the Black Hills. We had a blast. There was so much to do and our days were filled with one activity after the other...we could have stayed another week and we still wouldn't have covered everything. So for this next week I will be posting several of the almost 300 pictures that I took from our vacation. Enjoy!!
Day 1: Sean and I have been talking about taking the family out to Lake McConaughy in Ogallala, Nebraska. We heard it was a great lake and everyone in Nebraska just raves about it. Well here is a picture of it. We stopped here for a picnic lunch. Not sure if we will be making a special trip out here to go boating. Ever been to Missouri? Those lakes are ten times more exciting. I guess it wasn't really what we were expecting.
We then drove a few more hours and visited Chimney Rock. It was kind of cool. We spent a little time at the visitors center for a break.
The kids spent some time loading a wagon with goods.
We ended our first day in Chadron, Nebraska. Sorry no pictures. We were hoping to have a good time at Fur Trade Days...booo! Totally not what we expected, so we took the kids out for Chinese and to the park.
Day 2:
We headed a few hours north to South Dakota. Our first visit was to Wind Cave. It is one of the world's longest and most complex caves. I was extremely nervous about taking the kids on a cave tour. The tour guide did not recommend taking kids under 4 on this hike. Um...we have 3 under age 4. I was not doing very good in the world of walking and our ticket said you must be in good physical shape for this hike. But why listen to the experts...lets give this one a try! We chose the easiest one...300 stairs and 1 1/2 hours long. I was nervous...but all in all...I did quiet well and so did the kids. The cave was really cool and was covered in box work.
Sean's very first time wearing this sling...he wasn't too thrilled, but it had to be done...Weston wasn't thrilled either so I ended up carrying him on the cave hike. Love them both!
After the cave hike we drove through Custer State Park. This park is awesome!! There were many roads and scenic drives that we could have chosen...the first path we took here are a few of our finds.
Some obstacles along the way
Our family!
Beautiful scenery
Lots of narrow tunnels!
After we checked into our quant little hotel in Keystone, we headed out to visit the Crazy Horse Memorial. I remember visiting it when I was little and little progress has been made since I was last there. We took a stroll through the museum and took a few photos.
Here is a sneak peek about what is to come tomorrow. It was a long first few days and some how the kids had plenty of energy when we got back to the hotel....not sure how that happens...Sean and I were tired!
Can you tell what is in the distance? Look closely....you will see a close up tomorrow!
Tomorrow-- Mount Rushmore and Sylvan Lake (the prettiest lake I have ever been too!!)
Have you ever had one of those weeks where you looked back and thought...wow that event seems like it was forever ago? I have. These last seven days have gone so slow. There have been several ups and downs, so this post is reflecting top ten highlights of the last seven days. Hope everyone is having a good summer!
1. I took the kids to Trago water sprayground last Thursday with some friends. I love, love, love Trago. It was a little over 100 degrees, so we only stayed for a little more than an hour, but we had fun!
2. Watching my husband change more diapers than he probably has over the last 6 years of having kids. Love him to pieces, but if you know Sean...he does not change diapers.
3. Spending the 3rd of July at our friends house in Blair, Nebraska. I love watching the kids play, visiting with everyone, watching the excitement of our kids discovering fireflies, and watching an awesome private fireworks show.
4. Last minute trip to an unknown small town about 20 minutes away from here to watch another fireworks show on July 4th. Watching our kids set off fireworks with Sean.
5. My mom coming to stay with us, so Sean could go back to work. My mom is amazing...she brought a fridge full of meals for the week, has kept up on our laundry, helped me pack for our vacation, watched our kids, taken them to the park and on several walks, cleaned like crazy, and vacuumed out my car.
6. Lots of sweet snuggles and naps with my little Weston boy. We have laid down together and snuggled every nap time since last Friday. Love watching him sleep.
7. An answer to prayer. Got in right away to a wonderful chiropractor in Lincoln. He actually listened to what I had to say. I actually got to talk to him and not his people. He actually met with me for a good hour and went through all of my movements through out my day. He actually figured out what was going on with my back. His treatments have actually worked!! I can walk and I think my muscle spasm is almost gone. My legs are a bit sore, but the nagging pain I have had in my left leg for 2 years is gone for now!!! (just a little side plug if you are in Lincoln...you can visit his practice: Trinity Chiropractic)
8. My husband....he probably shouldn't be this far down on the list. I am really grateful for him. He spent his weekend off taking care of the kids and I. I am sure that wouldn't have been his ideal way of spending his weekend, but it meant a lot to me. Side note: If you talk with him...don't ask him about his trip to Wal-mart with the kids. Don't. He is wrong and will probably never go grocery shopping for us again.
9. Jocelyn. Jocelyn. Jocelyn. She is almost 6 years old and has been extremely helpful this past week. She has been my arms, back, and legs. I don't know what I would do with out her. She is getting so big.Just yesterday my mom found her with the vacuum all set up vacuuming out my car.Of course two days earlier she climbed in the trunk of my mom's car and locked herself in there...so I guess she has some growing up to do. Good thing we went out and checked on her!
10. Love my other kids too. They just have a little more growing up to do. They have been helpful too...and I will leave you with this sweet video of Easton taking care of his brother.
