Family Vacation

So here are the pics from our vacation. We had an absolute blast! This is a long post with lots of pics but couldn't leave out any good ones either. Looking at the pics its kind of unbelieveable that we were able to do all those things from Sat to Weds.

We headed out Fri night after waiting for a Mary Kay order to be dropped by UPS. Made it to Sioux Falls and got a hotel room ordered a pizza and went to bed. James was a trooper sleeping on the foldout by himself all night! Such a big boy! Though I don't know how he gets any rest since he spins all night like a helicoptor.
We got up and hit the road deciding to drive through and not stop at Mitchell or Wall until the way home. The drive still seemed to take forever.

We stopped in Oacoma for lunch at Arbys and checked out this giant buffalo statue

Back on the road where we decided our 2 night stay was just not going to be long enough and we decided to add 2 more nights. We stopped at a Target in Rapid City for a few supplies and then got to "my little house" as James called it around 6pm. Ate hamburgers and lipton noodles for dinner then explored our campground a bit. Our cabin was directly above the playground. YAY!! Our cabin was totally awesome had a mini fridge, light, and heat, a bunk bed and a double bed. It was a 12x12 cabin with a great little porch and porch swing. We think we want to build a slightly larger one on our property up north in 2 years (we'd add a bathroom and little kitchen area.)

Sun morning we headed to Bear Country USA where James was in awe as we drove through the park and saw all the animals. Everything from Mountain goats to badgers to reindeer and bears. After driving through there is an area to walk around and check out the baby bears and other animals.

Hiiiyah!



Back into Rapids for a few more supplies....I only started my list on Thurs and obviously it had not had time to mature as we forgot basic things like dishsoap and bath towels.

On our way back to camp we stopped at Mount Rushmore. At first James thought it was really cool. Then he was very disappointed when he asked to climb up on the heads and we told him he couldn't go up there. That was enough of that and he was ready to go back to "my house"

Headed back and James played in the playground and then took a big boy shower for the first time. John promised him he could go swimming if he got all clean first. It was only 50 degrees out but the water was about 85-88 degrees. You can see kids playing in the background wearing winter coats and these two knuckle heads are swimming! James had a blast he loves the pool Can't wait to take him to the ones here in town again.

John made chicken spaghetti for dinner on our little camp stove. YUM!

Mon we went to Reptile Gardens where we saw the bird show and then had to have a snack of cheetos. James has always since he could make a preference understood been excited about turtles or "lotle lotles" When we walked into the area with Methusala and Tank he was THRILLED. He grabbed my hand and hauled me right up to the giant tortoises. He petted them and followed them around and hugged them. NO FEAR! This is the kid who is scared of dogs and sometimes cats. He loved his turtles. I thought it was cool that these are the same tortoises that we saw when we were there as kids when I was 12. The same ones my little brother Andy rode on are the same ones our little James was loving on. This was by far the highlight of the trip for James.

James is also enthralled with birds and we got to Reptile Gardens just in time for the bird show... thats pretty good concentration for him! :)

We also scratched their heads and necks and he wasn't afraid one little bit!

After Reptile Garden we headed back to our cabin for lunch and then drove through Custer State Park on Needles HWY to see the Buffalo and great scenery. James wants to climb everything..."me climb dat mommy? pwease?" It was a two hour or better drive because you come across many signs like this one

After we saw the buffaloJohn and I were ready to be done with the scenery and James took a little nap while we headed SLOWLY out of the park. We spotted these guys on our way out. Also spotted a lone buffalo just off the road.

Decided not to go to the Crazy Horse museum since James wasn't real thrilled with Rushmore. But we were able to see it pretty well from the hwy.

Mon night we had hotdogs, mac n cheese and smores for dinner. Built a little fire and James roasted his first wienie. Pretty proud of himself when he made mommy dessert.


Tuesday we went into Rapid City and headed to the free Dinosaur Park that was built in 1936. James was kind of cranky and it was at the top of a mountain/very large hill with not much for barriers. He wanted to run and I got very nervous. We did not stay for long. We decided to find Storybook Island Park also free. This park was totally awesome. All types of storybook characters as statues and play things. James had a blast.

Diggin with Dad

We had just watched Alladin on TV the week before so he knew exactly what to do here!

Telling me all about the three little pigs.

Heeeeyyy Booboo whadya got in your pickanic basket?

For lunch we decided to go to the Firestation Brewhouse, we had seen several signs along the way on I90 almost as many as the Wall Drug signs. Each sign had an old firetruck by it. The atmosphere was great and even though we knew we were pushing it with James he was very well behaved.

Tues night we had ice cream for supper...well we had ice cream first and then came back and had supper. We wandered the tourist strip in Hill City and went to the dinosaur museum there where Tyranasaurus Sue is on display. James enjoyed digging for the bones and checking out the dinos but was really set on getting an ice cream. He ordered cotton candy ice cream which makes my teeth hurt to think about and I had a huckleberry (uhhh YUM!) John got a chocolate at this little shop in the strip. James did not eat the cone portion but thought it was cool that it melted into "moulk" (I love when he talks to us its so cute the way the words come out)

James is trying to save me as the dinosaur eats my fingers!



He ate that whole cone full...he did not eat the actual cone though. Do you like his t-shirt? Yep James is "going green"

We packed our things tues night. Sad our vacation was almost over but happy to be headed home to our own beds too.

One last pic at our cabin. James thought the tripod was cool (not as cool as I thought it was though!)

Oh boy was that trunk packed full! We didn't dare open it until after we got home. Though we thought it might be kind of funny if it popped open on the hwy.... well maybe not then but definitely in a few years it would be hilarious.
Weds headed home stopping at Wall Drug where James was scared of the giant dinosaur that wakes up to eat every 12 minutes but LOVED the water fountain set to music. He never got doused but came awfully close a couple times. We ate donuts smooshed a couple pennies and headed out.

This is the water well that Ted Hustead found in 1931 around which he built his business advertising FREE ICE WATER. (It was actually his wife's idea to put up the water signs)

Drove through the badlands where again I was a nervous wreck because James is a lunatic and there are no railings or 8 foot high walls (HA!) to make me feel my boy is safe. We only got out once to take a picture but it turned out pretty well. We can't imagine how it would have felt to have been exploring the area and come across something so barren when there is such lush vegetation around the badlands.

Our last stop was The One The Only CORN PALACE in Mitchell. The theme this year is American Destinations. James spied the "guhn guhn" right away and got a bag. I asked if I could have some and he gave me one at a time. It was seriously the best popcorn I've ever had. I believe we also smooshed a penny here. If you don't know the Corn Palace was originally built to showcase the native grains, grasses and of course corn to show the fertility of the farmland in the area.

Finally made it home Weds night at about 10:30pm. James never fussed in the car the whole trip I can't believe that little bottom put on more than 1000 miles and never complained!