Summer Vacation '09

If you click on the collage, you can take a closer look. We really did have a fun trip to South Dakota.

We drove through the Badlands, visited Wall Drug, explored Custer State Park on the wildlife loop, drove the Needles Highway, visited Dinosaur Park and Storybook Island in Rapid City, Reptile Gardens, Hill City, rode the 1880 train to Keystone, a ride on the President's alpine slide after riding the tram up, as well as a beautiful drive home through Southwest S.D. and the Sandhills of Nebraska. Hubs even took a helicopter ride with his brother-in-law around the Mt. Rushmore area. There's a ton to do and it really is a great family vacation!

The kids had a great time sightseeing and also spending extra time with cousins in the house we rented. I think their games of hide-and-seek were some of their favorite moments.

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The One Time Mama Said a Swear Word on Vacation

We rounded a sharp corner and came to this. Before I knew it, the S-word had slipped out. The family we traveled with are in that white van ahead of us. I radioed them to inform them, "Uh oh. Mama just said a swear word!". And it was my idea to take the Needles Highway. Sheesh.

More pictures and stories to come. This drive was one of my favorites. Absolutely beautiful.

The Black Hills

Soon we'll be heading out to South Dakota. We're planning a trip with another family. There will be four adults and five kids, ages 5 and under. It's sure to be interesting, keeping them all entertained and also of equal importance, well-rested.

We're planning to see the major sites of the area:

*Badlands

*Wall Drug

*Reptile Gardens

*Mt. Rushmore

*Crazy Horse

*1880 Train

*Custer State Park

*Hill City

*Keystone

I'd love to hear from anyone who's also been there. Anything that we've just got to do? Anything we might be forgetting?

Let me know. I'm so excited to go, I just don't want to miss anything!

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The Kid-Tough Camera Edition

Our B's birthday this year has much hoopla, although not totally unlike other years. Every year has included a family BBQ with Hubs' family and mine, a once a year gathering of sorts. With a pinata. We also have always done something especially fun on the actual birthday.

This year we added in a friend birthday while taking out none of the other fun. So it's three celebrations for five years of life. It's a birthday extravaganza!

We got her a kid-friendly digital camera for her birthday, which was just what she wanted and pleased her very much. It's fun for her because she can look at the pictures she's taken. The main bummer being that photos taken are poor quality and almost always blurry.

Here's a birthday memoir from the eyes of a five-year old.

It was fun, to see what she had gone around to snap photos of. Very random, very fun.

Here's a few shots from our trip to the indoor water park. I took them, so they are a slight less blurry.

FL

I have to say, our trip to Florida was just what the doctor ordered. My brother, sister, their spouses and kids, and our parents all stayed in a ginormous rental house a block away from the most gorgeous beach I've ever seen. We spent from Saturday to Thursday morning together, all together. We all had lunch by the beach at a place called the Crab Trap and enjoyed a shrimp boil back at the house that very night. One evening my sister and I spent until 4:30 in morning having a very deep talk about nothing at all. Our kids played and played and played (not until 4:30 in the morning, but close). There was a pool out back, so they went straight from beach to pool to meal time and back to the beach every day.

It was awesome!

I'll leave you with a few pics. The really good beach ones are on my sis' camera, since I was too chicken to take mine to the beach. She got some great shots that I'll share when she sends them my way.

Walking along the harbor so the kids could see the boats!

It amuses the locals, how excited we get to see a pelican!

Outside of the The Crab Trap

Goodbye, Florida!

Hello, Nebraska! My two frozen babies, waiting for daddy to pull the car around.

Our Family Trip

We left home on Wednesday morning, June 13th. We went to Estes Park for the wedding of hubby's baby sister. We were traveling with hub's sister, Lynn, her husband, Troy, and their two boys, Tyler and Trevor. Their boys are roughly the same age as our kids, so it was fun to travel with them. We had two mini vans FULL of stuff, and followed each other all the way out there. We planned to stay in Imperial, NE the first night, with Troy's family. They were having a lot of flooding in SW Nebraska, so we ended up scrapping those plans and heading to Greeley, CO to sleep the first night. The next day we were on to Estes Park, we had rehearsal and dinner Thursday night to get ready for Friday's wedding.

We did a lot while we were there. Our cabin was right across the street from the downtown riverwalk, so we did a lot of walking. Some shopping. A little biking. There was the rehearsal and wedding, so that gave us a lot to do. Each night we just hung out at the cabin with Lynn and Troy, talking, drinking, and playing cards.

The kids did fairly well going to bed each night, so it gave us a little time to relax.

Brenna made such a cute flower girl!

Mason was so cute in his little tie.

Hubs didn't look too shabby either.

It was really worth all of the packing, shopping, and driving. We're already talking about a road trip for next summer!