Extended Weekend

With the natural disasters this summer Iowa was hit pretty hard. Chad's work schedule was packed and didn't leave much time for us to get away ..... until now! We rolled out early Thursday morning and headed to South Dakota. It is about a nine in a half hour trip but you add potty and gas breaks in there it turns out to be more like thirteen! We had limited time so we packed alot in a short time. Our first stop was the Badlands National Forest. It was beautiful! The rock formations of the forest were gorgeous backed with the skyline. The sun was setting and it had just begone to sprinkle. As we drove out I spotted prairie dogs -- about a dozen or more! After getting lost a bit we did fine our hotel and it turned out to be a great one! We were very pleased! We had a relaxing night and the following morning headed off to the Crazy Horse Monument, Mt. Rushmore and Bear Country, U.S.A. Crazy Horse was fun! The kids enjoyed looking through the sight seeing binoculars. Both Chad and I were plum out of quarters! We walked through the museum and looked at the displays. We learned quit a bit about Indian Heritage and Crazy Horse. After leaving Crazy Horse we headed to "the dead president's faces" --- otherwise known as Mt. Rushmore! JohnMichael was worn out from the day before and had fallen asleep -- bless his little heart he did finally wake up as we headed down the walkway of flags. We found Iowa's and learned that we were the 29th State to be admitted into the Union in 1846. Mt. Rushmore was breath taking! You really have to see it in person to realize the detail and the work that most have gone into creating it. We walked the presidential trail and boy was I tired! JohnMichael wanted to be carried pretty much the entire way and if I didn't have him in my arms I was chasing him down! The older four boys seemed to enjoy it! James was rather interested in the mile markers and stopped at each to read the story. He reported to us that "George Washington started it all." After walking both Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore we decided to grab lunch and head to a drive through Zoo. We ate lunch at SONIC -- which for us was a sign that we were in the BIG city! We took our lunch along and started the drive through Bear Country, U.S.A. Totally worth the $54 buck to get in! We saw elk, reindeer, timber wolves, antelope, bobcats, buffalo and bears! The bears were so close it was scary! I kept telling Chad to roll the window up -- we had SONIC burger smell going on and they were so close that there was no way they couldn't smell it! At the end of the drive through portion of the zoo is a area that you can get out and walk through and view all the babies. The best part of that was the baby bears. There must have been about twenty or more and they were so adorable! After all this we headed back to the hotel swam a bit and then hit the hay! Saturday morning we headed out toward home. We stopped at Wall Drug along the way -- it is a three block long drug store filled with shops and a outdoor area for the kids to play and run about. While we were there we had an old time photo taken and that I have to tell you was pretty painless. Those ladies had the kids dressed before we knew it and they were so cute all decked out with there holster's and guns. The picture taking took a bit but for our bunch it went really good! Our last sight seeing stop was Pioneer Auto and there we saw just about every old car known to man kind! A few included the General Lee from Dukes of Hazard and Elvis Presley's Harley Davidson. Ruby and I agreed that it was definitely a place for the boys. I think Chad and the boy patrol would still be there if they could! After leaving South Dakota at 8:00 am we did finally arrive back home around 11:30 pm. It was a long drive for a short period of time but we had a memorable one!

Thank you to Grandma Sam for watching over Riley why we were gone - we appreciate it!And for everyone along the way that wondered --- YES THEY ARE ALL OURS!