Keystone Madness

Once we finally reached our destination and met up with my sister's family, we wasted no time heading to Mt. Rushmore.  We have been once before during the day so we decided this time to see it at night and watch the lighting ceremony.  The highlight of Rushmore involved Jackson "stumping the ranger."  While we were waiting for the ceremony to start, kids could walk onto the stage and ask the ranger any question about any President.  The ranger was surprisingly knowledgeable and he answered all but a few questions including Jackson's.  So does anyone know what Obama's favorite ice cream is?  The ranger answered ROCKY ROAD on account of the first term that he's had!  It's actually butter pecan in case anyone is wondering.

We also had the chance to take a tour of Jewel Cave.  This was probably my favorite thing there.  We went on a 80 minute tour.  If we didn't have Sadie to pack around, I probably would have gone for the 4 hour hike.   

Sadie was feeling a little under the weather and actually fell asleep!  I carried her the last half of hike and we kept each other warm.  She also threw up in the hotel foyer as payback for us finding blood on our sheets the night before.  HaHa!

 This picture isn't the best, but doesn't that look like an enormous piece of bacon!!!??

 Random cute picture inserted below.

 Our next adventure took us to the Reptile Gardens.  John had perfect timing with this pic.  Sadie's being kissed!  Not her favorite moment, that's for sure.  

The kids favorites:
 Max - getting so close to the animals and the prairie dogs
Jackson - seeing the deadliest snake in the world
Sadie - Petting a snake

 

 Our last night in Keystone we walked up the main drag and did a little shopping.  Sadie love this old woman.  When you walked by, she would wiggle!  We had to capture this moment with her fake shaky friend when we found out her name is Sadie too!  

We had so much fun on our quick trip to South Dakota.  We fell like we missed out on so many things because we ran out of time.  We'll be back again for sure.  

Onto the Badlands

After our fun filled adventures in Wall, we drove over to the Badlands.  I'm going to be honest, my expectations were set at an all time low.  I don't think pictures of the place look too interesting, but was willing to give it a try.  Boy was I wrong!  

As we hiked around, I was amazed at all of the pretty formations and landscape.  It was truly beautiful country.  

We took a hike up a mountain that ended with sweeping views of the land.  When both of my boys are standing next to each other, touching even, AND smiling, you know it was a success!

 Another pic from the top.

Notice anything different about Max?  It looks like he doesn't have hearing aids!  We picked up his new pair just before our trip and they are so tiny you can hardly see them!  More on them in a future post.

I was glad my Mom was able to join us on this little adventure.  She is down 1/2 lung, but didn't let that slow her down!  Look at Big Louie go!

One last picture at the end of the hike.  Lots of smiles for how much fun we had!

Free ice water

On our trip with my parents to the Black Hills, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop by Wall Drug for their world famous ice water.  They had water and it had ice, so it did not disappoint!  

We did the usual thing at tourist traps - ate dinner, walked around the gift shops and found creepy ladies and ginormous bunnies to pose with.  

 This part of the trip wasn't life changing or anything, but we did have fun and it was good to break up the drive a little!

Has anyone ever counted how many Wall Drug signs there are in South Dakota?  I haven't, but my guess is somewhere around 253.  

Max's Baptism!

Max turned eight in May and in June both sets of Grandparents flew out for his big day.  As you can see from the picture below, Max was thrilled beyond comprehension for his baptism.  Doesn't he look dapper in his new suit and his great grandpa's bow tie?  

One of my friends gave me great advice that I forgot about until after the event.....give someone your camera and leave them in charge of pictures.  I regret not doing this.  I got one shot of my family and zero shots of the guests and grandparents.  Hopefully I'll remember this by the time Sadie's big day rolls around.  

Max finally got excited about things once he hopped into a matching white jumpsuit with his Dad.

Max was baptized with his church class mate Will.  I look at this picture and it cracks me up that they are the same age!  It was nice being able to split the baptism duties with Will's Mom, it was definitely more relaxed than Jackson's.

I'm so proud of Max's decision to get baptized.  About a year ago he was still telling us that he might get baptized, he hadn't made up his mind!  It truly was up to him and he made a great choice.  

Memorial Day Weekend

When Memorial Day rolled around we realized we didn't have any plans, so we decided to take a quick little trip over to Cascade Falls in Wisconsin.  

Seeing this picture of the fam makes me realize
my kids are growing up too fast!

The hike was easy, and no complaints were made the entire time!  (a serious feat for the boys)  Once we reached the falls, the boys decided to climb behind and take a look while Sadie and I lounged and ate some PB&J's.  

And what is a trip to a waterfall without a little cliff jumping?  

 

This is my favorite pic from the day.  I think it's mostly because in general Max doesn't take big risks and is more of a homebody type, but he really got into this.  It was fun to watch his head emerge from the freezing water with an enormous smile on his face.  Go Max!