South Dakota

We took a trip over the long weekend to South Dakota to CAMP. Now, I used to be a girl that liked to camp. However, after having children, I am not a fan anymore. Corby also pointed out that the camping I liked to do was with the youth group, where we had big 3 course meals & we would go canoe or float & when we came back everything was clean & cooked for us. Anyway, Corby really wanted to camp with the boys, so we went to Flinstone Park/Bedrock City in Custer, SD for 2 nights. On the way down, we drove through Bismarck & went West & then South to go through the Black Hills It was amazing, so pretty. We went into Wyoming(first time) & the boys were wonderful ( I love that DVD player!) We set up our campground on Friday afternoon & let the boys ride the train at Bedrock City, play on the playground & swim in the pool. They had a blast, Braylen is really good at getting to where he wants to go & loves jumping. Tucker is working on keeping his head out of the water enough, but when there are bigger kids & their dads in the pool, he swallows a lot of water. We got them little lifejackets that fit, but the don't have the coordination in the water yet to really use them, so we will hopefully work on that this summer & they will be good for the boat! Friday nite, we went to a pizzie (Braylen's word) place for dinner and then to watch fireworks in Custer. We forgot we were in Mountain time (first time) & were to the park really early. The boys played in the back of the car, causing 1 knocked over cooler, 1 wet purse & 1 almost head injury (Tucker). Then the fireworks started. Bray sat with Corby & Tucky sat with me. Tucker had a grin on his face the whole time & kept saying "YEA". Braylen kept saying "OH NO". He liked them, but I think he thought they weren't supposed to blow up. So, being an hour behind, before we left the fireworks park, the boys were both out. We had a quick detour because Corby lost his phone while we were sitting outside, but the nice gentleman next to us found it and started calling numbers, one of which was mine, whew! So, we got back to the tent & put sweat pants and socks over the boys pj's & got them in to bed ( Tucker in the pack n play & bray in a sleeping bag). Bray loved his sleeping bag! Tucker woke up about an hour later SCREAMING. He would not stop, so he & I were up wrestling most of the nite in my sleeping bag. Not a fun nite.


Saturday, we got up early & headed to Mt. Rushmore. We ate breakfast looking at our past Presidents & then went out to see it closer. We walked some of the paths, but it was a long hike for little legs with lots of steps, so no stroller. We left Rushmore & went to Crazy Horse, but it was in the process of being built & you could see the monument from the road, so we didn't go into the museum. Next, we went to Bear Country. This was the best part for me. You go into this park & you drive through at 10 mph. There are elk, reindeer, big horn sheep, timberwolves, buffalo, arctic wolves & of course, bears. They are separated by fences and those cattle blockers that you can drive over, but the animals can't walk over or their feet will fall through. The bears were the best. They were walking right next to the cars, stopping in the road & checking out the cars as they were driving out. One even tried to climb into the bed of a truck in front of us. We have it on video & will have to get those on the computer soon. After leaving Bear Country, we ate lunch (Braylen slept through it), and then headed to Reptile Gardens. We saw an alligator show & komodo dragon, lots of bugs, snakes, spiders & frogs & the BIGGEST alligator I've ever seen! It was huge! He was like 15 ft or something like that. After Reptile Gardens we headed back to camp & let the boys play at the playground & ride the train again. We built a fire & had hotdogs & smores, then headed into town for ice cream at The Purple Palace. We put the boys to bed & listed to the race & they went to sleep just fine. They both slept through the night, but I didn't because we had a huge thunderstorm & it felt like we were going to blow away!



Sunday we got up & packed the car. We left & drove East this time & went through the Badlands. That was really neat too. We got out at one point & took some pictures, but after 15 minutes, the boys were asleep, so we just drove through. Plus, the boys are in the phase of loving rocks ( at the playground, in the parking lot, in the Badlands), & they have this thing about not disturbing or taking anything from there. So we just drove through & took pictures. The rest of Sunday was spent driving home.

Corby was off on Monday for a family day, so he watched the boys while I went with Kelli downtown to get diapers & a few things. Kelli & Ryan had been on a 19 day Wild Wild West National Park Tous & had just gotten home on Saturday nite. Kasey went in to be induced on Monday nite. That will be another post. I'll put all the pics from our trip on Walgreens & send that out, too!