Black Hills Vacation Day 3

The day started out with a long drive to Devil's Tower. It was a 80 mile drive from Custer, so to say the least, Ella had had enough driving.

Lewis kept telling me it was worth the drive, I trusted him and went along with the plans. You could see it from a distance, just sticking out from the ground. Another masterpiece place here by our creater. Thank you God for showing us how much you love us, even in the rocks.

We decided to take the hike around the base of the tower. The boys had fun climbing on the rocks on the edge of the trail.
I had Ella strapped on, she doesn't usually complain about it as long as her arms are free. Here she is waving to Daddy.

This was our last night in the cabin. The boys really enjoyed the outdoors lifestyle. I didn't mind, besides the mosquitoes eating us alive. Jack LOVED the fire. He is definitely my little pyro. He would gather anything that would burn and throw it on. His favorite was pine needles. They made a big hot fire, but they burned fast, so it kept him busy.

We cooked hot dots on the fire and added veggies, fruit, chips, and what campfire roast would be complete without smores. Although the second night we did without the "giant roasters" and opted for the normal sized ones. Those marshmallows proved too hard to maneuver between two small graham crackers.


Here is a shot of our cabin, it was very clean and we had private showers, but they were located in the bath house about 200 yards away. It was still nicer then I had imagined.


Will is apparently trying to rip the bark off the tree. After Lewis said it was like the tree's skin and it would bleed, he tried harder so he could see it.

Black Hills Vacation Day 2

There it is, the fame of our state. If Mr. Borglum wouldn't have followed his dreams of creating this massive sculpture, and God wouldn't have had the foresight to know there wouldn't be much else in this state we would be hopeless. What would they call South Dakota? The state of boredom?

So anyway, Jack has been asking to go see if for quite some time. We were going to go last summer, but we went down to Alabama instead. And he wanted to go even more after learning about it last year in school. I was afraid he might be disappointed since he had built it up so much. But he seemed quite impressed with it all.

I had seen it before, but this time we took the walk all around the grounds. Very educating, if you don't have children running 50 feet ahead of you. I told Lewis we had to go back sometime by our selves so we could actually read the signs they had posted.

After that we drove over to Sylvan Lake. That is the one in National Treasure. We ate some lunch then hiked around it and over some pretty gnarly rocks. I was a little worried I wouldn't make it with Ella strapped on, but we took it slow. It was SO much fun! I'd totally do it again. took a drive through Needles Highway while the kiddos napped, so we didn't stop for pictures. There are some great photo opts there. Next time. Then we headed for Custer. Our cabin was in the state park there. We went to see Crazy Horse. It was neat to see how much work it takes. After 10 years the head is done, and that is only scratching the surface. I might be alive when its finished. I'm not holding my breath. Besides is the view of what is done, and below is what it till be. Its hard to even imagine.

Black Hills Vacation Day 1

We took our first "real" family vacation last week, well aware that family vacation is not a relaxing experience, but more of an adventurous one. Lewis and I agree that traveling together with the kids is very important, it builds memories, bonds, and experience.

We left around 8 on Wednesday morning, it was a perfect day on the prairie. I mean, how can you not love that shot of the bright blue sky, vibrant green grass, and soft white clouds?

Our first stop was at Al's Oasis in Oacoma. We just needed to get out and stretch. The kids got a kick out of these bison that were out front.

We then drove on to the Badlands. Wow, is that an amazing creation. Whenever we travel we talk about how creative God is to make such beautiful works of art out of the Earth. The boys were really hoping to see a rattle snake. I'm relieved we didn't encounter one.

We stopped at Wall Drug for some lunch and window shopping. Its such a quirky place, but you have to stop on your way to the hills. Its un-American if you don't. I mean, how many places can you sit on an enormous Jackalope?

Our first order of business out west was to swim at the WaTiki swim park in Rapid. But it was closed due to maintenance, so we took a swim in the hotel pool instead. Thank God they had one, that saved us from hours of whining from Jack. Ella loved swimming with Daddy, she has really warmed up to the water.

Since our swimming plans had changed, we now had all evening to do other things. We decided to check out StoryBook Island. Lewis had remembered being there as a kid, very few experiences live up to a childhood memory; but he said it was even better then he remembered. It was so fun watching Will run from one set to another. Once he got to one display he barley stopped a minute before he found another one to sprint after. The Dr. Suess was my favorite display. It was bright and clean, and very well done.

Ella liked hanging out with the puppies.

Finally, after we had a little dinner we climbed up a massive amount of stairs to check out Dinosaur Park, at the top of skyline drive. A very pretty view and the kids enjoyed climbing on the life size dinosaurs. We all went back to the hotel tired and ready for another adventure in the morning.

Dancing, Waving, Walking

Ella is now 11 months old! I know, who says that a single day can be so long, but a year can pass so quickly? I just remember a year ago, thanking the Lord that it was a cool summer and being so jealous the rest of my friends had just had their babies. Little did I know our little girl would show up 3 weeks early.

These last few weeks have been especially fun with Eleanor. She has been waving for about a month, but its still so fun to watch her. Last night we were walking down at falls park, she was in the stroller and Lewis was walking ahead with the boys and his brother and Uzama. I look down at her and she is frantically waving with both hands and yelling to get Daddy's attention. It was so sweet.

Oh and she loves to dance. You put any music on, and she begins to bop her head and move her belly to her own beat. Its adorable!

We spent last week at grandma's where she just seemed to pick up a whole hand full of tricks. She took her first two steps about two weeks ago, but last Friday night my Dad and I were in the living room and she just started to pull herself up next to things and let go. She had found the confidence to make the next step and move her feet! It was so exciting to watch. Since then she wants to walk everywhere. She will at least make an attempt to start out walking. Last night she was carrying a cabbage patch doll and trying to walk. She didn't want to let go, but she couldn't quite figure out how to balance that extra weight, so she was wobbling all over, and then eventually decided to just crawl and carry it. I love how the "girly" side is starting to show up. Like in her laugh. Oh her laugh. Its this silly little squealy giggle. Will has been calling her Giggly, and it is so fitting for her. She is our squishy, giggly, peach. And she is oh so sweet!

Lots of Firsts...not all good ones

This was just a nice family picture that was taken over memorial day weekend. We took an impromptu trip down to Yankton for some hiking and stopped at the museum by the duck pond in town.

Here is a picture of Ella in her first backyard pool experience. She had been a grouch the entire day, she is getting at least 4 teeth in. But as soon as she got in the pool, she was as happy as a clam. Her brothers also really liked playing with her in it.

On Friday morning Will woke up and said he couldn't move his hand. At first I thought he slept on it and it had fallen asleep. I quickly realized it was much more than that. Here is what his hand looked like. I asked him how it felt "kind of hurty" is all the more he really complained. I called my mom and ask a nurse, I had no idea what might have caused it. He had a sliver on Monday, but I couldn't find them anymore. Then Lewis reminded me that the boys said they were playing with a bee the night before. Aaha! If you look close enough at the first picture you can see a little spot where the sting happened. I took him in to the doctor, and he gave me 3 choices, IV treatment and the hospital, a really big shot of antibiotics, or oral only antibiotics. He suggested the second treatment since these things can travel quickly. Poor little guy was such a trooper, but this shot wasn't any old immunization type shot. This was a full blown 5 seconds of pushing medicine into my little boy's body! It took him at least an hour before he could walk again, since they put it in his leg. But, by evening the heat was out, and by this morning the red was all gone, and the swelling was way down. I'm so glad we didn't need to go in for the second shot he said would be needed if the first didn't work. So now, 10 days of antibiotics and we're asking the doctor on Monday if we need an epi pen, just in case this happens again.

Last first. Ella took her first two steps today! We were sitting in the living room this morning, just playing. She was standing by a toy bucket, and I must have been close enough because she let go and out of the corner of my eye I saw her take two little steps and grab on to my back. I'm so proud and excited, but at the same time, this is the last bit of my baby left. Once she is walking, its bye bye baby. And that makes me a little sad.