Saturday, June 30, 2012

Mt. Rushmore....Rushmore Cave...Chuckwagon Dinner

MT.RUSHMORE-SUNDAY

We had pretty gloomy, foggy weather all weekend and we knew Sunday was suppose to be the sunny day of our weekend so we planned to hit Mt. Rushmore then. Well so did everyone else. The line of cars to get into Rushmore that morning went on for miles! The problem with a big group of people and multiple vehicles is that it's too hard to coordinate everyone arriving at the same time. Blair and I and Lyann and Evan's family all made it there within a few minutes of each other. Blair's folks got enough to the top to see the Monument from the road and then turned out of the line and went back down to the town of Keystone to do their own thing. They went and road the 1880's train and the alpine slide. Peter and Wendy's family and my parents all waited in the line of cars for quite awhile and made it there about 30-45 minutes after us. It was a bit windy that morning and slightly cold but atleast it was clear to see the monument. I heard the fog was so dense the past few days it wasn't visible.



 Lyann, Evan, Tarren, Cameron, Rhianna, Cassidy, and Statton
 Blair, Madison, Kristen, Statton, and Cassidy
 My mom's camera was either full or it died so she stole mine and these pics are one's she took. These are my nieces Ellie and Kensie. Madison wasn't liking the wind so I took her back to the gift shop and waited while everyone else went and looked around the monument and museum.
 My mother Pam, neices Ellie and Kensie. They have all the state flags lined up in a row on your way into Rushmore. (Avenue of Flags I think it's called) They are standing in front of the pillar for Idaho's flag and the date of when it became a state.

RUSHMORE CAVE

After Rushmore we found a park and made sandwiches for lunch and let the kids run around and play for awhile. It gave all of us a chance to sit and visit. After lunch we headed over to Rushmore Cave. It's a cave with multiple rooms and it's narrow in some spots, lots of stairs, and incredible formations. 
 Lyann, Statton, and Cassidy
 Madison and I
 Lyann's family and us ended up in a group tour together while Wendy's family and my parents ended up in the group behind us. Again problem with a big group of people and timing. We all arrived differently so we ended up on separate tours.


 Madison had to be packed through most of this because she's a little clingy and the steps were steep and she was too slow to go down all those steps.
 After our tours got over and we were waiting for the rest of our group the kids took the time to get extremely wet and dirty in the panning water. They have bags of dirt you can buy and you take them out to this and you can pan your dirt for gems. My kids just liked putting the shakers into the water. They were soaked by the time the rest of our group arrived. They also had a zip-line you could ride for an extra cost and my parents and lyann's family all had tickets to go but the line was extremely long.( I believe they ended up waiting about 1 1/2 hrs for their turns.) So we left them to the zipline and we headed down to the town of Keystone to do a little walking around until dinner. Peter and Wendy also went and did their own thing.

 FORT HAYS CHUCKWAGON DINNER

Well we had made dinner reservations for the Fort Hays chuckwagon dinner. You get a chuckwagon type dinner and then they have a cowboy music band who performs. Before the dinner and show you can look around and they have people making crushed pennies, ropes, tin plates, etc. They also have the movie set from Dances With Wolves. It was filmed over in that area.

 Again these are pictures my mother took. I was in the car looking after sleeping children.
 This is Kensie and  Ellie with one of the performers. They played music and told jokes and it was so fun.
 My Dad Steve, Statton, and Kensie. Grandma Merz and Ellie.
Peter Wells, Myself, Madison and Blair.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dinosaur Park...Reptile Gardens..."The Cosmos"

We knew for about 2 months that Blair was going to have the Friday through Monday off over Memorial Day weekend. We decided it would be fun to make a mini-vacation out of it. At the time Mount Rushmore was only about 5 hours away (we ended up moving 2 hrs closer a month before we went so it worked out even better for us). Blair had never been and it had been a loooong time since I had so we decided it would be the place to go. We shot a text out to both our families and told them what our plans were and if anyone wanted to join us. Well we actually got a lot of takers. Blair's Dad and Carla came, Lyann and Evan and kids, Peter and Wendy and kids. My parents and grandmother came and brought my two nieces with them. It was going to be crazy but fun! Friday afternoon most of us arrived and the weather was pretty gloomy, rainy, and slightly cold. We had lunch, checked into our hotels, chatted, laid out some tentative plans for our trip, and then headed to the dinosaur park. 

DINOSAUR PARK-FRIDAY






 After the dinosaur park we tried to go visit some caves but they ended up being hard to find and one wasn't even open. So after a lot of driving and getting nowhere we decided to call it a day and head to dinner. After dinner we hit the hotel pool, visited a lot, and then went to bed.

REPTILE GARDENS- Saturday

 Statton loved petting the boa constrictor. Even Madison liked petting it. (I will never buy my child a snake)

 The Giant Tortoises were pretty cool and so fun.


"THE COSMOS"-SATURDAY

 I had never heard of "The Cosmos" it was something Blair had mentioned to me because the guys at work had mentioned it was a fun place to go see. It's this place where a cabin is built into the side of a mountain and the natural gravity for some reason is out of sync. Balls roll up hill, there are flat pieces of wood you walk on and you get taller. Kind-of a weird place but fun to see.

 Here is Statton standing on the wall. It feels like you are leaning way far out there but you're actually standing up straight. It's weird.


 Here we are goofing off in the gift shop with some hats waiting for the rest of our group to get through with their tours.

This was pretty much our last activity of the day. We went over to Cabela's and looked around a bit and then headed over to Dave's Famous BBQ for dinner. Went and did some more swimming and then hit the sheets for the night.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Madison turns 2!

Madison turned 2 on May 11th! While we were in Idaho waiting our few weeks for Statton's ear checkup we were able to celebrate Madison turning 2! Unfortunately Dad was in Wyoming working and unable to celebrate with us like we planned. This is the pink Radio Flyer tricycle she got from her mom and dad on her birthday. With lots of help from Grandpa Darrington I was able to put it together.(Mostly Grandpa) 

 This was just that morning while she was eating her cereal and the one below is when she first gets to see her new bike.

 Sorry for the picture quality I hadn't brought my camera because I really wasn't suppose to be in Idaho for her birthday so these are all off my camera phone.

 Great Grandma Merz was super nice and took the kids and I all out to eat at Mcdonalds for lunch. She choked on an apple slice at lunch and gave me a scare for a moment but luckily she was able to cough it out.
 Just more pictures of us out in the garage trying out the new set of wheels. I think Statton and Cassidy had more fun riding this the first few weeks than Madison did.

 This is the cake I got her for her birthday. She loves her ducky so I thought a duck-themed cake would be appropriate for her. Because of some hectic schedules that weekend we ended up having cake and ice-cream with the family on Sunday evening (Mother's Day).






 She loved her cake! Big surprise this girl can eat! She got a fun bubble machine for her birthday so we all went outside and enjoyed the other fun gifts she got and of course the bubbles! Madison is with her cousin Mccoy playing in the bubbles. They were so cute!
We really do love this little girl. She is so loveable and sweet but also sassy and opinionated. She loves her brother and sister. She is like a shadow to Statton and is always following him around doing the things he does and copying everything. She wants to keep up with the both of them so bad and do the things they're doing.
Things she loves: Ducky, play-doh, dolls, barbies,ducky, tractors, dirt, water, ducky, cleaning, four-wheelers, playing outside, oh did I mention ducky!
Happy Birthday Madison We Love You!