Trip to the Wild West - Days 6 thru 9

Day 6:  Virginia City

We visited the old mining town of Virginia City which was only about 15 minutes away.  The buildings made great photo opps.

This one is Joel's debut as a photographer.  Not bad!

We walked around the town and then road a little train to the next little mining town a few miles down the road.

 After enjoying a delicious lunch, we rode the train back and joined 

Grandpa and Grandma for ice cream at the creamery.  

Levi has already developed a fondness for ice cream. 

Chocolate.  Always chocolate.

One must ponder how the peppermints get into the peppermint ice cream.

After afternoon naps, we walked down the road near our house, played follow-the-leader, raced leaves and sticks down a stream, and took some pictures with the beautiful background.

Grandpa and Grandma came over for dinner.  And we stayed up way too late again talking.  It was so nice to spend time with them!

Day 7:  Yellowstone

It took us FOREVER to pack up again and leave.  We stopped by Grandpa and Grandma's for one last good-bye (and for them to load us with food and candles) and then drove south to Yellowstone.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that we only stopped three times in the park - once for a pit stop, once to view the amazing Fountain Paint Pots, and once to see a herd of bison.  I guess that is what happens when there are large crowds, no parking, and 4 small boys that are falling asleep.

 The boys wanted to touch the water the whole time we were here to see if it really was boiling.  Somehow we managed to come out alive with all body parts intact.

Joel took this one too!

This is definitely a "I was there" photo.  The boys don't seem too excited.

After leaving Yellowstone, we took a long loop to check out the Grand Tetons.  They were beautiful, but again, the most exciting part was stopping at ANOTHER roadside bathroom and throwing rocks in a nearby stream.  We stopped in Landers, Wyoming, took the kids swimming and headed off to bed.

Caleb is our snuggle bug.  

I had to get up a couple of times a night to move him back to his side of the bed.

Day 8:  THE DRIVE

Guess what we did?!!!  We drove, and drove, and drove, and drove.  14 hours according to the GPS.  15.5 hours in real time.  We didn't want to spend the money on another hotel, so we just went for it.  PB&Js in the car, several pit stops, and one fast food dinner.  But we made it.  

Overall, the trip was great.  We were able to spend lots of time with Grandpa and Grandma and see some sights along the way.  The kids were healthy, slept fine, and we had wonderful weather.  Thank you God!

Trip to the Wild West - Days 3, 4, & 5

Day 3:  Hiking, Custer State Park, and Drive to Montana

After we packed up all of our stuff, we left the cabin and drove on Needles Highway to Custer State Park.  The boys loved this drive!  There were a couple of crazy tunnels, and we got out to hike a bit.

Custer State Park was beautiful, but we only saw a little bit of the wildlife . . . and I will refrain from re-posting the most exciting picture of the day again.  

After we left the park, we drove up through the eastern part of Wyoming (which is not exciting or beautiful in ANY way) and into Montana.  We spent the night in Billings at a hotel.  The boys loved swimming in the pool there.

Day 4:  Arrive in Ennis

We finally reached our main destination!  We drove straight to Grandpa and Grandma's house and enjoyed lunch with him.  

Then we headed to our rental house which was about 5 minutes away.  This is the view from the kitchen windows.  I think washing dishes is much easier with a view like this!

Grandpa and Grandma joined us for dinner at our place, we put the boys to bed, and talked until way too late.

Day 5:  Grandpa and Grandma

We spent most of the day at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  But first....we had to visit the local Ennis playground.  

The boys did great.  They were very creative and came up with all sorts of activities around their house.  Including  putting themselves in a cage and pretending they were lions.

Grandma and I also went on a small shopping trip to Ennis to find some new shoes for Caleb (his broke).  Caleb now has official hiking shoes. . . that is all we could find!

Trip to the Wild West - Days 1 & 2

I always start out with good intentions to capture everything on camera, but it is usually hit-or-miss.  Most times I just forget to bring my camera or I am too busy to pull it out and use it.  So on our trip, there were a few days that I took a lot of pictures, and several days that I didn't take even one.  Oh well, hopefully our trip will be remembered anyways :)  I clearly did a good job the first few days, so I'll just start with those and add the rest in another blog.

DAY 1:  Drive to Rapid City

Tim and I got up early on Saturday morning, finished packing up the car, loaded up the kids and took off on our adventure.  Our first stop was 3 minutes away. . . for a delicious, fuel-loading breakfast at McDonald's.  Do you know how much it costs to feed a family of 6 for breakfast at McDonald's? $30!!!  Good thing we had a gift card . . .

Driving brings out the artists in my boys:  Levi demonstrates how to draw.

Although it is hard to see in this picture, Caleb drew whiskers on his face so he could be a cat.

We made several unplanned stops along the way including emergency ones on the side of the highway.  On one such occasion, Tim unloaded several items from Josiah's carseat and carefully placed them on the roof of the car.  You can guess what happened.  As I pressed the pedal to the medal, I hear a large clunk, look in my rearview mirrow, and see something flying from our car.  We back up along the shoulder of the highway to discover Josiah's Leapster Explorer.  And it still works!  An hour or so later, we stop for gas and discover that Josiah's water bottle has somehow managed to travel on the roof without moving an inch.

We drove through the Badlands and stopped to hike and take a few pics.  We also discovered that one of Josiah's shoes must have been placed upon the roof of the car as well, but it did not have quite the same lucky fate.  Poor Josiah was shoeless and unable to hike around.

Yes - that is Tim, Joel, and Caleb at the top of that hill!

We finally arrived at our friend's cabin in the Black Hills around 8:45pm.  We unloaded and headed for bed.

DAY 2:  Nature & Mount Rushmore

We quickly made ourselves at home at the cabin.  It was so peaceful!  Tim made a fire for us to sit around and enjoy our breakfast.

The boys quickly discovered the stream and tested all sorts of ways to cross it.

The boys loved running around in the woods, throwing rocks in the stream, and collecting all the shiny rocks.    We also visited Mount Rushmore which was only a short drive away.

The boys took "notes" along the way.  

My favorite was one of Joel's regarding our Mount Rushmore visit:  "Lots of steps".  

We ate lunch and enjoyed some icecream in Keystone before heading back to the cabin for some much needed naps. 

 EVERYONE took one.  A miracle!  After naps, we met some of our "neighbors", drank water from a fresh water spring, and rode the ATV. 

 For dinner, we roasted hot dogs over the fire.

We put the boys to bed and then Tim and I snuggled up in a hammock until the stars came out.  Now THAT was relaxing!