Black Hills Trip

Tuesday

In the afternoon, after  lunch in Fargo, we left for Mandan! We took it slowly and stopped in Valley City and I went to a few thrift stores real quick!

We got to Mandan and the kids started playing together right away!

Matthew waited for his cousins to come to take a bath that night - which worked out perfectly, cause I didn't get one for the kids that morning before we left! They had a blast! First time with Sorraya in with them! 

Matthew just started violin lessons and so he was showing us his cute little new violin! It was pretty much the cutest thing - can't wait to hear him play his first full song! :)

After supper, we went to the new park close by that just got a revamp. It was pretty impressive! The kids loves it and had a blast checking everything out!

Walking back to the cars - holding hands!

Sorraya played with this shopping cart pretty much the whole time we were there. She was always filling it up and pushing it around! 

Wednesday

Bright and early, we started driving to SD! Lots of beautiful stops along the way!

Then we made it to our cabin for the stay!

It was better than we expected! 

Nana and Papa's room!

Christy and Matthew's room!

Loft

Our room upstairs!

The kids loved this steep hill right outside the door! They would have played there and been fine the whole time!

Once we got settled in, we had to make a trip to Walmart- which was an hour away...so we figured we better go and just eat supper there!

On our way out, we saw this parade of tractors! It was the funniest thing! They were clearly driving for a while...as they all had coolers and bags packed! Good thing it was a beautiful day!

After Walmart, we had a delicious supper at Fuddruckers!

We were greeted with a beautiful sunset as we left and headed back home to the cabin!

Thursday

After a good nights sleep, we got up and had breakfast and played a little before we started our activities for the day!

Played some soccer!

Took a walk down the road!

Matthew and Nana picked some beautiful wild flowers that made themselves in a glass of water on the center of the kitchen table in the cabin! 

A nice touch!

All the cousins swinging away!

First stop... Mt Rushmore!

Such a sight to see!

Beautiful views all around!

The whole group! 

So thankful we got this picture!!

We walked the Presidents trail! Lots of stairs! 

We carried the strollers most the way too, but were thrilled to see some landing along the way!

The best we got! :)

Taking a break!

The boys and the Presidents!

Walking with Daddy! :)

Just animals on the side of the road! 

Since we were close to Crazy Horse we went!

We paid a ridiculous amount to get in and could see the same thing from the gates as we did once we got in! 

It was on and off raining...so we waited till we thought it was done and unpacked lunch at the picnic tables and then it started raining again. We all got a plate full of food and ate it in the car! And then we left!

So we joked and said we had a $28 picnic in the rain! :) 

Save your money! Wait till it is really done - if it ever is finished!

Then after that...we went to Bear Country U.S.A!!

It was a Drive Through Wildlife Park!

We saw so many neat animals up close!

The bears were spectacular...like 100 at least! So many. And then there were more behind a fence that we couldn't see very well at all!

Once the drive through part was over...you end up at a place called Babyland, which is where you park and get out and walk around to see more animals. 

The Grizzly bear was over here...i guess they didn't want them just roaming so close to people in their cars!

This one was sneering at us! We were happy to keep our distance! :)

Papa and Matthew sitting with the statue of the founder of the Park!

Raya could see these animals better than during the drive through! 

Love when the timing is perfect...here we just saw the animal keepers give the animals some supper! 

Here she was bringing food to the baby black bears!

They were so busy working on tearing apart this log that they didn't really care about supper! 

The keeper eventually went over and let them sniff the bucket and told them it was here! 

Watching the foxes!

Beavers!

A cool sign to send the visit!

Friday

In the morning, Papa spotted a little baby bunny outside on the side of the cabin. The boys were thrilled to come and see it. Papa gave the rabbit some carrots, but he didn't really eat them, that we know of it!

We started the day off right way at the Reptile Gardens!

Such cool place! 

We started off in the safari or and we all loved it! 

So many cool birds, reptiles and other things just roaming around free! 

Some of the few beautiful birds!

The turtles were a favorite and were some in water and some on land! 

Then there was this snake that was just hanging out on a branch above our heads. The rest of the family had walked under it and missed it so i got their reaction when I spotted it out to them! haha!

With that being said, we went to a snake show! 

It was so neat seeing all the different snakes and hear about them as well!

The lady did a great job with the show!

It kept everyone's interest!

Then there was this Boa that was a little feisty! 

He actually strike at the lady doing the show at least 3 times. 

It was quite the sight trying to get him back into the box and put away. 

She did great!

Then we checked out some other reptiles...little

and big!!!!

More turtles!

At one point, I took Sorraya over to the play ground and let her play, while everyone else was in the big dome looking at all the other reptiles! There were so many!! (I checked it out later)

She was throwing sand up in the air and it was everyone. In her hair, down her shirt, and we later found a huge amount in her diaper! :( ouch! 

Then we went to see the big tortoises!

You could pet them, stroke their neck and touch their shell!

The kids loved them. Matthew was the bravest of them all. My kids were a little scared!

After a great time at Reptile Gardens, we grabbed a quick lunch at Sonic! 

Chris' family had never been and it was close and we all like it! :) 

It was a loud lunch, because they were pouring asphalt and redoing the road there, but fun to watch!

After lunch, it was nap time in the car while we drove to our next stop!

Most of the kids naps were in the car - and with that being said, they did really good during the whole trip!

One cool view of one of the faces from Rushmore as we drove!

So much beauty around!

Our next stop was Sylvan Lake and then Needles Highway!

Sylvan lake was just absolutely beautiful!

We were short on time so we didn't get to see all that we wanted...

...but what we did see what just breathtaking! 

The boys had a blast throwing rocks in the water!

My pretty girl around the beauty!

Then onto Needles Highway!

There were about 4-5 little one way tunnels throughout the highway!

Then there was this lookout view! WOW!

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day either! :)

Chris getting a panorama picture of the beauty!

Just Chris and I got out, since the thought of two little ones around all these rocks and cliffs...well, it just wasn't going to happen!

So we got a cute picture! :)

Driving around while there, we saw so many fun wildlife just roaming around!! 

Story time with Nana!!

Saturday

In the morning, while the adults were packing and cleaning, the kids got to play outside and enjoy that! Which was helpful for us as well!

But they did end up helping by swiffering and sweeping! 

One last snuggle with Nana!

Christy had these sunflower seeds and Sorraya had asked for some, and then she kept asking for more and more and more. Then later, Ryken joined in! They were addicted and Sorraya was just obsessed with them! 

We ended up getting some at the gas station later that day!

Then later, when I changed Raya, it was just a diaper filled of sunflower seeds. Whole ones and all. 

Did I mention she ate a lot! haha!

One last shot of beauty as we were leaving! 

Until next time, and there will be a next time!

We have all said we want to come back! 

There is so much around to do, and just a beautiful place to enjoy being in!

While the rest of the family started on their way back to Mandan, we went to Rapid City and had lunch with the Rudolph's.

Since we were so close to them, we had to try and fit in a short time to see them.

So they were kind enough to invite us to their house. They picked up pizza and we enjoyed a tasty lunch and even greater fellowship! 

The kids had a blast playing together!

Loved this shot of them wearing the hard hats!

We took another detour on the way home.

We drove through Mobridge.

Chris lived here from 1st-6th grade, so it was fun to see the little town.

We saw the building of the church that he went to and which also happened to be where his Grandpa preached for a time.

Then we got to where things were more familiar to him.

This was the pool just down the street from his house. He remembered going to the pool in the summer many times.

This was the garage that Chris fell off of that started all his back issues!

It since has been completely reconstructed, but this is the location of where it happened.

This was one of the elementary school's Chris went to!

And then, this is the other one that he spent a longer period at.

It now is a college, but it has the original playground equipment from when Chris went there in the back of the school.

Then this is where Chris lived! It was a corner house, and both Chris and others said they hardly recognized it due to the big tree's in front. 

It was so neat to see some of Chris' past in the cute little town called Mobridge!

We left with a beautiful sunset and headed on home!

We got to Mandan just past 10:00pm and we were thankful to be there!

The kids played a little bit and then we all slept great!

It was such a wonderful time. We are so thankful for the time we got to spend together and see new sights of beauty! 

We all would love to go back again sometime soon!