Mt. Rushmore, cont...

Finally! The not so anticipated recap of our Mt. Rushmore vacay! We spent day 2 at the mount itself! It was everything I had imagined it to be! I honestly could have stayed there a whole lot longer than the several hours that we did. There's just a serenity about this place. We just loved it! We took the kiddos on the hike around the Presidential loop. I had Pip in the baby bjorn for most of the hike. We swapped out at some point and Matter got to carry her. We took the hike nice and slow for the kiddos and really enjoyed ourselves. The kids did great. I love that whenever Pippi saw the mountain, she screamed, "HI FACES!!!" So, so cute! Beck was being a weirdo about taking pictures this day, so he's pretty much just in the group ones. He's really into making crazy faces right now... Recap: LOVED the Mount Rushmore! Loved it!
Entering the park!

the fam

Beck insisted on wearing my mom's golf visor for most of the day. He looked stellar...

The whole gang! Isn't the sky the most beautiful shade of blue?

My 2 beauties at an overlook point!

Pip and her daddy!

After the "Mount," we headed to Bear Country USA! It's a drive through park with millions of amazing animals. We all really loved it! TONS of bears, both big and babies! It look well over an hour to drive through the park, and then longer to see the Babyland. So cute!

Piper looking out the window at the animals

The baby bears

This was the only family pic we took here, and my mom cut off most of the Pipsters head!

DAY 3: Reptile Gardens and Custer State Park

We headed out to Reptile gardens bright and early day 3. It is a smaller park, but the kids went crazy there! There were bird shows, alligator shows, and a snake show. The kids got to pet a lot of the animals, too, so they were in heaven! Custer State Park was kind of bust. The best part was definitely the "Beggin Burros"! There are wild burros wandering in a part of the park. We had heard of them, so we came prepared with lots of carrots! They ambushed our car and ate like crazy! My mom said she'd pay Matt $5 to put a baby carrot in his mouth and feed it to one. He, of course, did it. She, of course, didn't pay... The rest of the park was pretty, but we had had it with being in the car at that point! My mom and the kids were carsick, and I was just done with whiny kids!

below: the kids petting a baby alligator!

I absolutely LOVE the look on the Londybug's face when she saw the prairie dog upclose!

Beck and Pip checking out a tortoise

waiting for the reptile show to begin

In the Custer State Park: the beggin burros!

matt and his special "burro!"

Can't imagine what Beck is doing here...

Matt hiked up a bit in the park

Day 4: homeward bound!

We woke up bright and early to a sick little Londy. She had a sick tummy. She started to throw up and throw up. I was in with her when I noticed something big and white in the mess. It looked an awful lot like a water balloon. She swears up and down she didn't swallow it as she throws up 2 or 3 more water balloons. I'm livid at this point. She had made these cute water balloon flip flops in her finishing school this summer. I guess she had eaten a handful of them on the drive. Anywho, she was sick for a bit and then started to feel better. She skipped lunch, but about 30 minutes after lunch, we stopped to get gas and bought the kids slurpees. She was feeling lots better, so we got her one too. About an hour later, we stopped at Martin's Cove. I thought it would be amazing to spent Pioneer Day at this historical site. Half way through the tour, the kids were being loud and Matt took them ahead to play. Not 2 minutes later, Beck comes around the corner screaming that London had thrown up everywhere. He wasn't kidding! There was about a 6x6 area or larger of light gray carpet COVERED in bright red slurpee! Good times. I spent the next hour on my hands and knees trying to clean it with a spraybottle filled with liquid Dawn and water and scrubbing with paper towels. Not the best supplies! She threw up all over the grounds, too, but they just sprayed that mess away.

We finally headed home and the kids were amazing the rest of the trip! For as much driving as we did in 4 days, they couldn't have done any better!

It really was a great trip!!! Can't wait for our next one!

Londy and Beck at Martin's Cove

Probably the only decent picture I got of Beckett in almost 3 days!