Day 3 in South Dakota

Just because hims such a cute little baby. He has been so tired. And such a trouper too. We are going all day and he just gets quick naps in here and there. We started off our day at Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. The Worlds Largest dog tooth spar formations are in this cave. Some are up to 10 inches in length.

Simon was a little scared. He cried all the way down the VERY steep and VERY narrow 10 stories of stairs that you have to take to get to the bottom of the cave. He was crying and asking to be let back up and never taken in another cave again. Once at the bottom he was fine. And going back up was cake.

Some more dog tooth spars and i can't remember what the ribbon od crystals are called. But so very cool looking.

Next stop was to the Cosmos Mystery Area. I wanted to vomit the whole time I was in the cabin. Here is a pic of the boys on two level surfaces. Level to each other.

Looks like when they switch places that Stanny grew and Simon shrank.

Me being o'so cool standing on the wall. I want to go home and try this.

On a level surface again, but we are all leaning. The pull in the place was amazing. Father you go away from it the better my tummy felt. Feels like you are in the "Graviton" ride at a carnival. So weird.

Next we went to Bear Country U.S.A. And here are just some of the pics that I took from our car of all the animals. Here is an Arctic Wolf.

Some big horn sheep.

This little guy was climbing a tree. He was so cute to watch. Sorry the pics are a little fuzzy. I had to keep my car windows closed.

And here this little guy was all tuckered out sleeping in a tree.

This black bear was seriously three feet from our car.


An albino Buffalo! He was neat to see.

A momma and her baby.

He was just too cute. Running and jumping. Babies have to be my favorite.

Fishy's favorite place was the baby black bear cubs. He loved the car ride, and would get made when a bear walked away from our car or we had to keep driving, but he screamed and got really pissed when I would move the stroller to a different part of these cubs play area. We have another animal lover. :)

So here is the pizza hut that we drove around for a half hour to find. We thought we had seen one but couldn't remember where. So while the kids fell asleep in the car we just drove up and down streets till we found one. At dinner we asked the kids to please video their vacations so we can compare our children's behavior to theirs. Simon said he is not going to have children, but Stanny said he is going to have 7 boys and 6 girls. when asked what he is going to name them he replied, "The girwls are going to be named Charwee, and the boys Astro Boy." Too cute. I can't wait for my 7 little grandbaby Astro Boys to show up. ;)

After dinner we drove to what I think is the highest point in Rapid City. They have some dinosaurs that the kids can climb on.

Here's a video of the baby black bear cubs. They were too super cute.

We started out our trip nice. Right as we passed in SD we came across a chuck wagon. I had no idea that they did them in the day time as well as in the evening. We thought it was pretty neat to see.Then we had to pull over and take a picture of this sign. Population 1. Steven wants to know if he is the mayor? It made me laugh.We got out of the car while we were looking for a place to eat lunch, just to climb this huge set of stairs. I forgot to ask them what was at the top of them.First stop on our trip was to the Mammoth Site. It was really cool. I want to go back in ten years to how much more they have uncovered. A cool cave/house thing built out of replica mammoth jaws.We signed the kids up for a dig. While we were waiting for it a lady came up and asked if we were from Longmont. I recognized her. She is another parent at Alpine. Stanley and her daughter are going to be in the same kindergarten class. Then the next night at dinner we ended up at the same resturant as them in a totally different town. Small world.After the dig we went to ourhotel. Right next to it is the most awesome putt-putt I have ever seen.Here Steven is showing the boys how to putt. He didn't need to show me as I was the master putter. The only one to get a hole in one, and I even beat Steven. By one stroke, but still I won and that's all that matters.The money shot of our first day. He looks like an evil baby. He was so happy to be out of the car.Getting a little creative when he couldn't reach the bubbler.After golfing they gave the kids goodie bags filled with pirate stuff. They thought this was the best part.Day two started off at Mt. Rushmore.The ranger on our tour told us to smell the trees. My first thoguht was that they smelled of vanilla. But after the Ranger told us the three that he hears people say vanilla, chocolate, and butterscotch; I smelled butterscotch.Stanny using some of the natives tools to scrap a buffalo hide.Here we are messing around in Keystone.Then we went to Jewel cave, where the kids earned there Junior Ranger badges and patches. Stanny seeing if he can fit through the skinniest part of the cave.Steven took these pictures of the cave, as Fish was a big crabby baby and I had to leave with him.