Black Hills Trip

Here's a few pics from our vacation this summer. We went camping in the Black Hills the last weekend in July with some of Grant's family. It was a great time. Lauren had a blast camping and with her cousins. We stayed at a campground right outside Mt. Rushmore. I tell you, we drove by it every day, and each day I had to look up in wonder and awe. Amazing place!

Our family at Mount Rushmore National Monument. It was Lauren's and my first time and it was amazing to see!! We took a nice hike up the mountain for a closer view, did a little shopping at the gift shop and had some tasty ice cream at the end of our hot day! Here's a picture of all the kids before our 'hike.' Lauren can be such a little ham!

That afternoon, we drove through Custer State Park on their "wildlife" trail. Custer State Park is known for having the largest buffalo herd in the U.S. I guess to them, TWO buffalo is a large herd, as that's all we saw on our two hour nature drive!!
Here's Lauren feeding the only animals that we did see in the Park, the beggin' burrows! They certainly weren't shy.

The next day we stopped at a place called 'The Cosmos". I can't even really describe what it is, and my pictures don't really do it justice. Suffice it to say, it's an ODD place.

Here we are TRYING to stand up straight. Things get a little whacky in the Cosmos...

Logan being tested in the 'truth' chair. Hope he doesn't fall flat on his nose, cuz that's what it looks like he's going to do. Only two of those chair legs are on solid ground...

After trying to figure out what weird supernatural forces were at work in the Cosmos, we were all quite hungry, so we drove in to Rapid City for lunch and to check out a few sites, like the Reptile Gardens. Guess which of us didn't go there....

Lauren, Grant and I checked out Storybook Island instead. Basically, just a big park with a bunch of storybook character figures. Lauren was in heaven!! Especially since Cinderella and her coach and four were right next door to The Cat.

After a VERY hot afternoon at Storybook Island, we headed to the water park for some fun. Our little fish had a great time!

Our big fish too...

The next morning, Lauren was up bright and early of course, so she and her dad walked down to the lake we were camping next to.

Some fish were harmed in the making of this photo...

Can't go to the Black Hills without becoming a bit of a cowgirl!

And here we all are, exept Uncle Verlan who was taking the picture. It was a GREAT weekend. So much fun, so many things to do and see. Lauren loves camping just about as much as we do and she did great staying in Aunt Missy's new camper. There's nothing better than sitting around a campfire early in the morning, catching the morning sun and reading a book. Or at nite while roasting marshmallows. It was a great time and we can't wait to go back! I will put up more pics on our picasa site for anyone interested.