Isaac's Last 2 Baseball Games of the 2012 season

Isaac had his last 2 games of 1st grade baseball this week.  He had a few hits and made some good plays to wrap up the season.

 

Coach Dave handed out the trophies....and of course the team went to DQ to celebrate!

See some more pictures from the games here.

Another great baseball season!!! 

South Dakota - Days 6 & 7 (Driving Days)

Friday we took a drive on the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.  There were a few places to get out along the way.  The first was Bridal Veil Falls.  We hiked a bit to the falls crossing a stream.  It was very cold which felt great since it was another hot day.   In the stream, we saw an America Dipper.  At first we thought it was a typical bird and it had been injured, but later we learned that the bird likes to hang out in the water and float around eating the insects in the water.

The next place we stopped was Roughlock Falls.  We parked the Buffalo Protector and had a nice picnic lunch right near the falls.

"A stunning highlight of Spearfish Canyon is Roughlock Falls, widely considered one of the most beautiful locations in the Black Hills. The scenery is so beautiful that cinematographers for the motion picture "Dances with Wolves" decided to shoot its final scenes here.  The name Roughlock Falls originates from difficulties early settlers encountered while traveling through Spearfish Canyon. Wagon drivers would "roughlock" the wheels of their wagons with logs or chains to keep them in place and slide down the slope.  Visitors can fish or picnic in the nature area surrounding Roughlock Falls. The canyon itself is also a spectacular place to explore with several designated walking paths and hiking trails. In the fall, photographers flock to the canyon to capture vibrant gold and red aspen leaves as the seasons change. Roughlock Falls is also an excellent place to bird watch, especially for rare species like the American Dipper."

After the scenic drive we decided to go into the town of Spearfish and stop at the DC Booth Historic Fish Hatchery.  We learned quite a bit about raising trout.  By then it was time for dinner.  We found a nice restaurant in town.  As we walked out of the restaurant we noticed their was a street fair.  The kids were able to ride horses and get some fresh squeezed lemonade.  Then back to the campground....for our last night in the Buffalo Protector!

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to back to Rapid City to return the RV.  The kids were still asleep when we left, so we let them sleep in the bed while we drove.  After we picked the car up, unpacked and cleaned the RV we began our journey home.  Of course we had a few stops in mind.  The first place we stopped was Storybook Island.

Then we took a scenic drive through the badlands.  It was 104 degrees...the kids did not even want to get out of the car....but we did and we walked around a bit at a few overlook stops. 

Finally, we got back in the car and drove all the way home....we arrived around 1AM.   It was an amazing trip, we had a great time, saw some amazing things and learned a lot! 

See the last set of pictures from our trip....

South Dakota Trip - Day 5 (Guns, Gold and Extinction Day)

On Wednesday we woke up early and started our drive up to the Northern Hills.  We stopped at Dino Park in Rapid City for a picnic lunch.  The kids had a great time climbing the life size concrete dinosaurs. 

 

After taking some photos and picnicking with the prehistoric posthumous dinosaurs, we headed back to the Buffalo Protector and drove to Deadwood.  Deadwood is a city that started with the gold rush in the late 1800's and is famous for gambling, guns and of course gold.  When we arrived we walked around town a bit then hopped on the trolley to the gold mine. 

 

We had a bit of a walk and it was hot!  So we felt like the miners back in the day must have felt only a little bit cleaner.  We took a tour of the mine and then we panned for gold...the kids actually found some!

Deadwood had a lot of shows on the streets and in the saloons.  They all tell the story of Wild Bill Hickock who was shot in the back while playing poker.  He is the one on the left below.  Isaac really liked the shows and the shootout on the street.  Olivia not so much....the guns were pretty loud so she and I went shopping during the second show. 

 

See some more pictures and a short video.  The video is of us driving in the RV, the kids are playing cards, then I caught a part of one of the shows in Deadwood as well.



South Dakota Trip - Day 4 (Dirt Day)

Wednesday was "Dirt Day".  We packed up the Buffalo Protector (seen above) and headed south.  First stop, Wind Cave National Park.  Here we took the Natural Entrance Tour.  "This tour includes a visit to the natural entrance of Wind Cave where visitors can see where the cave was discovered and learn how it got its name. Participants enter the cave through a man-made entrance and journey through the middle level of the cave. Wind Cave's famous boxwork is abundant throughout this trip. Most of the 300 stairs along this route are down. This moderately strenuous one-half mile tour lasts 1¼ hours and exits the cave by elevator."   The picture below is right above the caves...
 

 In the cave....

 After some spelunking we headed to the Mammoth Site to do some digging.  The kids were signed up for the Jr. Paleontologist program.  They both were able to dig up fossils in a dig site.  Isaac found a rib and Olivia found a molar!

After being underground, and digging in the dirt we decided to head to our next campgrounds in Angostura State Park.  Here we had a campsite right on the beach of a reservoir. An another bonus was that we were now out of the mountains which had a burn ban...in other words no man made fires.  Here on the beach we were able to light a campfire, cook out and of course make s'mores!

On the way out of the camp site it was time to let the Buffalo Protector use the facilities and freshen up a bit.  So we dumped and filled up with water....the kids really got a kick out of this and Isaac took some funny pictures.

 See some more of the pictures here

South Dakota Trip - Day 2(RV Day) & 3(Monument Day)

Well today (Monday) was RV day. We could not get the RV until 1pm, so we spent the morning at the Journey Museum. "The Journey Museum takes you on an incredible trek through time, from the violent upheaval that formed the mystical Black Hills over 2.5 billion years ago to the continuing saga of the Western Frontier. When your journey is complete, you will fully understand the legacy of the land and its people. " The museum was extremely interesting and we learned a lot about the history of the black hills area.  This was great to do before we set off on our journey in the dun,dun,dah..Buffalo Protector!  After the museum we headed over to pick up the RV. We packed it up and headed to the grocery store to load up on food and supplies. Oh and Isaac lost a tooth!

Then we drove straight to our camp site at Sylvan Lake in Custer State park. Well, almost straight there.  We did take the needeles highway, which is a scenic drive through the mountains with lots of swicthbacks and small tunnels (which we did not know about!).  The RV is 12 ft. high and 10 ft. wide.  The first tunnel we apprached was no problem, then we saw a sign for a tunnel which was 10.7 ft high and 10.3 ft wide.....do the math.  By the time we saw the sign and realized our dimensional conundrum, we were on a one lane curvy road on the side of a mountain several thousand feet high in a 23 ft. long rv ....so no 3 pt. turns.   Miriam got out of the RV and stopped the oncoming traffic and we droive through the tunnnel very slowly and carefullly and we just made it! 
As soon as we arrived at the campsite, we got settled in only to find out Oli was sick so we took a "short" drive to the ER in Custer....everything was fine, but it was a late night!

The next day we got up early and hiked around Sylvan Lake a bit. Then it was Monument Day!  So, off to Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt. Rushmore.

The kids really liked the Native American dancers (who were kids too; 10 & 14) at Crazy Horse Memorial.

Afterwards, the kids were able to talk with the dancers and learn about the dancing and their schools. After Crazy Horse Memorial, we stopped in Keystone and rode the Alpine Slide.

We arrived at Mt. Rushmore at about 7:30PM. The kids signed up to be Jr. Park Rangers. They had to do a series of activities, fill out a workbook and take an oath. They were really into it. After that it was time for the lighting ceremony, which was really moving and lasted until about 10:00PM.  The kids fell asleep on the way home in the RV. See all the pictures here...

South Dakota Trip - Drive and Day 1 (Animal Day)

Saturday at 7Am we headed out on our 600 mile road trip to Rapid City, South Dakota where we would pick up our RV and spend a week in the Black Hills and the Badlands. Around noon we stopped in Micthell, SD for lunch at the Corn Palace.At lunch in honor of the corn palace we feasted on corn dogs and corn on the cob. After lunch we continued on our journey. Around 3PM we met up with our friends Bob, Deb, Sam and Eliana. They were returning from their vacation which coincidentally was very similar to what we had planned and we were crossing paths. We let the kids play for awhile while they gave us the highlights of their trip...then it was back on the road for us. Next stop Wall Drug! "America's Favorite Roadside Attraction!"...read about on there website.

At Wall Drug, we ate dinner, shopped around, took some fun pictures(see above) and played in the spray park. After which we drove another hour to our hotel in Rapid City.
The next morning Isaac and I woke up early and he wanted to play with his cap gun, given it was 6AM we went outside for a walk and waited for the girls to wake up. We had breakfast and headed to Bear Country. This is a drive through "Zoo" where we got to see lots of different animals but as you would expect from the name the highlights were the bears and bear cubs!

After Bear Country we decided to do some of the scenic drives which were not advisable with the RV, due to the size restrictions on the tunnels (more to come on that tomorrow). We headed to the Black Hills National Forest where the buffalo(bison) roam and the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day... As we were driving through the park we found the herd of bison which must have been 200 to 300 bison. They walked right by our car so close we could almost touch them!

You can see how big they are....several were larger than our car! During our drive through the national forest we stopped a few times along the way to check out the views. The first time we got out and climbed a bit we stumbled upon a view of Mt. Rushmore...this was the first time any of us had seen it!

After our drive we stopped at the Reptile Garden on our way home.

The kids were able to visit with a giant tortoise, among other reptiles; Crocs, Alligators, Kamodo Dragons, snakes, skinks and birds. After that we called it a day and headed to dinner and then back to the hotel to rest up for "RV day". At dinner we discussed names for the RV...lot's of ideas were tossed around but we settled on Oli's choice...."The Buffalo Protector" which stuck for the rest of the vacation.

See all the pictures and some videos here.

4th of July week

Over the holiday week, we enjoyed the nice HOT weather. Lita was in town and we took her to see the Okee Dokee Brothers at Starring Lake.

We also went to the parade and saw the fireworks with Katie and Sarah.

See some more pictures from the week here.