When in or Rome or I mean SD...

You must go to Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. This was one adventure I was really excited for. I have never been in a cave and I knew the boys would really get a kick out of it. The staff there was all about 18-22 years old and awesome with the kids. Our guide told us the history of the caves and really did a great job on our tour.

I walked 187 steps up and down with Talia on my back. When we first entered I got scared we did not make the right choice because it was steep, narrow, and 48 degrees. I was hesitant that Alex wasn't going to be able to do it. But he proved me wrong and Talia loved it. Like my backwards sweatshirt? 

Such a good girl.

The pictures do not do the cave justice, it was beautiful. You are not allowed to touch the crystals because they are actually growing and if you touch them they can die.

Some tourists from Brazil took these pictures for us. They were in love with the kids and so sweet. 

In this orange circle there is a fossilized sea shell proving there was salt water in SD at some time.

They had bags of rocks you could pan for gems, fossils, and pretty stones in. Anthony was obsessed with panning. He never grew tired of it. Alex would sort through a bag and was content, Anthony would be looking for the next bag.

It was nice to escape the heat in the cave. Next time we go I would like to go on more cave tours. It was a fun experience for all of us. I can check cave dwelling off of my bucket list!

SD Bear Country

My mother-in-law kept talking about Bear Country, I really was not that overly excited about it. BUT that all changed when we arrived. When you pull up to Bear Country USA you are given a map and instructions to follow during your tour. The guide tells you all the different animals that are going to be roaming free outside of your car-they best not hurt my mini because they are not liable for any damage, and no matter what you do not roll down your windows. My stomach actually tensed up a little. But this time the weather was on our side because these poor guys were exhausted in the ninety degree heat. I was also a fan of this activity because we could enjoy the sites of the outside in our nice and cool caravan. It was I think close to $40 for the car ride that took about 45 minutes but money well spent because we all really enjoyed it.

Reindeer

This was a big guy...

Lots of bears, many hanging out in caves staying cool in the shade.

Many mini's...big enough to not be with the babies but still so dang cute.

Wolves

Big Horn Sheep

Another hot big guy

Taking a dip

My anxiety went up here. 

Maybe 8 feet from car? Couple of buddies on each side.

The baby enclosure with all little guys hanging out together. So cute! They put them all together so they have company. They are tagged to match their mama's but away from the papa's so they don't get eaten.

Mad because we had to leave. Mom."Your no fair." I know buddy, I just drove to SD and brought you to Reptile Land and Bear Country to torture you. Or wait, for you to torture me? But I enjoyed every minute with you. Promise! xoxo

SD or Bust Continued...

Thursday was definitely not a let down. We headed over to 2 fantastic places, especially for little one's that like creepy crawlies and four legged creatures. Our first stop was Reptile Gardens! Grandma was not excited about this one, you may even say panicked. The boys on the other hand were DYING with excitement, they like themselves some snakes, frogs, and alligators-you name it!

They had gopher hole look outs, the gophers were pretty tiny. It just dawned on me why you would find gophers at Reptile Gardens, poor little things.

These guys were my favorite, both respectively 50 and 65 years old. The sweetest land tortoise's, clearly accustomed to humans loving up on them.

Anthony's favorite reptile, the komodo dragon. He took over 300 pictures while we visited on his I-pod. I forgot my camera, thank you I-pod-you saved us!

They had a huge dome with a garden in the center. On the surrounding top floor there are hundreds of species of lakes, spiders,  and different types of reptiles. It was really cool!

Think these two look alike?

We were there for over 4 hours. Saw the alligator show, poisonous snake show, and had lunch. It is not a large place so not a lot of walking and you can feel good about the kids running ahead of you because the crowds are thin so you are able to keep an eye out easily. Next stop was Bear Country!

South Dakota or BUST!

Like I have mentioned in earlier posts, this summer is about vacations. We are not going to waste a minute inside AC unless it is 99 degrees and 95% humidity-which by the way it has been so we have cheated just a little bit. BUT we did make it to South Dakota...an 8 year old, 4 year old, 11 month old, 63 year old, and a very young 34 year old. 12 hours in the car there, 12 hours in the car back, I drove 22 of those hours. It was beautiful, enlightening, and at times excruciating but we all made it there and back in one piece.

We started the adventure on Tuesday, headed out to Aberdeen to spend the night and go to Storybook Land in the morning. I really was not that excited about going there but once there it is truly amazing all the have done there. Any and every story book character you can imagine is there. My favorite was the World of OZ and following the yellow brick road. Anthony's was Dopey and Alex's was the grumpy trees from Wizard of Oz.

After we were done with Storybook Land we hopped into the mini for the long haul. It took us about 8 hours to get to Custer with multiple potty stops and a pit stop to eat. We arrived at the Bavarian Inn right outside of Custer-I would highly recommend. The website pictures do not do it justice. Our room was clean, had a refrigerator and microwave, french doors that were garden level and we parked right outside of our room so it was easy to carry things in and out. The boys swam for ours in the outdoor pool and made plenty of friends. We woke up the next day, had a bavarian sourdough roll for breakfast, and were off to our next destination...Flinstone Land! I wasn't sure if the boys even knew who Fred & Wilma were but they had a great time there. Talia even enjoyed the rocking out Fred and Barney show.

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Once we were done hanging with The Flinstones we headed over to Custer State Park...BEAUTIFUL! Next time I would like to stay there and tent it. It is the largest national park in the nation, I did not know that. Lots of things to see. Many lakes, wildlife, and cool little nooks and crannies to explore. We had lunch there at this little lakeside restaurant, we lost Alex for the longest 30 seconds of my life. With that much water surrounding you and knowing that your 4 year old is not a solid swimmer, missing him for 30 seconds seems like eternity. But the help is so awesome there, a guy that works there saw me panicking and quickly found him admiring some toys in the gift shop. "Sorry mama, I was just going potty."

We took the route through Custer that takes you to Mount Rushmore. They have many different look outs that you can stop at, we did to take it all in. My mother-in-law commented how she forgot how smoothly the van drove and how fast I drove it. The last time I was at Mount Rushmore was when I was 8. All the work they have done to it is breath taking.

I will save some more of our adventure for my next post....SD or bust!!!