Our vacation journal...

First, we had our first baseball game last night against a Chadron team.... and we WON! Wow! What an improvement from last year! I am so proud our our boys... all of them! They were AWESOME!
Okay I have been meaning to begin this journal, but have not had a spare moment!

Day 1, Tuesday May 19th- We left Crawford at 1:30 (after school was let out) and headed north to the Mammoth Site. We have been there several times, but our little Matt loves the place. We even got to see an actual dig going on and visit with the diggers. They had some new discoveries to share with us, too! It was pretty cool, and then Matt got his Mammoth t-shirt supply renewed, too. We then headed towards Hill City area... through Custer. We got to see a huge heard of Buffalo with bunches of brand-new babies, too. We made it to Mt. Rushmore that afternoon, and the boys thought that was pretty neat, as they hadn't remembered how big it really was. Then we saw some mountain goats along the road, too. It was a hot day, so we then got to our hotel at Palmer Gulch around 5:30 and went for a swim in the outdoor pool (it was 90 degrees). It was a beautiful serene area, and we plan to camp there someday! After a yummy supper, we had a little walk, saw some deer and played some catch ant then off to bed!


Day 2, Wed. May 20th- This morn we woke up to get ready for a long day of fun stuff! After a continental breakfast, we headed into Hill City to the 1880 Train. We got there rather early and got to partake in a tour of the repair facility. IT WAS COOL! Daddy-O and I visited with the help quite a bit, as they were fascinated with our husband/wife Engineer jobs. Anyhow, the train ride was wonderful and the hills were beautiful! The trees were leafing out with the bright green colors.... And we had the best weather all week! Then we headed to Rapid to shop for cleats and ect..... We had the boys' feet measured first at Scheels, and Matt's was a 4.75! WOW! He's got some huge feet! SO, he got cleats, and new athletic shoes. Poor fella, had too small shoes on! Andy was right around a 3.5 yet. So, he will be getting the hand-me-down shoes, now.... Meggie, we she wanted new shoes, but she has hundreds of pairs, and I had to do some quick talking. Then we went to our hotel, at the Waitiki Water Park. The boys had no clue what our vacation agenda was, so the ENTIRE Trip was a SURPRISE! They were thrilled with the choice of hotel this night. We swam and rode water slides for 4 hours... whew, we were all tired, and had a great time! Andy rode the slides probably 15 times, Matt not so many times, but he love the smaller ones geared for the little ones. Meggie just liked the low water areas. Daddy & I enjoyed the slides a few times, but I didn't much appreciate the "toilet bowl", as I kept going around and around, and around! I never seem to get flushed down the hole! Finally, I grabbed a hold of the edge of the hole, and flushed myself! TEE HEE! then it was time for a BL Lime! Enought of that! Awesome hotel, too. Great, comfy beds, nice breakfast.

Day 3, Thursday May 21st- Today, we went to a park to get some morning energy off. We had intended to go to the Storybook Park, but they were closed yet, until Memorial weekend! So, we then went to Cabela's & had a great time, as usual! We went accross the street and oogled some campers... we would love to have a camper! Then we head off towards the West. We drove through Sturgis, and the town was pretty dead compared to the Rally time. But the boys' enjoyed it. Jeffey wanted me to see the Spearfish canyon, so we headed that way.... the kids fell asleep, too! So, we had a wonderful, peaceful tour through the canyon. I definitely want to go back on the bike in the fall. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! We are so lucky to be so close to the Black Hills.... Anyhow, I enjoyed all of the beautiful homes along the way, too. I would love to live up there! But, too far from the ranch.... It is good to dream! Finally, we arrived at Deadwood, and checked into our hotel the Bullock. It was a dream for us. As we always wanted to stay there, and Jeffey wanted to hunt ghosts! Tee HEE! The boy's checked out the hotel when we got there, and made plans for later hunts. We then checked out main street, did some shopping, visited with some locals, ate supper at the Saloon #10, and participated/enjoyed the skit of Wild Bill's shooting with a very great look-a-like of Wild Bill. He was very interesting and took a liking to our family. He even showed us his horses out back, his fancy reproduction pistols, and told us of his upcoming movies with Sam Elliot. Pretty darn cool! The we were headed to bed, and ghost hunting!

Day 4, Friday May 21st- This morning, all of the boys let me and Meggie sleep in, with they ghost hunted, and went for a long walk! YEA! We then went downstairs for a yummy breakfast, and mad a plan for the day. We decided on heading up towards the Mt. Moriah Cemetery to see where Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and Seth Bullock are buried. The kids loved the super hilly terrain, and had a great hike way up to Bullocks grave site. But it was beautiful, and wonderful scenery... Then we went to the museum downtown. The kids got a bit bored, but Jeffey and I loved it! They had some pretty cool things in there, such as a box that traveled on the Mayflower, some bones from the Custer battlefield, a two headed calf, and lots of cool old artifacts that were a collection from a family who collected them as a form of their "status". Apparently, wealth families collected items to have a room filled with these oddities to wooo their friends. I was impressed! SO, it then was over, and we headed towards home.....
We got home to feed the cats, and water the plants outside. They we all fine, as we had some rain while we were gone. SO, we unloaded a few items form the van and headed to Paxton! Yippee! We had a great weekend there, kids played with their cousins(lots of baseball, and basketball) and I drank some beer and made several cards with the girls. Jeffey just relaxed, went fishing, danced with me at the bar.... it was a wonderful week!
We came home Monday night to a cat being missing.... Jeffey is still broken hearted over his kitten being gone. I hope that he has found a happy home...poor Pooh! I had to go to Rapid to the Back Dr. on Tuesday, and he game some shots to me in the back where I hurt. So, far no pain relief, but they said it could take up to 10 days.... we will see.... So, I hope all of you have had a great week, and I have missed all of you!