June 29, 2015 - Malissa Softball

Malissa on 3rd base and running home.

 



June 21, 2015 - Father's Day

 

Happy Father's Day to a great dad!

June 20, 2015 - WeePee Softball Tournament

It's time for the WeePee Softball Tournament! Laura's team is the ones playing today. The girls play 2 games.

June 19, 2015 - Vacation Bible School

Laura and Karla had so much fun at bible school this week. The last day you get to see how the week went for them. This is the first year that Karla was able to go. She was so excited to go to "school."

All of the kids squeezed in together. Laura and Karla are somewhere in there.

 

June 18, 2015 - Softball

Laura and Malissa playing softball.

 



June 18, 2015 - T-Ball Practice

We managed to get Karla to one t-ball practice. She loved playing like her big sisters.

 



June 16, 2015 - Art Work

Malissa is creating art!

 



June 16, 2015 - Sprinklers

I often wonder what the cows think we are doing.

 





June 12, 2015 - Reptile Garden

We finished out the day at Reptile Garden.

 

June 12, 2015 - Black Hills Maze

After Storybook Island we headed to the Black Hills Maze. Somehow I managed to not take any pictures. Apparently running around a maze with small children and picture taking are mutually exclusive endeavors.

June 11, 2015 - Storybook Island

We wait for Storybook Island to open.

Taking advantage of a sunshiny day, we headed to Storybook Island in Rapid City. This may have
been a trip favorite for the younger members of the family. Storybook Island is a playground with a theme of fairy tale and story characters.

June 11, 2015 - Custer Wildlife Loop

On the way back from Mammoth Site it poured rain. A bit stumped for things to do, we decided to head back to Rapid City (we were in Hot Springs) by way of the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop.

June 11, 2015 - Mammoth Site



This particular mammoth is named "Beauty" because isn't he? And
yes, every single mammoth found in this site was a young adult male.
 But he still gets to keep the name.

June 10, 2015 - Dinosaur Park

 

Rapid City has a Dinosaur Park that is built on a hill that looks over the town. The kids had a lot of fun climbing all over the dinosaurs.

June 10, 2015 - Bear Country USA

 

 

Deciding on swapping sitting on a train to sitting in our car we headed over to Bear Country USA. There you drive through their wildlife area where the animals are hanging out right next to the road each separated into their own enclosures. In the case of their primary draw - the bears - you are actually driving through their habitat with bears strolling across the road right in front of you.

June 10, 2015 - Steam Train

 

Following Mt. Rushmore we decided to take the Steam Train. We boarded the train in Keystone and traveled to Hill City and back again. Along the way we kept an eye out for wildlife.

 

June 10, 2015 - Mt.Rushmore

 

 

Having looked at the weather we realized that our best chance for getting a good view of Mt. Rushmore was to get there first thing in the morning.

June 9, 2015 - Rapid City

The plan was to get a cabin by the lake where we could do the various lake recreation. However due to the extremely wet conditions Rapid City was living up to its name and we were limited in what we could do. Since we arrived on a sunny day we went to visit the geese.

 



June 9, 2015 - Badland's Petrified Garden

As we drove up to Rapid City we passed any very creative signs advertising the Badland's Petrified Garden. We decided to stop, stretch our legs and check it out. First we headed out to what was kind of a large, enclosed backyard. All over were various petrified stumps and logs for you to touch and see. We did a lot of posing next to them.

 

June 9 - June 13, 2015 : South Dakota Vacation

For our summer vacation this year we decided to go to South Dakota. We stayed at a cabin by the lake in Rapid City. There was an unusual amount of rain this year - the same as at home - so lakeside opportunities were not there like we hoped. However we found plenty to do.

 

On the way up we passed by Badland's Petrified Garden and decided to take a break. They had a huge collection of petrified wood specimens and assorted other fossils. This is also where we found the best gift shop!

 

For the remainder of the day we explored the local wildlife by the cabin and enjoyed the sunny weather. It turns out we wouldn't see the sun very often.

 

On Day 1 with steadily worsening weather and increasingly reduced visibility, we visited Mt. Rushmore, traveled on a steam train, visited Bear Country USA and finished up at the Dinosaur Park. The second day saw much more persistent rain and we spent more time indoors seeing Mammoth Site and then driving through the Custer Wildlife Loop. The last full day was sunny again and we tackled Storybook Island, Black Hills Maze and Reptile Garden before heading home the following Saturday morning.

 

All of us enjoyed our visit to South Dakota and had a great time!