Black Hills Vacation- Vol 3

Here we are doing the Alpine Slide

Cole

And Jim- in the stripes.

Stella had to sit this one out!

But then we ended up in her favorite place

in the world: 

Reptile Gardens

She developed a slight obsession with the giant tortoises.

This picture was taken moments before a

catastrophic meltdown when we had to leave

these amazing creatures behind.

On our last day we stopped at Wall Drug

where the kids rode the tiny carousel

Stella and Daddy chatted with Annie Oakley

And Cole made a new friend.

And in the spirit of the family vacation

Stella got right in on the action of posing with the statues.

We had a fantastic trip! Can't wait to do it again next year.

Black Hills Vacation- Vol 2

We stopped off at Hot Springs for a tour of

The Mammoth Site.

Stella was listening intently to the tour.

And then Bear Country USA!

This is how we would have liked for the

trip through Bear Country USA to go

And this is how it actually went!

Stella was a little antsy!

We tried for a family portrait.

2 of the 4 of us look good.

Ah yes, we love the statues.

Stella & Mom in the wilderness

And Stella with Dad

We tried a little rock climbing.

And that wore us out!

Black Hills Vacation- Vol 1- Nebraska Branch

Well, based on my lack of recent blog updates,

one might assume that we have been on vacation

for the past 2 months.

That is not the case, unfortunately.

But we have been gone for the past week.

So I've got some fun vacation pictures to share.

We started off our trip by headed back

to Jim's old stomping ground:

North Platte, and specifically, Fort Cody.

The kids loved it

Jim worked at Fort Cody as a teenager,

and I visited a few times myself over the years.

We liked trying out all of the gear.

Uh oh Stella, there's a buffalo chasing you!

Of course we had to embrace the kitsch.

And no outlaw was immmune!

I guess it was sunny...

Stella liked the tee-pee

Come on in!

And she liked the covered wagon.

No one liked the jail!

Then we made our way to Cody Park

Where Cole and Stella fed the deer and ducks.

Day 2....

As we headed North, we had to make a small detour to 

enjoy the majesty of Carhenge.

It was spectacular.

And it was a great stopping point for 

exercising little legs.

Why does Cole look so much taller than me in this picutre?

Stella liked playing peek-a-boo

among the cars.