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.

You Are My Sunshine

Stella has become quite a song bird lately.

She loves to sing and read books,

so books that include songs are right up her alley.

Pretty adorable huh!

First Haircut

I have done a little trim here and there, 

but this was her first salon haircut.

She was a little skeptical at first

But thankfully Yo Gabba Gabba soothed her nerves

Ok, I think we're ready

She had some concerns that Kate might trim off her curls

"Please stop taking my picture Mom.

I'm going to be cool." 

I didn't end up taking an after picture because she

got a little bit squirly.

That's what happens when you take a tired girl to the salon.

Mommy's Helper

Stella LOVES to help out around the house.

Cole, of course, is baffled by her natural desire to help

as he would rather do anything but help.

So we just put her to work around the house

Emptying the dishwasher

Moving the air compressor

Look how hard she's working

And of course, getting a few loads of laundry done before bed.

Yep- this is why we have kids

So they can do all the work.

Easter Fun

Stella had a fun time hunting eggs with her cousin Calyn

at Grandma's this year. 

She got the hang of it pretty quickly.

It was like a giant game of "pick-up"

Here are Calyn & Stella taking a mid-hunt break.

"See Mommy, I put my eggs in here."

Looks like she found another one.

And then she had a post-hunt hangover!