Science Center

We met up with Jason's family at the CT Science Center to check out their new exhibit. It was a rainy day, so the place was absolutely overrun with people by noon. It didn't seem to bother the kids though. We came home for lunch and played a while here.

Scooter!

 Ethan got a scooter for his birthday last year from Tom and Heather. It's got a place in the back to put sidewalk chalk, so it's great fun to ride and draw at the same time.

Sunday

We got home from the farm relatively early on Sunday, so we had time for some summer fun. Ethan tried  his bike without the training wheels, though he wasn't very happy about it. We also had some time to spend swimming. He's starting to get a little more adventurous about leaving the tube behind.

Family Time

We started off the day at my cousin Mindy's baby shower. Ethan wanted to come too, and I was sure there would be other kids there. I was right. It was great to see some of my cousins and their kids and to help Mindy celebrate. After that, we headed back to the farm for a gathering there. Ethan had a great time playing with the other kids. I didn't do a very good job getting pictures of the adults this time.

Where's Ethan??

If you guessed behind the camera,  you win! Ethan and I had an elaborate surprise cooked up for my Mom. We have a tradition of always going shopping (for nothing really) whenever the ladies are together- this started with Granny. It's the only time when I actually enjoy shopping. So anyway, I enlisted Aunt Linda's help to attempt to surprise my mother. She was under the impression that I had to work on Friday and would arrive at the farm on Saturday morning. I took the day off, and Aunt Linda asked her to go shopping with her. I was supposed to meet them somewhere. Well, she was all grumpy about driving anywhere else and she didn't want to go. So I surprised her at the farm, and we went to Calicoon. Not exactly a mecca of retail, but we found a few cute shops, and a junk store for Ma so it was fun. And Ethan was very good, despite being bored out of his mind. He even took our picture trying on hats.

Grandma & Pa- More Exploring

We had a few more adventures in store for Grandma and Pa before they left town. We had to stop at Dotties Diner for their famous donuts prior to heading to Thomaston to ride the Naugy. We had a good time riding the train, and Ethan even was invited to come explore the engine. After that, we had lunch at Frankies and headed to Newtown for the mega book sale. Of course that mean stopping at Peachwave after- the weather was sketchy or we would have headed for the creamery. It was a fun time!

Grandma & Pa- Exploring CT

Grandma and Pa had never been to many of our favorite places, so we crammed in just as much as we could. Though we've been to their zoo many times, this was their first time at the Beardsley. Ethan was pleased to show them around. We even brought a picnic, though it ended up raining on us a little. After the zoo, he wanted to show them the Peabody. Since it was on the way, we decided to stop at the Pez Visitor's Center where we had great fun doing the scavenger hunt. We finally got to the Peabody and looked at lots of dinosaur bones. When they were about to close, we headed out to get Grandma & Pa some of that famous New Haven Pizza- Ethan informed them that now he was going to show them what pizza was supposed to taste like. That kid!! Of course after we headed next door for some pastries before calling it a day.

Grandma & Pa

Grandma and Pa arrived for their visit. They had some traffic problems so arrived a little later than expected, but we managed to get in some fun time to go to the falls and to Rich's for ice cream.

Happy Birthday Elise

We went to MA to help Elise celebrate her 8th birthday. She had a great party with dogs and cats, and she even had people bring donations for the animal shelter instead of gifts. There were lots of fun games and it was a beautiful day. We went out for dinner before heading home.

Of course I couldn't follow instructions, so I made a little something for Elise. Ethan named the Wiener dog Brewster and the cat Radish. He made up a whole story to go along with them and we hope Elise will tell us of their continuing tales.

Family Night

It was family night at Ethan's camp. We checked out all of the activities he does during the day and then he got to climb the wall. His group isn't allowed to do this at camp, but they let them on family nights so Ethan gave it a try. He got about halfway up before he wanted to come back down. He also introduced us to Teddy, the ice cream man who comes twice a week. Next time he promised to buy us fudgesicles.

Journey Home

We had an early flight out, but caught a rainbow on the way into the airport. Because of a long layover in Minneapolis, we took the shuttle from the airport to the Mall of America. We checked out the Lego store and got a look at the theme park. We also managed to find a Rainforest Cafe which was the highlight of Ethan's day. He hasn't been since the one in West Hartford closed. We also happened upon a clown convention, which was not just a little creepy. We went back to the airport and explored the playground before heading on to our flight.

Hill City, Storybook Island, and More Presidents

The Alexanders had to fly home, but we had some fun before we left. There was a museum right down the road from where we stayed, the Museum of the Black Hills Institute- dedicated to fossils of all kinds! We saw the most complete T-Rex skeleton (Stan) as well as lots of other cool bones. They also make reproductions of these for other museums. Turns out South Dakota is quite the place for paleontology. 

 After the museum, we headed to the famed Storybook Island- you may be able to tell that this place was started in the 50s as a free amusement park for children of all ages. It was SOOOOO awesome. No matter what Naomi tells you ;)

 There were all kinds of storybook characters, and in a refreshing twist they weren't licensed by Disney. Well, the kids might not have felt the same way about that. But they had fun.

 We had to grab some lunch and drop our friends off at the airport. Then we checked in to our Rapid City hotel for the night. Or we tried to, it wasn't ready so we found Pirate Cove's mini-golf course and got in 18 holes. Then we checked in and hopped in the pool for a refreshing swim. They had a great water slide which was the real attraction. We followed that by heading downtown to see the presidents we had missed and find some dinner.

Oh, and of course we found dessert ;)

Hidden Treasures, Horses, and Custer

 The house we rented was part of a business that also operated a kids mining activity next door. The men and the kids decided to head over there while Barbara and I planned our day. They dug up lots of treasures in the form of rocks, sharks teeth, and filth that we subsequently packed in our suitcases, but by all accounts it was fun.

 We drove back to the vicinity of Hot Springs to see a horse conservancy. They are trying to preserve a breed of Spanish Mustangs. The kids were allowed to pet a few that had been separated from the herd, then we went right into the heard. It was a bit intimidating because there was one horse that kept antagonizing another, and every time it did, the whole herd took off at top speed. Oh, and because they kept mentioning that we should watch out for rattlesnakes. Other than that it was neat.

After the horses, we headed towards Custer to check out the history museum and the little town fair they had going on. Wow, it was interesting for sure. They didn't seem to mind kids climbing on the artifacts, so they had a great time.

Independence Day

 We had the perfect start to our Fourth of July with a visit to Mt. Rushmore. Well, after a slightly less perfect start at an incredibly sllllllooooooow restaurant (the food was not great either). The crowds weren't terrible on the way in, but by the time we left it was an ok thing. We picked up Junior Ranger brochures for the kids and went on our way.

 Along our tour we met up with Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. Sadly, we did not find Lincoln. We also saw a native American man who told the story of how his people got the flute. The tree hugging was part of the Junior Ranger activities. Once we took it all in and the kids were sworn in as rangers, we headed to historic Keystone for lunch.

 There were several options in Keystone for after lunch activities. I wanted to go to the Historic Keystone Museum to see the Carrie Ingalls memorabilia. I lost. James went to the museum dedicated to the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore. E wanted to go with the Alexanders to the Presidential Wax Museum so I joined them. I still have no logical explanation as to why they have a life mask of Bella Lugosi.

From there, we went on to our final rock destination of the day, the Crazy Horse memorial. We saw a Pow Wow and looked around the museum. This sculpture is still in progress so we didn't get up close to it. It was kind of strange to spend the patriotic holiday thinking of what the good ole USA did to the Native Americans.

Hot Springs and Custer

 Our super star readers started off our long car ride very well. We headed for Hot Springs, taking the route through Custer State Park to give Jonathan the chance to see some bison. We did, and some antelope too. We also saw Mt. Rushmore along the way.

 Once we made it to Hot Springs I think we were all a little surprised. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting the springs to be a bit more glamorous I think. We were prepared for water this time with swim suits, and the kids (and grown ups) enjoyed splashing around in the warm water.

 We had an appointment at the mammoth site to be junior paleontologists, so we had to head out. The kids dug up mammoth bones. This is an actual dig site, they just constructed a building around it. It is pretty remarkable to see the bones they are uncovering.

 From there, we headed to Custer for dinner. We took a quick break to see Bedrock (this was actually a campground/theme park) and then headed into the town.

We checked out the art and had some dinner before heading back to the house.

Deadwood and the City of Presidents

So, did you think we would be relaxing on vacation? No way!! Too much to see and do, starting with the Wild West. We started off in Deadwood, once home to Wild Bill Hickox and Calamity Jane. We began with gold panning at the Broken Boot Gold Mine, where each kid struck it "rich" with about $5 worth of gold dust. We donned our hard hats and headed inside for a tour. It was pretty dark, cold, and dusty in there. Turns out that this mine was profitable not for gold, but for fools gold. The method by which gold was extracted involved the use of pyrite, so they needed to mine that too. It was also very dirty because of veins of graphite running throughout. You can also see that there were three artifacts dating to the days when it was an operational mine- a stretcher, a candle holder, and a wheel barrow.

After the gold mine, we wandered around Deadwood and had lunch at an old gas station with a glass blowing studio. Unfortunately the artists must also have been at lunch. Following that, we went to see a few street performances depicting the final card game of Buffalo Bill and stories of Calamity Jane. We headed up the hill to see where they were buried- note the fancy monument the city gave to Wild Bill and the pathetic urn atop Calamity Jane. Hmpf. From there, we headed back to Rapid City Airport to pick up Jonathan!

Once we had the fourth Alexander aboard the mini van, we decided to explore downtown Rapid City's famed City of Presidents. It was totally awesome. Then we found the fountain, and it was awesome for a while. And then it wasn't. We'll leave it at that- we had dinner at an old firehouse, and found some more presidents.

The Badlands

July 1st was one super packed day. We headed out for Badlands first thing in the morning. This was our longest road trip. We started seeing signs for Wall Drug shortly after getting past Rapid City. They were pretty great. We had to make a quick stop there so Barbara could load up on some supplies, and then followed the GPS back to the road. Yeah, the road you see in the bottom right of the first collage. Turns out it was taking us to the Wall dump. It was pretty scenic for a dump. After that short detour, we found our way back on the main road and then stopped at the first destination just outside of Badlands.

Wait, what? You weren't expecting a Cold War missile silo just outside the national park? Well there was. It had been disarmed- though there are plenty around out West that are still active and monitored. We did not make it there early enough to get on the secret tour where they bind and gag you to take you to the actual site. Since we didn't get to do it, we'll just use our imaginations. We also found out Dr. Seuss wrote a book about the Cold War.

Following that, we veered off into another time zone at the Prairie Homestead where we chased down prairie dogs and checked out a sod house.

 Vivian was super excited to see chickens, and I thought it was pretty great that we found some baby birds in their next in the barn. Ethan enjoyed feeding the goat some grass.

 After all that, we finally made it inside the park gates. We were starving! Can you tell the kids were ready for a break? We went to the only restaurant for miles, and James had what he thought was the best food of the trip- an Indian Taco made with buffalo meat.

 From the restaurant we went to the visitors center where we found the most awesome hat ever- can you believe neither of us bought this thing? And then we started making stops on our drive through the park.

 We wandered off the beaten path a little, but not too much. We didn't really want to encounter any rattle snakes.

 Our last stop in the park was Prairie Dog Town. We also saw one lonely little buffalo and this other fellow eating by the side of the road.

And then for the best part of the day! Wall Drug!!! It was awesome. Amazing. I was expecting the Wild West version of South of the Boarder. That place has nothing on this. There was an old school cafeteria, and every kind of shopping experience you can image. Every Wild West character you can think of carved from wood, lots of photo props, and ice cream. Don't forget the free ice water! I think that's the gimmick that started it all. This place was fantastic.