Day 2: Spearfish

 Today was great start to our first full day in South Dakota. We spent together with our former neighbors, the Doerges, in Spearfish. They moved from Adel last fall and we have missed spending time with them! They were great guides through Spearfish Canyon. We had a wonderful picnic before hiking through the canyon. Below are some of the pictures from today:

The Girls and I at Pactola Dam. What a breathtaking view. There were lots of boaters out on the lake.....making a boat our next purchase after a camper. :-)

Lexi could have stayed there all day

"Come on, Dad. I'll show you the way." -Bren

I made them take a picture by the sign so I wouldn't forget the name. 

Soaking our feet in the river at Spearfish Canyon. It was VERY COLD, but that didn't stop the girls from getting in.

Chris being a guy and climbing on the rocks.

Waterfalls!

Bren and I at Roughlock Falls. Little history lesson for you: Roughlock Falls got its name from when wagons would come down the steep hills, they would "lock" the wheels and let the horses drag them down to reduce the risk of going too fast. This technique was called roughlocking. Pretty Interesting.

Family Pic!

More waterfalls. It was so beautiful. I've never seen a waterfall before. Roughlock Falls is where the last scene in "Dancing with Wolves" was shot.

The canyon was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was so amazing to see so many trees growing out of rocks. It felt almost surreal driving through. We saw a few areas that were destroyed due to recent fires or by bug infestation. It was crazy to see this at one minute and barren land the next.

Brenna hitching a ride with Daddy. She was a trooper and walked alot of the way before really needing some help from dad.

Spearfish falls. Absolutely amazing. There was a well needed mist that hit you when you stood next to this one.

chris and I--taken by Bren. She did okay, but almost missed the falls. :-)

Playing in the creek. The girls' favorite part. Tim and Jane, the Doerges' grandkids, tried to teach Lexi to skip a rock. Let's just say that she needs a little more practice.

The final picture at Spearfish Canyon.

 After the canyon, we headed to Spearfish to visit Joe and Carol's new house. Quite different from their old house in Adel, but just perfect for a newly retired couple. They invited Chris and I to come stay with them whenever we want. I think Chris might take them up on that since the live 15 minutes away from Sturgis. :-)

Our final stop of the day was at the DC Fish Hatchery in Spearfish. They had 3 different tanks to hold the 3 sizes of trout they were "growing". The girls had a great time feeding the fish. What a great way to end the day.

Day 2 is wrapping up. Thanks to the Doerges's for a great day! It was great to see a familiar face on vacation. It was voted on at supper that tomorrow was going to included "Bear City" (Bear Country in Lexi terms.)

Until Then,
Jacque

Day One: Getting to Rapid City!

 We left Adel at 3:45 AM. Yes, we are those kind of travelers. It is so much easier to travel with little kids when they sleep at least part of the way. And if you know Chris, this is his normal wake-up hour anyways. So off we went. Here are all too happy girls at 4 in the morning ready to head to South Dakota! The girls are really great travelers: we had many laughs about Bren's singing and Lexi's random comments!

It was a LONG drive! I think if Chris saw one more "Wall Drug" billboard he would have ran one over! :-) It got exciting once the scenery starting changing and looking like this! There were a lot of BIG HILLS to tackle on the way out here, but it definitely felt worth it when we finally arrived at the camp site.

We arrived in Rapid City at about 3:30 Mountain Time. Here is our camp site! We have a great setup here. Every two campers have a little picnic area with fire pit. We currently don't have any neighbors so we have the whole little area to ourselves. Chris is hoping a rowdy group shows up, but I like all of the extra space.

 

The girls used the place where our neighbors would be parked to play a "mean game of lawn darts". I love Lexi's reaction to making it in the circle in this picture.

 

Bren loves lawn darts, too. (even though she can't quite make it to the circle).

Chris relaxing with his beer after a long, stressful day. Notice the coozie: we found it in Mark's camper. We knew we liked him for a reason! :-)

Peace! Having a great time so far.

The girls crashed at about 9:00 after swimming, grilling brats, walking around the campgrounds, and playing on the playground. They also got their first lesson in showering in a bath house. Their favorite part: using the hand dryer to dry their hair. I bet everyone on the campgrounds could hear Bren's laugh!

A great travel day...now ready for some sightseeing tomorrow with the old neighbors!
Until tomorrow,
Jacque

Amd we're off!

Left for South Dakota bright and early this morning. 3:30 to be exact. That was after some long goodbyes to our neighbors...aka the "best friends."

The girls were very excited this morning and made it almost an hour before falling back asleep. I think it was best for all of our sanity. Stay tuned for more updates!

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Alexa heads to camp!

I feel off the blogging wagon with the start of summer. Between summer classes, the pool, and just relaxing, updating my blog hasn't been at the top of my "to-do" list. After hearing from a high school friend that she reads my blog (yes! someone actually reads this!),  I've decided to get back into it before school starts.
I am going to work backwards over summer, starting with the most recent event. I don't want to forget any details.
Lexi went to the YMCA camp this summer. After having a discussion with our neighbor, she showed me that the Y has 3 night "mini camps" for kids who are new to camping. While I was a little apprehensive about sending Lexi away for 3 nights, she was more than excited to go! So not wanting to hold her back, I signed her up right then and there. Then....I spent the next 4 months regretting the decision!

So maybe "regretting" is the wrong word....worrying is better. It's the typical Mom thing to do. I was worried about her sleepwalking. I was worried about if a storm came through. I was worried about her not liking the food at camp. How was she going to survive without me??

In reality, I learned how I was going to survive without her. I have never gone 3 days without talking to my children. Honestly, I don't think I've gone 1 day without talking to them. The entire 3 days were spent wondering what she was doing, if she was making friends, etc.

When Saturday morning finally arrived and I saw her walking down the hill with her "bunk," the smile on  her face was indescribable. She had this new sense of independence. She was honestly..growing up before my eyes.

Luckily, the YMCA is really good about posting pictures of what is going on at camp on the internet. I think this is the only way I got through those 3 days. Here are two of Lexi: 

Painting the leader!

 Little blurry, but big smiles in both!

Bunkmates!

In short, she had a blast at camp. Her favorite part was canoeing, but told me all the details about swimming, rock climbing, horseback riding, etc. She cannot wait to go back next year...but for the whole week. :-) Good thing I have a whole year to prepare....

We love Summer!

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