Buffalos

WW: Mount Rushmore {Linky}

I went to Mount Rushmore some when I was a kid. I have an uncle that lives in South Dakota. It's been a long time since I've been there. I never knew about the path where you walk pretty much right in front of it!

The moment we got into South Dakota Mica wanted to see Mount Rushmore. We didn't know if you could go an evening with their parking pass, and come back the next day. The answer to that is yes you can!

I took tons of photos, and went through to edit.

They have a lot of hiking spots, as well as stop and view areas.

This is what we could see at this viewing area. A side view of George Washington.

Here's Mount Rushmore:

When you hike right underneath it, this is what you see.

 Meet George Washington

Meet Thomas Jefferson

Meet Theodore Roosevelt

Meet Abraham Lincoln

 A study done before Mount Rushmore was carved.

Here's a close up of some eyes. They actually have stone pegs coming out of the eyes to give an illusion that there is a reflection.

Here's a few of a trail we went on. We went hiking during the day, and to view the lighting at night. We all love the hiking. With the light show Isaak fell asleep before it began, and Mica kept asking when it was going to start; even after it was going on. I think it's cool to see the light show for adults, but it gets pretty late for kids.

Have you been to Mount Rushmore? 
What's your favorite president?

Mica kept trying to remember all our presidents. He called our current one Marack Obama. Daddy and I giggled.

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If you have time enter my low entry Giveaway Jack the Giant Slayer Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet.

Berry Picking

We've mostly I've been picking Juneberries. They come from our Service Berry Bush. It looks more like a small tree, than a bush. In some ways I wish they were all ripe and ready to pick all at once. They taste good in pies, crisps, muffins, pancakes, yogurt, jelly, jam, and on their own. I've never seen them in the stores though. It's probably because they are such a pain to pick.

These are what I picked last night after swimming lessons. I have bags of them in the freezer. On Friday Aunt Terra and I are going to make Juneberry Jam. I've already made to Juneberry Crisps for our works.

I tried getting the boys to help. This is what happens:

Isaak: "Is this one ripe?" After his picks it. This is with every berry he picks. Then he proceeds to throw grass into the berry bowl.

Mica: "I'm board!" After picking 35 berries. He dances around in circles more than he helps.

Sigh! Someday they will be better helpers with berry picking. Until then I'm pretty much on my own.

Wind Cave National Park

We decided on our trip to take the boys to their first cave ever. I was excited for them.

I was also nervous because Isaak got very little sleep the night before, and it was during what is sometimes nap time. He's 5, but still sometimes takes a nap. Both of our boys have been sleepers. Mica more so than Isaak slept a lot. It was vacation, who needs sleep on vacation anyway? Daddy is one of those go, go, go people. He plans somethings for every minute of the day.

There also wasn't any bathroom in the cave. No food, or drinks either. I has them eat, drink and go potty before the cave experience. Thank goodness I thought to bring their jackets! It was cold down there.

One of the most hillarious parts of our trip (you can see the other comical part here) was this moment.

I told Isaak that the cave started right here:

He looked for the cave to start in the trash can. The tour guide looked at him oddly. I told the group what I had told him. They all laughed.

This is where the cave actually started. Can you believe that a kid used to jump in this hole to roam around the cave by himself? You can feel wind outside the hole.

We of course went in a different way. Mica nominated himself as a leader; when our tour guide asked for one. He drove me nuts! He kept saying to us, "No one can go before me! I'm the leader." One time of that is fine, fifteen times of that is a bit much! I kept telling Mica that if he didn't stop with the leader stuff, I was going to become the leader. Discipline is hard when you are trapped in a cave.

The tour guide told us about the boy who discovered the cave. His hat blew off in the cave entrance; they never did find it. My boys thought that they would be the ones that would discover this mysterious hat. I heard about that the whole time we were in the cave as well.

We asked if any bats lived in the cave. Her answer was that they have never seen any life forms in there. Most of the ceilings looked like this:

It's a really pretty cave. We had a good time overall. I really liked our tour guide. If you go to this park, you do need to visit a cave. Really that is it's main attraction.

Guess who fell asleep once we hit the car? This is a rarity. Yes my boys are good sleepers, but they have never been good sleepers in the car.

The Mammoth Site

One of our first stops in South Dakota was a Mammoth Site in Hot Springs.

Daddy is super into dinosaurs. He actually helped to dig up plesiosaur in Ashfall, Nebraska once. I thought for sure one of our boys would be into them to. They both played with them, but they were never a favorite.

The Mammoth Site is pretty cool. I think it's amazing that it's so big. Pretty much everyone that works there is a volunteer.

Mica and Isaak were both picked to be volunteers to hold up mammoth bones.

Here's the dig site. I'm not sure the boys understood what they were looking at. I thought it was pretty cool! Mica and Isaak seemed more interested in their old school phones that we could hear our tour guide on.

They had other rooms to view some cool things.

Have you ever been to a dinosaur dig site.