Wyoming, Rushmore, and Brooklyn's Birthday!

We spent a week adventuring! Friday after Dave got off work we headed out of town and made the 6 hour drive to my parent's house in Wyoming. It was a rough drive. The boys were great but Brooklyn was devastated that she had to be locked in her carseat for that long.

Brooklyn turned one the Sunday we were on vacation! I forgot to get a picture of her eating her cake... but it was delicious. I did get a few pictures of her opening her gifts.

She loves wearing and chewing on this silicone necklace and she really loves making her new baby dance. It's pretty funny to see her grab the baby by her arms and prance her around while she sings a gibberish song.

Saturday morning we got up early and drove to Custer, South Dakota. We threw our stuff in our hotel, went for a brief swim in the pool, decided it was too cold to swim in the pool, and decided it was the perfect temperature for a hike. Logan also impressed us yet again with his swimming skills.

The pool had two water slides, one large and one tiny. As Papa was looking for towels, Logan decided to take the kiddy slide into the pool. He quickly found out the kiddy slide led to the deep end and the large slide led to the shallows. Go figure. But he was able to tread water until I was able to run across the parking lot and save him (with Brooklyn in my arms). Needless to say we are very grateful he had swimming lessons this summer.

On our way to Sylvan Lake we drove by the Crazy Horse Monument. It's impressive to see from the road. You could see the construction vehicles on top of the arm. Apparently they started this monument in the 40's and didn't finish it. Similarly Rushmore did not getting finished, but those that own Crazy Horse are slowly working on completing it. We didn't go see it, but when finished it should be very impressive.

We got to travel on the Needles Highway while heading to Sylvan Lake. It's really neat because in several places the builders dug through the rock to fit vehicles.

We were all shocked by how beautiful Sylvan Lake was! It looked almost staged. I found out later it was used in National Treasure: Book of Secrets, so totally perfect for a movie.

I don't know why, but about 6 months ago Dustin got shy. This is a shocker since he is the goofiest kid in the world and had no fear prior to this point. So you'll notice he will only be in pictures someone who knows him takes.

The boys had a blast re-using their shell collection bags from our NC trip as rock collecting bags.

Brooklyn didn't want to sit in the baby backpack so she found a hiking buddy willing to carry her.

The view all the way around the lake was stunning! Usually I don't enjoy highly traveled trails and hikes, but I couldn't help but love this one. If we were to go back I would spend more time exploring Custer State Park.

There were little steping stones that we crossed, bridges, and boardwalks. The trails were lined with wild mint and raspberry bushes (both of which we indulged in). Brooklyn liked the minty smell although she didn't like eating the leaves.

The boys loved all the crevices and natural caves! It was perfect for exploring.

It started raining which brought the temperature down. But coming from 100 degree weather that didn't even get below 80 at night, we were happy for the 70 degree weather! Papa made sure Brooklyn didn't get too cold.

As we rounded the last curve of the lake we found cattails! Logan told us they are really called bulrushes and I told the boys about how Craig Poulson had us eat the white part at the base of the cattails as a kid. To which I was remind that we shouldn't be picking things in a State Park (not that it was mentioned when mint and raspberries were on the menu).

There was a wedding taking place right around the bend and there was kayak rental beside that.

Leaving the park we decided to take the scenic rout that was a little longer and let us drive through two more keyholes.

It was fun to see the tunnels! The boys told us this one had a skylight and there were hikers waving at them through Grandma's sunroof. We didn't see it in our car, but they got to shout and wave at the hikers!

These last few shots I like to call the Drive By Shooting series. I took them all from the window of the car as we drove.

We stopped at one of the scenic overlooks to get these killer shots.

We found out as we were driving that the big Sturgis motorcycle rally was taking place the same week we were in South Dakota so we saw a TON of motorcycles as we traveled. Fortunately it didn't seem to negatively impact traffic. And although they were rowdy, they were mostly nice.

We also got to see Mt Rushmore. We found out it's not a National Park, it's a National Monument. Which means you have to pay for parking. It was quite impressive! When we got there we listened to half a presentation on how it was made. Then the boys were itching to get hiking!

We enjoyed seeing the mountain from odd angles.

We learned the origional plan for the Monument included shoulders and partial torsos but eventually the project ran out of funding. So you're stuck with just the heads. They have a museum that shows a model of what the sculpture was going to look like. Also, behind Lincoln's face is a hidden room that was going to be a museum but never happened. The room is there though.

The boys were great hikers! I don't think they had to be carried on any of this hike (or if they did I wasn't the one doing the carrying).

Brooklyn was surprisingly good too! She missed several naps, but was still pretty happy. We had a picnic lunch  in the parking lot then decided to head to Jewel Cave.

Jewel Cave is the third longest cave in the world and the coolest part is it was covered in jewels. We didn't get any great pictures of them sparkling but they did.

There were a lot of cool formations, but unfortunately the kids wanted to keep moving instead of  stopping to talk about things. So it made for a more challenging tour.

Brooklyn was especially not happy to be in the cave but we survived.

The cave had a super long soda straw. They usually break off long before this one (still in once piece).

No cave is complete without cave bacon.

Afterwards we went for ice cream and pie shop and enjoyed the sweets. They also had a purple pig out front that we had to take a ride on.

We headed home the next day and spend the evening relaxing after so much driving! But the following day we just HAD to check out an indoor trampoline park. The boys and Dave got TWO hours of jumping in (because if it's two for one Tuesdays, you just have to get your money worth). Brooklyn mostly stuck to the foam pit. She enjoyed bouncing a little with Dave too.

The boys were non stop balls of energy. So much so that all the pictures I got of them pretty much looked like this. They had a blast and slept well that night. We also enjoyed talking with my parents and having so much time catching up. It's sad not getting to see them as often now that they live in Wyoming, so we made sure to use up all the time we had. But by the time we headed home we were glad to sleep in our own beds again.