Hiking

We made sure to get Isabella back to the camper every afternoon for her nap. Everyday, Monte's parents insisted that they also just wanted to stay at the campground, and relax while she was napping. They also insisted that Monte and I go do things by ourselves while she was napping. So almost every afternoon he and I went hiking in the Black Hills National Forest. It was very rough terrain at times, and also very remote. I was fine with it until we heard a RATTLESNAKE one day!! There were so many trees, rocks, etc. that we didn't see it, but it was loud, and unmistakingly a rattlesnake. Apparently they only rattle when they sense danger nearby, their rattle is their warning. Were WE the danger it sensed?! I'm guessing so! So with that, and also all of the warnings out that there are mountain lions in the area, I was DONE hiking, although I love it otherwise. That was definitely a scary moment for me, but if you ask my husband, he'll tell you it was the hightlight of his trip - hearing a rattlesnake in the wild.

And by the way, we opted to spend our alone time the next afternoon (our last day there) at the mall . . . just a little safer. :)

Hiking in the Black Hills National Forest

Palmer Gulch

We stayed with Monte's parents in their camper while on vacation. The campground/resort that we were at was called Palmer Gulch. There was so much to do there that we could have spent the entire week there, without even going anywhere. It had two big pools, two kiddy pools, a waterslide, horse and wagon rides, trail rides, live music, a huge playground, movie theator, candy shop, ice cream shop, restaurants, and all you can eat pancakes every morning under a big tent. We didn't partake in all the activities, but did quite a few.

Isabella and I heading to the pool. (I didn't realize there are so many pictures of me from the trip, usually there are no pictures of me, which is more than fine with me.)

A bit blurry, but Isabella and Daddy going down the big water slide.

Unfortunately Monte couldn't totally escape work, he had to check in every now and then.

Of ALL the things we did while away, her two favorite things were jumping on this bridge at the campground and swinging on the tire swing there!

The "Hill City Slickers" played there every other night. Isabella LOVED them, she's obsessed with music.

Pactola Dam

Now that things are back to being rather uneventful, I can resume my vacation posts.

Another very scenic place we went to was Pactola Dam, once again we spent some time walking around, taking in the scenery. We even got a group picture of all of us there.

On the Mend

Isabella is doing much better today. I didn't actually wake her up every two hours, but I did go in a few times in the night to rouse her without waking her up. All of her injuries are on the inside of her mouth, so the only problem she's had today is random bleeding in her mouth, especially when she eats. Eating and brushing her teeth are difficult, but other than that, she's just fine. I didn't even have to give her any Tylenol today until naptime, and that's all she got all day. She's quite taken with the blanket they gave her at the hospital. Monte and I were commenting on how it is in a little town. Our town is quite small, we've never been to the clinic/hospital here. We do all of our doctoring in the MUCH bigger town about 20 miles away. But last night we were very thankful to have an ER to take her to that was literally only a couple of minutes away. We were the only ones there, and she had all three nurses constantly gushing over her. Then they loaded her up with a whole sack of goodies to take home. Monte was (jokingly) wondering if they were keeping us there so long so that they would have something to do!

First Trip to the ER

We interupt the previously scheduled vacation posts due to an unfortunate mishap this evening. Monte was mowing the lawn in the front yard, and Isabella and I were at her swingset in the backyard. She's been all about the "big girl" swing lately instead of the baby/toddler swing. So tonight she was swinging on her tummy, exactly how she was pictured here, when she fell off head first right into the ground. She got up, screaming, and me, being the not so calm mother that I am, let out a huge gasp as I saw blood rushing out of her mouth! Her whole mouth was FULL of blood. I picked her up and raced over to Monte, while the blood was all over her and me by this point. So we took her to the emergency room, where they concluded that she had cut the inside of her cheek, and also knocked a tooth loose. They checked her over pretty good since she landed on her head, and she was so brave, we were so proud of her. I had no idea how she would be. We had to wait quite a while for the doctor to get a hold of the dentist, who concluded that we should just watch the tooth carefully for 2 weeks. In some cases, in children that young, the tooth can go back into place. In other cases the tooth could start dying, so if it starts changing color in the next two weeks we are to bring her into the dentist. We're supposed to rotate Tylenol and Motrin for the pain, and the doctor told us we should wake her up every two hours tonight to make sure she is okay, since she hit her head pretty bad. . . sigh. It could have been much worse, though, that's for sure! My poor little angel. She WAS pretty darn excited about her bag of loot from the ER, though - a handmade blanket, Dora stickers, and two suckers. I highly doubt her daddy and I will be very excited when the bill for that little visit comes, though . . .

Custer State Park

We went to Custer State Park while out in the Black Hills. According to the website:



Don’t be surprised if you encounter a roadblock of grazing bison in Custer State Park. A herd of 1,500 bison roams freely throughout the park, often stopping traffic along the 18-mile Wildlife Loop Road. The herd is one of the largest in the world.
Bison can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. Historically, the animal played an essential role in the lives of the Lakota (Sioux), who relied on the “tatanka” for food, clothing and shelter.
Besides bison, the park is home to wildlife such as pronghorn antelope, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, wild turkeys, and a band of friendly burros.



Well, we most definitely came across the band of friendly burros! These guys were right in the middle of the road, waiting for food from all the tourists. We decided to get out of our vehicle and feed them too, like everyone else was doing. They loved Isabella's Ritz Bitz! We decided to head back for our car, though, when one burro started chasing after me.

I didn't take very many pictures there, but we did also see two huge herds of buffalo roaming free. Before we came across the herds, we saw just one lone buffalo grazing a few inches from the road, Isabella liked him and decided to call him "Spachulo"! Crazy girl, she's been talking about "Spachulo" ever since too!

Sylvan Lake

My favorite part of our trip was going to beautiful Sylvan Lake. I feel like pictures don't do it justice. We had fun walking all around the lake, and taking in the beautiful scenery. There was a hiking trail there that Monte and I hiked while Isabella went with Grandma and Grandpa to take in the different tourist shops, and have a snack. We hiked to the top of one of those huge rock formations, the picture on the right was taken from up there.

Vacation Post - Mount Rushmore

Monte, Isabella, and I, along with Monte's parents went to the Black Hills of South Dakota for our vacation last week. It was amazingly beautiful out there! I was there when I was a little girl, then Monte and I went there for our honeymoon, and then a couple of years later for our anniversary. We were married in the dead of winter, though, so I haven't seen it during the summer, when it's so beautiful, since I was very young. Also, there is so much to do and see there, that every time we go we see new things, although Mount Rushmore is always a must see. It was an 8 hour drive out there at the beginning of the week, then lots of driving while we were there to see the scenery and different tourist attractions, then an 8 hour drive home at the end of the week. Isabella did amazing with all of the driving, she just went along with the flow the entire time. Monte's mom brought the baby doll from her house (Isabella's favorite toy in the whole world!!) and that baby honestly kept Isabella entertained the entire time we were driving! We stopped several times to let her go potty, and to let her run /jump around, and I think that helped a lot too. I think I'll do several vacation posts as I have time since there were so many things we did.

Isabella loved Mount Rushmore, we went there 3 times while we were staying out there. Every time she would see it she would say, "Look at Mount Rushmore!! Isn't that something!"

This next one was taken outside the gift shop at Mount Rushmore. The stuffed buffalo in her stroller was her souvenir from Daddy from the trip. She named him "Bravo" and has been sleeping with him ever since. My dad also got me a stuffed buffalo from there when I was a little girl.

Back to Reality

We got back today from a week long vacation, everything about it was absolutely wonderful!! We had a great time, I can't wait to get my pictures uploaded, and blog about it. But right now, the rest of our bags need to be unpacked, and I suppose the mountain of laundry is not going to do itself, so . . . back to reality. :(

Conversation at Supper

Isabella: "Mommy, did the doctor take your blood pressure yesterday?"

Me: "Yes, she did."

Isabella: "Oh, mm hmm . . . what was it?"

Me: "It was 120 over 70."

Isabella: "Oh okay, I see."

I swear, sometimes the kid seems so grown up, then I am reminded of her "two-ness" when I hear something like I heard after supper. I was loading the dishwasher, and I overheard Monte in the bathroom saying, "AAHH, no we do not touch anything in the toilet." Ha! Good times.

Tales of the Sick

What a long week this has been. Lets see, I've had everything from a migraine with terrible nausea that laid me out cold in bed, dental work, which included the dentist accidentally cutting the inside of my cheek, a terrible cold, a fever, and to end the week today, I went to the doctor to find out I have an ear infection and sinus infection. But the bright side - it most definitely could be worse. These are all quite small things in the grand scheme of illnesses, and it made me so thankful for the good health I am usually blessed with, but still . . . did I say it's been a long week? Today is the first time I've been to the doctor for any type of illness in over ten years (not that I haven't been sick, just nothing bad enough to warrant a dr. visit)! So I guess I can't complain. And I am also SO thankful that it's me that's sick, and not Monte or Isabella. I've found that it's hard to be sick when you're a mom, Monte was great when he was here, but then there was this little thing called work that took him away from us! He had told Isabella one morning that I was sick, and that she should take care of me. So after he left she told me, "Mommy, lay in your bed, and I'll lay with you." And the little sweetheart actually did! We both fell asleep from about 10:00 to noon, it was great. And today I brought her with me to the doctor. I could tell the doctor thought it was weird that I had my kid with me, and she even made a comment about it, but sorry, that's how I roll. I'm a stay at home mom with no family in the area, where I go, she goes (usually). And while I have watched some of my friends' kids, Isabella has yet to go stay at any of their houses, I'm not quite sure how she would do. (Although I bet she would be fine, and I'm just paranoid.) And our dear friend and babysitter, Sister Mary Edwin, has moved away from us (which is a whole other post I've been meaning to get to).

Edited to add: I just remembered my great Shingles outbreak one summer during college and when I was pregnant, so I guess my statement about not having been to the doctor for an illness isn't entirely true. :)

Back from a vacation

We went camping with Monte's whole family at a lake, there were 16 of us all together. Monte, Isabella, and I stayed in a little cabin.

The cabin had a set of bunk beds, a double bed, and a little table, and that's it! Oh, and it did have air conditioning too. It didn't have a bathroom or sink, etc. You can imagine my dismay at using the public facilities and showers, but oh well, and I do have to say they were very clean. Thankfully we remembered (there was SO much to remember to bring) a little potty chair for Isabella, so she was spared from the public restrooms by either using her potty chair in the cabin or using Grandma and Grandpa's bathroom in their camper. And actually the cabin worked great, we were only in it to sleep, and it was nice and quiet in there for Isabella's naps. I brought monitors with, so I could enjoy the great outdoors while she was sleeping also. The weather was beautiful while we were there, low 80's and no wind, that doesn't happen very often lately. We had a great time! I laugh at the thought of my family doing this, there is no way they would "rough it" like this, give them a hotel any day.

There was a sort of incident on the beach on Saturday, there were kids there taking Isabella's and her cousins' toys. One little girl actually came and took Isabella's beach ball out of her hands and ran off with it as soon as we got there. Other kids came and took our nephews' big blow up sharks to ride on in the water and were using them out in the water themselves. After so long of listening to everyone in Monte's family talking about how terrible it was and that they wished someone would do something, I marched myself right into the water, very sternly (but at least somewhat politely . . . I think) told the unknown kids that these were not their toys, and they better hand them over to me. I gathered up all our toys, and that was the end of the toy stealing. Seriously, shy little ol' me, doing something like that. SO not something I would have done a few short years ago. And where were all these kids parents?? Who knows, some were standing right there, and of course not saying anything while witnessing what their kids were doing. Anyway, I guess I'll end that rant, but seriously, what's wrong with people!? These kids were not little, most of them were elementary age.

But other than that it was a great time, Isabella says her favorite part was riding in Grandpa's boat, although I know she liked it all. It was fun to see her so excited about everything.

Isabella walking on the beach with her Mama (grandma).

There was lots of running around.

Isabella was more than likely in heaven with all of the junk she ate, that she doesn't normally get at home.

At the beach.

Attempting to go in the water, this is about all the further she got before she changed her mind. I guess she's more of a pool kind of gal.

Playing catch with Daddy.

Soaking up the sun with Mama.

Roasting marshmallows.

This and That - Summer Days Version

(Pictures are in random order)

*We had a great 4th of July weekend with my family. We celebrated with my mom's side of the family, Isabella had so much fun with her cousins. Unfortunately, my camera battery died, so I didn't get any pictures. We thought we would put Isabella in her pajamas, and then make the 4 hour drive home on Saturday night. But our hyped up girl didn't fall asleep in the car until 10:20! That is insane, considering she's normally in bed at 7:30. She was so excited from all the festivities, she sang at the top of her lungs for an hour straight instead of calming down to go to sleep.


* Isabella was having "issues" with taking her nightly baths for about 2 weeks straight, it was not fun for any of us! She's normally pretty easy going and compliant that we haven't had to do much discipline-wise, but this definitely called for some action by us! So one night after her bath "fit" we sat her down and told her she wasn't allowed to use her swing set the whole next day, and wouldn't be allowed to use it again until she took a nice bath. And lo and behold it actually worked! The whole next day she talked about how she was going to take a nice bath so she could play on her swing set again. At one point in the day she asked me if she could just go look at her swing set, and told me she "really wished" she could play on it. Ever since then, she's been taking great baths again, and tells me almost everyday she's not going to be naughty in the bath anymore because she wants to keep her swing set.


* Monte had to get a 4 wheeler and GPS system for mapping out fields for work. I wasn't all that happy about the expense at first, but the company gives an incentive pay for everyday that he uses the 4 wheeler, that will more than pay for it. Still . . . I don't always see the big picture right away.

* Isabella must have forgotten that she LOVED going to the pool last year, because the first time I took her this summer she was terrified! After I spent a half hour trying to coax her in, she all the sudden proclaimed, "Can I jump in by myself?" Um, seriously??? I just spent a half hour sprinkling a couple of drops of water on your toes, while you whined about not wanting to go in, and now you want to jump in? And jump in she did! (I should add, I'm talking about the kiddy pool) Get over fear of water, check.

*We're going on a couple of vacations this summer, and I'm really looking forward to them. I'm sure as long as Isabella can get her sleep, and good naps, everything will go good.

She is not actually riding this bike, I got it at a garage sale, she likes to sit on it. She's working on mastering the trike right now, but has a ways to go.

*Isabella loves working in the garden, and in my flowers. She is actually quite the helper, she's good at picking weeds, and I'm all for it.

*It's been raining /storming almost every day lately. I'm SO ready for some sun and heat again.

*I've been spending less time on the computer, but instead of getting to bed at a decent time, I've been reading like crazy! I highly recommend any novel by Beverly Lewis.

*We've been enjoying some of our fresh garden produce. We have lettuce practically coming out our ears. I can't wait for my two favorites, though, tomatoes and cucumbers, and then there's canning . . .

Someone's ready for a vacation

BIG Bubbles!

Ahhh, they're attacking me!