Last Days of Summer

After a cool summer, we've had hot September days . . . weird, but I'm sure these hot days will be coming to an end soon. We went to our State Fair last weekend. My timid little one didn't want to go on any rides, but LOVED just watching them. We even asked her several times if she wanted Daddy to win her a stuffed animal, and she always said that she didn't. Hey, she knows how to save us money. Although, we definitely spent enough on fair food! Here we are posing with my favorite animals.

She missed out on a nap that day, and by mid afternoon was in need of her blanky. Here she is showing the sheep her blanky.

We've been getting some good sandbox time in.

Here she is playing with her daddy's loader, from his childhood.

Our garden is coming to an end. We just have cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and peppers left in it.

Most of my flowers are still going strong.

Isabella is obsessed with playing frisbee, or "crisbee" as she calls it.

And who needs toys - she's thrilled with just running around in the backyard!

A Week Away

Last week Isabella and I traveled to see my long time friend, Meredith. It was wonderful to get to see her! We had some late nights of chatting, what gal doesn't like to do that!? :) She showed us around her beautiful town, our kids played, we went for walks, it was an awesome time! And look at these two boys of hers, aren't they the cutest?! And she's expecting #3 in October, who is bound to be just as cute!

Isabella took a liking to her (who wouldn't!).
AND . . . not only did I get to see Meredith, but I got to see my ENTIRE family that week. We stopped at my brother's the first day, and stayed overnight, so we didn't have to do all the driving in one day. I don't have any pictures from then, but Isabella had a blast playing with her cousins, and my grandma even came over for supper. Then, on our way home from Meredith's, we stopped at my parents for the night. My niece was staying there, since my sister was not doing well in her last stage of pregnancy. Those girls LOVE each other, they pretty much disappear to another room, and go play together. I love eavesdropping on their conversations. . . so cute! The next day I brought Rachel back to my sister's and stayed there for the day, before heading home that evening. I drove 16 + hours last week, just Isabella and I, and she did great in the car! As usual, she didn't sleep much in the car, sigh, but I can handle that as long as she is happy. She pretty much listened to music the entire time.

She loved Rachel's new cat, Butterscotch. She calls him, "Scott".

Weekend During the Week

Monte had two days of insurance claims to work on, near the area where his parents live this past week. So we all went up to spend two days at their house. It felt like a weekend, since that's when we are normally there. Now I'm all messed up with my days. My mother-in-law and I (with Isabella's help part of the time) canned pickles, YUM! We canned 39 quarts that day, plus my mother-in-law canned another 39 quarts last week.

And the rest of the time was spent in their pool.


For some reason, she had to hold on to a swim noodle almost the entire time.

And I've found ONE thing I don't like about having a potty trained kid vs. a non-potty trained kid - taking a soaking wet kid out of the pool to go potty. It was quite the production.

Pool Time

It was FINALLY hot here this past week. It's been an unusually cool summer, I know a lot of people that like it cool, but I prefer the very hot weather. Other than this last week, and one week in June, it's been in the 70's and even 60's some weeks. I remember last summer I either took Isabella to the city pool or she swam in her little pool almost every day. This summer I have taken her to the pool once, and we just got out her little pool now that the summer is almost over! Although, I also attribute the lack of pool time to her hugely expanded assortment of outdoor toys (there's only so much you can fit in in a day!), thanks to friends, family, and strangers (jeep, swing set, etc.). Both she and I have been enjoying the hot weather, that has now come to an end once again. She is getting to be more and more independent in her playing, but likes to have me near, so I would grab a book, and lounge next to her while she splashed around in her pool for the majority of the afternoons.

She thought she would get out of the pool and read for a while. Here she is enjoying "The Firm" by John Grisham, I found the plot to be a little too advanced for her, but she found it quite interesting. :)

And a hot afternoon in the sun wouldn't be complete without enjoying a popsicle in the porch.

Flower Gardens

This past weekend we headed back to the flower gardens where I took Isabella's pictures in June. Ever since she and I went there, she's been talking about how she wanted to take Daddy there, so he could see all the pretty flowers. She was so excited about it, and as soon as we got in the car after spending a good part of the afternoon there, she said, "Thank you, Daddy, for coming with us." So sweet, it definitely made her day, but then again, any day that she gets to be with Daddy ALL day makes her day - see previous post. I LOVE this picture of Monte and Isabella!

This kid is obsessed with rocks. You should have seen the way her eyes lit up when she saw these huge things. Here, she's trying to pick one up . . . good luck with that.

Wrapping it Up

I was just thinking these vacation posts have been drug out, we've been home for an entire week now. But I'm glad that I took the time to document it, because it will be nice to look back on. There are so many reasons to blog, I would say that my number one reason is to record family memories for us. I love looking back at posts from a long time ago, but sometimes it makes me sad to see how fast Isabella is growing up. :(

We spent one day in the little town of Keystone. It's basically a big tourist trap, with tons of cute little stores and shops, places to eat, etc. We love going to the taffy shop there, and watching them make taffy (but more importantly buying and EATING the taffy!). Isabella insisted we take her picture on this weird donkey looking thing.


Another thing we did while out in the Black Hills was wine tasting. We fell in love with Prairie Berry winery out there, and had to go two times! On our way home we stopped at the famous Wall Drug, which is where the picture below is from. It was a wonderful vacation, I was sad to come home, I could have used another week out there. :) But oh well, all good things must come to an end. And I was so happy to see that all my flowers didn't die from lack of watering when we got home. Our wonderful neighbor came over and watered for us.

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.

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.