South Dakota Vacation Post #1

I know it has taken me awhile to post some vacation pictures, but I was overwhelmed. We have a wonderful time and did so many things and took so many pictures I did not know where to start. I think I will tell you about our vacation in pieces. I don't want to leave anything out.

We left home on a rainy Saturday morning. This was fine with us. We were going to be in the car traveling across Iowa all day. We loaded down the Jeep and I mean loaded her down. There was no space unused. We hit the road around 8:00 a.m. and set out to cross Iowa. Around 5 p.m. that night we entered Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This was our stop for the night. In the morning we would cross South Dakota to get the the Black Hills with a stop in the Badlands on the way. We found the Falls in Sioux Falls and the kids played on the rocks and we had some fun then went to find some good food at the local Cracker Barrel and of course swim in the hotel pool (hot tub for Matt and I).

On Sunday we traveled across South Dakota heading for Custer State Park. We had to stop for a few classic sights we were told we had to see. The first stop was in Mitchell, SD for the Corn Palace. The outside of this building in decorated in corn. Every year they change the murals. This years theme was "Everyday Heroes". We were there about 15 minutes. Enough to say "Yup, cool, let's go"!! The next stop was in Wall, SD to see Wall Drug. Now everyone we talked to said that we had to see Wall Drug. The signs for this place started in Iowa and we counted around 40 all together before you finally get to the place. All I can say is that now I can say I have been there. I was not impressed. It was quite possibly the largest junk shop I have every seen and in my opinion a complete waste of time, but oh well.

We went to the Badlands which are awesome. The kids played on them for awhile and we drove the loop. I will include pictures of them later. Then we arrived at our cabin around 5:00 Sunday evening.

The first day of our trip we did a Cowboy Breakfast ride at Palmer Gulch Stables. At the end of the week this actually ended up being everyone's favorite thing that we did. We had great trail guides and great horses. I had Keg, Matt had Pat, Shelby had Flash, and Jake had Sushi. We were in a group of about 16 people with 3 trail guides. We took a 45 minute ride up to a lookout area and stopped there for a breakfast of French toast, fruit salad, hashbrowns, and sausage links. Yummy! After breakfast we got back on our horses and continued on for another half hour. It was a lot of fun!

That afternoon we went to Jewel Cave National Monument. It was pretty cool. I will post pictures of our cabin in the next post about South Dakota!!

Introducing Owen Miles Weaver!

HI everyone! We are back from our vacation. We had a wonderful time, but something very exciting happened at home while we were gone. My nephew, my brother's son, was born on Thursday, July 17 at 9:30 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs and 3 oz and was 19 inches long. His momma really had to work at the end to get him into the world but he is here and healthy! Also very, very cute! I went to see him first thing when I got home. I could not wait. Here are some pics!

4th of July and Shelby's Birthday

Less than 24 hours to D-day or should I say B-day!

In less than 24 hours there will be a teenager living in this house! I really can't grasp it. I can't believe that at 8:34 a.m. tomorrow it will have been thirteen years since that beautiful red headed baby girl was laid in my arms for the first time. Matt and I watched her first birthday party a couple of weeks ago with her and Jake and she just rolled her eyes at my gushing the whole time. I know she can't wait to grow up. To her it seems like it is taking forever, but I can wait. I am in no hurry. The red hair is pretty much gone now and we went from loving Blue's Clues to rock and roll. Yes, rock and roll. This child loves the guitar and any band that puts this particular instrument to good use. I think she may have grown up in the wrong generation. When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said "Guitar Hero of course". We got it for her last weekend and she has spent every moment she can get trying to win each song. Of course she has one of the horrible mothers who will not let her play 24 hrs a day. LOL!
So tomorrow we will celebrate her birthday with a bang as always. There will be parades, cake and ice cream with family, carnival rides and food, and of course fireworks. It was at least four year before she figured out all of that was not just for her! While all that is going on I will be trying to figure out how to make sure the next thirteen years don't escape so fast! I know! Good luck with that!
Here are some pictures of our own Guitar Hero and a smaller version. Happy Birthday Shelby! Mom loves you!