we also did this...

a morning of fishing, splashing in the lake, and an afternoon picnic

just a sampling of what they caught.

he isn't so sure about the whole touching of the fish experience.

An exciting day at the waterslide park,

some little cutie looks very ready to me!

Creed caught yet another frog of the season, this time unfortunately this one was in the pool, so it didn't live long due to what we think must have been the chlorine.

He was taken home and buried next to the snake that was found last summer.

I am really NOT LOVING the thought of our pet cemetary that is growing in our back yard...eek!

 

One of Mack's requests during our vacation time was driving on needles Highway and stopping at the eye to rock climb and explore. We started the day with lunch and dessert at The Alpine Inn in Hill City. We have never been there before at lunch time when their menu is German food.

That was probably my favorite part of the day. *grin*

This time we hiked up a ways into unfamiliar territory and ended up spending hours there doing a little of this:

When all the dead trees were officially dead we ventured off to Custer State park to hang with some of the wildlife. The herds of Buffalo and donkeys were a lot of fun to watch and in the

donkeys case it was a lot of fun to share with them some of our muddy buddies. I am not sure that is actually good for them. oops.

Then a final stop at Center Lake to roast hotdogs, do some more fishing and splashing, and

finish off with some good ol' tasty smores.

Driving home on Iron Mountain road (which is cool, nauseating, but cool) going through one of the many tunnels we realized we couldn't see Mount Rushmore because it wasn't lit up for the night yet. Realizing that in the 6 years we have lived here we have yet to see it at night. I remembered hearing somewhere that the lighting ceremony started somewhere around 9:30. Well, it was 9:00 so we decided to drive up there and sit in the parking lot with the windows down to hear what we could of the national anthem and the

speakers and wait for it to light up. It was very majestic and yet at the same time a simple tribute

to our nation and its military heros.

A nice ending to our day and our "honeymoon"

(notice it is just me in the picture, as I am sure any parent can attest too, its just not worth it

to unbuckle all the kids once they are loaded.)