Road Trip to the Black Hills

Last month we took a family road trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. The drive took us a little longer than we planned (10.5 hours) but the kids did amazing and we had a great time. We’re a camping family but didn’t feel up to doing a full on camping trip so we decided to split lodging and stay in a hotel for the first part of the trip then move to a cabin in Custer State Park.

Day 1, Sunday - Explore Rapid City

After a long day of travel, we slept in, enjoyed the hotel breakfast and took a morning swim.  After the kids had sufficient pool time, we headed out to explore Rapid City.  First stop was Storybook Island Park.  Our family was underwhelmed.  Although it had unique play structures based on classic storybook characters, it seemed a little young for our 6 and 4-year-old.   Unless you have kids who are really into nursery rhymes and classic stories or under the age of 4, I would skip.  Note, Storybook Island Park does not allow outside food inside the park.  There are a few picnic tables outside the park for use.

Our next destination was the iconic Dinosaur Park just outside Rapid City.  We found a picnic table there and had our lunch then headed up the hill to check out the bright green concrete statues.  The kids were hot and tired at this point but did enjoy climbing on the dinosaurs and taking fun pictures.

After some downtime at the hotel, we drove to the Rapid City town square for dinner.  The town square is very charming with fun shops and restaurants and also statues of former Presidents on every corner.  In the middle of the square are fountains and a grassy area for kids to play.  We packed extra clothes and let the kids splash in the fountains before we headed to dinner.  We ate dinner at the Firehouse Brewery and if you’re driving westbound on I-90, the signs for the brewery rival the Wall Drug signs.  The restaurant is in an old restored firehouse with lots of memorabilia including the original fire pole.  They have a good selection of their own beers on tap and typical bar and grill menu.  The food was decent but the environment makes this worth the visit.

Day 2 Monday – Bear Country U.S.A. and Keystone, SD

First stop today was Bear Country U.S.A. located just 9 miles south of Rapid City off of Highway 16.  We got an early start in hopes of seeing more wildlife.  It did not disappoint, as we drove through the park we got a glimpse of elk, coyotes, big horn sheep, fox and of course bears.  It probably takes 30 minutes to drive through the park but our family (me!) really enjoyed watching the animals so we took almost an hour to drive through.  In my opinion, Bear Country U.S.A. is a must stop on your Black Hills vacation.  

After Bear Country, we continued another 11 miles on Highway 16 to Keystone.  One of Evan’s “must” activities was to pan for gold.  We went to Big Thunder Gold Mine to tour the mine and try our luck at finding gold.  The tour is about 30 minutes.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining as he told us the story of the mine.  After the tour, you learn how to pan for gold and then for an additional cost, you get your turn to pan.   The kids were fortunate to find a few flakes of gold. 

Next we booked our seats on the 1880’s train then grabbed some ice cream while we waited for our departure.  The train is a true steam engine and runs back and forth to Keystone and Hill City several times a day. This was one of the most expensive activities of our trip (around $100 for our family of 4) and where it was a nice way to relax and see the Black Hills, even my train enthusiast son thought it was long.  The train ride is an hour each way with a 15 minute layover before the return trip.

Day 3 Tuesday – Badlands National Park

An hour back east on I-90 is the Badlands National Park.  The best way I can describe the Badlands is AMAZING.  The beauty and mystery of these rock formations just left me awe struck.  I could not get over how we would be driving through the park and on one side would be flat prairie and on the other would be these huge canyons or mountainous rock formations. 

We had a slow start in the morning so the kids could swim so we didn’t get to the park until later.  I could have easily spent another day here exploring.  The visitor center gives you a good overview of the history of the Badlands and the unique makeup of the rock.  There are three trails that are good for kids.  Kids can also earn their Junior Ranger badges here.

 

On our way back to Rapid City, we stopped in Wall to see the famous drug store, Wall Drug.  This place is huge and has everything and anything you could think of to buy. It’s one of those things that I’m glad I can say I’ve done but I have no desire to stop there again. 

Day 4 Wednesday – Mount Rushmore, Train Museum and move to Custer State Park.

After four nights in the hotel, we packed up and moved to a camper cabin at Legion Lake Lodge in Custer State Park.  On our way there we headed back through Keystone to one of the nation’s most famous landmarks, Mt. Rushmore.  I would recommend visiting the monument late morning or early afternoon.  We arrived around 9am and it was pretty crowded but as we left, we noticed the crowds and parking area had thinned out.   

You can’t help but feel patriotic as you walk through the Avenue of Flags showcasing the flag of each state.  You get a great view of the faces as you walk up to the visitor’s center.  Kids can get Junior Ranger badges at the visitor center too.  There are trails to walk around to give you different views of the faces.  

When we had our layover in Hill City from the 1880’s train, Evan noticed a train museum and we briefly stuck our heads in there. He kept asking if we would have time to do that so we swung 12 miles north from Mt. Rushmore back to Hill City to visit the South Dakota State Railroad Museum.  It was actually quite impressive for how small it was.  There is a replica of an engine that visitors can climb in as well as model train exhibit.  I personally enjoyed looking through all the records of old train schedules and routes. 

We finally made our way to Custer State Park to find our lodge.  The lodge sits on Legion Lake in Custer State Park.  The scenery was so picturesque and when we drove up to our cabin deer were waiting there to greet us.  The cabin we rented was a one room sleeper with two queen beds and housekeeping service.  We had electricity, air, cable tv, full bathroom, mini fridge and microwave.  Outside was a fire pit, picnic table and two outdoors chairs.  We had great views of the Ponderosa Pines the Black Hills is known for. 

 

Day 5 Thursday, Mammoth Site and Evan’s Plunge

Mammoth Site in Hot Spring which is 40 miles south of Custer State Park is an active dig site where visitors can see bones of Mammoth’s and other creatures actually being discovered.  Visitors watch a video on the history of the site then each person gets their own audio device as the guide takes you on a tour of the dig site which lasts about 40 minutes.  You can also can go to the lab in the basement to see the paleontologists working.      

Since we were in Hot Springs, SD, we had to find a hot spring.  Evan’s Plunge is a natural spring indoor/outdoor water park.  It was refreshing being in a pool that didn’t have the strong smell of chlorine but other than that it wasn’t anything great.  Well except for the fact that it’s “Evan’s” Plunge so my son thought that was pretty cool.  Unless your family loves waterparks and has plenty of time, I would skip the Plunge. 

Day 6 Friday

Our last day of vacation we spent the morning at Jewel Cave.  There are two caves to visit in the Black Hills, Wind Cave being the other.  We chose Jewel Cave because they have a 20 minute presentation where visitors just have a few steps to walk down to a large room of the cave.  All the other cave tours had 300+ steps and were close to an hour long.  Our 6 year old could have handled that but knowing our 4 year old daughter, she wouldn’t have been able to handle the steps or the length of tour. The 20 minute presentation worked well for our family.  

After the cave tour, we headed back to our cabin for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon at the lake.  After the lake, we drove the Wildlife loop in Custer State Park.  If you want to see buffalo and prairie dogs, this is an excellent drive. 

The Down and Dirty

Food - Mike and I determined this was not a foodie vacation so food was a small part of our budget.  We stocked up on groceries before we left and did a restock on groceries before we headed to Custer. We ate breakfast at the hotel when we stayed there and cereal and fruit when we were at the cabin.  Lunches were all picnic style with sandwiches, chips, fruit and veggies.  Yes, by the end of the trip I think we were all a little sandwiched out but it saved us a ton of money.  Plus, a lot of places we traveled were in remote areas so not a lot of food choices available.  Dinner we always ate out.  We had intentions of grilling hot dogs over the fire pit at the cabin but the food at the lodge was so good and very convenient so we did splurge a bit there.

Lodging - Rapid City makes a great home base for the activities we wanted to do. Country Inn and Suites was a good fit for us; nice pool, water slide and good breakfast.  If nature is your thing, make sure to spend a few nights in one of the many lodges in Custer State Park.

  

My Must List - Bear Country U.S.A, Big Thunder Gold Mine, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Mammoth Site, Badlands National Park.

My Redo - I would skip Storybook Island Park and replace that with Reptile Gardens which is just outside of Rapid City.  Spend more time at the Badlands, possibly even a night there and add Minuteman Missile Site.  Skip Evan’s Plunge and explore Wind Cave.  More time hiking and exploring Custer.

Blowing the Dust Off

Wow, it's been over a year since my last blog post. It's time to blow the dust off this thing and get back to writing. Not only because it's something I enjoy, but life it moving at lightning speed and this is my way of capturing moments. With a four year old and two year old, life is busy but oh so fun. I'm loving this stage of life right now. Both kids are old enough that we can do activities as a family and they actually can participate and enjoy them. We've been camping, fishing, swimming, and hitting up every park we come across. The conversations we have as a family are priceless as Evan and Cora learn about their world.

I'm in awe of the relationship the two have. Maybe it's because I never had a sibling and I don't know that bond. But I do know that those two have something special between them. Sure, there are fights and tears but for the most part it's love. I see it in the way Evan looks out for Cora, when he takes her hand to guide her to the playground. I see it in the way Cora looks up to her brother, when she follows him and around and wants to be, "Just like Evan."  It truly is my greatest joy seeing those two together.

There are parts of this stage that I'm ready to be done with though. I'm tired of playing musical beds at night and no one sleeping in their own bed. I'm tired of changing diapers and yes they are both in diapers. Potty training has been a battle with Evan. I'm tired of making snacks and refilling sippy cups with milk and water all the time. I'm tired of sippy cups!

But for the most part life is pretty great now and I don't want to miss a moment. So hopefully I can stay committed to this blog and capture these moments but also continue writing and storytelling because it truly is something I enjoy.

Life Lessons from Vacation

Mike and I recently returned from our anniversary trip. We spent a week in Arizona, first in Phoenix visiting friends and then some alone time in Sedona. We had a great time and I learned some valuable life lessons along the way.

- Mexican food tastes 100 times better in the desert sunshine.

- I've always been a beer girl but a great cocktail is hard to beat.

- Spa treatments are an investment in my well being and should happen on a regular basis.

- I all of a sudden developed a paralyzing fear of heights.

- Mountains are beautiful but the ocean has my heart. (See above.)

- My ideal vacation must involve some sort of nature. I can only shop or museum(can that be a verb?) so much. I love being outdoors much more.

- A week is way too long to be away from my babies.

E is Three!

I have a three year old and I still find that hard to believe. Three seems so much older than two. At three years old, E is wicked smart and has a very active imagination. The boy can talk and talk and talk. He's going to be a great story teller some day. The questions he asks and the things he remembers about his life amaze me. It's hard for me to believe he's only three.

His kindness just melts my heart. He dotes on his sister, calling her "Sweet Baby" and brings her toys when she first wakes up. Sometimes he brings her toys if she's playing with his toys and he doesn't like it. But the fact that he even thinks to bring her something in exchange is just a testament to how kind he is.

We had a great day celebrating E's third birthday. Just Grandmas and Grandpas and Auntie Andrea came to celebrate. We ordered pizza from Park Tavern and ate it off paper plates in the livingroom. We had construction birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. It was simple. The best part of the party was everyone sitting out in the yard on a beautiful evening watching E and Cora play so well together. There were no Pinterest decorations or fancy foods. In fact, I forgot to put out the watermelon but no one missed it. There was no stress making sure everyone was enjoying themselves or the food was done in time. The day was all about E and celebrating him turning three.

E's Birthday doughnut.

Opening his scooter from G&G McDonald

Birthday Construction Cake

Construction outfit from Auntie Andrea.

21 Day Fix, End of Round 1

I did it. I finished the 21 Day Fix. Part of me is surprised that I actually finished it and stuck with the plan. I did have one cheat day. On our anniversary I had a glass of wine and beer along with ribs. But I did swap out the fires for steamed veggies. Other than that, I stuck to the program and I'm pretty proud of myself.

I didn't take before and after pictures, nor did I take measurements. I did weigh myself at the beginning and end of the 21 days and I'm down 11 pounds. Mike was down 13. More importantly, I loved how I felt and that I can fit into jeans I haven't worn since before I was pregnant with Cora. That was my main goal, to not continue buying clothes in a bigger size because nothing I had fit.

All in all, I enjoyed the fix and I'm going to start Round 2 on June 12th. This will only be a 19 day fix because I'll end it on my birthday which is June 30th and then enjoy the 4th of July weekend and then most likely start Round 3 after the holiday.

In the meantime, I've learned that I still haven't developed enough will power when it comes to food. We had pizza from one of our favorite places for E's birthday. I ate it for the party and enjoyed it, however, I continued enjoying the leftovers so the pizza had to be thrown out. So after a five day hiatus from tracking and working out. I'm doing a modified version of the fix to get me through the next three days plus a week of vacation then it's onto Round 2!

My plan for the modified version is to continue tracking. Tracking helps me make sure I eat enough veggies which is a struggle and also help me monitor my carb intake. I'm not going to track my fruit because I love fruit. And let's be honest, am I really going to gain a bunch of weight by eating too much fruit? I'm also allowing myself two blues because I love both avocado and cheese and I was having a hard time choosing either or for the day. I don't have a fancy way of tracking, I just write out 6 G's, 4 P's, 5 R's, 4 Y's, 1 B, and 1 O for the day and cross them off after I eat a portion. It's much easier than WW.

Mike and I plan to continue the workouts during the hiatus because it's a quick 30 minutes and you do feel pretty good afterwards. While on vacation, we'll probably be more relaxed but since we're going to the mountains, I anticipate some pretty good hikes to keep us active. I don't plan on monitoring alcohol. It is vacation after all. But I do plan to be alcohol free until I get to the airport and have a Bloody Mary while I wait for my flight.

Our Nightly Prayer

We thank God for all of our blessings.

We thank God for this day.

We pray for our house that keeps us safe and warm.

We pray for the food that fills our bellies.

We pray for our toys that are so much fun.

We pray for our health.

We pray for our friends and our family because they bring us so much love.

We pray for God to help us be brave.

We pray for God to help guide us through difficult situations.

We pray for people to be kind.

We pray for there to be peace.

And we pray for people who need help.

Amen.

21 Day Fix

Well, here I am trying yet another weight loss program. From Weight Watchers to Paleo to extreme exercising; I've tried many. But I'm 10 days into my 21 Day Fix and I must say, I'm not miserable and more importantly, I haven't given up.

I heard about the 21 Day Fix from several blogs that I follow and I became intrigued. The more I researched, the more I thought this might be a good fit for me. I liked the idea that it was only 21 days. You can do anything for 21 days. If I hated it, I would be off to have pizza and a Blizzard on day 22. I also liked that the premise was eating real food which is something that is important to me and I want to set that example for my kids. The downside was the exercise. In order for me to be successful, I would need to do a 30 minute at home workout everyday. Remember, I have an aversion to exercise, that "runner's high" everyone talks about doesn't exist for me. But again, I can do anything for 21 days and even if I half assed the workouts it would still be more than I was doing now. And they were at home so I could do them in the playroom while the kids played. Which actually didn't sound like a bad idea. It would get me out of doing yet another Paw Patrol mission.

I shared my research with Mike to see if he wanted to do it with me. I figured it would be easier if we did it together and I knew he wanted to drop some lbs as well. Sympathy pregnancy weight gain...it's a thing! Mike was on board so we started to game plan. Planning is an area where I've failed before. When trying other weight loss programs, I sign up on a whim and usually after a I've had several days of glutinous eating or have gone through my closet and determined nothing fits. WW is my default program. I've signed up more times than I can count and have seen some success, but I couldn't sustain it. I tend to think, oh I can never have a cookie or chips again and then I give up. Who wants to live life like that? I'll just be happy and fat. The 21 days was the real appeal to me. I can have cookies and chips again, just not for 21 days.

Once Mike and I both committed, I went to Amazon and made the purchase. Done. When the product arrived, the first thing I thought was that they had forgotten some of the food containers. Nope, they are just that small. Yikes! Mike was already second guessing this decision. We started reading through the literature to see what was on the food lists and how much we could eat. Once we calculated how many containers we could have each day we felt better. It looked like you got plenty of food. We also committed to no soda, no alcohol and only black coffee. No delicious creamer or half and half.

Now, when to start this 21 Day Fix? Easter was coming up along with Cora's birthday. Our anniversary and E's birthday followed shortly after. Yes, we wanted to enjoy food and adult beverages for these occasions so we wanted to work around those days. We decided to start May 1st which would be right after Cora's birthday and we would end right before our anniversary. But then Mike realized he had his NFL Draft boys' weekend at the beginning of May and wasn't about to participate in that without alcohol. So we decided May 6th was our start date and now here we are, 10 days later and we're still going strong.

Preparation has been key. I've always been pretty good at meal planning but now I'm strict about it. We stock up every Tuesday at Sam's Club so we have plenty of produce and sometimes make an extra run during the week. We do the workouts together with the kids hanging on us and it's turned into a family event. I love to see E get into it and am so proud we are setting good examples for our kids. I love to hear E say, "Exercise is fun!" The workouts do go pretty fast and they are tough. Yes, sometimes I half ass them, especially when it comes to push-ups. But I usually fight my way through. One alteration we did make was that we skip workouts on Sunday and Monday. With my work schedule, sleep is more important to me on those days.

I didn't take full body pictures of myself or measurements before I started the program. I didn't want this to be about weight loss. I wanted it to be about feeling better and creating healthy habits. I already do feel better and my pants aren't quite as tight which is a great feeling. I will weigh myself at the end just to see if I dropped some lbs. I'd be lying if I said it was easy. There's some days when I just want a Diet Coke so bad I can taste it. And on those beautiful spring afternoons we've been having, I'd love nothing more than to have a Sam Adams Porch Rocker while we play in the backyard. But I'm sticking with it and I feel proud of the commitment I've made. We'll see what happens when the 21 days end. Mike and I have already talked about modifying the plan a bit to keep these healthy habits going and if we feel we've gotten too laxed we'll start up again with another 21 Day Fix.  I'm so glad he's doing it with me, it's so much easier. And the lifestyle we're creating for our family is priceless.

My last meal, beer and glazed doughnut
 at 7am after work.

Here we go!

Sweaty workouts.

The kids love yoga!