Bowman Museum

Bowman seriously has like 1500 people in it. It has 2 TINY grocery stores and one Alco (mini Walmart). It also has a museum; an AWESOME museum. Linda and I had been talking about taking the boys for 2 weeks but we just weren't sure if it would even have anything in it. But it was really cool. We were the only ones there and the boys just ran around. They had a great time. I'm glad Linda found it!
Sam was our 'guide' for the day. He lead the way and told us all about it. It is really fun to watch his mind work! He has such a great imagination. He had stories for everything!

The boys walked around the whole place holding hands. I loved it. Normally holding hands means Sam DRAGGING Logan around by the arm and Logan crying, but that day they just loved being together!

We went through like 7 states on our vacation and I looked in each one for a Dinosaur museum. I found some but they didn't look very cool. Who would have thought that we would find a dinosaur in Bowman! Sam was SO EXCITED!!

Logan found this machine gun in the corner and would not get off it! He sat there a 'shot it'. He yells "SHOO, SHOO!" It is so cute! I should get mad at him for shooting people but I love to here him say it!

Logan found FRED. Our friend Josh has an Antelope and his house and this is how Logan sits at his house too! He just talked and talked to it. Then he started yelling for Josh. "Yaash, Yaash?" I was glad it was a small place and we had it to ourselves.

More Vacation!

While my parents were in ND we wanted to show them Mt. Rushmore and a few things around there. It is a 3 hour drive from Bowman so we left Logan with Grandma Linda and just took Sam. It was a super long day, but so much fun. I'm so glad we got so share it with my family. We took Sam to Mt. Rushmore last year and when we told him we were going back to Grandma and Gramps, he asked if we could go to Mt. Rushmore again. He loves that someone drew faces on the mountain.

You can hike around under the faces. Its a long hike but really pretty. The trail was closed half way because they were doing maintenance in the mountain. It was super hot so we took a lot of rests!

I am SO PROUD of my Mom! When we got to Rushmore Cave, it had already been decided that Dave, Dad, and Sam would go through the cave and Mom and I would wait in the gift shop. One of the guides over heard us trying to get my Mom just to look inside the cave through the glass door. He was SO NICE! He offered to let my Mom step in and check it out. I don't know if she was sure about it but Dave helped her through the door and went with her! Dave said she was SO BRAVE!! He told me that she hesitated once but he just pushed her soft and she went in. My Dad and I thought he would just take her right inside, but he didn't. He let her to the first big cavern! They were in there for at least 5 minutes!!! My Mom is very claustrophobic (she doesn't even like elevators) so even stepping inside the door was a big thing for her. You were AWESOME Mom!!!

I love her face!! She is totally freaked out but she was in there and this is the PROOF!!

Sam is fearless! This is the second Cave he has toured and he loved it! It was a mile walk and he went the whole way!

Sam and Papa Jerr. Sam loved being able to share that with my Dad!

After the Cave we went down the Needles Highway. Dave and I wanted to check it out but we weren't sure if my Mom would let us dive through the tunnels so we didn't tell her until we came up on them! She didn't tell us we couldn't! It was BEAUTIFUL! The tunnels were a tight fit but really cool! It would have been more cool if i didn't get car sick, but sadly I missed most if it. The roads were switchbacks for like 2 hours! Sam loved it!

This was the coolest tunnel! It was long! While we were there and Motor home almost got stuck. Dave and my Dad had to help him back out and turn around! It was a pretty tight squeeze.

Sam went rock climbing with Dave. I sat in the car for the most of it. They found a cool route to go up to the top of the tunnel. Sam is so brave, he just ran around up there. Dave said that the rocks he is climbing under and around or rocks that have fallen and are just hanging there.

Here Dave and Sam are at the top. Sam made a new friend, Ben there. We stayed at this spot for about a hour. It was really fun. I'm so glad my parents came out to see us. Dave loved getting to show them around ND and SD. The boys loved seeing Maymee and Papa Jerr!

Bowman Pool

In Bowman there is a city pool. The first year I went to ND, the pool was just a pool. But every year they add something to it. This year they had a huge water slide, a tube slide and a little slide for the kiddie pool. The only pool in Jackson is the gym, and 2 weeks after they fill it it's to hot to swim in. So swimming is a treat for them. Yes, that is my parents. They came out a surprised the boys! It was GREAT to see them. They were good sports. They let us drag them all over for a couple of days. Logan and my Maymee. He thinks splashing is fun.

Logan wasn't as excited at his slide.

Sam talked Grandpa Jerr into going down the slide with him. Dad shot off the end and went a ways. It was funny to hear Sam say "good job papa Jerr". Sam ran up this slide forever. Dave gave up running after him and just waited at the bottom. He only had one problem when he flipped around in the middle some where and got a good bump on his head, but it didn't seem to stop him.

I was mad while I was taking this picture. Yes, it's the HIGH DIVE!!! And that is my 4 year old jumping off it!!! Notice Dave just watching from the side. Sam was going off the regular one until his saw an older boy going up the big ladder. My Mom said, 'Don't get mad just grab the camera and get ready'. When I turned around I saw Sam walking toward the edge. Dave made Adam get in the water to 'catch' him. As he was about to chicken out an older boy told him 'Don't be scared just run and jump off, its fun'. That was all it took. My babies are FEARLESS!! The kiddie pool is blocked off by a fence from the rest of the pool and Logan was trying to crawl under it to get in on the action. He was very upset that Sam was jumping and not him.

Holy Vacation Part 2

As we were driving on the Freeway we saw this giant goose thing. It was the Enchanted Highway. This Farmer has used scrap metal to build these gigantic animal statues. They were really cool to see. The boys enjoyed stopping and checking everything out.

When Logan saw the 'SHISH', Dave couldn't drive fast enough. We had to catch him to get back into the car.

The cowboy one was really awesome. The boys played in the stage coach. Behind them was a giant cowboy. We took a few pics before we realized the place was SWARMING with leaf cutter bees. I ran the boys to the car, but not before they got Sam. His legs were COVERED in bits. Poor kid! When Sam gets bit by anything he swells like crazy, so within a few miles he was all swollen and complaining they hurt. That was the last one we stopped at. They were cool to see though.

We made it to Grandma and Gramps by late afternoon. My favorite part of being there is sitting on the front porch and watching the cars on the highway. Its right there! I am always nervous about going with kids, but we only had a 2 runaways! Logan just wanted to sweep the road. The boys are waiting for Grandma Linda. I love how Sam is such a big boy. He sits with his legs crossed in his car seat too. And Logan has to be just like him.

Logan is very shy when seeing new people. Gramps got to Logan early with some food. Now they are best friends!

Logan found this truck and played with it ALL the time. He loaded rocks and hauled them around. He wanted to ride in it but couldn't figure out how to sit in it and make it go so he settled for the rocks.

Gramps has a couple horses. Hailey and P.O.S. (really), Sam named her Spot. He thought they would like some flowers so he pick wild sunflowers for them. But not the whole thing just the pedals.

Aren't my boys SO cute. I love the Dave has his arm on Logan's leg and Logan has his arm around Dave. Logan LOVES Hailey. He yelled out the window ' NAYNEE'. That's all he wanted to do the whole 2 weeks was see Hailey.

After we had been there a week, we decided to take the boys so Rapid to a cool park and on the way we wanted to drive through and check out Strugis. We so every year, but BIKE WEEK was going so we went. It was SO FOGGY! Sturgis is a pretty small town. The main street through town is maybe 4 miles. I took our over a hour to drive through. It was nuts! There were bikers everywhere. We went to the Buffalo Chip. (above) Its so big but we couldn't see how far back it went. It is set out of town about a mile and there is only a small 2 lane road that gets you there. We went down that road! MISTAKE!! We sat in a line forever trying to get there; then when we realized what we had done we had to wait in the line to get out. Poor boys, they were so sick of the car.

There were bars everywhere! After a hour on that road we needed one!!

Full Throttle Saloon

There were shops everywhere! Just in tents and trucks. After a lunch FIASCO, we made it to STORYBOOK ISLAND. Its a free park with all of the classic storybooks represented. It was AWESOME!! We were there for several hours. The entrance was a castle and a mote. Off to the side was the ogre and the 3 goats that tried to pass.

Sam was so excited to help so Humpty Dumpty didn't fall

Old school Fire truck. Logan barked and barked at the dog. It took us a few minutes before he would get close enough to touch him. I don't think he got the dog was fake.

'NAYNEE'

The only thing you paid for in the whole thing was a train ride. They loved it. They had the thing to themselves, Sam kept telling Logan to drive and turn. What a good big brother. Dave walked beside the train; I was worried Logan would be done and get out in the middle of the ride.

YOGI and BOO BOO!

THAT FACE!!!! It about sums up the day. Logan fell in a mud lake so is all nasty. But how cute is he! I asked him who that was and that was his reply. I love it!

HOLY VACATION part 1

We are back from Chicago and North Dakota! We had such a great time. It was great to see family and friends! We left on the Friday, July 31 to Oswego, Il (near Chicago) to see Matt and Melissa Sides. We had a AWESOME food and a great time. On Saturday we all went to Legoland there; all of the kids loved it. Thanks for hanging out with us for a couple days guys! We miss you more now! I have to add the picture above for Sam. He loves Alastair and misses him.

Logan kept petting this guy.

Their faces are so funny, but they were standing together so its a keeper.

When Sam saw Batman, he ran up to him and posed like this luckily I had the camera ready because that is a great shot!

This was a ride like, It's a small world. It was really slow and went through a castle. It was really cool all of the Lego things built inside. Sam got scared a couple of times. Someone let the Dragon out and the was not fun for him. Logan on the other hand did NOT enjoy any of it. Dave said he was whimpering the whole time.

Sam was the 'Professor's' helper to make Legos. He went through a mini system and showed us how they make Legos. This was probably my favorite part! I wanted Dave and Matt to take their picture with him but they wouldn't! BUTTS!

Matt and Sam with President Ovoma (as Sam says)

All of us a Buca's. Awesome Food! Good choice Matt. You order giant bowls of food and everyone shares. But they don't tell you how GIANT the bowls are. We could have eaten for days on the food we got! But SO GOOD!!

After we ate lunch we took off. Our plan was to drive to Minneapolis and stay the night which was about 6 hours away. At 8 the boys were getting tired so we stopped at this rest area to get jammies on and we noticed a scenic plaque that said their was a waterfall. I didn't read it I just told Dave we should go and wear the boys the rest of the way out. We walked and then ran up a trail which turned into this board walk. It was raised of the ground. It was really pretty. But we seriously walked over a mile and then came to the end of the board walk. Yeah and guess what. NO WATERFALL! It was a good walk and the boys were happy to get out of the car for a while. We got back in the car and drove to Minneapolis. As we were getting closer about 10:30 Dave called Marriott to make a reservation. Now I will tell you that we not snobs or anything and its not that we have a problem with other hotels it just when Dave is in Japan he stays at the Marriott so he gets points and we don't have to pay for the hotel if we stay there. So anyway, The lady tells us there is a vacancy in one down by the Mall of America so we go downtown Minneapolis at night and try to find this hotel. Well we find out that the Hotel the lady found was Burrlington (suburb) but not in Minnesota but Indiana. Excellent! Dave was on the phone and driving so I was trying to read the map to get us out of that town. No we don't have GPS. The freeway turned and we went into a tunnel at night remember, and as I am trying not to freak we hear a DEAFENING siren! There were firetrucks coming up behind us in the tunnel that wanted to pass. There is NO room for pulling over in the tunnel so Dave decides to speed up for them. Dave is a great driver, but I thought WE was going to die!!! The boys slept through all it. We finally made it out of that town and ended up driving to Fagro, which is 4 hours more. The Sturgis Rally was starting in a few days so all the hotels were booked. But we found one there and rolled in about 2:30 am. It made the drive the next day lots more pleasant because we only had 6 hours left.