Our South Dakota Trip to see Tom's Family

We had a wonderful time visiting family this past holiday weekend. We made an attempt at traveling through the night (while the kids slept), but that didn't work out so well. Lack of comfort for us, anxiety about upcoming rain, and kids who wanted to toss and turn caused us to pull over and sleep away until morning. For the last hour of the trip we drove through really thick fog, so we couldn't even see the Black Hills until the next day. The kids were happy to make it to Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Melissa's house. We were also pleasantly surprised to find out that Jake had brought his girlfriend Nadine. We also got to meet Lew (Marjean's boyfriend).

On Saturday we went up Spearfish Canyon to check out the waterfalls. They were a pretty site! Back at Jeremy's we played some Bocce and just hung out for the evening. Dinner was the famous Salami burgers. Yum!!

Sunday we went out to the park for more family fun after church. The kids enjoyed the different equipment, though they still love the swings. We also had some layered red velvet cake to celebrate Jeremy and Nell's birthdays (Dylan had some Monday morning). We also visited the nearby fish hatchery (Olivia kept looking out for sharks, thanks Dora). Later that evening we tried out Jeremy's Wii. It was a blast.

On Monday we started back for home, though we took a quick stop at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Compared to the museum in Dayton, it was pretty small, but we still had lots of fun. Tom was thrilled to find a prototype YF101 engine on display! We ended up getting home Tuesday evening, and just in time. The kids were very tired of being in their car seats for the long trip. Overall it was great fun!