Park and Fish Hatchery

While my cousin and his family were here we took them to the Fish Hatchery and Park. The girls had a blast! They're so stinkin' cute!

Checking out the fish

Miss Ashley on the slide

Wading in the creek with daddy

So dramatic! :)

Circus!

My cousin Matt and his family came to stay with us for a night on their way to Chamberlain in June. The circus was in Deadwood that day so we decided to go check it out. We had a great time and the girls loved it.

National Anthem (notice Taylor's hand on her heart)

Matt and sweet little Audrey

Ashley & Taylor had the giggles...

Goofball...

Courtney and Ashley (beautiful girls)

Class of '98 Kiddos

We had a small get-together with some of the girls that I graduated with that live here or were visiting. It was great to see everyone and let all the kiddos play together.

Little Fish

John's parents came to visit for a weekend in June. They spent a night at a hotel near our house so we jumped on the opportunity to let Taylor swim. She's such a water baby and has absolutely no fear. She loves to swim and is really good at it.

Taylor and Grandma Patty trying out the new bubble machine that Grandma and Papa brought her...

Shootout Champion!

In June, John was asked to be a part of the celebrity shootout fundraiser during Wild Bill Days in Deadwood. He reluctantly agreed to be a part of it but was a little nervous as he's not much of a gun person. It was a fast-draw competition and they used digital targets with wax bullets. He competed with 30+ people and ended up winning the entire thing! Go John! He's a cowboy at heart! :)

Custer State Park Weekend

We spent a weekend in Custer State Park in the middle of June. It was a cold and rainy weekend but we still had a great time seeing the beautiful area that we live in. Neither of us took advantage of it when we lived here when we were younger so we're determined to see everything now and we're having a great time doing it.

We took off early on Saturday morning and stopped at Roubaix Lake (John camped there once when he was little and wanted to see it again). Then we went on to Pactola Lake (shown below)...



After that we stopped in Hill City at Prairie Berry Winery for a sampling and an amazing lunch. The wine was great too. We bought a bottle of Red Ass Rhubarb and and a bottle of Chokecherry wine. The Chokecherry brought back so many memories for both of us so we had to buy it. For me it took me back to my Grandma's fishing hole where we would always pick chokecherries and she would pretend to fish with her rubber fish. :)

After that we drove by Crazy Horse Monument. We just took a picture from the road since it was so rainy.

Then we went on to Flintstones Village so Taylor could run off some energy. She had such a great time!

Riding the train

Cheese!

WANTED

Peeking in Fred & Wilma's house

Driving Fred's car

Driving Barney's car

Watching the show

Mount Rockmore

Swingin'

After playing super hard at Flintstones Village we went and had a piece of pie at the Purple Pie Place in Custer. Yumm!

All tuckered out!

We then drove the Needles Highway. It was raining pretty good and Taylor was sleeping so we didn't get out of the car much but it was absolutely incredible. Definitely a site to see!

Sylvan Lake

Loved all the cool tunnels

After a long day we were ready to get settled into our lodge. We stayed at the State Game Lodge in Custer State Park. It was an amazing historic building. It was built in 1920 and served as the "Summer White House" for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927. We got settled in and had an amazing dinner at the restaurant then put the kiddo to bed (after she jumped on the bed for awhile!) :)

The bottle of wine we shared after T- went to sleep. The pic on the label is the lodge that we stayed in.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and took off to do the Wildlife Loop in the park. We saw lots of antelope, buffalo and donkeys.







After that we drove Iron Ridge Road and the Pigtail Bridges to Keystone. Another amazing drive. Loved the tunnel where you could see Mt. Rushmore through it.


We had a great weekend away and will be doing this often. It's just too close and too beautiful not to.