WERE HOME!!

Well we rolled into Kansas City at 6:00AM this morning. It has already been a very long day.

We left last Friday for South Dakota and really had a great time. As you can imagine, I have lots of pictures so I will be spreading them out over the next few days.

Last Friday we left and headed to Sioux Falls for Cody's regional soccer tournament. His first game was Saturday morning against the #1 team out of Kentucky. We ended at 2-2. Sunday we played the #1 team out of Kansas and were beat 0-2. Then Monday we played the # 1 team out of Indiana and tied 0-0. The last team we played was a great team. We played them last year in West Des Moines in the championship game and they creamed us 0-5. So I think we have come a long way. We had lots of shots at the goalie but he was awesome and nothing got through him. This game, we really dominated the ball and just couldn't sneak past the goalie.

So Cody's team is as follows, we have moved up from #8 to #1 in the State of Missouri, #14 from #28 in our region (which consist of 12 states), and nationally we moved up to #104 from #218. So I think overall, we are doing great!

The rest of the month will settle down for soccer and then his ODP (which is the state team he is on) will start back up in July.

So back to our vacation......

After our last game on Monday, we left and started for Rapid City. It was about a 4 hour drive but we did manage to make a few stops on the way. We stopped off in Mitchell SD and went through the Cabala's and the Corn Palace. We then got back on the road and got in around midnight.

Tuesday we started out at Mt Rushmore and stayed there for a few hours. It was a gorgeous day and the sky was a clear, blue day so the pictures turned out great. We also went off the path and walked up a huge hill to take some more pictures. They have a path to walk to see the different angles of the presidents and of course, history of why they were chosen, how much it cost, how long it took.....

After that, we went to Crazy Horse. I was a little disappointed in this one. It was $27.00 to get in for our car and the exhibit wasn't that great. So then we left and headed over to some stables. The boys got to ride an hour and half trail while Carson and I stayed back. You have to be at least 6 years old to ride and putting him on my horse wasn't permitted. He did however get to ride a pony around and he loved it.

After that we went to the Flintstones theme park. I am a HUGE Flintstone fan and to this day sit around watching them on TV. I actually own every season made. (I know, I'm a dork). They had a train to ride, a golf cart decked out like Fred's, a little bedrock city to walk through, and a huge playground. Carson and I hung out there for about 4 hours. It was well worth it.

Then we went back into Keystone and had dinner and then drove back to the hotel and crashed.

Wednesday we woke up and headed to Bear Country. It is a drive through zoo and was okay. The one that Carson and I did in Springfield MO was so a lot more fun. After that, we went to Custard State Park. What a beautiful area. We ended up spending the rest of the day there. We drove around and took pictures, fed burros that were so tame, saw lots of wildlife, climbed rocks, had a picnic, and then Coltan and Cody's favorite part.....we went off onto a public gravel road where there wasn't any traffic and they took turns driving my car. Cody is very cautious which I like, Coltan....we really need to work on the brakes, my neck still hurts. HAHA

While leaving the park which was about 8 hours later, we headed back to Custard and mined for gold. I think we have about a nickels worth. I didn't get to do a lot of panning because Carson was being a little monster. So I took pictures and chased him. Then we headed back into town and shopped around the little strip and bought a few little souvenirs and then off to dinner. We ended up heading back to the hotel again after midnight.

Thursday we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Badlands. We stopped in Wall SD at the famous Wall Drug. It is a block long area with lots of little shops to go in. We bought a few more things and then off to our next destination. The Wounded Knee. It wasn't really what I thought it would be but it was a very sad story. It is really sickening what these Indians went through. I didn't get to go through the whole museum because once again, Carson was acting wild.

Then we headed off to the Bad Lands and didn't end up leaving there until 7:00 PM. Now keep in mind, I'm leaving there and driving the last 9 hours home. Well we stopped for dinner, gas, a few rest breaks, and arrived home around 6 this morning. I got the kids in the house and Carson even slept til almost 10:00AM! So I'm running on 4 hours of sleep after being up close to 24 but hey, that's what vacationing is all about right?

This is our little timeline and I will download the 600 pictures I took and post some later. If I can get to it, I will try to post some tonight....but no promises. LOL

Now that I have been pretty much lazy for the last few hours, I guess I should go and get the luggage in and plan on cleaning the car out. Anyone want to help???