On Saturday morning, we drove halfway and spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We were able to leave at a pretty decent time (considering we didn't start packing anything until after 10pm on Friday night and we had to get the oil changed on Saturday morning). The kids did pretty good in the car, despite the fact that our trip was 40 minutes longer than expected since I left my laptop at home and we had to turn around for it. The car DVD was a big help! I also made a bunch of "worksheets" for Punky to do. They were things like tracing letters, counting numbers, and matching. She really liked those, so we had to make more at Grandma's house.
We left Grandma and Grandpa's bright and early on Sunday. We only had another 5 hours in the car, but we also had a few things we wanted to do in Rapid City that day. Our first stop was at an interstate rest stop for a picnic lunch. Buddy was wild! It was obvious that he was sick of sitting in the car. He ate about two bites of food and then did a few laps around the picnic area. This cycle continued for an hour. Somehow, both kids managed to skin their knees too.
Our next stop was Wall Drug. Punky did a good job at spotting a few of the famous billboards along the interstate. We stopped for a short while to take some cheesy photos and look through a couple gift shops. Punky chose a purple jewelry box with a spinning horse that sings "Home on the Range". And Buddy chose a plastic horse figure. He loves playing with his animals!
Grandpa Max had told the kids about the T-Rex at Wall Drug, so of course we had to check it out! Every 12 minutes, the dinosaur roars, growls and "attempts to feed". As we were waiting, Punky kept pushing Daddy forward and telling him to get closer. I wasn't too sure how Buddy would react, so we stayed a little ways back. Immediately after the first big roar, Punky sprinted behind me. It took her awhile to look up at the dinosaur again. Buddy buried his head in my shoulder and began quivering right away. I've never seen him so scared. It was kind of cute!
We made it to Rapid City around 2, so we still had some time until we could check into the hotel. We drove right to Dinosaur Park which is basically a huge hill with a bunch of painted concrete dinosaurs on top of it. One of those fun (and free) places I remember going to as a kid. Buddy liked these dinosaurs much better and waved hello and goodbye to each of them.
On our way to the hotel, I made everyone stop at this place I saw online when I googled "Free Black Hills activities". There is an AWESOME alley in downtown Rapid City filled with graffiti and artwork. I was hoping to practice my photography skills and snap an awesome shot of the kids. The kids were a little freaked out by it, but by the time we had walked from one end of the block to the other, they had eased up a bit. I don't know how it happened, but they actually posed for us! And I am in love with this image! I'm not sure what that black symbol is right behind them, so we are going to pretend it isn't anything inappropriate.
We checked into our hotel and got upgraded to a two room suite because Derek is a rewards member through work. Then we went out for some burgers and beer, came back and went swimming. I had to rock Buddy to sleep (he was a little scared) but I really didn't mind doing it. I wish he'd stay little so I could always snuggle him, but he is growing so fast. Punky fell asleep soon after. Now Derek and I are relaxing in our half of the suite. Derek's reading a book while I'm on the computer and we are about put in a movie. I hope the rest of our vacation turns out as great as the first day! Stay tuned!
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