June 24 Storybook Land

Right before we left the campground in Summit I went to use the bathroom at the office. I came out & walked towards our slot only to see it empty….well it appeared to be empty, I hadn’t walked all the way to the site, but was about 4 sites up from it. I told hubby I would hurry so I thought he went ahead & pulled around, but I saw the trailer nowhere. I looked around in a circle then looked again, but nothing. I thought surely he wouldn’t leave me there. I guess I looked confused because the camp host drove up in his little golf cart & asked if I needed help. I told him “oh I think my husband up & left me” in a joking way. He told me to get in the cart & drove me further down. Boy did I feel like a total dork when sure enough there was the family waiting on me. You see he pulled the trailer forward & the slot looked empty from where I was. Guess if I would have walked a bit further I would have seen that. Duh! I told the host “oh I just wanted a ride that’s all” & laughed. He was nice about it & I thanked him for his ride & help. Yes I’m a dork.

So let’s move on then. We drove for about an hour & a half or so to Aberdeen, SD to see Storybook Land. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be quiet awesome. For starters it was FREE! Woop woop! We did leave a donation in the big piggy inside. There were all kinds of displays from different story rhymes we all know: Cow jumped over the moon, 3 Blind Mice, Humpty Dumpty, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, Old Lady who lived in a Shoe, Gingerbread Man, Jack & Jill, Paul Bunayn, Jack Jumped over the Candlestick, Little Miss Muffet, Little Bo Peep, and so many more. The big one was the Wizard of Oz. They had the yellow brick road with all the characters. We walked thru the house & it had a windy tornado re-enactment that Dalton got scared & Emry cried and Annika refused to go in. It wasn’t scary just dark. We all walked the yellow brick road thru the forest past all the characters in the movie. Dalton got up on daddy’s shoulders & turned to look at me with a huge smile on his face. It was priceless & he was beautiful. I so wish I would have had my camera ready to capture that smile. He makes my heart swell with love.

There was a carousel ride, a balloon ride & of course we finished it off with a train ride around the whole park. They even had a zoo there. It was quite impressive. Hubby liked it so I was glad we didn’t pass it up. One thing for sure was the intense sun. There was a nice breeze which helped, but Dalton’s cheeks were bright red & we all got a slight tan. Poor Dalton already has that farmer tan going on. Boy he sure is white under his shirt. All my babies tan well, but I would prefer they stay out of the sun & preserve that precious skin of theirs. What we did hope for came true….a long nap from all 3 of them in the suv. Ahhh yes! But as usual we can’t go one day without an injury & this time it was my turn. Dalton was scared of something & was walking between me & the stroller & I kicked his shoe with my big toe & I don’t know if I bent my toe nail back or what, but it bled. Ouch! He tried to kiss it for me, but I said it was ok since my foot was dirty. Such a sweet boy he is. Annika said something like “well we shouldn’t have come here”. Guess if we wouldn’t have been there then my toe injury wouldn’t have happened.  Perhaps, but they wouldn’t have had all that fun. I’d much prefer to get the injury then for any of them to get it. I think all us moms prefer that.

We left our fantasy land & headed to our next stop De Smet where the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead is. But first another big attraction for the day…Wal Mart. We needed some food & a few other necessities. The drive was still another 35 miles so I tried to nap. I think I got in about 15 minutes before the kids were asking for this & that & getting fussy. Oh well someday a nap will be mine. Anyway we got into town & started looking for the campground. It was the only one listed in this town with our Passport America 50% off discount. We found it & I was a little nervous going into the office. It smelled pretty bad & the host was a little sketchy looking. I try not to judge a book by its cover, but when I have babies I’m always on alert to anyone who might want to hurt the most important people in my life. Turned out he was very friendly & offered to help fix our cable antenna since it’s stuck half way up. We’ve had lots of people honk & point up or stop us at a red light to let us know. Yes we know it’s up, thanks for your concern & help. This definitely hasn’t been the cleanest campground, but for $15 a night it’ll do. The plan is to be here 2 nights & that’s what we paid for so we’ll suck it up for a couple days. We walked over to the small swing set & Annika said she didn’t want to play there because it was “scary looking”. I wasn’t about to argue with that. Dalton went down the slide a couple times & got his fair share of cooties. We are near a small lake, which is nice & there are several geese around & so is their poop. Blah! But as I was putting the kids to bed hubby opened the door & there was a beautiful sunset. The sky was a wonderful shade of pink & purple, but I couldn’t see it all because there were trees in my way. Bummer. I can only hope to see it again tomorrow night. Oh speaking of trees. We have seen quite a few trees that looked snapped in half & debris everywhere. We even saw a trailer that looked overturned in a ditch. Turns out they had a bad storm up here with 100 mph winds. Yikes! Glad we missed that one.

On a side note I boiled some baby carrots & pureed them for Emry. She did not like them at all. After a couple bites she did that whole gag face like she was going to throw up. She did that when I made her some sweet potatoes a while back. Maybe if I add it to her yogurt or add some breast milk in she might like it better. She enjoys just about anything else I give her.