Sunday, June 30, 2013

June 28 The Badlands #2



I was craving potatoes & spam for breakfast so I started cooking. Thanks to Dalton we were up early, although I tried to lie in bed as long as I could, but once Emry was awake that’s that. Today was rock climbing day. By the time we got out the door it was about 9:30am & it wasn’t too hot yet. The kids were excited, but once we got out there on the rocks it was “woah woah woah, mommy I can’t do it, give me your hand”. Trying to hold both their hands & keep my balance was not happening so I had to alternate. Dalton wasn’t sure what to do. He was holding my hand then walking almost backwards for whatever reason. On one formation I had to carry him down on my back part of the way then daddy had to come rescue both kids so I could get down, but now they can say they were there & climbed the rocks. We managed to climb a few areas & got lots of photos. At one point I had to walk thru this path with grass on either side & Annika was freaked out that there might be rattle snakes in there so I had her on my back & was carrying Dalton then walked across. Sheesh these kids. That’s not the only thing they’re afraid of. They’re afraid of all bugs. You should hear the high pitch wailing that Dalton makes when a fly is near him. We blame Annika for his fear of flies because she gets all skiddish as well. I told them that flies can’t hurt them, but it doesn’t matter. Remember the mosquito fiasco?

Anyway, after rock climbing we went to see a prairie home that had been lived in from 1909ish to the late 1940s. There were prairie dogs all around & the dugout house (way better then the Ingalls one), barn, underground shelter/cool room had all been restored. Dalton got a brown cowboy hat & now resembles Woody. So cute. He didn’t’ want to wear it at first, but now he does. After touring that we let Annika have a small goat figurine as a souvenir. She’s getting a little better. We went to eat some lunch at the gas station before going to see some underground Missle thing. They had buffalo hot dogs & I settled for a slice of pizza. We missed the ticket thing for the underground tour, but were able to go to the missle site & see it underground as we stood above it. Nothing too exciting, but hubby wanted to see it. Next.

From there we decided to take the scenic drive around the Badlands park. I gotta say it was pretty awesome. We saw 2 Big Horns walking on one of the formations & lots of Bison. In fact we got really close to them on one stretch of the road because they were blocking the road. Then they were right there near the suv as we passed them. Pretty neat, but kinda scared that they could charge at us at any moment if they felt like it. We weren’t stupid like some other people who got out of their vehicles with their children to take photos. Really people? I thought it was very irresponsible of them & just plain dumb. Had the bison charged at them & hurt or killed them they would have surely passed the blame onto the wild animal or the park for not having fences. Ding bats. We also saw lots of cows & some wild horses, which Annika loved. I think the best part was the off roading section of the trail we went on. The kids loved it & were laughing & saying “woooooaaaaahhh” as we were all tilted to one side. Annika said it was so awesome & wanted to do it again.

We got back to camp & I walked over to the office to see what they had in their little grocery area. Nothing I needed, but gotta say it looked pretty old & not sure how long some of that stuff has been in there. Since it was so nice outside & such a perfect temperature in the shade we decided to do burgers for dinner. The kids begged me to put them on the ancient merry go round at the park so I caved & went over for a bit. While the kids played outside I tried to take a quick cat nap. I fed Emry in hopes of her falling asleep, but she just wanted to stand up & touch everything along the wall & window. I put her in her pack n play & closed my eyes for all of maybe 10 min. I could hear Dalton crying outside & I could tell it wasn’t an injury cry so I let daddy take care of him. I must have fallen asleep for a minute then heard Annika crying then the door opened. She fell off the bench of the picnic table & scratched up her leg. Mommy hugs & she was all better as soon as I asked her about her rodeo she was building outside. She said “c’mon I’ll show you”, boo boo all forgotten. She took sticks & rocks and made a corral for the horses then had their water & food dishes. She showed me how the horses were fighting & how a lonely little zebra was stranded without parents & came to the mama horse asking to be part of her family. Oh earlier we found what looked like a coyote or even a wolf paw print in the dried up mud & she wanted to make a sign that said “Warning do not take the rocks out of the coyote print”. She had decorated the print with different rocks. See who needs toys when you have sticks & rocks…lol.
We ate our slider burgers & Emry chowed down on blueberries & the potato & spam stuff I made for breakfast. Hubby made a fire outside & the kids roasted the last few sticky marsh mellows & made smores. It was a good day….well until I had to give the kids their showers. Dalton screams like he’s being stretched to death or something. He has that high pitch wail & I’m just waiting for someone to come knocking on our door to see what the problem is. I of course blame hubby for Dalton’s fear of showers. You see I’m nice & cup my hand above their foreheads so soap & water don’t go into their eyes, but hubby just puts the water over their heads & doesn’t care. Thus I have screamers now, well Annika doesn’t scream anymore unless water gets in her eyes. She’s in for a rude awakening when she gets her swim lessons soon.

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