Tuesday, July 2, 2013

June 30 Crazy Horse & Mt. Rushmore



This kid has got to stop with the early mornings! Yes I’m complaining about it once again & it’s my blog so I can complain about whatever I want. He was up at 6:30am saying “hehe house, hehe house” which is Mickey Mouse. He wanted the gummy snacks, but I said no. He threw a fit, but thankfully I got him back asleep before he could wake up his baby sister. Annika came into our bed & said she was freezing. I didn’t doubt that since it was down in the low 40s last night & I was also freezing all night. I let her cuddle with us & all 5 of us were squished on the queen sized bed. We were all warm since we were all sandwiched together. About an hour later I had to get up & pee so I went ahead & put the heater on. First time we’ve had to do that. It warmed up quickly & we all snoozed a bit longer. I was huuuungry so I made pancakes for breakfast. Yummo. The kids are reluctant to go outside because a particular bee has been hanging around. The weather is so nice out & there are so many neat rocks around this camp that I now they would love to collect, but that darn bee is freaking them out. So I have the pleasure of their company inside this confined trailer while I make breakfast. Blah.

We decided today would be Crazy Horse & Mt. Rushmore. Thankfully it was a short ride & it was AMAZING to see the monument in person. I had no idea it was started back in 1948 by an untrained sculptor who worked on it for years all by himself. The video about how the Crazy Horse monument came to be was very informative. The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, was orphaned at 1 years old & he said he wanted to do something great with his life. He helped with the Mt. Rushmore monument for a short time & was approached by Henry Standing Bear who asked Korczak to create this monument for the Indian people so they could show the world that they have heroes as well. Korczak had 10 kids so they also helped create this awesome structure. 7 of his kids are still part of the monument in some way. Korczak passed away in 1982, but he left detailed instructions on how to finish the monument. This is NOT a government funded program. It’s strictly based on donations & admission sales. He turned down $10 million twice by the government to help fund the program. He believed in free enterprise & his wife, children & the foundation have vowed to keep it that way. I have to say that Korcazk definitely did something great here. We had a snack after looking at a lot of stuff donated to the museum. There was an older Indian outside doing dances so we stopped to watch for a bit. I told Annika she could get a souvenir (we have to do our part to help fund the project), but they didn’t really have anything kid friendly plus it was very expensive. I pointed out some cute Crazy Horse socks & a t-shirt, but she was not interested. I saw a nice Christmas ornament, but not for $29.95…yikes. Ok so we’ll hit up a cheesey souvenir shop on our way out of town.

The day was still young so we drove over to Mt. Rushmore. We decided not to go in & see all the stuff because Dalton & Emry were both sleeping & they were too young to fully appreciate all the history stuff. We pulled off on the side of the road & snapped a few photos. Did you know that the entire Mt. Rushmore monument would fit inside the head of Crazy Horse? Yep it’s that much bigger.  Since the kiddos were sleeping we drove the scenic loop around Custer State Park. We saw all kinds of wild life to include: deer, prong horn, buffalo/bison, burros/donkeys, horses, & a chipmunk. We drove thru several tunnels that were blasted thru the rock as well. When we came to the burro herd the kids got out to walk towards them. Lots of people were out there so they wanted to go. It was a good half mile walk there, but the burros kept walking away due to the many people. I sat & fed Emry in the suv then went after them. On the way back Annika was crying because she wanted to be picked up, but hubby said nope. Apparently the grass was scratching her & it was “scary”. Huh? She didn’t notice it the whole way out there & didn’t cry, but all of a sudden there it was on the way back. Sheesh. There was one donkey by the parking lot who was eating food from the on lookers so the kids petted it & we got our photo op. Time to move on. The rest of the drive was scenic & just peaceful. It made me want to hurry & get to Colorado so we could find our little cabin in the woods somewhere. I just hope there are still trees left where we want to go. Fires are still going from what I hear, but in a different area now. On the last 5 minutes of our drive Dalton was screaming/crying because I took his rock away that he found earlier (he kept putting it in his mouth after I told him not to do it). We saw 3 deer on the side of the road so I rolled my window down to take a photo, but once they heard the screaming toddler they jumped away & crossed the road behind us. Geez thanks Dalton.

We got back to camp & I heated up some left over pizza & spaghetti for the kiddos. I opened all the windows to let some of the wonderful fresh air in, but I heard a buzzing sound. Yikes the bee was inside the window. Guess the screen is broke (little fingers to blame) & the bee got in. Annika freaked out, but hubby was able to get him out the front door. A little while later I told the kids to go play outside, but Annika kept asking “is the bee still out there?” I’ve had it with that darn bee. Needless to say they stayed indoors. Tsk tsk…they are missing out on some great weather. Annika wanted to play with my old phone, but the internet connection on that one is pretty crappy. I was sitting next her & could smell her stinky feet. Man my kids have some nasty smelling feet. I told them it was bath time. Emry was pretty crabby so I bathed her first & gave her a frozen teether to occupy her. She was asleep rather fast once daddy picked her up. Annika was next then left the screamer for last & boy did he wail loudly tonight. He moved while I was rinsing his hair & water got in his eyes. Oh boy. I wonder what our neighbors are thinking about us right now? I got them all ready for bed then bathed myself so I could get stuff done early for once…ha yeah right. Dalton kept pulling me to his bed to go night night next to him, but he had ants in his pants & wouldn’t sit still. Annika wanted me to color with her, but I told her not until Dalton was asleep. She curled up next to us then they started with the “I want to lay next to mommy, no me” routine & both trying to squeeze next to me. After I got bonked in the head by Dalton I got up & said “ok I’m done”. So Dalton got up & went to my bed & lay next to Emry. He was out within a couple minutes. Annika wanted me to read her a story, which I read her 2 chapters from the Laura Ingalls Wilder book, and then she wanted me to clean her ears. Yes she was procrastinating. I tucked her in & said good night, but after about 5 minutes she wanted to sleep in my bed. What’s one more kid right? Yes fine go ahead. She too was asleep within a couple minutes. Ahhh peace & quiet, well up until hubby started snoring. Guess it’s time for me to go get all cozy with my babies. Hope they left some room for me in the bed.

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