We made it!

We made it to Minneapolis, MN on December 28th. The boys are havning a wonderful time getting reacquatined with their cousins. They pretty much have been together since we got here. They've spent 2 out of the 3 nights together so far...

The first picture is of Bennett, he is the youngest of my cousin Penny's kids. But he has no problem keeping up with the big kids.















This is Bennett at Lego Land in the Mall of America!




















Tyler & Conner with Emily & Brenna in the downstairs rec room.














Conner, Brenna, Emily & Bennett at the Mall of America














Brenna and Conner in the truck on the way too the Mall.

Here are a few more pictures from The Badlands....the land that God forgot. It was an amazing sight...we all enjoyed our adventures today.

We arrived in Mitchell, SD...not on purpose, but got really tired. We were going to try to make it to Sioux Falls, SD, but saw that this Holiday Inn Espress had a water slide, so we HAD to stop. It was time anyway...we had a fun, but long day!

The Badlands, SD

We got out of Wall Drug, SD as quickly as possible before the sun set. We had 1 hour before the sun was gone. We saw buffalo, rams, and a ton of deer. The colors were amazing because of the setting sun. Just wish we had a little more time.

Wall Drug, SD

Wall Drug, SD is the neatest little town! The "drug" store was started in the 1930's and has since then turned into a little tourist trap. They are known for their wonderful cake donuts and $.5 coffee. Yes, five cents!

Conner had to have his picture taken with the famous 6' rabbit! Tyler just liked the look of this statue...teenagers!

About 50 miles before you actually arrive in Wall, SD, the billboard signs start appearing...everything from "kids love Wall Drug" to "free coffee and donuts for veterans--in Wall Drug".

Mt Rushmore, here we come!

We left Deadwood, SD this morning and headed to Mt Rushmore! Deadwood-Lead are huge gold mining towns. It was neat to see all the signs about mining. Mt Rushmore was only about an hour from Deadwood. The day was beautiful, not a cloud in site!

Dad and the boys watching a movie!

Here are Dan and the boys watching The Transformers. Nice ending to a fun day!

After stopping by the Knuckle Saloon store to pick up some souvenirs, we headed back to Deadwood. The boys settled themselves into the room, while Dan and I got some coffee and walked around the town. We stopped in the Lucky Nugget where Wild Bill was shot. We had a couple drinks and then started in on the penny slot machines. We had a blast for awhile, when we were winning, but we quickly lost it all. It was a lot of fun, but also very frustrating!

We are now back in the hotel with the boys watching Transformers and will turn in pretty soon. Tomorrow we head to Mt Rushmore, Wall Drug & The Badlands. The weather tomorrow is suppose to be clear, but cold. Hope it isn't too much colder than today. Here in Deadwood it was 12 degrees when we arrived. Brrrrrr.....

In Sturgis, SD, we drove around to look at the town and then stopped for lunch at The Knuckle Saloon. We had lots of yummy food...nachos, chicken bites, hot wings... this restaurant is voted the best food in the Blackhills...we didn't think it was the best, but it was good. Also, this saloon is the longest bar in all of SD. Cool, huh? It was a neat experience.

We made it to Deadwood, SD around 11am this morning. We checked into The Holiday Inn Express right in town. If you look at the town picture, the hotel is on the right. It is made to look like an old western building. Really neat. We checked into the hotel and then decided to head to Sturgis, SD to have lunch. Sturgis is only about 10 miles from Deadwood.

These are picture of I90 towards Deadwood, SD. They actually close this highway from time to time due to snow drifts and ice. Every once in awhile, we'd pass big gates that they use to close off the road. We were glad it was open today! Every time someone would pass us, a local of course, we couldn't see the road for awhile. It was scary at times, but we booked right thru it.

We left Billings around 4pm and had planned to make it to Deadwood, SD. We decided to stop in Gillette WY instead. We hadn't eaten all day, so expected to find something in Gillette, but everything was closed because it was Christmas Day Eve. We did find a convenience store and bought some food from there. Not the best tasting, but it did the trick.

We stayed at The Holiday Inn Express. Nice place, and Dan sweet talked the guy into giving us $50 off! YAY! The boys went swimming for a little bit then came back and watch TV with Dan until it was bedtime.

We got up this morning (Dec 26th) had our free breakfast and headed out towards Deadwood, SD. The weather this morning was pretty bad and the roads were white out conditions at times.

From Big Sky, MT we headed to Billings, MT, my home-town. I showed the boys and Dan my old house and school. We met up with one of my childhood friend, Jenny, and visited with her and her family for awhile. I wish we could have stayed longer. We haven't seen eachother for around 20 years or so. Thank you, Jenny, for having us over! Hopefully we can stop by and see you on our way home!

The picture of the "cliff" actually called The Rims, is to the east of Billings along the Yellowstone River. It is called Sacrafice Cliff. Indians used to ride their horses down this "cliff" into the river.

The second picture is of my house on Lonesome Pine Lane. My family bought the house in 1977 and lived there until 1985 when we sold it to the same people who are currently living there.

The third picture is of me and Jenny...we've known eachother since 4th grade.

Christmas Day! We got up, opened presents and then packed up as fast as we could so we wouldn't miss our free breakfast in the restaurant. We made it just in time!

Christmas Eve Torch Light Parade!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Me and Con after the parade. Tyler stayed back in the condo because he still isn't feeling good.

This is the torch light parade. The staff from the resort skied down one of the slopes each holding two flares. There had to be around 100 staff members. It was amazing!




























Night time in the village. We were walking over to the torch light parade on the mountain.

Chirstmas Eve!

Christmas Eve in Big Sky! Today's weather was wonderful! It was sunny off and on through out the day, along with a little bit of blue sky! Tyler is now sick with whatever Dan had, so I guess Dan didn't have food poisoning. So Ty stayed in the condo with Con today while me and Dan enjoyed a beautiful day together.

Tonight we are going to watch a torch parade on one of the ski runs. We saw it the last time we were here, and it was quite amazing. We hope to get some good pictures tonight. This time we'll take the tripod!

Tomorrow, after we open presents and have breakfast, we are going to head onto Billings, MT. I want to show the boys my old house and the schools I went to. We will then make our way to Sheridan, WY for the night.

Jen in the Big Sky Village

Dan in the Big Sky Village

This is a picture of the game room, off to the left there is a coffee stand, yum!

This is inside the hotel lobby.

Neat picture Dan took of one of the buildings in the village. Not sure which one it is!