Family time

Yesterday afternoon we went to Lake Oahe.  Marcus had a blast. 

Archie had fun exploring. 

We got to hang out with mom and dad. 

Marcus tried to get Archie in the water. At one point he fell in. He does not like water. 

It was fun to hang out with Nana and Papa. 

We hung out at the cabin my parents and Aaron and Amber stayed at. 

Then the family did a big barbecue at the school. This is almost everyone.  My dad’s group was missing Taylor and Tavein’s family. All of Sheila and Sherman’s family was there. Fun to see everyone again. Last time this group was together was in the 80’s when grandma rented a house on Cannon beach!  

Today we make the trip home. We just crossed into North Dakota. 

Beautiful country. 

 

Grandma

Today we laid my dad’s mom (my grandmother) to rest.   

My dad poured the first shovel of dirt over her ashes. He was first born. 

Sherman was the baby if the family, Sheila was the middle child. 

What a tough day but glad to see them together. 

My grandfather and grandmother. 

Rest In Peace. 

My grandfather died at a young age (36) so I never got to meet him. He was a soldier with a Purple Heart, he later worked for the railroad in Spokane WA and moved back to Herreid SD to take over the family farm shortly before his passing. 

These are my great-grandparents. 

After the burial my dad walked us up to see the original church. It was shaped like a cross. 

Cousins. Tavein couldn’t make it.  

 

At the reception they had this family photo of my grandmother’s family. She was one of 11 kids!  Grandma’s name was Norma Schmidt, Hs is second from the left top row. 

Traxinger side

Oergel’s 

 

Crazy Horse

Our next stop was Crazy Horse.

This sculpture is not quite done yet but was also impressive.  There were actually men working on it while we were there!

The first thing we did was hop on a school bus and the driver took a group of us up the mountain to get a closer look.  We arrived just in time, no lines and barely any people on our bus.

The boys were interested in some of the tools used to smooth out the rock.

Then we went into their cool museum and gift shop.

The white statue on the left is what the mountain will eventually look like when complete.

They even had rocks from the mountain that you could have for free!

The museum was pretty cool, it talked all about the past...Marcus loved the Bison.

This gate is the last sculpture that was done by the designer of Crazy Horse.  He completed it in 1982, the same year he died.

What a cool place!  I hope to come back some day when it's complete!

 

Mount Rushmore

We visited Mount Rushmore today.  We got up at 6am and arrived there by 7am.  No crowds!

I had read that early morning was the best time to get pictures of the mountain.

There is a trail you can climb so we took pictures along the way.

Cute!

My girls!

Olivia hoped on Marcus's back for a bit...there were a lot of stairs to climb along the trail.

There were lots of viewing points along the trail.

There was a cool museum that taught you all about the process of sculpting the faces.  Marcus loved watching and learning.

Love this!

What a great monument!  It did not disappoint!  

 

Rapid City

We went to see a wildlife refuge today.  The first part was driving through.  Instructions were to keep windows down...these animals can actually come up to your car!

The elk were visible from the highway which is what sold us on this place.

The reindeer were smart...all of them sat under the sprinklers.

Of course we had to take pictures of the Ram.  

The mountain lion was amazing!

I got an action shot of the lion chasing a magpie...too bad the fencing is in the way.

Most of the bears were sheltering from the heat.

There were a few in the water...this one was walking right towards us!

The next part was a walk through zoo.

 The walk through portion had smaller animals. 

It was a cool place. 

Our favorite part was watching the Cubs play. 

Emma Bear!

So fun. Even in 100 degree heat. 

Then we hung out at the campground. It finally cooled to 90 degrees so the kids tried the mini golf course. We are getting up bright and early tomorrow to see Mount Rushmore.