Our vacation to South Dakota

Every summer we take a vacation to South Dakota. Jason's parents live on a 300+ acre ranch (the Reder Ranch, to be exact) just outside of Rapid City. It is so fun to go visit for many reasons....Gramma and Papa are lots of fun, there is plenty of hiking right outside their front door, the scenery is gorgeous, and because they are in the middle of a tourist hot-spot, there are plenty of things to do.

The drive should take 8 hours, but with kids it's more like 10. Here is a picture of us stopped in Belle Fourche, SD, in a spot indicating the geographical center of the US:

At the ranch there are plenty of cows to feed:

This year we met our good friends Chris and Kelly and their daughter Briar, whom we had not met since they brought her home from Korea last December, at the Ranch. They were able to spend a few days with us there. One of the highlights was swimming in Sheridan Lake, right down the road from the Ranch:
We also went to Custer State Park and fed the "wild" donkeys. This never fails to entertain. You don't even have to be 3 to think this is hysterical:

Brair is only a few months older than Ruby, but she can walk. I think Reder thought it was quite intriguing to lead her around. Briar thought it was nice too. Plus it's cute:

Ruby discovered she has a new favorite food:

Here is a photo of the three kids playing with Gramma's toys. This is the best I could do to get all three pairs of eyes to look at me at the same time:

This is from the morning that Chris and Kelly had to leave to go home. Note that Reder was not too excited to get his picture taken:

Here is Ruby enjoying a popsicle on the deck:

For the second half of our trip Jill and Joel and Wally came. This also was lots of fun. Reder and Wally get so excited to see each other. Plus we enjoy catching up with the Graff's, though I usually talk to Jill everyday anyway so it wasn't like we had lots to catch up on! One of the highlights of our time with them was visiting Reptile Gardens. The kids liked the giant tortoises:

Jill, Joel, Jason and I went out to lunch one day and left the kids with the grandparents. We brought home fireman hats from the restaurant:

This is a picture of Papa and Reder making "ice cream in a bag." This was a great trick.

I'm noticing that I don't have any pictures of Jill, Joel, or Wally. That's too bad, as Wally is cute as a button. He talks quite a bit now, and is stuck in the "WHY?" phase that I'm sure every parent is familiar with (Reder's phase seems to have subsided somewhat). I also wish I had a picture of Jill to show you how "cute" she is. I'm saying this because the other day we were at the store and Reder says to me "That lady over there is cute. She looks just like Jill." She didn't look a lick like Jill but that's okay. Too funny!

Here is a picture of the kids in the car on the long ride home:

Reder kept putting his pillow behind his head. It didn't look comfortable one bit but he kept insisting it was. I think he was just being goofy:

Whenever Ruby is sleepy she rubs her face and head with Dougie, her blankie. She does this in the car also, and when we see this we know we are in luck and she'll fall asleep soon:

Overall we had a great trip, and in a way it was kind of hard to come home. Guess vacations can't last forever. Thanks Gramma and Papa, Chris and Kelly, and Jill and Joel!