Fish Hatchery

Our last morning in South Dakota we visited a fish hatchery which was surprisingly fun. We met some friends there who live in South Dakota. The boys loved throwing the fish food in the water and watching as swarms of fish arrived at the surface to snatch the little food pellets. If you threw a whole handful in at once, you could make the whole surface of the water roil with fishies coming to eat. There were also some ducks and walking paths and playground nearby but the boys were just fascinated by the fish. When we said we weren't buying any more fish food, they scraped the pellets off the ground near the ponds and threw that in. It was a lovely and relaxing way to finish off our South Dakota trip. It's nice to have such a fun place just a few hours away.

All tuckered out on the way home from our trip.

Rush Mountain Adventure Park

We went somewhere new this year on our trip to South Dakota- Rush Mountain Adventure Park. It was pricey, but the entrance came with a tour of a cool cave and unlimited rides on their Alpine slide, zipline, and interactive ride where you shoot guns at cowboy robots while your seat moves around. I have a lot of pictures of the cave but not pictures of the rides. Three rides isn't a lot, but when one of them is an Alpine slide that doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure the boys rode it at least one hundred times and loved every second of it. It was the highlight of the trip for most of them and we even let them get a souvenir in the gift shop. Parenting win. Marc and I also really enjoyed the rides and the cave tour. Here are the pictures:

Can you find the two elephants on the ceiling? This was Elijah's favorite part.

Mt. Moriah

Mt. Moriah is a cemetary in Deadwood, South Dakota with some pretty famous occupants including Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Beyond that, it is beautiful and peaceful (at least it was peaceful until we arrived) and is probably worth the $2 they ask for you to be able to walk around. It's on a hill, so the view down into the valley is gorgeous. While we were there, Tobias picked a wildflower which growing along the walkway. On our way out, he stopped and showed it to a random tourist who was lovely and patient with him and who happened to have a British accent. After their brief conversation, Tobias turned to me and said, still in in earshot of the woman, "She talks funny. Like one of the trolls."

Reptile Gardens

Sorry folks, but it is vacation picture time again so get ready for a few posts with a lot of pictures of the fun we had in South Dakota. We went down and stayed at a hotel, or as Tobias put it, "We had a sleepover!" Marc had classes during the day for a conference so I took the boys on little side trips. First up, Reptile Gardens.

Good thing we petted the snake before we went to the snake show where we learned about all the scary snakes and how they can kill you.

 I think these wanted pictures are very illustrative of our boys various personalities.

This little feature costs extra, but includes a pyschadellic spinning tunnel which makes you feel like you are going to fall over or throw up or both with or without the 3-D glasses. So, totally worth it.

We didn't make it to the real Rushmore this trip but the boys felt satisfied with the miniature version.

This wouldn't be safe to do next to the alligator pond but these tortoises are little slower on their surprise attacks.

This bald eagle was really staring me down. I wanted to offer him a sandwich to see if he was just hangry like I was feeling, but the sign said I shouldn't feed him.

This rock was a hotly contested resting place. An argument on who got to sit on it next nearly came to blows.

I loved this little bird who decided to get away from his buddies by hiding in the skeleton of giant sea turtle.

The beautiful tropical rainforest garden is perhaps the only place in which a tie-dye t-shirt might be good camouflage.

Bison Beauty

We took all of the youth in our ward to the Medora Musical last Wednesday night. We all had a blast and I brought Gabriel and David John along for the ride. During intermission, one of the leaders went to the gift shop and came back with this amazing bison hat. It was big, it was hairy, it had horns. I needed one. The boys agreed.

Daddy Day

Today we are so grateful that this guy is the daddy in our house. We got him some awesome Star Wars socks and some treats and a decently clean house which is what he wanted most of all.

We are especially glad that he is a much better daddy to our boys than Darth Vader was to his kids. I'm sure Marc would occasionally like to sever a hand in response to the giant messes or swinging fists that occur among our boys but instead he channels the light side of the force and deals with problems with love and patience. He is an amazing teacher and fantastic role model for our five and we love him with all our hearts. Happy Father's Day Marc!

Pokemon Prowess

My boys made these cool Pokemon evolution cards at their summer program so, of course, we had to print a million more and make them at home. You can print six different characters, and if you would like to print your own the website is here: https://www.redtedart.com/pokemon-evolution-cards-printables/

The problem was that David John really wanted an evolution card for Jiggly Puff and he wasn't one of the six characters available, so being the cool mom that I am, I made him one. This might not seem that impressive, but it was tricky and I don't consider myself an artist, so I'm giving myself a digital pat on the back and posting it here.

Isn't he cute? David John was duly impressed. Being a parent really expands your horizons. You figure out how to do things for your kids that you definitely didn't learn in school. I sometimes wish I had kept a list of all the things that I have learned in order to be a good mother to my children. Drawing Pokemon? Check.

Life Is Like a Rittersport

Today I turned 34. I'm never thrilled about getting a year older but I'm starting to take it more gracefully than I used to. I didn't ugly cry today about that feeling of getting "old" or the continued loss of my 20s. The boys made me some little decorations and cards and got me some treats including this adorable collection of mini Rittersport chocolates. I love them because it reminds me of my trip to Germany and because they are cute and colorful and because, well, they are chocolate. Who doesn't want that?

Beyond those reasons though, I love them because they represent the variety of life. There's the smooth milk chocolate ones, of course, and I occasionally have those blissfully smooth days, but most of them are filled with something-  primarily nuts. "Nuts" is a good way to describe most days and to describe the little people that live in my house. It's as if Rittersport has taken so many situations and distilled them into a chocolate analogy. There's the chocolate with whole hazelnuts in it for those times when things just feel wholly insane- the kids are exploding, there's no plan for dinner, you worked all day, came home for an hour, left for a school board meeting and then had homework to do when you got home after which you got into a heated "discussion" with your spouse about something stupid like whether or not "burnt umber" used to be in a standard set of crayola crayons. There's the chocolate with pralines, which are just nuts coated in sugar, for those days when the kids are crazy but you are filled with love and awe for them because of their nuttiness. I mean, yes, they completely destroyed the basement, but they did so while writing and performing an original and very violent play. What more could a mother ask? There's also the chocolate filled with marzipan which is just very very finely ground nuts mixed with honey for those days when inside you are a raging mess but outside you make everything look smooth and happy so that you can post about it on social media. Rittersport even provides you with a chocolate filled with cornflakes for those days when you leave the house and are halfway to work before realizing that you didn't eat breakfast or put on any makeup today or for those times when you completely space that today is some special dress up day for school and you get a picture of the entire class on Class Dojo all cutsied up except for your kid who is wearing a hideous tie-dye t-shirt and and picking his nose. Rittersport also gives you one square chocolate that is filled with a delicious buttery cookie. There is so much to savor about this little treat. It's one of my favorite German words- Butterkeks. I just like the way it sounds. I also like the cookie. This is the gratitude chocolate. This the chocolate for those rare days when I can ignore the giant hazelnuts in my path and just soak in everything good about life. Those days when I am filled with wonder at the incredible North Dakota skies and in the unfailing love of my family and friends despite my innumerable flaws. Today is one of those days. I am feeling so grateful for my 34 years of life and experience and, even though I would love to give away some of the wrinkles and the stress that accumulate with each new year, I am looking forward to another year of good adventures and good chocolate to go with them.