Month: July 2020

We’ve been in North Dakota for over a week now. We are staying at a nice, quiet RV park in Dickinson. There was so much to see and do in South Dakota. Here, in North Dakota, we have rested more. We’ve hung around the RV park, gone on walks, reorganized and gotten lots of laundry and chores done.

On July 4th, we went to a parade in downtown Dickinson. We happened to walk right by this mural, which made for the perfect July 4th photo.

Our kids enjoyed watching the parade and collecting candy.

We ate tacos and festive cookies that afternoon. We discovered QDOBA in South Dakota, and we have picked up family taco meals a few times since. It’s similar to Chipotle, our favorite, and there are no Chipotles up here.

That evening of July 4th we watched one of the best firework shows we’ve ever seen. For about 25 minutes it looked like the grand finale.

It was a great way to end our day of celebrating freedom.

On Tuesday afternoon, I went to get my hair cut and colored. At some point, I text Ryan to check in to see how he and our kids were doing. I was shocked by his response.

He let me know that they’d just had a traumatic experience. Our three oldest girls were laying in the loft looking out the window. They were watching a man create a new RV space beside us. He was smoothing out dirt with a tractor. Then he got off the tractor, began raking and fell over. Tapestry immediately told Ryan that a man had fallen and it looked bad. Ryan ran outside right away, called 911 and began CPR on this man who had no pulse. The cops arrived and took over doing CPR. The ambulance arrived and loaded the man, who still had no pulse.

On my way home from getting my hair done, I stopped by the RV park office to check on the man. I was told they did get his pulse back and that he was being life-flighted. I found out his name was Gary.

Ryan and our kids were so relieved to hear that Gary was alive. We all prayed he would make it and have a full recovery. We found out the next morning that he’d passed away around 5AM, though. We were so, so sad for his wife Patsy, his three adult kids and his grandkids.

We did get to meet and spend some time with Patsy and their kids. We couldn’t stand the circumstances, but we really enjoyed talking with them. Most of our kids made cards for Patsy and took turns giving her cards and hugs. The sweetest thing – Bravely walked over to Patsy and said, “I want a hug, I want kisses.” There’s nothing quite like a 2-year-old to add a smile in the midst of deep sadness.

Yesterday evening we said our goodbyes to Patsy and to Gary’s kids. Patsy gave little gifts to each of our kids. She gave our girls these heart chimes – a reminder of Gary, Patsy and their family, who will always remain in our minds and in our hearts.

Life is fragile, unpredictable and, at times, heart shattering. I’m thankful for hope, light in the darkness and joy that eventually does come again.

Bravely turned two years old today! We have always had another baby before our toddler turned two, so we are stepping into new territory. Our BABY is two, and yes, I still call her my baby. 😊

This morning Bravely woke up in the bed right between her mommy and daddy. She does sleep at least some of the night in her own bed, but she does love being in our bed. Ryan and I sang her Happy Birthday as soon as she opened her eyes. Then she had quite the slew of sibling birthday wishes. She gave a look like, “Seriously people? I just woke up! Give me a few minutes.” Haha.

Once Bravely got out of bed, she went with her daddy to choose donuts from a local donut shop. She pointed out donuts she wanted.

When they returned to the RV, we added candles to her top two choices and sang Happy Birthday. Bravely loved being sung to, and she especially loved blowing out her candles.

And, of course, she and all her brothers and sisters loved eating the donuts.

After breakfast, Bravely opened gifts and we read her what we’d each written in her journal.

She was so adorable opening her gifts. She got excited about each one. She thanked us at least three times for the little purple sippy cup from Bear Country U.S.A. I am pretty sure that was her favorite gift. We all loved her reaction to the remote control car we got her. She had us laughing hard.

Bravely spent the rest of the morning playing with her new toys. Then, we picked up QDOBA for lunch. Bravely got one of her current favorites, rice and beans.

Bravely took a good nap this afternoon in her favorite place – her momma’s arms.

This evening we walked to a playground nearby. Bravely had a blast swinging, climbing and sliding. She really thinks she’s a big girl now!

To end the day, Bravely got to eat a snack and drink milk out of her new cup in Mommy and Daddy’s bed. She had a great day, and I suspect she’ll sleep in tomorrow morning.

Happy 2nd birthday, Bravely Love! 💗

You are the absolute cutest, sweetest little girl! You are a bright light in our family, and you bring lots of smiles and laughter to all of us everyday. You are a busy girl – walking, running, talking, laughing and playing. But you often stop and take time for cuddles. You adore your mommy. You like snuggling with me and rubbing my arms. You say, “I want you arms.” You love to play LEGOs and link together spokes that you call snakes. You love walking around outside collecting sticks and rocks. You love singing. Jesus Loves You and Baby Shark are your favorites. You talk a ton. We call you our baby genius because you know way too many words and say way too many sentences in correct context for your age. It’s adorable! A couple of my favorite things you say are, “I love it” when you really like something and “I need Momma” or “I want a Momma” when you want me to hold you. You are an adventurer. You’ve ridden rides, explored caves, gone on hikes and traveled all over the United States at your young age. Your little glasses combined with your laugh and smile melt our hearts and the hearts of other people everywhere we go. You are such a sweet, adorable, lovable little girl. I love every moment of everyday I get to spend with you. You are momma’s girl, and I soak that up! I love you so very much, my little Bravely Love! 💕

On our last day in South Dakota, we drove about 60 miles from our RV park in Rapid City to Spearfish Canyon.

Spearfish Canyon is a gorgeous area located in the northern Black Hills. There are waterfalls, hiking trails and views for miles.

We drove through Spearfish Canyon, and we ended up stopping to hike the Roughlock Falls Trail. It was definitely a great decision!

The trail is 2 miles round trip. It’s overall an easy hike. And the weather was perfect – overcast and cool.

Some of our kids really wanted to pan for gold. We stopped at a stream and let them go for it.

No gold was found, but they had fun panning anyway.

The only thing we wished we would have done that we didn’t was wear River and Bravely in carriers on our backs. River got a blister on her foot and needed to be held most of the way.

And Bravely wanted to walk a lot, which substantially slows us down, or she wanted to be held by only her mommy. Ryan and I were sore by the end of that hike! Ha.

The trail is not stroller friendly.

When we got to the waterfall, Roughlock Falls, we were completely amazed. It is one of the prettiest waterfalls we’ve seen yet.

I told Ryan that if we lived in that area, I’d walk that alone as often as possible. It is so peaceful and beautiful!

Going to Spearfish Canyon, hiking and seeing Roughlock Falls was the perfect ending to our amazing time in South Dakota.

South Dakota won our hearts. I foresee future trips back for sure!

Tuesday we met up with the Techau family at Black Hills Caverns. We first met the Techau family in Santa Fe, NM just as we started traveling full-time in October. They travel full-time as well. We ended up in Stone Mountain, GA at the same time in February, so we all rode the tram up Stone Mountain together. We coincidentally were in Rapid City at the same time, and will be in two places in Montana on the same dates as well!

Our kids love meeting up with their kids, Jeremiah and Addy. It’s fun to make friends and have friends on the road, as we do miss friends back home.

Black Hills Caverns is unique in that it is less touristy and feels more like you are exploring a cave than walking through one. There is an easy walk path, but we did have to duck down to get through certain areas. Our kids thought that was really cool.

Ryan really had to duck. With 3-year-old River on his back, it was quite the work-out.

The cost of admission to Black Hills Caverns is $16.95 for adults, $10.95 for kids ages 6-12 and free to kids ages 5 and under. There are coupons for discounts available.

This is the first cave we have toured with an actual tour guide. Our guide was fun, and it was great to hear all about different parts of the cave as we walked along.

The temperature in the cave was nice and cool.

It took a little over an hour for the whole tour.

Before and after our kids enjoyed digging in dirt for different rocks and gems.

We have found that we really enjoy exploring caverns, and Black Hills Caverns is another great experience to add to our list!

Last Monday we drove about 30 miles to Crazy Horse Memorial.

Crazy Horse is a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Ultimately, it will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance. Currently, only the face of Crazy Horse is carved.

We paid $30 for admission for our whole family. We enjoyed seeing the memorial, watching a film about the history of the memorial and walking around the museum.

Our kids loved seeing the collection of art and artifacts reflecting the cultures of over 300 Native Nations.

There is a bus tour that costs $4 per person and takes you closer to the memorial. We chose to just view it from afar.

We thought Crazy Horse Memorial was very interesting to see, and we think it’ll be fun to keep up with the progress made on it over the years.

It’s so much fun to make new friends along the way RVing. We really enjoyed evening talks and hanging out with the Joneses while in South Dakota!

On Monday, their last night in South Dakota, we all headed over to see lit Mount Rushmore. It was pretty awesome.

All-in-all, it was another great day in South Dakota!

Last weekend we went to Custer State Park, about a 30-minute drive from Rapid City.

Shortly after arriving, we found a picnic area. We ate our lunch of thawed uncrustable sandwiches and chips there, and our kids enjoyed playing on the playground.

Then we loaded in the van and drove the Wildlife Loop.

We saw buffalo, antelope and prairie dogs.

The prairie dogs were fascinating to watch go in and out of holes in the ground. They made an interesting barking noise as well.

We stopped at a few places along Wildlife Loop, either to get a closer look at animals or to better soak in beautiful views.

We walked some short hiking trails at different viewpoints, and we did see some amazing views.

We have all grown to love hiking the more we travel. We went on walks often prior to traveling, so our kids had already built up a pretty good endurance for long walks.

Even little Bravely loves hiking. I truly think she’d walk the entire time if we’d let her. She loves to walk.

When we finished Wildlife Loop, we headed toward the famous Needles Highway.

Needles Highway is know for its spectacular views and its one lane tunnels, particularly Needles Eye Tunnel. Needles Eye Tunnel is 8ft 4in wide and 11ft 3in tall. To give some perspective, our van is 7ft wide and 9ft 1in tall.

It was pretty awesome driving through the eye of the needle!

We continued through the Black Hills down Needles Highway until we got to Sylvan Lake.

It was crowded at Sylvan Lake, but we stopped to soak in its beauty. It is unique with all the rocks standing in and around it.

South Dakota is beautiful. There are endless things to do and sights to see in the Rapid City area. Out of all the places we’ve visited thus far, this is one we’d all recommend as a vacation destination.

Last Friday we went to Bear Country U.S.A. It was right next door to our RV park, so we had been admiring the baby bears from afar all week. It costs $18 per adult and $12 per kid ages 5-12. They either gave us a discount or had discounted prices due to COVID-19 because our whole family got in for $60.

The first part of Bear Country is a drive-through. We saw wolves, bighorn sheep, mountain lions and tons of bears.

I have never seen so many bears in one place. We were all going wild with excitement over the bears.

Driving around, we could see bears wandering all over, and some even came close to our van.

My favorites were the bears bathing.

After the drive-through, we parked the van. We walked around and saw some interesting animals. In some ways, it was better than a zoo. We were able to see animals up close and without a caged view.

We loved watching the young wolves play with each-other.

A highlight, at the end, was watching the baby cubs run around, wrestle and play. We counted at least seventeen cubs.

We waited around for awhile, hoping the cubs would climb the trees. We knew they did this because we’d seen them in trees when we drove past Bear Country several days before. We eventually decided to leave, and guess what we saw as we drove away? Those cubs were in the trees. Ha!

All of our family loved Bear Country U.S.A. It was one of the coolest drive-throughs we’ve done, and it definitely has more bears than we’ve ever seen anywhere. It was a great afternoon!