Some things never change...

15 years together, 10 years of marriage and 5 children later. This is still where I find myself on a Tuesday evening. Snuggling this hottie on a couch. 

South Dakota - Day 3 Wall Drug

Everyone said "go to Wall Drug". We went, we saw, and everyone but me was impressed. I don't get the hype, but at least the boys had fun.

Proud that he can read

Smashed pennies Auntie Kristen! 

South Dakota - Kirby Science Center

On our way home we stopped and spent the night in Sioux Falls. We have a membership to our local science center and it allows us free admission to a bunch of other facilities across the country. The Kirby Science Center was one of them. 

Such a cool place and a great way to kill some time before putting kids back in the car for 7 hours. 

This guy thoroughly freaked Leif out.

Watching a science show

The speaker did a great job engaging with the boys, but the subject matter was dry ice. Please! Who's husband hasn't done every experiment using dry ice, known to man? No? Just mine? Ok. Anyway, the boys still loved it. 

Twin-teamwork 

Holy Massive Contraption! 

How fun is this?! And a great way to burn energy before getting in the car. 

Wyoming - Devil's Tower

As we were driving through Wyoming we couldn't help but notice the masses of dead pines all around. After some research (another homeschool opportunity) we found out that it's largely caused by an invasive beetle. Not the ashbore beetle that we hear so much about but rather a Pine Beetle. 

It sort of makes everything look like the fallout after a bombing. 

We stopped at the only nearby town for some amazing bbq. It was literally a garage that they sell ribs and brisket out of. Right up our alley! It was of course fantastic and they were super accommodating. 

With full bellies we headed to Devil's Tower. 

Such a bizarre formation. 

This is called the boulder field. 

The boys were careful to read signs and learn as much as they could, to earn another junior naturalist badge. Which they did. 

Finn asked me to take this picture of him:)

One of the only places on the hike where you could actually touch the base of the mountain(?).

Damn snake! We were warned by several other hikers that there were snakes, much to my chagrin and much to the boys delight. We finally saw one. The film below was of mark tickling my leg as I tried to get a video from a safe distance.  I'm terrified of snakes. 

Shortly after he even touched it's tail but I was still to worked up to get a picture. 

So long binder. I planned our whole trip using this binder. Kept track of reservations, activity ideas, maps, etc.