Mount Rushmore

In October during the kids fall break we decided to go to Mount Rushmore. It was so fun and the most beautiful fall weather. Mount Rushmore was beautiful with the colored leaves and I loved that it wasn't crazy busy like it probably is in the summer. We got up early Thursday morning and headed out. The drive was a little rough with the boys and their car sickness but we made it! We went straight to Mount Rushmore that Thursday afternoon. We did the presidential trail, saw a few mountain goats, and the museum their at the bottom of the monument. It truly is amazing!

 That night all the kids wanted to do was swim at the hotel and dad was the best playing with them.

 Friday morning we went to Reptile Gardens. Such a cool place, it holds the Guinness world record of most reptiles. The main level area they have birds and lizards that roam free along with small pools with turtles. The upstairs is full of different snakes and the bottom floor is crocodiles. Outside their are huge tortoises, turtles and prairie dogs.

 They also put on bird and snake shows. Makenna was able to help in the bird show. The lady had her cages all covered and she filled Makenna's hand with corn and told her to hold still to feed the bird. We are expecting some cool bird to come out of the cage but it ends up being a chicken! It was pretty funny and Makenna did excellent feeding it. Afterwards she did pull out some other cool birds too.

 They also had an old town section...Makenna and Caleb in jail:)

 During the snake show we were able to touch a snake and the kids were also able to hold a crocodile!

 After lunch what we had planned on doing was closed so we went to Rush Mountain. Which was a bit of a rip off and I wouldn't do it again but the kids had fun going on the roller coaster. This is Makenna and Steve coming in from their ride.

 After Rush Mountain we went to Bear World and it was one of the biggest hits of the trip. The first half you drive around looking at the different animals. Their were wolves, elk, antelope and of course a bunch of bears. The second half you get out and walk around looking at other smaller animals. They had the cutest bunch of baby bears that were entertaining to watch.

 

 And of course that night we had to stop at the candy store....

 Saturday we ended up spending 7 hours at the water park in Rapid City. The kids were in heaven and slept so well that night!!

It was a great trip with a lot of good memories.