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Universal Orlando 2018

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A break much needed at the end of soccer season and before hockey season to Orlando, Florida. We flew out of Milwaukee to our favorite resort Wyndham Bonnet Creek. This time our room was in tower 5 on the 6th floor, room 683. The resort was somewhat busy because tower 4 was closed due to painting and renovations, but it was mainly just a parking issue. We unpacked and headed to the pool for some warm sun and relaxation on Friday. On Saturday it was more of the same, just hung out at the resort and then headed to Disney Springs to do some shopping and take the traditional pictures. On Sunday we headed to Universal Studios. This year the boys were tall enough to ride all of the rides. The new Harry Potter Dragon’s Alley was interesting, but not better than the Forbidden Journey. The Train on the other hand we thought was a waste of time. It took a long time and honestly was pretty boring. We only rode the train once. The Fast and Furious ride turned out to be a bust also. There was just too much going on and the plot was pretty lame. Of course the boys loved Rip, Ride, Rocket. I think we rode that one a good 6-8 times that day. They were introduced to the front car and some Limp Bizkit (Rollin). That ride never gets old, way too much fun. The boys really liked The Hulk ride and Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall over at Islands of Adventure. And of course mom’s favorite The Mummy ended of the first day in the books. We were hoping to watch the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series while down in Florida, but it just didn’t work out for them in 2018, so we ended up watching the Red Sox vs. Dodgers. We also got to watch some late night NHL games that we typically don’t get to see back home on TV.

On Monday we headed to the Volcano Bay. We had a blast at the water park. We had so much fun that after we took a day off on Tuesday to rest from all the walking around the parks we decided to start Wednesday and Thursday at Volcano Bay before heading to the other 2 parks. The water slides at Volcano Bay were awesome. The Aqua Coaster was so much fun that we Tapu Tapu’d it right after riding to go again! We’ve never been on a water slide roller coaster before and it was pretty cool. The Plunge slides were a lot of fun too. The boys really liked the Ko’okiri body plunge, it’s the tallest body slide in America ranging at 125 feet tall, and also the first to travel through a pool full of guests. It took about 10 minutes to climb up to the top of the volcano and about 3-4 seconds to get down from the very top of the volcano.

At the resort the boys went trick or treating for Halloween and received a boat load of candy from the resort. We had so much candy that we almost didn’t have enough room in our backpacks to bring it home. We played pool bingo and joined in a water volleyball game. Both Mom and Dad were big winners at bingo and received even more candy. We raced ducks in the lazy river and got a quick round of mini golf in before heading home. Another great fun filled family vacation!

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Virginia 2018

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Ah Virginia, summer vacation with Grandma and Grandpa to the east coast again.  This trip was one we will not forget, not so much for all the fun we had, but for all the HEAT there was.  It was a hot one the whole week.  We started this one off with a bang and it wasn’t a car accident.  It was a great Milwaukee Brewers 8-2 win against the Reds at the Great American Ballpark followed by Friday night fireworks.  We drove straight to Virginia Beach after the ballgame and stayed at the Wingate just about 10 minutes from the Beach.  We headed to the beach Saturday and wow was it packed.  There were hardly any places to even put your towel down.   The water was super refreshing and the boys had a great time boogie  boarding on the waves.  We walked the streets to find a restroom and ended up at the Bestwestern hotel, but we needed a key to get into the hotel lobby restrooms.  Luckily someone came out of the men’s and Heather grabbed the door quick before it closed.  It was quite the event when everyone has to go and there is no bathroom close by.  Did I mention Heather went too.  After our bathroom fiasco we head to the amusement park were Dad and Evan rode the swings.  We ate at Jumpin Shrimp for dinner.  It was good, but not the best seafood we’ve ever had.  After dinner we stopped at the DQ for some ice cream before heading back to the hotel.

Time to check-in to the Wyndham Governor’s Green in Williamsburg.  We arrived on Sunday at the resort and after we got settled in we went swimming and tried to stay cool.  The next day we headed downtown Williamsburg to check-out the old settlement.  We had a great time seeing all the old shops, houses, the capital, and even a parade.

On the 3rd we decided we need to cool off.  We all went to Country USA Waterpark.  The water was a little on the warm side for us.  The boys went on every ride at least one and some a few times more.  We had a great time and so did Grandpa on the toilet flush ride.  It was impressive to see him make it all the way up the steps to the top.  He learned one thing from that ride, “plug your nose”.  Once the floor drops out from under you you’re headed down the enclosed tube at a pretty good speed.

For the 4th of July we ended up going to Jamestown in the morning and Yorktown in the afternoon.  We toured the museum in Jamestown and saw the old fort.  We met the blacksmith, the solider, and even an Indian there.  We learn how they used deer antlers to carve arrowheads for hunting.  We all got to try on the old armour that they wore in battle.  We went aboard 3 replica ships they had in the harbor and learned how they sailed to Jamestown.

After Jamestown we headed up to Yorktown to watch the canon fire.  It was quite the site to see.  At Yorktown we learned how they made their clothes back in those days and also how they used the land for all their food.  The boys were in for a real shocker that there was no McDonald’s back then.  We were even told that the young boys back then worked from 5am until dusk every day.  Evan and dad got to hold an old musket and Evan put on a colonel’s jacket too.

The next day we headed back to Yorktown to check-out the old battlefields.  We walked out on the famous battlefields that won our independence on Oct 19th 1781.   We saw the field were Cornwallis surrender and the famous redoubt bunkers 9 and 10 we took over to secure our victory.  After our battlefield tour we ate lunch and went swimming in the York River before heading back to the resort for one last night.    All in all our Virginia trip was fun, but also a neat step back in history to see how far we’ve grown and how we got where we are today.

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Daytona Beach Spring Break 2018

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This vacation we decided to break up the drive a little bit more.  We headed down to Daytona Beach and made two stops along the way.  The first stop we made was in Salem, IL.  The hotel we booked had an indoor pool, but of course when we got there it was being renovated.  Luckily we were able to get our money back and go another hotel with an indoor pool.  The boys swam at the Holiday Inn for hours.  We had the whole pool to ourselves.  It was very relaxing.  The next day we left Salem, IL and headed to Atlanta for our next hotel stop.  We arrived somewhat late and didn’t have many options for food.  We ended up grabbing take out from a Publix grocery store deli and ate in our hotel room.  The boys did some swimming and the next morning we headed out to our final destination……Daytona Beach.  We arrived at our resort and it was crazy busy.  There was a very long check-in line.  Luckily since we are owners we didn’t have to wait long.  We bypassed about 20 people and were checked in within minutes.  There were quite a few disgruntled people that I could hear complaining in the background.  We ended up on the 9 floor with an ocean view.  The room was very nice and they changed all the decor since we were there last time.

We spent most days waking up and having a nice breakfast before hitting the beach until the sun was hidden by the resort, which was around 3pm everyday.  We ventured out and ended up going to Sky Zone for 2 days while we were there.  The boys played endless Dodgeball at the indoor trampoline park.  We were there for over 4 hours both days, even some of the staff were like “you’re still here”.  It was so much fun that dad even joined the second day.  The boys loved boogie boarding in the ocean.  They caught quite a few waves all week.  The surf was very rough all week and lifeguards were constantly blowing their whistle at people to wave them in.  We saw a few rescues as well.  We took our 2 pets lizards back to Florida on the trip and released them near the resort.  Spike and Speedee were once again set free back in Florida.  Mom and dad were quite happy since all we seemed to do was buy crickets for them every week.  We did go out to a nice dinner at the new beach restaurant called Riptides.  We had a nice Seafood meal with a great atmosphere.  The resort still had the 9 hole indoor mini golf course.  The whole family played and it became quite competitive.

This vacation was fun and relaxing.  Our trip home was long and sad as the temperature kept dropping.  We stayed in Locust Grove, GA the first night on the road and did a little shopping in the morning.  We made a pit stop at the Bass Pro Shop near Chattanooga to checkout a new shotgun for Aiden, but couldn’t find one we liked.  We made our second stop in Tuscola, IL to break up the trip and give the boys some play time in the hotel pool.  We arrived home to the cold and snow after picking up Ranger at a friends house around 3pm.

 

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Wisconsin Dells 2017

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We celebrated the boys birthdays this fall at Glacier Canyon.  The boys each brought a few friends with them and they had a blast.  They spent many hours in the huge 3 story playground.  We did the sky ropes inside the arcade area which was a blast.  We walked on small platforms and ropes that are mounted all over above the arcade.  The boys went down the new interactive water slide where you have colored buttons on your board and you press the corresponding color when you see that color going down the slide.   You are constantly pushing color buttons while going down.  At the end of the ride you can check out how well you did pressing the correct colors by checking out your score.  We went on the Hurricane, which is a huge funnel that 4 people go down at once on a big raft.  The boys loved that ride so much that we did it a handful of times.   The boys dressed up for trick or treating at the resort and got lots of candy.  We had cup cakes and ice cream for the boys birthday.  The boys played video games and won lots of little toys. All the boys did the duck race at the lazy river and we even had one of the boys finish in the top 3!  All in all it was a fun and relaxing mini vacation/birthday party.  We will be back!

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Mt LeConte Trail View

Sevierville – Nashville Spring Break 2017

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This year for Spring Break we gave the boys the option of beach or mountains and much to our surprise, they chose the mountains.  We ventured back to the Great Smoky Mountains of TN to the Wyndham Wilderness Resort. The weather this time around was a much different story from our first trip where we had to hike through about a foot of snow on the way up to Grotto Falls.  This time we had temperatures between 70 and 80 at the base and it was great hiking weather.  We were deeply saddened to see the devastation from the fire that took place November 2016.  Many homes were destroyed and most only having the foundation left.  Because of the fire one of the trails we wanted to hike “the Chimney Tops” was closed so on the first day we set off to Alum Cave Bluff  with a distance of 4.6 Miles round trip and a difficulty listed as moderate. However, Ryan could not stop there as this trail lead to Mt. Le Conte, a hike to the 3rd tallest mountain top in the Smokies and one that he has always wanted to accomplish.  Alum Cave to Mt. Le Conte with a round trip distance of 10.2 Miles had a difficulty listed as Moderate. The views along the trail were breathtaking.  We climbed right up into the clouds that day.    Once we got to the top, it became extremely cloudy which limited the views, but when you could see the views were amazing. The air near the top of the mountain was very cool and damp and then it started to rain.  The hike back down the mountain was a wet one. We were completely soaked when got back to the car. Needless to say Mom and Dad could barely walk after the decent down the mountain.  This was a hike we will never forget. 

 After the long hike on the first day, the family needed the next 2 days to recoup.  We spent time at the indoor and outdoor water parks at the resort and then spent a day at the NASCAR Speed Park in Pigeon Forge.  The boys rode on 13 different tracks as well as a rollercoaster, the scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, and the Starship 3000.  They also had a rock-climbing walk that the boys were able to climb to the top of and ring the bell.  One would have thought they had enough climbing the day before but they proved us wrong.

 On the 4th day we ventured back to the mountain to get in another hike.  We decided to hike up to Grotto Falls again.  We climbed to this spot 4 years prior when it was frozen and snow covered.  Grotto Falls, which was a distance of only 3.0 Miles.  However, the road to the trail was still closed for the winter so we had to hike an additional 4 miles.  The trail was listed with a moderate difficulty and offers the only waterfall that visitors are able to walk behind.

On the 5th day, we packed up and headed off to Nashville to take in a Nashville Predators game as they were playing Ryan’s favorite NHL team the Toronto Maple leafs. The Leafs were hot that night and we were able to cheer them onto a win. This was only the second NHL game the boys have been too and they really enjoyed watching it now that they were older.

One the way home we asked the boys if they enjoyed this trip and they said it was one of the best ever. I would have to agree, from the weather, the beautiful mountains and great family times this vacation left a lasting impression on us all.

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Sea World 2016

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Sea World in October I’d have to say was a great choice.  We lucked out with the weather being in the low to mid 80’s all week without rain, you couldn’t ask for anything more.  We tested out the Voyager Air external wireless hard drive on the flight down and back.  It worked awesome!!  We were able to stream 4 different movies with our kindles up in the sky.  We arrived on Friday night and checked into a room at the Baymont for one night before heading over to the Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort the following day.  We grabbed a pizza from a 7 Eleven just to get by for the night.  I wouldn’t recommend it.  It did only take 5 minutes to cook and now we know why.  After a great hot breakfast at the Baymont we did a little shopping and headed to our resort.  We held off going to the parks until the weekdays.  We went to Busch Gardens in Tampa on Monday, then Sea World on Wednesday, and then Aquatica on Friday.  Each park was awesome.  The roller coasters at Busch Gardens were so much fun.  The kids could go on every ride and they did multiple times.  There were hardly any lines at the parks, which made it even more enjoyable.  We did so many roller coasters that day I’m glad we rested a day in between the next park.  Our favorite ride was probably Sheikra where they hold you for a few seconds dangling over the edge at the very top.  We also liked the Cheetah Hunt, Kumba, Montu, and the Cobra’s Curse.  What made the rides so much fun is that each ride was so unique and not like any other.  Of course we did front car at least once on everything for the experience.  We’ll never forget the Falcons Fury.  All I can say is what a view and holy crap Heather, Aiden, and Evan were scared.  The picture at the end was priceless.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard my family scream so loud and if you know them you can only imagine how loud it was.  The ride consists of you sitting down while being carried 385 feet straight up and then dropping you, but there is a kicker, before they drop you they decided let’s scare the crap out of them even more by turning them so they’re facing the ground.  All I can say is “what a rush”.  You only live once, so we did it and are still alive to talk about it.

We had fun at Bonnet Creek playing mini golf, swimming, and other activities like hula hooping.  I ended up taking 2nd place in the hula hoop contest only because I can’t do two at a time.  The pools at the resort were kind of cold, but felt refreshing after baking in the sun for a good hour.  We went to the new T-Rex restaurant at Disney Springs (downtown Disney).  The food was ok, but the prices are pretty steep.  The restaurant was pretty cool.  It’s basically like the Rainforest Café decor, but with dinosaurs instead of Jungle animals.  We grabbed a few souvenirs along the trip as well.

Sea World was amazing!!  Some of the best roller coasters I’ve ever been on.  The Mako is one of the best rides in the world in my opinion.  You go up 200 feet without shoulder harnesses.  The only thing holding you down is a lap bar.  Talk about fun, the speed and the hills that make you come off you seat constantly provide way too much thrill.  Throwing your hands up like we did the whole ride is a must.  Once I showed the kids were the camera was they loved it even more.  We showed our pipes once and other times made silly faces.  The Manta was another amazing ride.  You sit down in your seat and then they turn you over on your stomach now trusting the shoulder harness which is the only thing holding you when you go up into the sky. The first loop is absolutely crazy.  You go head first down at 3.7 g’s, which feels more like 10.   The whole time you feel like superman with your hands out twisting up and down while flying through the sky.  The Kraken is another awesome ride.  Front car is a totally different experience with this ride.  The ride is unique because it’s floorless, which make the front car even more thrilling.  Antarctica was great because you get too cool off after being out in the hot sun, plus they have Penguins.  Evan has a love for Penguins, which made this experience even better.  We got too see many penguins up close while they swam and courted each other.  Apparently it was matting season.  The killer whale show was fun to watch too.  It always amazes me that humans can actually train these huge whales to do tricks on command.

The Aquatica waterpark was a great choice for our last theme park.  The water temps were perfect at the park.  The park has the best lazy river ever!!  You grab a life jacket and just relax.  The current is super strong and it will carry you all the way around the park.  The boys liked the Ihu’s Breakaway Falls the best.  The waterslide is a breakaway, which means you get inside the capsule and the floor falls out sending you straight down superfast.  There also a tube slide that goes under water and you get to see Dolphins swimming by you if you’re lucky.

We had a blast in Florida again.  Hope to be back again soon!!

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Smuggler’s Notch 2016

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Northeast here we come!!  This vacation had quite a few hours in the car.  We estimated about 48 hours in the Nissan Altima.  Our first stop on the way to Smugglers Notch was to Niagara Falls, Canada.  The views of the falls were breathtaking.  The amount of water that goes over every second is amazing.  We stayed close to the Falls and did a lot of walking around the area.   It was very hot out and we waited hours in line to get on the boat that takes your right up to the falls.  We got so close that water splashed over everyone on board.  It felt so good to feel that cool fresh water on us that we didn’t even care about being wet.   We took a lot of pictures, picked up some souvenirs, ate dinner at TGI’s, and then headed back for a nice swim at the hotel.  In the morning we packed up and headed off to Toronto to check out the Hockey Hall of Fame.  It was so much fun that we ended up staying there for over 3 hours.  The kids loved testing their goalie and shooting skills on the computerized screens.  Since we are big hockey fans we enjoyed visiting this place and it brought back so many memories.  All the records set and broken were listed throughout the facility. There were quite a few I actually remember watching on TV back in the 90’s.

We walked a few blocks from the HHOF to the CN Tower.  We had planned to go up in the tower, but there was over an hour wait and we were exhausted from all the walking and didn’t really want to wait that long.  We took some pictures and maybe we’ll come back since there is more to see in Toronto.  The only downside to the city is that taxes and hotels area very expensive.

Off to Smugglers.  We woke up bright and early for our next 8+ hour drive to Smugglers Notch in Vermont.  We drove up to Montreal and then down.  We finally arrived at Smugglers Notch around 6pm Monday.  After checking in we unpacked and headed to the pool.  They had 4 different pools for us to go too.  You just call for a shuttle and they come right to your front door for pick.  The pools were fun and there were even some waterslides.  The resort also has two reservoirs on their property that had fun outdoor equipment.  We spent a whole day at Rum Runners.

On Thursday morning we drove down to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory to learn how they make their ice cream.  We got some samples after the tour and also some souvenirs.  It was so hot outside that the ice cream melted faster than Evan could eat it.  He tried drinking it, but instead dumped it down his shirt.

This vacation was filled with many good memories.  The one we will never forget is going zip lining up in the mountains.  We were flying high amongst the trees.  We zipped over gorges and walking trails way down below.  The longest zip was 960 ft and boy was it fast.  We also did some rappelling from about 40 ft-50 ft high.  What a great trip!!

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Destin Spring Break 2016

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Destin, Florida Spring Break 2016

Back to Destin!!  We couldn’t resist coming back to the beautiful beaches of Destin.  The Florida panhandle has some of the best beaches.  The sand is so soft, white, and plentiful.  We left on a Thursday night after Aiden’s first communion.  We drove through the night from our home in Mosinee all the way down to Montgomery, AL.  The drive was long, but luckily we didn’t run into any storms.  We visited the capital building in Montgomery and saw the confederate memorial without the flags around it.  The flags were recently taken down due to protests.  We also saw the tree that went to the moon and back on the Apollo 14 in 1971.  The trees seedling was on Apollo during the journey and then planted at the capital.

We stayed overnight in Montgomery to get some rest for the rest of the trip.  We had Hungry Howie’s pizza and the kids enjoyed swimming and playing ping pong at the hotel.

We left the hotel and headed to the Wyndham Beach Cottages Saturday morning.  We checked into our room and got unpacked.  We stayed in room 19a and it was really nice.  It was a 1 bedroom with bunk beds in the hallway.

The first few days after we arrived in Destin it rained off and on.  We did some shopping and found some good deals.  We got a pair of Nike shoes for Evan and an Under Armor jacket for Aiden.  We went to the beach as much as possible during the week, but it was mostly cloudy and we all got sunburned after the first day.  It was so horrible that we were a little glad it was raining for a few days, so we could heal.  Our new beach buggy worked out really nice.  We were able to carry all our beach toys, chairs, towels, snacks, and drinks in it.  Best purchase ever!

We went miniature golfing and saw Star Wars on the big screen one last time.  The theatre was really cool, instead of seats you sat at tables and ordered food before the movie.  You could even get a pitcher of beer….score!  The kids loved the movie.  It was their second time seeing it, but I’m sure they could watch it over and over.

The resort had a nice small heated pool that kids enjoyed.  They met new friends and did their favorite thing ever…..they caught lizards.  Aiden ended up catching a medium size lizard and wanted to keep it.  We put it in a two liter bottle and named him Speedee.  We ended up going to Walmart to get a temporary home for Speedee.  We caught another lizard and named him spike.  We brought them home and now have more animals to take care off.  We are buying crickets every 3 days for these things, which is cool, but they are becoming more expensive than the cats!

We had great time back down in Destin again.  The weather wasn’t as nice as the prior year, but all in all we had a great and memorable vacation.

 

Punta Cana 2015

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Dominican Replubic, Punta Cana – December 2015

I found a deal that we couldn’t pass up for an all-inclusive trip to Punta Cana with the family.  We decided that it was going to be a surprise Christmas gift to the boys from mom and dad.  We drove down to Chicago to visit great grandma Shirley Ciorba and stayed the night at the 4 Point Sheraton hotel.  We told the boys that we would just wake up super early and drive them to school in the morning.  When we got up Heather and I broke the news to them that we were going to head to the airport instead of going home.  The looks on their faces were priceless.

We arrived in Punta Cana after a very long 5 hour plane ride.  The weather there was hot, just as expected.  We checked in at the Memories Splash Resort.  The resort was nice and had all the amenities that we needed.  It is a combined resort with the Royalton (luxury resort on the beach).  The restaurants were for the most part excellent.  The fresh Grouper that I had was out of this world.  Heather’s steak medallions were very tasty as well.

Most days at the resort were spent at the waterpark.  There were 7 water slides and a small wave pool that kept the kids entertained for hours.  There were 2 large pools at our resort and both had swim-up bars.  Our favorite drink was Miami Beach/Miami Vice depending on the bar you ordered it from.  We also had some Presidente’s at the end of the day.  The kids enjoyed unlimited drinks and ice cream cones.  Evan was double fisting chocolate cones on a daily basis.  He didn’t care for the milk which he drinks a ton of back home.  We ate at the buffet in the morning for breakfast and had burgers, hotdogs, and fries at the pool for lunch before going out to a nice restaurant for dinner.

We went on a dune buggy adventure one day.  It consisted of a beach and cenote tour.  We headed to the Macao Beach first.  The beach was beautiful with white sand and turquoise water.  We had time for a quick dip and some pictures with a monkey.  After the beach we headed to an agriculture facility with a cenote onsite.  We learned about how they produce sugar cane, coffee, coco, and tobacco.  We had some samples of each.  Aiden, Evan, and I took a quick dip in the cenote to clean off from the muddy dune buggy ride.  The trails were super bumpy and filled with water.  I had a blast driving through all the mud puddles and getting everyone dirty.

Our next excursion is unforgettable.  We took a day trip to Manati Park for the kids to swim with dolphins….oh ya Dolphins.  The park was awesome.  They had so many awesome animals.  Our guide as extremely helpful and gave us one of the best tours we could have ever asked for.  We saw and held most of the animals that they had.  The kids loved swimming with the dolphins.  At first Evan was scared, but after Aiden got a kiss from the dolphin he calmed down and got one too.   Dolphins can be very intimidating when you are in the water with them due to their size.  The kids favorite part was when they held onto the fins and had a dolphin take them across the pool.  There was also the dolphin show that was pretty cool.  They jumped super high out of the water, clapped their fins, gathered hola hoops, and stood up in the water.

What a great time!

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Rocky Mountain National Park

Steamboat Springs 2015

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Steamboat Springs, CO – June 2015

Off to see the the Rocky Mountains!  We left late on Friday night and drove all the way to Brush, CO the next morning.  We stopped at Kirk’s Fine Dining for breakfast, it was much cheaper than IHOP.  After playing some tennis at a local park,  swimming at the hotel, and doing a little shopping we got a good nights rest.  We woke up and hit the road headed for Coors Field to watch our beloved Brewers take on the Rockies.  We arrived early and were able to watch the Brewers warm up.  We stood in left center field and I just missed catching a home run ball.  Will Smith (Brewers Pitcher) threw Evan one of his wristbands.  Evan also caught a ball soon after from another player.  Aiden was given a ball from one of the coaches too.  We watched the game with the Pegel family who live in Colorado.  Although the Brewers lost it was still a neat ballpark to visit.  After the game we went to a local bar and grill with the Pegels for dinner.  After dinner we said our goodbyes to the Pegels and headed to the hotel about 15 minutes north of the stadium.  We swam for a little while and got some sleep.

We  woke ready for fun drive through Rocky Mountain National Park.  What a great time, the views were absolutely breathtaking.  We stopped at one of the tourist shops and while walking around a small heard of Elk came running through.  It was so cool, the kids got so excited.  We even have some neat film footage.  We saw some marmots, and also a Moose with her baby.  I even got out to make a snow angel to help cool off.

We arrived at the Wyndham in Steamboat Springs and spent 4 days at the resort.  The weather was beautiful.  It was always in the upper 80’s.  The kids and I played some tennis and they also got their very first lessons at the tennis center across the street.  We drove up to Falls Creek and saw a huge beautiful waterfall.  We all dipped our feet into the icy cold water below.  Aiden was able to keep his feet in the water the longest.  I did some fishing on the Yampa River, but only managed to catch a couple.  We visited a couple state parks in the area.  Most days we just checked out the area and relaxed.

One the drive home we stopped at Mt. Rushmore and saw the night show.  The kids learned a lot about the history of the presidents and we also got to meet up with the Pegel family in Keystone too.  The Pegels were headed to Wisconsin for their summer vacation.  After dinner with the Pegels and seeing the night show at Mount Rushmore we checked in at our hotel room in Rapid City.  The next day we had breakfast and then swam for a little while before packing up and driving through the Badlands to get some dinosaur poop for the kids.  After the Badlands we were ready to head home.  It seemed to take forever to get back home, but we made it.

 

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