road trip to south dakota: day 4

jer and i decided to stay the last night so he could get some sleep to drive us home. scarlett and i slept in the car, which was decent, until she woke up at 4:30 in the morning. i entertained her with my eyes half-closed for another 2 hours, before waking up the other half of our quartet. loading up was quick and easy since we had packed the night before.

amelia not sure why i woke her up this early, but scarlett gave me a good blurry CHEEEEEEEZE!

these sleeping scarlett pictures kill me. i just want to yell OF COURSE YOU'RE TIRED. WHY WON'T YOU SLEEP REGULAR HOURS OF THE NIGHT SO WE CAN ALL BE MORE HAPPY???? but alas, this is motherhood. also, if you didn't already realize from pictures, scarlett is obsessed with her water/cups/bottles.

little america for lunch-- we were so happy to be almost home! such a long, trying trip, but we also had the time of our lives! it honestly was so much more fun and magical traveling with our children than it's ever been just by ourselves (okay, except for our cruise...). I'm excited to take a family vacation every year and make memories that they will hopefully be able to remember for years to come.

(end road trip to south dakota series.)

road trip to south dakota: day 3, in which we are all far too tired

are you sick of seeing pictures from this one trip? just one more post after this, I promise! after our eventful day, jer definitely needed a nap. I took the girls to happy hour (milk and cookies), a park and then to rushmore by myself. we hiked probably a-tenth of a mile of the presidential hike before scarlett completely lost it, and so we headed home. luckily, dad got a 2-3 hour nap and was ready for our evening wrangle!

 (scarlett asking for my phone back from our photographer, but an otherwise darling picture)

home state UTAH!

the girls watching mulan. we honestly didn't know what else to do after pool time. day 3 was pretty eventful, and I was definitely proud of how much fun this trip was for the girls, and therefore for us as well. I asked amelia what was her favorite part of this trip. her answer? "...the hotel" I thought this was fair, and asked her what her favorite part of the hotel was (guessing in my head either the pool or happy hour). "watching mulan." arggggh... clearly this girl doesn't get much tv time.

road trip to south dakota: day 3, dinosaur park for lunch

 not sure what is going on is this picture, but i like it!

 and this one!

amelia and her cute foot pop! (jer does not think the white part of this tail looks like a tail.)

we found this darling dinosaur park to eat lunch in. the girls loved exploring and climbing on these giant figures. we enjoyed this free activity a little better than the paid-for dinosaur museum.

road trip to south dakota: day 3, alpaca farm

we stopped at the cutest (and slightly sketchy) alpaca farm. they were so sweet, but millie was terrified and wanted nothing to do with the alpacas, except for the baby born a few days ago. scarlett was a little more brave, and whispered "soffffffft" every time she petted them. I'm glad we got out of our comfort zone and had so much fun as a family!

road trip to south dakota: day 3, dinosaur museum

the dinosaur museum admission included a mirror maze and mini golf. the girls loved running through the dinosaur exhibits. the mirror maze was actually really unsettling to walk through-- I just have a hard time being lost with my kids. both amelia and scarlett loved mini-golfing... amelia probably got a hole in 37, and scarlett started throwing her golf-ball into the holes. in the end, I took scarlett back to the car for a nap while amelia and dad when through the course again.

road trip to south dakota: day 3, bear country usa

after our eventful night, I took the girls to the pancake bar in hopes of jeremy getting a little shut-eye. he didn't think he could drive us to bear country because he was so exhausted. after an hour at breakfast (where millie spilled oj all over herself), we found that daddy couldn't sleep anyway... so off we went to a new adventure!

 a bear scratching his back on this sign.

the girls loved sitting in the front seat with us and seeing the animals so close! it was so fun witnessing the excitement in her eyes and her voices. we also saw some bears "getting it on" and I couldn't stop laughing because I was speechless!

 scarlett kissing the bear

 after the car ride, there was a trail to walk around and see all the baby animals.

 ice cream for our well-behaved girls, yes at 9 in the morning.

 scarlett's little bear country tattoo.

jer, of course had to spoil the girls with a stuffed animal each. amelia picked out the bear and wolf, (which were her most feared animals before this trip) and was clearly so excited. both girls sleep with their animals every night. amelia has named hers "wolfie" and dresses it in her fleece jacket when "he is sick."

someone was very tired. I wonder why.