Mt. Rushmore

 The kids said Mt. Rushmore was "cool".

According to the kids, It was cool, but simply not as awesome as Nauvoo.


 Ryanne took a lot of pictures and bought herself a little Rushmore statue.  She was excited to tell her friends at school she had been there.

Here is the man who designed Mt. Rushmore. 

 In the museum

 The kids liked the flags--each one representing one of the 50 States and what year it became a state.  The kids wanted to read every single one of them!

At the main entrance, it was impossible to get a picture of yourself and the Mt. alone.  There were so many people milling about!  But Ryanne wanted one with her in it.  She enjoyed the museum and reading the facts about Mt. Rushmore's creation.  I think if she had more money, she would have bought a book about it. 

 Here's four of us . . . Elias was running around spending energy. 

 Here is Elias! I grabbed him and held on tight so he wouldn't run away!

 Who is the head popping out behind the kids? 

 Here is a picture we snapped after we walked up the trail that leads to the base of the Mt.

 Absolutely amazing that humans could do this. 

The children enjoyed the hike. 

 One of my favorite Presidents: Abraham Lincoln. 

 Awwwe . . .they are holding hands!

Leah feeling the buffalo hide.

 The kids enjoyed the Native American Lore and Artifacts.

 Elias likes the way it feels.  He would like to take a nap on it.

 Mckay: "Cool! A Tepee.  Can we sleep here tonight?"

 Leah at the Tepee.

 They all wanted me to take pictures of them inside the Tepee. 



Big grin boy.



Sisters

 Sleeping mats on display in one of the tepees. 
Ry: "I guess their beds were easy to make."

 Leah and Elias are learning how to tan a hide and finding out that it is not all that pleasant a task!

For me, the Mount Rushmore day was my second stressful day of vacation.  It was our second bad-kid-behavior day on our trip.  I guess two rough days out of  sixteen very busy days of vacation really isn't that bad.  Quite good, actually.  I had originally intended to splurge and buy each of the kids an ice cream cone at the gift shop.  But they drove me insane with their incessant squabbling.  All of them, that is, except Leah.  Leah was very obedient. 

 So I took Leah for an ice cream cone.

This caused wailing, tears, and angry words form the boys. Ryanne took it in stride. She knew she hadn't earned any behavior points and stood by solemnly watching Leah's licking.

 "Oh Yeah!"

 The kids wanted a cave tour, so we drove to Jewel Cave,

but the tours were booked up for the rest of the day.  All of us were disappointed, Ryanne especially. 

Maybe it was better that we didn't take Elias in the cave . . . Who knows?!! 

We placated Ryanne with promises of a trip to Timpanogos Caves in Utah. 

 (We never did that either--so we owe her a spelunking trip). 

This is Leah's so-sad, "I didn't get to go in the cave," face. 

Good bye South Dakota . . . Wyoming, here we come!