Mount Rushmore Rocks

This boy had a Birthday this weekend. It just so happens that we also had a 3-day weekend so we took advantage of the extra day off and surprised the boys with a trip to Mt. Rushmore. They were shocked Friday morning when we told them that Dad had taken the day off and that they needed to get in the car so we could leave for Mt. Rushmore. Colin did not believe us at first. Cam thought we were joking. Six hours later (okay 6 1/2) we were on our way up the mountain to see The Face Place.

These are the pictures of our trip in backwards order. I'm just a little too tired to switch them all around right now so you get end to beginning with some narration in between.

This is Cam's birthday celebration tonight when we got home. A boy after my own heart, he wanted chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. Yum.



What's a birthday without a goofy brother picture? Here's Colin in true form.

And now onto our trip. We took the Scenic Tour of http://www.nps.gov/jeca/index.htm Jewel Cave. It was amazing! Cam was a little leery at first. He was tired from swimming and going to the Reptile Gardens that morning. All he really wanted to do was go back to the hotel and play video games. However, somewhere along the tour, he got his second wind. The cave was dark and a little scary. Colin loved it and was fascinated by all of the rock formations. Jewel Cave is the second largest cave system on the planet. The amount of cave discovered so far is 155.12 miles. The discovered distance is always changing as so much of the cave has yet to be explored. It is estimated that the 155.12 miles that have been discovered is only 2-5% of the actual cave size. That's pretty amazing.

Here's Cam being Cam. He was grunchy and grouchy and decided to pose for the camera. At least he smiled all of 2.5 seconds.

Prior to the Jewel Cave, we went to Reptile Gardens http://www.reptilegardens.com/

Although they did not have as many shows since it was "off season", the boys were riveted by the snake show. We saw an anaconda (pictured here that both of the boys touched....eww) a cobra, a rattlesnake and many others. This show is not for the squeamish. There were a lot of snakes. The entire facility was crammed with snakes, lizards, frogs, geckos, turtles, spiders, crocs, alligators...all things scaly, some things furry and a few feathers thrown in there too. We could have spent a lot more time there but at 2 hours the boys were tired and we needed to drive up to the Jewel Cave for our afternoon tour.

Yes, that is a cobra. We were about 10 feet away from the cobra only divided by a short Plexiglas wall. Surprisingly, the cobra is not even close to being the deadliest snake on earth.

Let's not forget this amazing hotel. Granted, the room was not fancy, the food was not great and the level of noise was what you would expect from a hotel with an indoor water park attached to it, but the boys had such a great time. This water park was amazingly fun for them. There were slides, water guns, a lazy river, a large hot tub, did I mention slides? One slide looked like a toilet bowl. It swished you down the bowl and down the tube. literally. I went down it with Colin on a raft. At the end the raft flipped over and Colin flew over me. Not so much fun. That was the first and the last slide I went on during our trip. I am not a fan of water on a good day. However, watching the boys laugh and giggle was great. We could have spent two full days at the water park. With the time allotted, we spent from 7:30pm-9:00pm on Friday and 8:30am-10:00am on Saturday at the water park. It was well worth the stomping feet in the room above us. When you stay at a hotel with a water park, you have to expect a little noise. I can't take the credit for this fun water park hotel find. You can read about my friend's trip to the Face Place and this great hotel here. http://flibbertigibberish.blogspot.com/2011/04/face-place.html

Cam started off his birthday morning opening presents. Of course he was pretty excited and both boys were awake bright and early that day. We did what we could to make Cam's day special (duh, we went to Mt. Rushmore) but he did not want too much attention put on him. He even refused to wear the, "It's My Birthday" button.

Colin was so happy to watch Cam open his presents. I have to say, I think this is the first birthday where tears have not be shed over a small bit of present jealousy from the other sibling. I love that my boys are getting older and more mature. But can we just hold their ages here please? Pretty please?

And to end (or begin) our tip, the Faces. The boys were amazed at this image in real life. I think they only thought it was on Phineas and Ferb, not in real life. However, they were disappointed that there were not any bobble heads in the gift shop. Someone is missing the boat here.

There is so much more about our trip that was amazing. The trees were beautiful. The crowds were non existent. The drive was breath taking. On our way to Jewel Cave, we even saw Crazy Horse. We saw deer, antelope and pronghorn sheep all along the way. If you ever have a chance to take a vacation to South Dakota, I highly recommend it.