The drive home from Bismark, North Dakota was pretty uneventful. We wanted to stop in Rapid City and check out Mt. Rushmore so the majority of our driving happened the second day. Rapid City is only about five hours from Bismark but with stopping for lunch and potty breaks it took slightly longer. We left Bismark just after 9 AM and got to Rapid city just after 3. We tried to check in but the room wasn't clean yet so we piled back into the car and drove to Mt. Rushmore. The original plan had been to stay for a few days and do some of the fun things there but the boys were starting school later in the week and we decided that we should probably just head home the next day. We were all excited to see Mt. Rushmore and it was a little disappointing because we go poured on. We stayed for a bit hoping the rain would stop so we could do a little hike but eventually just took some pictures and headed back to the hotel for dinner and swimming in the pool. I realized when I went to get Piper in her suit that I had forgotten a swim diaper so Mike took the boys to the pool and I let Piper "swim" in the bathtub and then put her to bed.
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| Some random dinosaur we drove by on our drive. There was this tiny town that only had a small market and a drive-in to eat at. We chose the drive-in and the boys wanted to check out the dinosaur across the street. |
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| Don't ask me what is going on with all of our faces. |
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| She was so happy to be out of the car! |
The next day we drove to the city hall in Rapid City and Mike registered our cars in South Dakota. Then we drove home. We stopped way too many times for potty breaks. We stopped in Lusk, WY for lunch and then again in Ft. Collins so I could feed Piper. While I fed her and let her crawl around the boys and Mike checked out some random horse feeding store. Piper did pretty well driving until just before Ft. Collins. She had pretty much had it by that time and was so angry to have to get back in the car. It was Isaac's birthday and I had really hoped we would be home in time to got to Chili's (his favorite restaurant) but we didn't end up getting home until 8. Piper was beyond tired and had been screaming for the last two hours straight so Mike just dropped me and her off and I put her to bed while he took the boys to Chili's and then Cold Stone. I was sad to miss his birthday dinner but we had already celebrated with his cousins and then had a birthday party planned for a few days later so there would be plenty of celebrating still to do. It was a fun trip. Seeing Mandy's family was worth the drive, definitely. I'm so glad we are able to take these little vacations together. I think it was important for our family to spend some good time together after being apart for two months. The boys and Piper were amazing and I enjoyed having so many hours to talk to Mike--there was so little to see, talking to Mike (and reading him a book) was the only thing to do.
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