Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

One of the coolest things we did in SD was Bear Country USA. It's a drive through wildlife park, with the main attraction being lots of bears of all kinds- black, brown, grizzly and baby black bears (the cutest little suckers).  Besides the bears, we saw reindeer, wolves, (caged) mountain lions, and burros right outside our car and it was tons of fun seeing the boys point and "ooohh" at all of the creatures.  Highly recommended if you are ever vacationing in the area! 

reindeer

black bear

brown bear and black bear scratching his back

grizzy (this guy was fenced in the walking portion)

baby black bear. cute. cute. cute.  they're taken away from their momma after 2 months 

because the males will kill them to get to the females to mate again. not so cute.

"they're everywhere!" 

"uh. Mom? that bear is staring at me."

hot and tired, but showing off his bear tattoo

finally showing off his tattoo (but the wrong leg;). he SCREAMED while getting his. 

Eat.Spit.BeHappy

That's what my bag of sunflower seeds says. I bought a big one for our road trip but only broke them out a couple of times, so there's a lot left.  I've had some salty cravings the last couple of nights (last night, it was after my ice cream craving was indulged) and now I'm afraid I'm hooked. Two nights in a row, I sat eating them until my tongue was losing feeling from all the salt. This morning my cereal tasted weird and my coffee is feeling strange on the tongue. I wonder how bad it will be tomorrow morning after I sit tonight eating.spitting.being happy.

Splashing around

We took 551 pictures on our trip. As soon as Donnie puts them on Flickr, I'll post the link. Until then, I'll share little bits at a time.   One of my favorite things we did was watch the kids play at the spash pad at the campground. We only did it once, but they had so much fun. Reagan l.o.v.e.d it! Kiefer, not so much. We couldn't decide if it was because he was too cold with only his 23 pounds to insulate him, or if he just didn't enjoy it. But he kept us entertained by running to the waterfalls and then running back to Aunt Tricia and the warm towel. He seriously did this a dozen times.  Reagan jumped right in, surprising us all. He had a blast, and we did also, just watching him. The big cousins helped the little guys and everyone had fun together. Olivia took a break half way through to get catch some rays. 

  

                                                                                               

Eight Years Ago

Home

It is a relief to be home after 10 days of travel, but only to sleep in our own beds and have our own routine. I already miss everything else. My family. The campfires. The swimming. The mountains. The wildlife. The tourist traps. My mom's junk food. And watching the boys see and experience so many new things. 

It is official, our first family summer vacation was a big hit.  Here's just a little proof: 

Vacation time again

We leave in less than 24 hours for our 9 day road trip. And I am surprisingly pretty close to being ready. A load of laundry here, some more packing there, and we are set. And I have to get the Jeep's oil changed, which is always a drag. Please keep us in your prayers throughout the next week, and specifically for: 

safe traveling

good weather (rain keeps creeping further into the forecast)

no motion sickness (from me or either of the boys) 

patience for all of us during the loooong drives

Here's lookin' at you, kid

There's really no explanation needed for the following series of pictures. Except that maybe this was post-wedding, at approximately 10pm, and he was avoiding going to sleep. And maybe that he sometimes can't get enough of himself, just like his parents can't get enough of him. 

Roll 'em! 

(my favorite!)

 

A note from the Tots

Hey everybody!  

We are back from our very first trip to Texas! It took a long time to get there, but it was fun. We were excited to stay in our first hotel room! At first, we really weren't sure what we were doing in that room with just beds, a tv, and a bathroom, but we found ways to entertain each other!  Mommy and Daddy have stayed in lots of hotels since we've been around, so we are happy they finally took us to one! We got to go to a wedding where we saw very pretty girls in pretty dresses, but we were very shy around them. We got to stay up really, really late, but we decided to give Mommy and Daddy a break and slept until almost 8:00 on Sunday. We had lunch with Mommy's cousin, April, and then went to visit our Great Grandpa Duntley at his house! But then they put us back in the car for another long trip. It was okay, though. We got to share Mommy's ice cream when we stopped at some place called DQ.  We were happy to be home last night.  Mommy says we are going on another trip this weekend. She said something about "torture" and "14 hour drive." We don't know what that means, but it sounds fun!! 

Love, Reagan and Kiefer

leaving for the wedding

first night in the hotel

waking up the next morning

sweeping Great Grandpa's floor

us with Daddy and Great Grandpa 

 

What You Missed

For the Willardsons...

Kelsey, looking way too old, but beautiful. 

Hunter did a great job! 

Uncle Dave walking Angi down the aisle

Mat and Angi leaving the ceremony

Brooke and Hunter 

I didn't get a good picture of April. I was balancing Kiefer in one arm, a snack bag of cheerios and the camera in the other hand, and just so happened to miss her coming down the aisle all together :(    The inn was a beautiful place, the ceremony was nice, and the reception was a lot of fun.  Angi was beautiful and glowing and I can tell the two of them make each other very happy!

The girls and me (and Lucus, Hunter, and Kiefer all deciding not to look)

Father/Daughter dance

The happy couple

Reagan and Kiefer learning dance moves from Hunter

Kiefer and cake :)

Groom's cake

Wedding cake

A few things I know

1. The mall play area is a nice alternative when the outside temps are already creeping into the 90's by mid-morning. 

2. The mall play area is also a nice alternative since it is situated right next to Starbucks. 

(It's just water)

3. I think I have ruined my boys at an early age. I had quite a lot of shopping to do yesterday, and most of it at the mall. Both were happy and content in the stroller as long as we were in the main mall area. About midway through, whenever I would walk into a department store, they would both start crying/fussing/complaining in some way.  I returned to the mall today (I'll explain later) and was telling Stacey about this new habit, and 30 seconds later we walked into JCPenney. Reagan threw his hands up to his face and immediately started crying. It was truly like torture for him being back in that store. Me too, Ray.  (He did the same thing as we entered Regis to drop off treats for Aunt Kirsten and Macy's to finally leave) 

4. We were back in JCPenney because I bought a swimsuit there yesterday that I decided I didn't like once I got home. Imagine that. Buying a swimsuit is never my idea of a good time, especially when I am doing it in mid-July when the rest of the world has already cleared out most of the selection. 

5. I got really lucky today by grabbing one off the rack at Target without trying it on, bringing it home, having it fit, and actually liking the way it looks. (Although, if I would have grabbed it yesterday when I saw it the first time, instead of hoping I could find a cheaper one, a lot of chaos could have been avoided)

6. So I was at Target again today after buying a couple t-shirts for the boys yesterday and having to exchange them for a bigger size today. I thought buying clothes for myself was complicated! How is it that they wear a 12-18 month at Gap and an 18 month at Children's Place, but I buy 18 months at Target and they are too small?  And how is it that Kiefer wears almost 2 sizes smaller shorts than Reagan, but they can wear the same shirts? I am going to have to start stripping those poor boys down in the middle of stores and making them try these things on. Like shopping with mom isn't fun enough already. 

7. Having a husband that doesn't leave for work until around 8, and is home by 5 at the very latest every day, makes me very lucky.  Having said husband go out of town, even just for 2 days, makes me very bored. 

8. I've got some cute and fun kids.