Is it really that hard?

I am wondering... is it really that hard to just stand still, smile, and let someone take your picture? My two (too) cool nieces and my oldest boy are nice and ready for the picture. My middle boy? Pulling out all the funny business once again.
I thought with a "take two" on the picture we might get a good one. Nope, he is goofing off, still.
On to some individual pictures. All I want is just a quick photo to remember our time at Mt. Rushmore. Pretty easy I think. My cool niece shows us how it is done. Nice smile and we are done. Thank you. Next. Another awesome niece has no problem with the task. Stand in front of Mt. Rushmore, smile, and we are done. Thank you very much. Next.

My oldest son. I love this boy. He is always happy. Always ready to please. A quick smile, *click*, thank you oldest boy. I love you! Next.
Oh no. What do we have here? Just a smile is all I need and then we are done. Please. Just one smile?


I GIVE UP!

Our Nation....

Have you ever really thought about what our founding fathers did for us? Presidents that had a vision for this country? It was great to see the light show at Mount Rushmore and to be reminded of all that was done for this great country.

I am proud to be an american. How about you?

Is it an alligator or a crocodile?

Reptile Gardens. Cool. Gross. Cool and gross at the same time. They had many of the worlds deadliest snakes. One of the largest crocodiles in captivity. Cool tortoises. The list goes on. There were more than 50 alligators and crocodiles all piled on top of each other in this enclosure. They had more room but they seemed to like to snuggle up. Can an alligator snuggle? How about a crocodile? Can they snuggle? Is even possible for something that looks like that, with huge teeth and rough skin? Speaking of teeth, one of these huge guys mistook a rock for a piece of chicken. Ooooo You should of heard the sound of his teeth breaking!Don't you just want to stand in a alligator/crocodile pen with a bucket full of raw chicken? Looks like fun to me. What a bunch of crazy kids. From the left, my middle boy, oldest boy, their cousins Kasey and then Kali. The boys have so much fun with their cousins! I hate to say it but I love these cut outs for people to stick their heads in. Maybe they are cheesy but I love to get pictures with the kids' heads stuck through the cutouts. I always have. Always will. I remember I did that as a kid. I remember my head being stuck in a Pea Soup Anderson board. Ah, memories.

We love tortoises. This guy was about 60 years old.
That's their Uncle Jake putting our Little Man up on the tortoise. I tell you, these boys LOVE their Uncle Jake. And did you notice Little Man, I think he is part Michael Jordan, that tongue is always out!

Black Hills Wildlife

We sure did have a great time on our vacation to the Black Hills. Of course I had my camera stuck to my eye the entire trip. I managed to get many wildlife pictures on the trip. On most of these I had my telephoto lens as far as it could reach and it was well worth it. (But I still want a bigger telephoto) =) There were several elk bedded down in the afternoon. Can you see the velvet hanging down in this guys face, there is still blood on the antlers too. What a treat to see. Behind him there is another bull laying down and you can see his antlers in full velvet. I guess I was kinda surprised to see these so low. We had always seen Sheep up by my mom in Montana, we new their local hangout and could usually get a glimpse of them. But those Sheep were always up high in the rocks. I'm not complaining these guys were so low, they were pretty awesome to look at and provided me a great photo op. Okay, I couldn't believe we spotted a Mountain Lion up in the trees. It was actually the first time I had seen one up in a tree before. I can remember all those years of riding with my mom up in the mountains. The horses would cock their ears and stop on a dime. They would jerk their head to the side and be so aware of their surroundings. I would usually get goosebumps, give a heel to my horse and we would be off down the trail. Now looking back, I wonder how many Mountain Lions we rode under... goose bumps again.
I just could not believe the amount of wildlife we saw on our trip. This cute little cub was taking a nap in a pine tree that had seen plenty of abuse from the bears.
I'm wondering if this is a sow? Could it be that cubs momma. It looks pretty big though, maybe it's a male. How nice of him to pose for me to get this shot.

Wow, two more bears. That sure is an interesting rock formation there. I can't believe all these bears. I mean, it was one thing to see the elk, and the sheep, but this is amazing. Look how funny this bear is, sitting on that log the way he is. Wait one minute... Is that a car in that picture? What is going on here?

Okay, okay.... We were actually in Bear Country USA. It was really a cool place to see. These cubs were just adorable. Earlier they had all been playing in a tree, but of course I missed it.
If you are ever in the Black Hills make sure and stop and Bear Country. You start by driving through each section of the park that contains the different species. For some reason they want you to keep your windows rolled up. Can't imagine why. I broke the rules several times for pictures but a wolf never did jump through the window so I guess it was fine. Once you finish the driving portion you are able to park and get out and walk to see more animals and Babyland with all the cubs. It was a great place to see, take the time if you are ever in that area.

WaTiki

Okay, this may be taking the easy way out but I have yet to really look at my pictures from our awesome trip to the Black Hills. We stayed at a hotel that had the WaTiki Waterpark connected to it. Here is their own video of two of the slides.

We all loved the Superbowl. The boys said it looked like a toilet bowl.... hmmmm, perhaps.

Zoo Montana

Giraffes, gorillas, gazelles, panda bears, elephants, orangutans, parrots, rhinos, gazelles, meerkats, kangaroos, przewalski horses, koala bears......... are all things you will NOT see at Zoo Montana.



But.... you will see......

A vain peacock checking out his coif.... The bird of our nation, a nice chance to see one up close. They had two there that were unable to fly.
Two monkeys that escaped from their cages.......
And then the morphed into bears.........
Okay, all joking aside this really is an awesome zoo. They had a grizzly, two wolves, some draft horses, goats, peacocks, a porcupine, mountain goat, a tiger and a few other things. The best part was not the animals though. The best part was parking right by the front gate. No line to get into the zoo. No crowds to deal with. A slow relaxed pace. Really, it was like a big park. I would love to go back with a big picnic packed and spend half a day there. Just walk around relaxed and take in the scenery.......

A trip, garden & suckers

Hello? Hello, anyone there? Just checking. I am sure no one really missed my blogs but just in case I guess I will start them up again.

After more than 1,800 miles and almost as many bathroom stops we are back home. It was a great two weeks up in Montana and the boys and I had a blast.

Our first stop on the trip was to see Gramma Mary. Once we got there she gave us a tour of her garden. She has raspberries, snap peas, pumpkins, tomatoes, asparagus, and so on. She also has planted a row of potatoes. In the potatoes she co-planted sucker seeds. Here she is showing the boys where they have been planted.......

They head down the row to start the harvesting of suckers. And on a side note: Is that a gorgeous view or what?Hmmmm. My oldest is not diving in just yet. But leave it to Colt, he is not afraid to just dive right in and start looking for suckers....
Whoa! Lookie there! The first sucker is up and the harvest has begun. I love the look on my oldest boys face, he is just amazed!
No stopping them now. They gently but quickly push the potato plants aside to look for suckers.
They each harvested two suckers, what a great day in the garden. You have to look at the shirt my oldest is wearing, it says "It's my brothers fault".... yup, that is usually true.
We stayed there for a few days and they got a few more harvests. What a great garden I tell ya!