Big Sky

 We spent the weekend in Billings at the Big Sky State Games...the boys did great! They participated in the shot, disc, 55m and 100m dashes...Quinn took home two silvers in the shot and disc and CJ came away with 2 bronze medals in the shot and disc and a silver in the 55m dash. They both qualified for the State Games of America in Hershey Pennsylvania next year..... Chad was able to participate as well, it was so fun to watch him throw and see him in his element. The boys really look up to him and can't wait to be like their dad when they grow up!

After the meet we headed back to the hotel and swam and did the water slide for a couple hours, then we headed over to visit uncle Nick. He gave us a tour of the Lockwood Fire Dept. and showed the kids the fire trucks and all his gear...

After our visit to Lockwood we headed over to the temple, we got there a little late and they had already closed the gates around the temple grounds. We found a great view and took some pics... the kids found a great hill on the other side of the road from the temple and decided to run up and roll down the hill. Then we headed out to eat and got to bed early...

SD Vacation 2012 Part 1

Celeste had to go potty now and did not want to stop for a pic...

The kids got to meet Fred and Barney after the show, but the boys were the only two brave enough to go near them;)

CJ was pretty excited to pose with Barney

We went to Old McDonald's petting Farm, CJ is petting a Lion Head Rabbit named Strawberry

CJ hanging out at Cosmos Mystery Area

My cute little Cowgirls at Old McDonald's Farm, we decided to pick out a magnet  at each of our stops, that way the kids have something to remember out stops and they didn't want to buy everything is each of the gift shops we stopped at:)

The kids got a ride around Bedrock in this awesome car, they loved it!

This is Methuselah Falls at Reptile Gardens 

Farmer Celeste loved all the baby animals on the farm, she loved being able to pet all of them and visit them.

We got to see the Flintstone Band perform.

This was our first stop once we got to SD,...Flintsone Village. I remember coming here with my family when I was little, it was a really fun stop for the littles. We took a train ride, a ride in the Flintstone car, watched movies at the Flintstone Theater, got to visit all the characters in Bedrock city and played on the playground... 

This was at Cosmos Mystery Area...CJ was actually taller than Quinn here, water ran uphill, trees grew towards the ground and you could hang off the walls....very cool, but not so good for people with motion sickness and poor balance....

This is in the Dome at Reptile Gardens

Waiting for the gator show 

Quinn towering over CJ at Cosmos

On the way home we stopped by Lead to see a modern day gold mine at Homestake Mine.

Kids being eaten at Flintstone Village by a dino-snake

In the jungle at Reptile Gardens

Kids loved all these cut outs, being able to stick there faces in them:)

At the bird show we learned that parrots can live to be over 70 yrs old, this is the same parrot that was here when I came with my family when I was little. Kim ended making "friends" with this parrot:)

More gators

Story Book Island was one of the best stops on the way, they had so many characters for the kids to see and play on.  The girls could have spent the entire trip here...

Panning for gold at Big Thunder Mine

This worked out perfectly...Celeste's favorite princess is Snow White and Carissa's is Cinderella, and what better pronce charming can you ask for than daddy;)

Quinn was trying to make his eyes look like Fred's

Mt. Rushmore was a little clouded over when we were trying to take pics...

Watiki Water Park was another fun stop...it had giant slides that kept the boys busy and a fun little kid friendly water park for the girls, along with a lazy river and hot tub for Chad and I;)

Here is our little troll under Billy Goat Gruff's Bridge;)
Those are all the pics. I have downloaded so far...more to come!!!! What a fun trip:)

Up and going again;)

I have been really neglecting this and had really good intentions of keeping it up, so here is my attempt at getting it back up and going. We have a fun summer planned and I am excited to post about it for future memories:)