What we've been up to . . .

Wow, I think this is the longest I've ever gone between posts - ! I couldn't believe it when I saw that it had been 2 1/2 weeks since my last one!! Yikes. Anyway, here's a summary of our past couple weeks, and a few too many pictures:
The boys . . . . .
attended a one-week basketball camp at the Y and loved it;
started golf lessons right after that, and love them even more;
had four baseball games, finishing off their first coach-pitch season;
went camping at our favorite campground (in Hill City);

During that camping trip, went biking on the Mickelson Trail:
That same weekend, had yet another birthday cake - we promised them another one when we couldn't have candles on the one at the hotel/waterpark. Candles are VERY important when you get seven of them!! :)
(It's a Wall-E cake - a movie that's coming out on Friday - yes, these movie producers know their marketing - our kids know all about Wall-E and they haven't even seen the movie yet!)

Anyway, after leaving Hill City, we proceeded directly to the Spearfish City Campground - another favorite - for two more nights. Mark still drove into Rapid to work, but we had alot of fun anyway. We rode our bikes everywhere - and Jack and Noah found a muddy jump to run their bikes on - here they are proudly displaying their mud . . .

Moving on . . . . . . after a couple days at home, beginning on the 20th we had a small Concordia "reunion" up in Keystone - 4 of Mark's college buddies and their families met here for a long weekend of reminiscing and touristy activities. Here's the 5 guys (we were missing one from Minneapolis who couldn't make it) . . .

We had a great time - all 21 of us!! Friday night, because it was raining, we went to the Ruby House in Keystone for dinner, then to the indoor black-light putt putt place by Rapid. Saturday morning we all headed for Mt. Rushmore - it's amazing how even after seeing it 5 or 6 times, I still love taking pictures of it - it never gets old! I love this one (taken from a cave below) . . . .

The traditional tourist shot . . . .

And I took this one 6-7 miles away, from a lookout in Keystone:

After Mt. Rushmore, we headed to Rushmore Cave which is always a HUGE hit with the kids - and I have to admit, it's a pretty amazing place! Here's some of the kids in the cave (Jack and Noah are on the left with the baseball hats):

After the cave, we then headed up to the President's Alpine Slide. We got a great photo of the group of us (if you click on this to make it bigger, you can see Mt. Rushmore behind us):
And here's my boys at the top - Mt. Rushmore is way over on the right side of the photo:
Saturday night we had dinner at the Alpine Inn - 10 adults at one table and the 11 kids at another - that was interesting!! :) The kids did pretty good, although I think the other diners in the room with us were rather entertained! Sunday we hit the Big Thunder Gold Mine where we discovered a new family addiction - panning for gold! We got so sucked in we didn't take any photos - sounds kind of silly, but it was truly addicting, sifting through rocks and sand looking for tiny pieces of gold. Loved it!

During the weekend, Jack and Noah made a new buddy - Zach - he's 10 1/2, and is the NICEST guy - he was so good to all these kids who were younger than him. His dad got this great picture of he and Jack. If you read this, Zach - Jack and Noah are missing you! Churn and Dar - he's a fantastic kid - I hope we can do as well with Jack and Noah as you have with him!!
Whew! I think that's it. We've had a very nice quiet week at home, getting things done around here and preparing for our next camping trip this weekend. Right now I'm sitting on the living room couch watching the most awesome lightning storm out our big window - my own fireworks show provided by God. Reminds me how much I love summer!!