Dane, oh Dane

Some tidbits from the trip - it occurred to me that each day included some special and unpleasant event for Dane. Poor guy - he's so fun and bright, but I think the stars were aligned to dish him out some H - E - double hockey stix.

Our first day, after Rushmore, we spent some time at this park to give his highness, Davis, some time to snooze in the car before the next attraction. It was a pretty area, centered around a small lake, with a bridge out to a gazebo on an island. The kids burned some energy running around, and where did they play? Right at the water's edge, of course. And what should occur while Dane is traversing the slimy, bird poopy covered rocks? He falls in, of course. Shoes, socks, pants, underwear, half of his shirt - SOAKED! And with our hotel roughly 17 miles away, we had three choices: 1. Stay soaked and stink. 2. Wear his buddy Sam's pants from the day before that had been peed in. or 3. Find the nearest Walmart or Target and get some new duds.
What did we do?
We hit up the Walmart in Rapid City - hands down the busiest Walmart I have EVER seen. It was like the center of the universe. Everyone was gravitating there and everything revolved around the action. Well I made it out safely with some sweet $3.50 pants, some clearance shoes and some Star Wars undies. Dane was kicking it South Dakota style and lookin' FINE! Here's his new outfit. (not the hoodie) He managed to survive the rest of the day incident free.

The next morning we visited a crystal cave and had a good time going down, down, down and seeing the sights. The boys were a little nervous at first, but nobody fell . . . that is until after we safely exited the caves and the kids were playing on some stone steps near the picnic area. Dane fell down a couple steps and we heard that ugly THUD you hear when a big human noggin hits a too hard surface (cringe). He was a mess and I wish I'd gotten some pictures of his injury - especially a day or two later when it was all scabby and the bruises were at their height of color. Yuck. Well, he was fine - but he slowed down a bit after that. Here he is a mere 20 minutes beforehand, exploring a little side cave with a flashlight.

*Incidentally, when I snapped this shot I was in complete darkness. I took the picture and was amazed at what I couldn't see. I had hit my head a couple of steps before because of course the kids wanted to carry the flashlights.

You may not know, but motion sickness runs strong on both sides of our family and Dane is severely afflicted. He's just like his Daddy. So on the last day when we took a scenic drive on the Wildlife Loop through Custer State Park, it was no surprise that Dane got a little green. We were listening to the Beatles, ironically, and really feeling the lyrics "The long and winding road . . ." when Dane (already prepped with a puke bucket) opened the flood gates. He felt better, but we had to hold on to that puke for WAY too long. I think the buffalo smelled it on his breath and wanted a closer whiff. They got pretty friendly.

But despite all his haps, Dane had a good time and said his favorite part was the Chuckwagon dinner where he rode the pony. He's lucky he didn't get thrown off into a pile of yuck. Aaahhh, I love that little guy.