Summer 4th of July Adventure -Day 6

This day we headed down to the Wind Cave, SD. After missing the tours of Jewel Cave, Alton had been begging to go underground, so we decided we'd try the Wind Cave. We went on the Natural Entrance tour.

The hole on the bottom left side is actually the entrance by which the cave was discovered. They could feel the air coming out this little hole and began to explore. This hole was way to small for us to fit thru, so they took us to a different entrance several feet away. This cave is known for a feature called boxes. They look like open-ended boxes.

She was so sleepy, but wanted to be independent.  This cave didn't seem as "glamorous" as some of the other ones we have been in, but it was still neat to see it.

As we headed out of the park, we came across our first set of bison. They were quite amazing to see (and quite large I must say).

Hunter with the buffalo in the background.

Next, we headed over to Evan's Plunge. This is a place that Steven was taken as a young boy and really wanted us to try it  out. It was a blast (one of my favorite parts of the trip actually).  The kids could go down all the slides and try anything they wanted. The temperature was perfect and water refreshing.

Hunter is in heaven.

Brothers for life (Alton & Hunter).

Beautiful Kailyn.

Baby Kinley.

After this fun adventure we headed up to Rapid City, SD. Here Steven took us to a place called Story Book Island. Inside there were characters from all of the major nursery rhymes/children stories. The kids were so excited to see it all that they were hard to keep up with.

Entrance to the Island (I loved that this place was free. Wish they would build something like this near us).

Kailyn found Santa Claus.  Ho, Ho, Ho.

101 Dalmations.

Pinocchio 

Little Bo Peep.

The wizard of Oz.

Cinderella.

The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot about that.

Aladdin and his magic carpet.

Kailyn wanted to take this picture for one of her friends at school who loves unicorns.

Cinderella in her beautiful gown.

Noah's Ark. Kailyn found an elephant and Hunter found a tiger. They were both ecstatic!

Raggedy Ann (Kailyn & Hunter).

It made me dizzy just watching them.

Hunter found himself his best buddy, Winnie the Pooh. He said he loves Winnie the Pooh so much because he loves honey.  Makes sense to me!

Kailyn hugging Pigglet tight.  She liked Pigglet because it was pink. She is a pinkalicious girl thru and thru!

Hunter with the fire truck.

Hunter making everyone dizzy. Whoa!

Look what Kailyn found!

Kailyn was determined to ride with Kinley.

After getting some energy out here (and working up and appetite), we headed up to Dinosaur Park. Another place from Steven's childhood.  Here, we all got some ice cream and climbed on the dinosaurs.

After this, we grabbed us a little Caesars pizza for the road and drove a short distance to Mt. Rushmore. We timed it so we could see it during the day, but also take part in the nightly lighting ceremony.

Kinley enjoying her freedom.

Each night they invite all of the service men up on stage to help retrieve the flag. Very cool!

Beautifully lit up.

Creator of the monument.