Our New Jersey visit!

We spent close to two weeks visiting family and friends in New Jersey. The boys met their cousin Sophia and celebrated an "unbirthday" party. My cousin came up with that idea since none of the kids have ever celebrated a birthday together. They had a play date with Auntie Laura's boys, Ryan and John. Since the boys are really interested in wildlife, we took them to the Popcorn Zoo where we were attacked by Canada geese. They saw an old River Boat at the Toms River marina. The little guy lost his 2nd tooth and was visited by the Tooth Fairy!

We also plugged along with our homeschooling journey. In addition to the basics, Jersey Grandma gave them piano lessons and Pop Pop talked to them about transformers.

The boys enjoyed dipping their feet in the chilly Atlantic Ocean for the first time at Island Beach State Park and collecting shells. Click here to learn more: Island Beach State Park. We concluded our visit with a field trip and took a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Learning the history of the Statue of Liberty was very interesting. Click here to read more: Statue of Liberty history.

   

   

   

   

   

   



       

   

And the race to New Jersey started

Places we visited

We woke up early-ish the day after Badlands to start our trek to New Jersey. We had to get there by the 29th so John could drive to D.C. for work. On the 27th, we drove from South Dakota and made it halfway through Wisconsin. The following day we drove through Illinois, Idaho and party through Ohio. We were stunned at the cost of the tolls! Driving a 35' RV and towing a car wasn't cheap. We finished the last leg of the trip pulling into my parents' house late on the afternoon of the 29th. Driving nonstop was challenging for the kids but we were able to stop for breaks so they could run around. They loved doing school work on their iPads and also kept occupied playing Minecraft which is their newest obsession. Here are a few random pics from the road and a map for reference.        

The boys and The Stuffed Brigade

    

   

Unreal!!

Finally!

 

Badlands National Park

We packed up and headed east to Badlands National Park. Saying it was impressive is an understatement. The boys were excited to dig for fossils and then mad that they could only "learn" about them. Their mood improved at the Visitors Center where they got more trinkets and a few more stuffed animals for The Stuffed Brigade, including a stuffed rattlesnake.

According to NPS.gov, Badlands "contains one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed there." To learn more about the park, click here Badlands National Park. 

Here are a few photographs from our brief visit. We would have loved to have stayed longer but we had to get to NJ by the September 29th. After leaving the park, we drove a few more hours to a nondescript RV park and crashed for the night.

   

   

      

      

   

Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave in South Dakota

We left Grand Teton, Wyoming to this:
 

which quickly turned into this...scary seeing a F250 truck spun out at the side of the road:


And thankfully turned into this:


Before we arrived at our campsite:


We took a wrong turn heading to Mount Rushmore and ended up in Custer State Park. The boys always love to see Bison and Prong Horn Antelope.

Seeing these Hawaiian born boys in their hats is super cute!

Pronghorn antelope



 this guy was RIGHT at the side of the road less than 25 yards from us. We got to see him cross the road.


Mount Rushmore has also been on my bucket list for years. It was pretty amazing and even more awe inspiring to realize how difficult and how long it took the workers to create this. The boys loved the exhibit at the Museum where they could "blow up" different areas of the monument on the screen.
Click this link to learn more from the National Park Service about the history of Mount Rushmore: history and the men who created this amazing feat Gutzon Borglum and historic photos photos


Because it was raining, we decided to hit the caves instead of braving the weather outside. Wind Cave National Park was the first real cave the boys have been in. Not as dramatic as Carlsbad Caverns but still pretty impressive. They weren't 100% thrilled when the Ranger turned the lights out for 5 minutes and we were in complete darkness.  Click here to learn more about the formations at Wind Cave: Wind Cave and here to learn more about the interesting history of the park: history

Jewel Cave National Monument wasn't as exciting for the boys as Wind Cave. Our tour options were: 15 steps down to a large "room" to learn about the formations for 20 minutes -OR- 783 steps up and down for 1.5 hours and children were not allowed to be picked up. We chose the shorter option. The boys were bored but the "jewel" formations were interesting. Click here to learn about the history of Jewel Cave: History  and here to see more pictures of the cave: cave formations