Mt. Rushmore

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed up the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota with Greg, Maleia and kiddos.  We wanted to take ONE LAST rendezvous together before they were permantely in Oregon.  We loaded up the vehicles...Greg, Matt, Morley, Brayden and Matthew in the Titus truck with King and Tink and my van with all the girls, plus Drew.  He (Drew) wasn't too thrilled with that set up but I think he was pretty tough and did a good job of not complaining too much.  It was so awesome to spend all the driving time with Maleia and get so much "girl talk" in while we headed north.

After potty stops, diaper restocking, soda refills and picture taking off the side of the road...we finally reached Custer State Park.  The country is SO beautiful up there!  I think it has been 4.5 years since our last visit, which is far too long I've decided.  We drove on the windy roads keeping our eyes wide open to see any buffalo, elk, moose, goats, antelope, prairie dogs...something.  As we turned one corner...BAM!  Just off  the side of the road on the passenger side was this HUGE buffalo.  It kind of freaked Maleia and I out.  We scrambled for the camera and hurried to take a picture before it charged our car.  Soon after we drove past an open field that had a large herd.  The baby ones were so cute!  I love the picture of the buffalo sticking his tongue out!

We remembered to buy a few bags of carrots for the donkeys.  There was this one lonely donkey on the road just slowing walking...probably all a plan to get the most food from the tourists!  We took the bait, pulled over and started feeding him.  A lot.  First, Maleia fed him the carrot...LOOK at those lips and teeth!  Then the kids had to have their turn...it was SO funny!  We opened the side door and he (the donkey) was so comfortable he nearly took a seat inside.  Ella was brave and tried to feed him a carrot too.  The Titus truck was jealous so Brayden and Matt had to get out and try to bride him to their car.  It worked and then Greg proceeded to "tune" the donkey by cranking on his really, REALLY long ears.  I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch it.  One of the funniest things was driving behind the Titus truck and watching the dogs.  King, who is a Great Dane would just sit like a human on a suitcase.  One time his back legs were off the ground while he sat and his front legs were supporting him.  SO hilarious to watch.

All of the kids were brave enough to pet the donkeys, especially Dani.  I wasn't surprised one bit!

Then...there was Mr. Cowboy Greg who just couldn't resist the opportunity to RIDE one of the donkeys.  When that didn't work...he enlisted Brayden to ride them.  First, one white one..frontward.  Then...on the grey one...backwards.  I was dying as I watched the thrill on Greg's face and the scared excitement on Brayden's.  Matthew had to have a turn too and he was so relaxed with his dad he never let go of his sucker!  I must say...we were offering the healthy snacks to those donkeys!  There was one lady feeding them Puffed Cheetos...and they loved them!

The kids were DYING to see the mountain with the presidents (Mt. Rushmore), and the adults were too.  We started off with some YUMMY ice cream and french fries (much cheaper than the "real" food they were trying to sell) and then we started with our Rushmore experience.  Poor little Matthew wasn't feeling well so Greg & Maleia took him to change a diaper and we had Dani...which was so perfect!  Her and Ella were HILARIOUS and INSEPERABLE the entire weekend!  There is a really good "trail" that takes you right under the mountain.  The kids were good sports to climb the rocks for this cool picture.

There were some really neat rocks around the trail and this HUGE one was kind of like a mini cave. 

And the "best" family photo of the day.  Can you tell the kids were tired of pictures?  Mr. Brayden was having a pretty rough time...though it isn't obvious in the picture...

Morley and Drew were trying to be cool and Ella was feeding of the youngest brother.  Perfect!  Hey, at least Matt and I are smiling!

I love this picture of Titus's!

And, our group picture.  It was tough to find someone that spoke english AND who could take a good picture!    I really, really like the picture.  For so many reasons.  Memories.

These two girls just melt my heart when they are together!  Two little cowgirls!

We stayed the night at a nice hotel in Rapid City.  We were so wiped that we just ordered pizza...delivered to our rooms.  After stuffing our faces and watching random shows and totally vegging...we headed back to our own rooms...without any swimming.  It would have been nice but the kids were SO tired it was best to just get them asleep so we all survived the next day! The adults intended to play games or something after the kids were asleep...but I'm pretty sure we crashed just as fast as the littles. 

Monday morning we slept in...as long as you can when you're sleeping with all your children in the same room.  IHOP was the first choice for our brunch...yes, brunch.  And IHOP was the first choice for a lot of other people that morning.  Then to Denny's, which wasn't too bad.  The adults were at one table (with Matthew) and the other five at their own table.  I'm sure the waiter was about to have a heart attack, but we did a good job of tuning them out keeping them under control.

We ventured to a few stores and then to the MALL!  HOORAY!  There were several western stores IN the mall that we had fun perusing.  Oh, how I wanted MANY pairs of awesome boots!  The boys picked out their favorite styles of boots and even put them on and the belts!  I missed the photo op...which I really regret.

Ella and Dani had a great time trying all of the toys and and even dressing up.  They were stuffing toys in the backpacks and hauling around toy rifles.  In the last store they really put on quite the show...

After a few more "errands" we headed back to Custer for our "last dinner" together.  The Titus truck left it up to the Haley van to make the location decision and after several failed attempts, we ended up at a Cowboy Cafe...or something close to that.  We had the back of the restaurant to ourselves (was that on purpose?) where we could talk and put off saying goodbyes.  We discussed our inevitable trip out to Oregon to visit...deciding it would be sooner rather than later.

We couldn't put it off any longer.  It was 8:00 pm and we had a 3.5 hour drive home.  Oh...holy moly...was it a cry fest!  Watching the our kids hug Dani, Matthew, Greg and Maleia, was so tender!  Maleia and I sobbed like little girls as we hugged and said goodbye.  I know we will see them again soon but that doesn't make saying goodbye any easier.  The first thing Ella said to Dani after they hadn't seen each other for 5 days was, "Dani, I missed you SO much"!  I know that is what they will say to each other when we see them in the spring!

It was an awesome weekend and I'll cherish the memories forever!

We love you, Titus family!