Mt. Rushmore!

We made it out to Mt. Rushmore this weekend, and what a great trip we had!

It's just 4 hours from where we live now, so we packed up Friday evening and headed out, spent all day Saturday exploring and then we were back by Saturday night. It was a quick trip, but worth it.

For some reason, I thought that Mt. Rushmore would be the mountain with a parking lot around it and maybe a few plaques to read, so I was surprised and impressed at what a big deal it all was--the whole area was beautiful. I loved how they had a the flags for each state on the walkway leading to the mountain.

I love this picture--the first picture of my girls standing together, holding hands. :)

They had a fabulous museum there as well. It was so interesting to learn the history behind carving the mountain and the presidents themselves. It's been too long since high school, and I've forgotten too much history!

And, like I said, the whole area was beautiful.

Of course, we did lots of other fun things on our trip, high on the list in the eyes of a 3-year-old was having lots of treats. :)

Poor Corinne still can't have milk, but she thought her rock candy was pretty awesome, so she didn't mind.

Then, we went to Bear Country USA which was pretty fun. It's a drive-through zoo where you get to see bears and wolves and bison and such.

We particularly liked this big 'ol grizzly bear. He would sit there and even wave to everyone. :) We got quite the hoot out of him.

But, this weekend was special. It was....

...CubFest! Yep, we got to see and even touch little bear cubs. Too fun. The girls loved it. (So did their mom.) I mean, have you ever touched a baby bear?!

They made the CubFest extra fun with bouncy castles and a train for the kids and even pony rides.

If you ask Ashtyn what her favorite part was, she varies between "Mt. Rushmore, of course" and "the pony ride!" She had the time of her life and was such a fun little girl to take everywhere. Little Corinne seemed to not understand why in the world she wasn't in her bed sleeping, so she spent a lot of the trip tired and cranky, but she had fun too. She even thought Mt. Rushmore was cool and would point to the faces on the mountain. :)

You should totally go to Mt. Rushmore someday--definetly a trip worth taking.