july 5

excerpts from my journal

Yesterday we went to Wind Cave. The drive out there, through Custer State Park, was gorgeous. I wish we could have spent more time there, but Sarah was getting car sick and we were all a little stir-crazy. I did put in my Tab Choir "God Bless America" - so on July 4, driving through a beautiful land, we listened to patriotic music. I felt very much like Fozzie Bear (Sarah even did the "Da da da Dum Dum").

In Custer State Park we saw deer, bison and prairie dogs - hundreds of prairie dogs. We learned at Wind Cave that prairie dogs are key to the ecosystem. The Wind Cave Jr. Ranger program had a lot of non-cave stuff in it. It reminded me a lot of Yellowstone.

Sarah and Ben got their picture taken by the Ranger when they got their badges - it will be posted on the nps.gov website. I told them "Joshua will be jealous and Ella will be excited." I was right! Yea! I do know my children - except apparently Ben doesn't like cherry. When did that happen?

Our camping neighbors/cousins told us about this chuckwagon that we should try - so we did. It's called Circle B and there was so much to it. Activities for everyone. Ella got a pony ride (on Buckshot) Joshua and Ben panned for gold and came away with a bunch of iron pyrite (they didn't care). David got to have a chat with a champion woodcarver, his name is Doug Ladd, and his work was displayed at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. later he recognized me in the food line and told me I'd have to do dishes *grin*. We had our choice of chicken, beef or buffalo (or combinations of the three) along with a baked potato, cowboy beans, applesauce a biscuit and gingercake. (Josh ordered a hot dog) there was plenty of lemonade and water (no coffee for us, thank you!) We all say at big, wooden tables, cafeteria style. After dinner there was cowboy music - the family who owned the chuckwagon performed, and it was quite a treat. Sarah bought a cd, I'm really glad, and we all had a great time. Thank you, Bransons!

We took the kids to Custer to watch fireworks. It was, after all, the fourth of July. The kids were very hyper. We ended up playing 'duck, duck, goose' in the park. We laughed and laughed - it was my favorite part of the day. The kids got really creative about their ducks - "brave duck" "cute duck" "skinny mommy duck" (that was nice *grin*) "old fat duck" (David did laugh) and it went on and on. The fireworks were okay, but the evening was brilliant.