The kids enjoyed their first rodeo and blended right in! We plan to get them involved with the 4H organization here (if you don't know what that is, we didn't either until a week ago). It does all types of country stuff (horses, agriculture, shooting...etc.) while building all the cool character stuff kids need. I think of it as a country version of boy/girl scouts.
This was our first "scouting" trip into the Black Hills and included a far off look at Mount Rushmore. We also saw wild deer, bison, and many prairie dogs. All I can say is...this place is going to be FUN! Also of note, the bottom picture is Trinity's first attempt at a picture with the "big camera" raw & unedited. I may actually get in some pictures now with her able to snap shots like that.
1st hike and it happened to be a birthday event for yours truly. As you can tell from these pictures, I don't think I can recall a better one. The character rich, old-fashioned, and delicious German restaurant located in the middle of the hills isn't even captured...or the homemade key lime pie made for dinner! A great reminder of the wonderful blessing I have in such awesome kids and a one-of-a-kind angel for my wife. Above is the natural cave we explored along with some first exposure to ice (below).
Caught these two back in the forest and shortly after, a snowball fight broke out...thankfully my telephoto lens permitted me to capture the action for a distance.
About 3 hours later in 30 degree weather with some occasional snow, we summited Little Devil's Tower. What a cool hike!! The rocks here a absolutely amazing and it's like searching for shells on a beach. Here though, instead of shells, you find fools gold, granite flakes, all types of quartz, and many others that we have yet to identify. Again...this place is going to be FUN!
Lastly, a sample of the local wildlife to include deer and the illusive snow angels. We also had some great news just today that we officially have a LID date for the adoption. This is a big deal in the adoption process and something Crystal will surely expand upon soon in that blog. For now, I have to get ready to learn another job and aircraft beginning tomorrow. God Bless.
