As many of you know our trip this year did not end well.  But before everything crashed and burned (or just burned) there were some happy times and good memories made.  So, lets start there.

We left for our trip in the wee hours of the morning.  Wanting to take advantage of less traffic and sleeping kids.  We actually slept in the bus the night before so we wouldn’t have to move kids.  This worked great!  I think Zoe woke when the bus started but did fall back asleep once we got on the road.  Our first destination was Western Idaho to visit my brother and his family.  We had a wonderful visit and were able to see their new house and get a tour of the area. We even headed to a museum for some history!  This is a home school trip after all.

The boys working on their lake and bridges

Zoe and her cousin Rose reconnecting

Next on our list was Mt Rushmore.  So, we headed east.  Our first mechanical adventure happened in Billings, MT.  It turns out the bus did NOT appreciate the extreme heat we encountered so, we spent a day at a shop in Billings while they worked it out.  We took over their waiting room (thankful for the air-conditioning) and even did a bit of our school work.  Thankfully, we were back on the road by that evening ever eager to get to South Dakota.

Here are a few photos of our drive there.

Because we’re all a little crazy

Lots of cows and “mountains”

One of the best views we found!

So great we had to stop to take a family picture

Beautiful sunsets

Goodbye Montana!

Greg drove through the night and by sunrise we were driving through the last stretch of woods.

Cabin in the woods anyone?

Our campsite at Mt Rushmore was awesome.  Probably one of the best we have stayed it.  It was a KOA and they had so many things for the kids to do.  The kids and I were able to head outside to explore while Greg took a well deserved nap.  He was, after all, the one doing all the driving at this point.  We decided just to hang out at camp this first day and hit the ‘faces’ when we were all refreshed.

Here are the kids playing around after a long drive:

These jump pillows are one of the best things around! Absolutely loved it.