Summertime Joys and the Choo Choo

We have been having a fantastic summer this year and I can't get enough of the outdoors and making new memories with my kids. As a result this blog has been pushed to the wayside but I do have a lot of pictures and videos to share so I will try to catch you up eventually!


A couple weeks ago Jayden, Ava and I went to Rapid City for two weeks and DJ met us there for the last few days over the 4th of July. It was very memorable because not only was this Ava's first road trip at just 5 weeks old (it was a successful first trip!), it was also the first trip where Jayden was old enough to have a lot of fun with. I had so much fun taking him to all my favorite places in the Black Hills and he made it so very enjoyable. 


This video is from our experience on the 1880 train which is a ride on an old-fashioned train (like from the 1800s maybe??) through the hills between Hill City and Keystone (best known for Mt. Rushmore). It takes about 1 hour in each direction which in hindsight is a bit long when traveling with small children so next time we'll probably just take the one way trip. But given the heat of the day and the longevity of the ride both kids did awesome! Nana and Papa went along to help and I think we will always remember Jayden's first train ride and his absolute thrill every time the train whistle blew (which happened about 56 times during the ride, give or take)!