Medora - Explored it. Adored it.

We were able to go on a quick but great little vacation (or the kids got a kick out of calling it a holiday as they do in some countries) here.  We went to Medora, North Dakota, which is about 3 hours from where we live.  We read a book about North Dakota and looked out the window lots on the way there.  The kids were happy over how close it was.  We got there and drove through the town a little.  What a cute little place! There are historic homes and buildings, and a sweet little main street with shops and everything is well taken care of.  We first played at the Children's Park and had a picnic.  Our kids could be there all day!  Then we headed over to Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  We stopped off at the Visitor Center to get an overview and pick up the Junior Ranger guides.  Then we headed out into the park.  We saw beautiful badlands and neat rock formations, a beautiful horizon and sky, plants and animals.  There were so many prairie dogs and their towns all over!  We stopped on the side of the road to watch them several times.  At one point, a prairie dog it seemed patted another one on the head with its hands and then it looked as if these two kissed.  As we researched it a bit, we found out that prairie dogs in the same families are very affectionate and will do this. Aww, sweet!  The kids got a kick out of their behaviors and loved making comments about them.  We drove some more and then got out to explore a little area where a massive herd of bison lived.  Wow!  I've never seen so many in one place before.  There were lots of little buffalo calves, too and they were fun to see.  More driving through the park to see the beautiful scenery, then we got out and did a little hike.  The kids loved the rocks we got to climb on and reading the graffiti on them.  It was so beautiful to see all around us!  We finished driving through the rest of the park, and the kids worked on their ranger books, then we headed to Dickinson for the night.  We had some shopping to do - Menards and Walmart, then it was Wendy's for dinner.  We ran into some missionaries and had to talk to them, so that was exciting for us and them.  Finally, we checked into the hotel and went swimming.  They had a great little water park there with slides, an obstacle course, and some water features.  The kids (except Cov who is struggling with getting in the water this summer) really had a blast and we were in there longer than anyone else.  We all showered and then crashed pretty quick that night!

Saturday, we woke up when we woke up (I love vacations like that), went to breakfast at the hotel, then were off to head back to Medora.  We started the day with a tour of the Maltese Cross cabin, where Teddy Roosevelt once lived.  It was super interesting!  Then the kids turned in their booklets and were sworn in as Junior Rangers and got their badges.  Then it was over to the Family Fun Center, which featured "the world's largest inflatable water slide", water wars, , a water balloon fight sling shots, a rock climbing wall, trampoline bungee jump, and a sand box.  Super fun for the kids and for us watching them!  They couldn't get off the slide fast enough, they'd get back up and run back to do it again. Emma and Cal enjoyed several rounds of the water balloon fights and getting each other wet!  After hours of fun there, we cleaned up and hit the downtown area of Medora.  We got our pressed penny, looked through some of the cute little shops.  The toy shop was a hit, though we didn't buy anything.  And we went to the candy shop where we got to see them making taffy start to finish, so that was cool and got some taffy and suckers for the ride home.  After a few more stops, we stopped for ice cream to cool down at Medora Depot.  Fun little shop and the ice cream was yummy!  We went walking through the town a little more after that.  We played at the shooting gallery, which is always a favorite of Dave and the kids were getting pretty good, too!  Cov didn't want to shoot, but loved the animations when you'd hit something.  We also went to a few more stores.  At one, they had a bunch of rocking chairs on their porch.  We learned at the Maltese Cross cabin that Roosevelt would be so excited to discuss certain topics that he'd rock around the room on his chair.  Cal started pretending to do that and said "Hey guys!  I'm Teddy Roosevelt!" and proceeded to jabber excitedly and rock the chair around the patio.  Funny kid!  You don't think they really pay attention sometimes, but they do!  We drove out to the golf course and by some trails and the chimney park since we had a little more time to kill and some of the kids were sleeping.  Then the dinner bell rang and we went to the pitchfork steak fondue dinner.  They deep fry the stakes on big pitchforks, it was fun to watch.  That was a ton of meat and they served 800 the night we were there!  The food was decent, but way pricey.  Finally, it was show time!  We went to the Burning Hills amphitheater for the Medora Musical.  It was so much fun!  The western theme and musicians, singers & dancers, the jugglers (the kid's favorite, they keep talking about it), little skit parts were all a delight!  The theme was Everyday Heroes and it was inspiring.  They emphasized how everyone can be hero who can help.  We left feeling good!  We drove back to Glendive, MT for the night and had a quick stay at a hotel there.

In the morning, we went to our Stake Conference.  It was a good meeting that brought me lots of strength which came from the speakers through the spirit!  After that, we got back in the car, ate our lunch out of the cooler and enjoyed our candy we got, talked about our fun time and read some books.  It was a little gem or a place with my very own gems!  We explored and adored Medora!