Black Hills Day 1

We decided to pack a TON into our very first day in South Dakota. We hit Bear Country (Gavin and I's favorite thing), Reptile Garden, drove to Deadwood, onto Sturgis, back to Deadwood and ate dinner. Finally home. It was a packed day, but I think the best overall.

Gavin and I loved loved loved Bear Country, he got to sit up front with us and drive through the park. We saw so many cool animals, but by far the bears were our fave. There were so many and they would just walk right up to the car, walk in front of the car, follow us, etc. Gavin really liked the brown bears. I liked the baby bears, they were normally running around, but by the time we got to them they were all sleeping. Very cute.

Reptile Garden was probably my least favorite thing to do. The name says it all, Reptile. I am not a fan and I swear they had the biggest snakes/pythons I have ever seen, or tried not to see. Makes me shudder just thinking about it now. But Greg and Gavin liked it. We did see the biggest crocodile (Maniac) and turtles I have ever seen. Those were kinda cool.

Our trip to Sturgis was uneventful, it was actually pretty blah. We were obviously there 6 weeks too early. Deadwood was cool, we did get stuck in a flash flood on our way to the car, it was a little crazy for about 10 minutes. I did blow a whooping $10 on a slot machine.

Overall our first day was wonderful! More to come!

The Reception Part 2

I love this photo, Gavin was fascinated with all the feathers and boas!

Here are some more of our favorite pics from the reception, and then I promise to get to our vacation in the Black Hills.

We finally got a picture of the Kelly/Kunz 4 generations! Granted Gavin was not really into it, he wanted to take his own photos!

On another note, Saturday morning while eating breakfast when I told my little monkey that his "special treat" was gone, that he ate it all. His response to me was "that is bullsh!t". I almost fell out of my chair. That is my boy. I am really proud, lets hope that he doesn't say it at school! He is no longer allowed to hang out with his Papa. We all agree that this is something he would say. :)

The Reception

Self-potrait

From Gavin's point of view. I think he ended up taking about 200 pictures in the span of an hour or so. At one point we looked to the edge of the dance floor and there was my little man standing next to his Papa, who is the king of photos, snapping pics together as the bride and groom took their first dance together. Adorable!

Crazy cousin Kurtis

Aunt Kris (the mother of the groom)

Aunt Jenny and Tom from across the table

Daddy

Cute cousin Krystal - Gavin has a little crush, their was A LOT of pics of her!

Big Papa (probably my favorite picture he took)

A candid of Daddy

The bride and groom's first dance

The Wedding

Greg's cousin got married almost 2 weeks ago in lovely Nebraska. Greg was the Best Man and Gavin was a very dashing Ring Bearer. It brought a tear to my eye, because I too was a Ring Bearer for my Mom and Dad's wedding. Yes, I know it should be a boy, but my sister was older and meaner and was adamant she was the ONLY flower girl. Anyway, he did wonderful! Was bribed a little with the promise of a Dum Dum (sucker) that Daddy had in his pocket. And the tux, ADORABLE! The wedding was beautiful and a good time was had by all. Here are some pics of it:

The Wedding Party

Gavin with the handsome groom- Lane

Daddy and Gavin looking dashing in their tuxes.

The lovely bride Dani at the bar they stopped on the way to the reception- this is the way to start off your wedding night! Yea baby!

The guys on the party bus!

I will post some pictures of the reception later this week, my son took about 200 pics at the reception. It was too cute to see him and his Papa side by side snapping pics. I have to admit some of the pics turned out adorable, a lot of personal snapshots, but very cute!

My Little Boy

Ahhh. My little boy started pre-school today. Well lets be honest, he was supposed to start June 1st before we left for our vacation. That didn't happen, both he and I had a meltdown or in my case, a PANIC ATTACK. But being on vacation with him for 8 days straight helped me let him go today. He had a hard time, but overall it went very well. Here are some pics from his big day.

Here are some pics from our first water day out at our house. We had a few pools and a new sprinkler toy that was cute to watch, but Gavin really wasn't into it. Oh well. I am sure as the weather heats up he will use it more!

I also wanted to post these few pics, my son has never been one to fall asleep anywhere but in bed or in his car seat. He is not the type of child that will fall asleep on the couch (unless he is sick), playing or being held. He was sick a few weeks ago and he began falling asleep on us! I loved it, he probably hadn't fallen asleep in my arms for over 2 years! How he remained asleep while his sister was kicking him for 30 minutes straight is beyond me! Poor kid. The bottom picture was with my Mom while we were eating dinner. He must have been tired to fall asleep with us talking and laughing.

I promise to blog our trip this week!

I'mmmmm Back!

We just returned late yesterday evening from our little family vacation to Nebraska for a wedding and then onto South Dakota for some real family time with just the three of us. I will blog next week the beautiful wedding of Greg's cousin that he was the best man in and our little guy was the ring bearer. They both did great. Along with our time in the Black Hills and how packed each day was. Some highlights; Bear Country, riding the train and seeing all the gorgeous sights. Some lows; Gavin still being sick, Reptile Gardens (for me anyway- I can't stand them!) and long drives in the car with a very pregnant person (me) and a very whiny boy (Gavin). More to come.....