Wild West part 2

Today is our 5th day in Wyoming and we are having a great time seeing all the sights, eating great food, relaxing, and visiting with my Dad (Brock and Ava call him PaPa). Anyway we have visited 4 states~Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota! We are trying to see as much as possible when we are here because we aren't sure when we are going to be here again. My Dad is selling his ranch and moving back to Illinois. He already sold his animals and yesterday he got an offer on his ranch! I haven't had Internet since Sunday! My Dad lives in the middle of nowhere and he doesn't have Internet access. So, I was so excited when we got to our hotel tonight and I got to check in on everyone's blogs !

Welcome to Wyoming! PaPa with Brock and Ava in downtown Cheyenne

Ava with a Cowboy in CheyenneAva says "Welcome to my PaPa's ranch"

Out here, everyone brands their animals so they can tell who owns the animals. There are only certain brands and when you go to get a brand you have to take what they have available. When my Dad went he was lucky enough to get lazy B over A which are his initials! He was so excited about getting such a great brand that he had it put on his ranch sign.

The highlight of Brock's trip~shooting the b b gun!We have taken pictures like this at monuments in the 4 states that we have visited. My Dad loves history and he loves taking pictures of us in front of monuments!On Tuesday, we visited Scott's Bluff which is in Nebraska and has beautiful views of the surrounding area.

This is one of the gorgeous views from Scott's Bluff

Brock and Ava loved looking through these binoculars

Brock was hoping to see a rattlesnake! We didn't see one but our trip isn't over yet!Today we traveled to South Dakota to visit Hot Springs


We visited the Mammoth Site which is the world's largest Mammoth research center and active paleontology site. It was so interesting to go on the tour and learn more about these interesting, ancient creatures. There are so many bones they only dig during the month of July and they spend the rest of the year cleaning and cataloging all the bones. So far they have found over 150 mammoths at this site! Ava and I with a Mammoth jaw bone
Ava with a Mammoth femur bonePaPa, Brock and Ava in the Mammoth exhibit hallAfter we checked in to our hotel we went to Evan's plunge water park. It's the largest spring water pool in the world! We had so much fun going on the waterslides and swimming. Here is a picture of us at Evan's plunge

After a long day of sightseeing we are exhausted! We got a Kid's suite at the Holiday Inn express and the kids are tucked in to their beds ready for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we are going to visit Mt. Rushmore