Nebraska/South Dakota Trip

Rhonda had to go to Nebraska for work so Brielle & I tagged along. We flew into Rapid City, SD and drove the hour and a half to Chadron, NE. Chadron is a small town but within very beautiful country and although there weren't many attractions, we did enjoy their gorgeous parks. The hotel staff was wonderful and Brielle made friends with everyone, since we were there for 2 weeks. So if you are ever in Chadron, we recommend the Best Western West Hills Inn.

There was a swimming pool in our hotel so while Rhonda was at work, Brielle & I spent some time swimming. Within the time we were there, her confidence boosted in the water and she can now float on her own, kick while floating, hold her breath, blow bubbles in the water, kick and paddle to try to swim, jump in from the side and pull herself out of the pool from the side, which is a really important skill for kids to learn. On day one she was a tad bit afraid but she quickly warmed up to the water (she's always been a water baby) and was excited to learn everything I was teaching her. I am so extremely proud of her! If we had a pool to use on a regular basis, I'm positive she would be swimming on her own in no time.

We also took time during the days to work on learning colors, numbers, shapes, tracing, drawing, coloring and painting. Again, I'm so proud of our girl for wanting to learn and enjoying learning. She's only just turned 2 so I have to be careful to not push her past her limits, meaning her attention span isn't very long. I think the two of us have found the balance and we will continue to learn at home.

After Rhonda was done work, we would find a park to explore and a place to eat. Again, the countryside was gorgeous so we often found ourselves driving out of town just to capture all of the beauty.

We were there over the July long weekend so we took 3 days and headed to the Mount Rushmore area in South Dakota since it was fairly close to Chadron. There is so much to do in the Mount Rushmore area and in 3 days, we couldn't even see it all. Since we have already been, we knew a few of the places we wanted to visit again. A few of the places we went to were Reptile Gardens, Bear Country USA, Mount Rushmore and we rode the 1880 Train from Keystone (where we stayed) to Hill City.

Our trip was awesome but our flight home was less than desirable. Brielle got sick with a runny nose and hacking cough the day before we left, so we already knew the flight was going to be interesting. But bad weather in Denver caused major delays and by the time we were finally supposed to fly out of Denver, they completely canceled our flight. By this time it was 10 pm, Brielle hadn't napped all day, we should have already landed in Saskatoon by that time, our pet sitter was already gone since we were supposed to be home, our new flight wasn't supposed to have us home until midnight the following day and we were without a place to stay. Rhonda booked a hotel on Expedia and when we got there, they didn't actually have a room for us. Expedia overbooked and we were stuck with a sick daughter, in a hotel lobby at 12:30 at night. The two guys at the front desk worked some magic and at 2 pm they finally found a room for us and settled us in with snacks, drinks, a bed for Brielle, a late check-out for the next day, toiletries and vouchers for free breakfast in the morning. They were our saviors that night and we can never thank them enough! If you need a hotel in Denver, we highly recommend the DoubleTree by Hilton ~ Stapleton North. We arrived home after midnight the following day and were so happy to be home.

It really was a nice trip with some hiccups on the way home. We are stronger people because of it and all we have done is walked away with the positives, because there were many.

At home at 1 am and so happy to see our puppies!!