Preparing for Chrismas

So yeah, we have lost our touch with updating this thing. I'd like to say we have been too busy to do it but I can't. Don't get me wrong, we have been busy, just not enough for me to say we have been TOO busy to blog. I guess it has just gotten easier to say "There is football on" or "There are DVR shows to watch". Oh well, we'll get back on track eventually. ANYHOO....

So Christmas is well on it's way. Much closer than I had expected as a matter of fact. My work was asking when I was going to submit my leave and I thought to myself, "what are they talking about, I have PLENTY of time!" Not so much. Anyway, we needed to get Halsted Family 4.0 ready for the holidays! What does that mean? Well, shopping and photos mainly, so we had to get on that. So last weekend, we got some holiday garb and gussied ourselves up and went off to the mall to have some pics done. Preston also got a chance to sit on Santa's lap for the second time which went over better than I had expected. Not great as he did not enjoy sitting on the strange man but we were at least able to get in a couple shots before he started pleading for freedom.

This weekend we put our focus on finishing up our holiday shopping and getting our Christmas cards out (better late than never). Karl bravely took Pres out to shop on Sat by herself while I stayed home to tackle the office. This worked out well becasue it got some shopping done while entertaining Pres and letting me set things up without our little "helper" poking around. The only problem was the fact that our tropical weather was making it hard for Karl and Pres to get around! Karley could barely get from the car to the store without freezing. The wind was not howling for a change but even a slight breeze at -10deg is a killer! Needless to say the shopping was cut a little short but the mission was still accomplished. The office is semi set up. I am typing this on our desktop but our book cases are still bare. All those books are just too intimidating!!

Throughout the last couple weeks we have recieved a few early Christmas presents so a big "THANKS!!" to all that have sent stuff. Pres has been especially excited for all the shipping boxes that things have come in. You'll have to check out the pics to see him enjoying them. We figured since we will be heading to Spokane for Christmas it was best that we let Preston have his loot now so I hope you all don't mind. Well I hope everyone's holidays are shaping up nicely. We are VERY excited to see many of you soon. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather holds long enough here, in Denver and Spokane so we can make our flights! After that it can go back to going crazy. We're not going to complain if we get stuck in Spokane. If we are not going to see you, have a happy holiday season and we hope to hear from you soon!!

Take care!!
-Regan, Karley and "Artic Adventurer" Preston

Long time no post

When we last left our heroes...

It has been a bit so here is a catch up. Not a lot of details but a little something. The lull in the posts was due to the move. We decided on a Wednesday that we would move that Friday! There was an upgrade available on base so we took it. Still 3 bed, 3 bath but it is a better location and loads more room. We live in an area where we are among the youngest and there are tons of kids out playing. Thrilled does not describe it. Regan and Derek got us moved in a matter of days, spending about 6 hours each day. Impressive considering the amount they moved. Derek is what we call motivated. He would RUN to the truck to get another load. How could Regan not stay amped??!! Anyway in order to stay out of their hair Karl, Stacey and the kiddos did some shopping and Bear Country! BTW, Bear country will not be mentioned for a while since they are closed for the season :( So we are moved but not entirely unpacked or organized. Decorating and closet arranging are high on the list of to-dos.

For Thanksgiving we headed down to Southern California for a long weekend with the Borellas. Preston traveled well and we are glad for it. Not sure he will ever get used to sleeping in a pack-n-play but not the biggest problem as he sleeps with us just fine. While there we got to meet Baby Bella and check on her parents (Bella is a gorgeous baby),lunch and shopping with Capps & Veronica, had some sushi with Jan & Nathan, hung out with the fam and Preston got to bond with his cousin Christopher. It was a great trip. Unfortunate that we took so few pictures...sorry Mandi! While down there we also celebrated Karl's 32nd birthday and our 10 year anniversary. We had some high hopes for celebration festivities but the LA Zoo and singing Sushi guys made do. As usual it was much too short and we miss everyone already.

This was our first weekend that did not require us to be anywhere. We took advantage by hanging out and catching up with TIVO and football. Regan went to a Rapid City Rush game Friday night (local hockey team with a donkey mascot), Karl got drinks with the work cronies. On Sunday we wrapped up the weekend with a trip on the 1880 Holiday Express Train. A short train ride with Santa, Christmas Carols, hot chocolate & cookies. The Ingles crammed in some seats with us and we made the best of it. The kiddos were not too keen on Santa but it did seem like they had a good time. We grabbed some dinner and now we are getting ready for the work week.

18 shopping days left and 17 days till we are in Spokane. Hope everyone is doing well.

xoxo
Reg,Karl & the Preston-ator

And it's Winter

So here we are in Nov and Winter has decided to show up in grand fashion. We have been here less than a year and already we have been through our second blizzard. This one was worse than the first as it wasn't nice and warm directly after the storm so the snow has stuck around much longer. We were stuck in the house for 3 days simply because they could not plow through all the drifts. I personally think that the plow teams here are very poor and led to us being stuck for as long as we were. I mean, this is South Dakota, it's not like this hasn't happened before. They were even warning us about it days ahead of time. You would think they would be experts at digging out of these storms! There seemed to be less than 4 "plows" actually clearing the streets. Really frustrating but that is enough about that. We ended up walking to the shopette to get food and diapers as we were running out. Check out the pics to see some of the drifts that blocked our path. Near the Ingle's house there is a car that is completely covered and ended up getting beat up by the plow. Sucks to be them. We were really lucky to not be buried nearly as bad as some of the folks on base. Some are still digging out! We went a little crazy waiting to be freed from the snow. Hard to be stuck in the house for days on end. Pres was ready to get out. The storm had extended our weekend to 4 days which was nice but would have been better if we could have gotten out to enjoy it!

ANYHOO, once we were finally freed we headed in to town for Preston's first haircut!! Karley had decided his hair was out of control and wore Regan down until he finally let the first cut happen. It went really well! Pres stayed very calm through the whole ordeal. Mind you he did not sit still so thank goodness the stylist was patient! Especially when she brought out the clippers! Pres really wanted to see what she was doing! All in all, it went very well and we are pleased with the outcome. He looks like a clean cut little boy now!

After the cut we met up with the Ingles to do some much needed grocery shopping. Pres and 'Kenz got a kick out of using the shopping cart with steering wheels! They just thought they were the bee's knees. Today was spent looking for snow clothes for the kids and getting embarrassed on the Fantasy Football field.

Another fun experience for us here in SoDak. Not something we would like to get used to but kinda neat to see. Feel free to stop in if you would like check it out!
Hope all is well!

-Regan, Karley, and Preston the Blizzard Master

October turns to November

Anyone else thinking this year is racing by way too quickly? I shouldn't be shocked that we are already into November but here we are. A gift of daylight savings, some leftover candy and cool nights are all that we have to show for it!

Been a packed couple of weeks, sorry for the delay in updating this sucker. Last weekend the Fam had a long weekend to get Pres in for a little surgery. We had to have his circ corrected. That was an experience. Going into it we were freaked out as he would be under a general anesthetic and then would wake to strangers and a very empty belly. The hunger was the least of our worries as he was a champ through it all. Waking up and getting to the hospital at 6 was harder on us parents. Pres got through it with a lot of flirting and smiles. We were taken to Pre-Op and Pres was given a dose of versed to knock him out, this made the IV and the rest easier. The versed gave us a glimpse of Pres in 20 years. He was hilarious...a giggly sleepy little guy. They then took him away for an hour and a half. We were warned that when he returned he would be fighting mad! The gas they gave him has that side effect but it the only gas used on kiddos. We heard him hollering before we saw him. He then was mad and uncomfortable till we got him in the car and he conked out. Once home he slept for an additional 3 hours and then woke up same ol' Preston. As usual he did fantastic, we are relieved to have that behind us. 15 stitches later and he is as good as new. He is healed and back to normal baths.

After the surgery we took it easy for the most part. We did participate in a 5k fun run. Reg & Pres took 2nd overall...you know Pres did all the work! We had some slow days recouping and getting Pres off Pain meds which included a visit to Bear Country. The new attraction there was cougar kittens...so dang cute! The week was business as usual leading up into Halloween! Pres got to wear PJs to daycare for the holiday and that night we took to the streets to show him the parade of costumes. We didn't take him trick or treating as he is not into candy yet but it was fun to get him out and see all the folks out and about. Reg made sure to man home base so no one missed out on the Halsted candy offerings (this also was bonus for Derek and Reg to get in some wii).

This weekend held another trip to Bear Country, bagels, some shopping, bike ride, a trip to the Canyon Lake Park and an adults night out! The Ingles, Reg and I got to take advantage of a night on the town. One of Mckenzey and Pres's teachers agreed to babysit while we went to dinner, drinks and coffee (Hope you are a saint!!). It was so nice. We mostly talked of the kids but just being out was good for us all. Not to mention having peace of mind as far as the kids were concerned made it so enjoyable.

That's really it. We put up the scans of Pres's 1yr shots, Pics of the recent adventures and a little video. We are having a good fall and look forward to the winter. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

xoxo
R,K & P

October Days

So here we are, well into October. Preston and Regan's birthdays have come and gone and November and the start of the holiday season is just around the corner. Around these parts that pretty much means that it's time to close up shop for the winter. Our action packed weekends are going to be much harder to create as almost all the local attractions close their doors, yes even Bear Country!
It has been a little bit since we updated this and for that we apologise. We do have a few new pics and vids to share and I'll try to fill you in on what's been happening around our neck of the woods.
Since it is that time of year, we decided we needed some pumpkins to put out on the doorstep so we made a trip out to a local pumpkin patch to hand pick some. We headed out with some friends and were pleasantly surprised with what we found. There was a great selection and it was fun tromping through the fields with the kids.
We held a little party for Preston to celebrate his birthday since Karley's parents were in town. We also had some friends over with their kids to party it up with us. It was fun to see Pres dig in to some more cake and he was a lot less tentative this time so there was a little bit more of a mess to clean up this time. Karley's dad hung out with us for the weekend but then had to head back out to Texas for work. Her Mom however was able to stay with us for the week and it was really nice having her around. Regan's birthday fell in the week while she was around and she gave us an awesome gift........a night out at the movies just the two of us! It was the first time we had been to the movies since before Preston was born so it was quite nice. Don't think we cared what we saw, just loved being out. Thank you again Carol!!
Since Karley's Mom was in town we decided to take her to our local hang out, you guessed it, Bear Country! It ended up being quite a visit as the animals were all acting a little spooky. The wolves were running around in packs, which is something we have not seen yet. The Artic wolves were howling and that was really cool to hear. The craziest thing to happen though was in the bear area. We were watching a bear walk close to the car when Carol commented on it's well groomed coat. Apparently the bear heard this and walked up to the car and started sniffing the fender. I can only assume that he liked what he smelled, either that or was upset at the comment because to our surprise he bit the car. Yes, you read that right, he bit the car. He left a couple good bite marks in the fender to commemorate the occasion. I guess it only fits that we have a car that is signed by Bear Country since we go there so often!
So, Preston has made some progress with his walking. He is gaining confidence and loves to walk back and forth between Mom and Dad. We have been extending the distance between us and sometimes adding a turn just to keep him on his toes.
Well, I think that is all I have for now. Check out the pics and vids! Hope everyone is doing good. See ya!

-Regan, Karley and our little man Preston.

Happy Fall Y'all

Getting to be that time of year. Leaves are falling and there is that chill in the air. What is strange is there is still a lot of sun. We would expect a little more grey or overcast skies but we just get wind and sun. Anyhow we are pulling out long sleeves and putting on jackets. Pres will start layering and we won't be wearing flops or sandals out. Sigh...

Instead of pointing out the obvious and cluing you in on the changing seasons how about I give you the Sodak low-down?

The week has been good...we continue to celebrate Pres's birthday. He has been opening gifts as they arrive and I can't see that he minds that we stretch out the party. He loves all the new toys, bibs, clothes...thanks for the loot, we really appreciate it. His party is Saturday the 11th at 3pm to coincide with Karley's parents being in town for a visit. If you are in the area you are more than welcome to pop in!

We bowled on Friday night and thanks to handicaps we did really well. The group is pretty fun and there are lots of kiddos so good times all around. Saturday we hung out with some friends for the day for some shopping, dining and then a little BEAR COUNTRY! It was fun and we were relieved that BC lived up to the hype. Next weekend we get to drag the Borella's there...fun! Sunday brought football and chores (garage clean up!!). Good weekend overall. Trying to get outdoors while we can. Winter is gonna be here in a hurry and the cabin fever is going to be horrendous. Especially since Preston is almost a full fledged walker! He pulled off about 20 steps in a lap around the coffee table. Not sure if he realized he wasn't holding on to anything but he is doing great! Everyday a little further.

As I type Reg is putting up pics so there should be a little something to look at. We have Thanksgiving in CA and then Christmas in WA to look towards. January could hold a trip to the south. We will keep you posted.

xoxox

Time....it goes too fast.

Can you believe it? Our little boy has already been alive for a year!! Where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday were sitting in the hospital, on a rainy and windy day, staring at our new little treasure. He has come so far in that little time. So hard to believe. Something else to ponder is that Karley and I have been together for 14 years as of the end of Sept! Our first date was Sept 29th 1994 back in Helena, MT. Again, where does the time go?
So, here we are, 1yr into Preston's life and so much is going on. Of course Preston got a year older and our house got a little more cluttered with various new toys for him to bang on and spread about. We had a couple friends over with their daughter Mackenzie who is a few months older than Pres and will be in his daycare class. Speaking of that, Pres will be transitioning to a new classroom for 1yr and older kids so we are a little nervous to see how that pans out. So far he has been spending a little time in the new class and having no trouble at all. We are excited to have him amongst older kids to learn but very sad to see him leave the class he was in as we LOVED his teachers. Could not have any better people watching him. Anyway, we made a cake for Pres to destroy but he ended up just kinda poking at it and nibbling here and there. Not as exciting as we hoped but it made the clean up that much easier.
We have also been entertained with Pres' adventures into WALKING!! He is very close to taking off on his own. He has put up to about 8 steps together at one time but sticks mainly to 2-3 then falling over. He is definitely getting the hang of balance and is gaining confidence. He will stand up holding on to the coffee table and then just let go and step towards us without even batting an eye. Sometimes it scares us how this little guy will just throw fear off to the side and go! He has also taken to climbing on things for no apparent reason other than just to get on top. One of his new toys is a little learning table that plays sounds and music. He likes to get on top and just sit there on all fours, looking around. Freaks us out because we won't see him climbing until he is on top. Amazingly enough he has not taken a spill off of it yet.
Over the last weekend, we took Preston to have his one year photos taken. Be on the lookout for those as we should have them back any day now. We had some taken with him in his Halloween costume that are priceless. I don't want to spoil them so you will have to check them out when we get them. We also made a trip up to Dinosaur Park. It's a park up on a hill overlooking Rapid City with large sculptures of dinosaurs. You may have seen it from a distance in some of our previous photos. We decided it was time to check it out up close. Sadly, we did not make it to Bear Country this week. Not sure why, just didn't happen. I apologize to all that were waiting for their weekly dose of bear.
So there we have it, Preston's 1st Birthday seemed like so far away and now it is already in the past. Well, technically, as I write this, I still have about an hour until is ACTUAL Birth moment but you get the picture. Hope all is well with everyone! We hope to hear from you soon!

-Regan, Karley, and 'Big Boy' Preston

Something old and something new

Short and sweet as no time to write a whole lot. We still owe some So. Carolina narrative but for now just know it was great to see Traci & Tucker, Dorios and meet Paige, fun Halsted wedding, really missing Ron & Thanne, Sean Sarah & twins...took for granted living so close to them for such a long time.

Anyway the weekend was full. Started a bowling league Friday night with some people from Regan's work. Neither are us are going varsity anytime soon but it is a good time. Loads of kids there so Pres also enjoyed it. Saturday we watched some football, lots of shopping and Bear Country!! Bear Country closes Oct 1 so we have to get in our visits while we can. Sunday was out to breakfast than on to do some hiking. We went to Custer State Park where there are numerous hiking trails. We chose to go to Harney Peak as we have heard the hike and the view are well worth it. It is a moderately strenuous 6+ miles round trip from Sylvan Lake to the Lookout. Really fun and we are a bit sore today. The pictures show the scene better than I can describe. Preston did fantastic and Regan was great to carry him the whole time!

Good weekend...missing friends and family but will get a chance to catch up come the holidays. For now we are counting down to Preston's 1 year birthday! It has really flown by and we still feel as blessed as ever to have such a cool kiddo.

xoxo

Sweet Caroline-a

Have lots to chat about but too late to blog tonight. Will tackle it tomorrow. In the meantime check out the pictures of our trip.

xoxo
Reg Karl & been-to-10 states-before-I-turn-1-Pres

Wy-Ohhhhhh-ming

So, its that time of year. It seems that, just like that, summer has packed it's things and headed out of town and fall is unpacking the boxes and getting situated. We were just talking last week of near 100 deg days so you wouldn't think packing clothes for a weekend out of town would be difficult. But if you check out the pictures you'll see that we are not dressed for 100 deg. Rain and cool temps have hit the plains. Seems like the summer just started but I would guess that it is very near being over for us.
This weekend, Karley's parents went on vacation and headed to Yellowstone. Since that is somewhat close to us (at least a lot closer than Los Angeles) we thought it would be a good opportunity for a visit. So we planned a rendezvous in Sheridan, WY which is about halfway between us and Yellowstone. We figured it would not be the most adventure packed weekend as Sheridan is not the most exciting place to visit but at least we could visit with the Parents and they can see little Preston.
Bob and Carol got to Sheridan first and checked it out so when we got there, they gave us the tour.....which lasted 10 min. So, to find some adventure, we headed north to Montana to check out the Custer battlefield. The weather was not the best but it was good enough to walk around the grounds and learn about Custer's last stand. It was neat to learn that there was more to it than Custer just getting massacred by some Native Americans. There was some of his unit that survived at a different location and of course you got to see the Native American perspective. All in all, we pretty much decided that when Custer and his troops came over the bluff and saw the encampment (of thousands and thousands of Native Americans) he and his few hundred men should have turned around and radioed for back-up.
The visit with the Parents was too short and it seemed like in no time, we were back on the road and heading back to good 'ol Rapid city. It was nice to see them but we would have liked for it to have been longer. Preston was amazing for the whole weekend, taking the change to his schedule and hours of driving in stride. The drive back was a piece of cake as he slept almost the entire way! So here we are, back 'home' and ready to face the short week. A couple of days of work then we are off again to South Carolina! Hopefully the storms keep their distance and don't interfere with our trip!
Hope all is well with everyone. Sorry, no videos this week but enjoy the pics. Talk to you soon if we don't see you next week!

-Regan, Karley and Preston, battlefield historians.

Labor Day Excitement?

So here we are at another weekend, and this one is supposed to be a busy one. Regan and Pres were awarded a 4 day weekend but Karl had to suffer with only a 3 dayer. You would think that we had some big plans but that was not the case. I'm guessing it was the trip to SC coming up that muffled this holiday weekend but none the less this week will be a tamer blog. We spent most of the weekend at the house or in the city. We had aspired to head into the hills on Monday for some hiking but the weather seems to be thinking it's fall already and wasn't very conducive for outdoor adventures. It was however the start of College football so part of the weekend spent in front of the tube (if you can say that these days!) enjoying the games. Karl treated Regan to the extended sports package for cable and amazingly enough we were able to cheer on the Cougs when they played in Seattle! Not the most enjoyable game to witness but the fact that we could see it was good enough. We are excited for the NFL to kickoff next weekend and Karl is again participating in 3 different Fantasy Football leagues! Who's the football fan in this house? We hopped on the bikes a couple times one of which we were joined by some local friends and their daughter who is one of Pres' classmates from daycare. That day ended up being a little crazy as it was near 100 deg and very windy. Kinda like riding your bike with a giant hairdryer blowing! Throw in the typical trip to the mall and of course a stop at Bear Country and that pretty much wraps up the weekend! A Labor Day weekend for the ages. There are still some good pics to see even if most of the action was at home so be sure to check out the photos page. Hope all is well with everyone and we hope to hear from if not see you soon!

-Regan, Karley, and Preston

Grrr SSSSSS E-I-E-I-O...and another Grrr

Crazy week as we had the spider slaying, Karley home with rumbly belly on Monday and Pres home for the rest of the week. Try as we might we could not get his belly to pass the daycare test. Any sign of ick and he is sent home. Karl & Reg tag teamed the parenting by splitting up the days home. Pres was a trooper and was just fine to stay home and play. He went on a couple of walks and ate loads of bananas. We made it through the week, tackled some wicked diaper rash and still telling the story of giant spider duo.

The weekend was sort of abbreviated. Saturday we went to bagels as per the usual. Pres was napping so we squeezed in a drive through of Bear Country and remarkably Pres woke up so we had to walk through the the rest. After that we made our way back to Reptile Gardens. Although we haven't done most anything more than once (Bear Country does not count!!) we returned to Reptile Gardens as we went before most of the attractions had opened up. We found that there was an actual garden there, the grounds are very pretty and that most things made there way outdoors for shows or alternate sunny paddocks. The huge turtles we still huge and we found out they are as old as 127!! The snakes were still impressive as were the prairie dogs. The croc/gator/cayman show was also pretty neat. Overall a good experience and glad we made it back. We wrapped up Saturday with a trip to Cabela's (loads of stuffed/mounted animals in lifelike poses...ironic?) and then Karl wasted enough time to get out of cleaning the garage. Really if there were awards for avoidance of unfun tasks Karl would take the gold!

Sunday was a little odd as Regan had to work most of the day. Karl & Pres passed the time at the mall and ..um...yep you guessed it, more Bear Country. At this point she should be embarrassed but she can't help herself. Anyway after some shopping and errands the family all met up and headed to Old McDonalds Farm. This turned out to be much cooler than expected. A petting zoo with all sorts of neat things to touch and see. Pig races, bottle feeding calves, incubated chicks, huge Highland Bull things, ducks with afros, sheep, cute baby goats and big old goats that hung out on a bridge. Fun and Preston really wanted to see and touch most things. Lots of hand washing and giggles later we headed out to a new Mexican restaurant...A+! Finally a stop at the market and then home to take part in the draft. So fun and we are looking forward to the football season.

Hope you guys had a great weekend and got more accomplished than we did. Regan has indicated that the garage is main priority this next weekend...Labor Day indeed!

xoxo

Not-so-bonus Blog

Just a quick little update on the Monster situation. (if you don't know about the monster situation then make sure to read the previous blog first)

This morning Karley stayed home from work as she woke up with a case of the I-ate-something-grosses. All was going fine until she glanced out the back door to check and see if the monster had set up its own lawn furniture on its porch. Unfortunately there was another spider!! Bigger than the first and looking totally different.

At this point you need to imagine freaking out, going Ape, shaking spine, hebbie jeebies, cold sweat and the need to vomit or pass out. I want to say this is an exaggeration but seriously this house has a firm grasp of "the phobia". We are both babies of the family which means in our previous lives there was a long line of folks ready to kill a creepy crawlys for us. Okay not a long line but I had my mom and Regan usually took matters into his own hands relying on brute force, fire and battle cries. Needless to say the eradicating of XXLarge pests is not something taken lightly.

After taking some photos I got in contact with the base entomologists. Sgt Owens talked me down and then assured me that the spiders are more scared of me then I am of it. I call BS!!! I emailed my photos and he declared it was a simple wolf spider. Hard to kill as they need to be directly sprayed or captured. He recommended sticky traps. As they are not poisonous they were not gonna come out and get it for me....even though I did assure him that my spider had biceps and must be working out. He thought it was a good idea for Kidd the cat to take care of it. Kidd is a lover not a fighter and no way I wanted to ref that fight. Who would unpin Kidd...not me!!

So anyway I called Regan and gave him the info and he told me he had a plan. Sure enough he came home and prepared for battle. Got out his shop vac, bleach, bic lighter and duct tape. His plan was to vacuum the nook the spiders were living in and drown them in bleach if all went well. Turns out it went more than well. He flipped the switch. Felt a mighty thump along the hose as something was pulled from its dwelling and the battle was over. Then the psyching himself up came. He was certain that they were alive and trying to get out of the shop vac. Once he opened it he saw the force of the suction roller coaster slamming the tan spider about killed him! On top of that we saw that there were "parts" of the black spider around the bottom of the bucket. We think there must have been a battle royale last night and tan spider took down black spider. Frankly how it all shook out is not as important as the TWO beasts being dead! PHEW and huge sigh of relief!

Anyhow we are coming down from the adrenaline rush that goes with killing something a fraction of your size. See the pics for our documentation.

p.s. RIP spiders, I know you are Gods creatures and all but really I wouldn't live with a polar bear or shark either.

Bear, Fair, Fresh Air and a Scare

More of the same for the week...work, daycare, weeknight rumbling (the fam on the floor), 9am wake ups by Pres, some video conferencing, gaming and late nights keeping up with the Olympics. We have been pleased with coverage just the timezone thing is a killer. Pleased with Swimming although Torres swiping a gold would have been cool. What is going on with our runners?? Well stay tuned... we still have another week!

The Central States Fair started this week with a parade and there will be concerts, rodeos and demolition derby in the coming week. We settled for partaking in the parade and visiting the fair. The parade was the worst parade in the history of parades and I have seen some bad ones. Any of you that recall the Frontiers Day Parade I will tell you this one would have been put to shame. See the pics but it is sad. Preston was amused and it was cool to be part of the community but there was no best in show.

We needed to kill some time in between the parade and the fair so we had to find something to do. The only thing I could come up with was bagels and Bear Country...I know, very original! Bears did not disappoint. Even added to the usual fun when a kid let his Croc fall into the bobcat enclosure. Those bobcats pounced on it within seconds...played with it till the keepers took it away. No damage but some chew marks so a pretty cool souvenir. I am kicking my shoe in for sure next time!!

Headed to the fair to see the animals, booths, craft stuff and the typical fair attractions. Not much to talk about besides getting to pet a buffalo and seeing some pretty cool whittlers. The pics explain it better than I could.

Sunday took us to Hill City to ride the Mickelson Trail (about 10 miles) and then grabbed some decent Mexican food. We made our way home to catch up on some laundry and make a few phone calls.

While Karl is on the phone she usually can't sit still so she starts doing laps around the house. While talking with Sean she ended up in the kitchen and was gazing out the window when she noticed a huge spider sunning it self on the deck. Lots of screaming, heebie jeebies and a failed attempt at poking it with a yard stick led the spider back to its nook in the wall of the house. Regan is currently plotting its demise, we will keep you updated. We added pics of the monster...ugh even writing about it is creeping me out!

Next weeks blog may be delayed since it is fantasy football draft!! Until next week...Go USA!!
xoxo
Halsted Von Trap

Are you ready for some football...

Round the house there has been the buzz of the upcoming football season. Fantasy League draft is just around the corner, the anticipation of college game day getting Reg up at 7am on Saturdays and of course we have preseason games. Regan planned a quick trip for the fam to go to Minneapolis to catch a preseason game...and thank goodness it was the Seahawks!! (although 33% of us would have preferred the 49ers!)

We headed out Thursday night, stayed the night in Brandon, SD (population 4.5) and then pressed on to MN Friday morning. In time to get ourselves settled in the hotel, grab some grub, hit B&N for a local map and then we were off to the game! We took advantage of the train system to get us to and from the stadium, packed but we found seats and it was a nice way to not have to worry about parking or navigation.

The game was great. Seahawks creamed Vikings (34-17), good turnout and lots of people-watching. Pres enjoyed the clapping although the loud initially put him off. He came around though, got comfortable and then promptly fell asleep...during the game!! We all really enjoyed it. Didn't know how much of the game Pres would bear, but he gave us the whole game.

We found our way to the Mall of America (including theme park and aquarium), BabiesRus (5 mo since our last visit, that place missed us) and REI. Got some good shopping in and able to hit some of our favorite restaurants as well. We made sure to keep some semblance of routine for Pres's sake (i.e. bagels, bed time) but for the most part we winged most of it. He is a great kid and lets us drag him all over without much protest. Even 10 hours in the car didn't push him over the edge. We are grateful he puts up with our antics.

The week was more of the same...work, evening wrangle with Pres and on to the next day! We have pics and video as per the norm.

xoxox
SoDak Halsteds

Wild Thing...I'll Eat You Up!!

Part of our "bedtime routine" for Preston includes reading him a story.
Sort of a funny thing as he is playing while Reg reads...so much for winding down. It is something that I think he may appreciate when he is a little older, for now his parents enjoy it. Anyway, since Pres was 4 weeks old we have read to him every night. We have gotten familiar with the stories we are partial too (again I think this is more for us than Pres). One of the stories is Where the Wild Things Are. There is a line in there that cracks me up every time. Goes like this..."The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him "Wild Thing!" and Max said "I'll eat you up!!...".

Funny right?? Gets me every time.

Now that Pres is mobile I am starting to think of him as a wild thing. He is into everything and I think when we are not looking he grows a couple of arms. Not sure how he gets into things so quickly. One second he is in the living room and a millisecond later he is at my feet in the laundry room knocking over the cats water bowl. I swear I didn't even hear him come in there. It is just nuts. On top of the mischief he has taken to showing his teeth when you get his attention. I guess he is proud of them or secretly he is saying "I'll Eat You Up!". In addition most nights find the 3 of us on the floor for a battle royal! Pres climbs all over us and we are there as spotters to ensure he doesn't get more than the 2 bruises he is sporting on his forehead and cheek. Needless to say he is off and really wanting to run!! We are keeping up and really enjoying his little personality.

This weekend we took our Wild Thing to do some wild things...tattoo at Bear Country, A trip to see Sturgis Rally gearing up (careful a couple of risque pictures) and the regular trips to bagels, the mall and eating out. Good weekend and we are in awe of the amount of Motorcycles in town. The Rally is something else and we will steer clear as it gets going. Neat to see all the bikes, and a little of the turn out.

Hope everyone is well, xoxo
Reg, Karl & the Wild Thing

Hot, too hot to be South Dakota

Greetings all! So yet another weekend is behind us so how about I tells ya a little about it? Sound good? Not really? Well tough, cause you are gonna hear it anyway!
Friday was a typical Friday night for us here, dinner out (pizza this time, one of those brick oven type places, much better than expected for these parts!) then of course a trip to Target and the mall. It's amazing that we can still find clothes that Preston does not own yet. Getting a little silly!
Preston blessed us on Saturday by sleeping in till 8:15! I woke up expecting to feed him breakfast and the like and had to putz around for a while because he wasn't waking up! Once he finally woke up and was ready for the day we decided to stick to our normal Sat plan even though swim classes are over. We headed in to town for our usual stop at the bagel shop. After that we drove off into the hills in search of new caves to explore. Our first stop was an old mine shaft called Thunderhead mine. This one was unique as it is supposedly the only one with a waterfall in it! It was pretty cool to see but it was quite obvious that this waterfall was not a natural one. Looks like some miners forgot to look at the area they were digging in and ended up hitting an riverbed which now flows through the mineshaft and out into a nearby creek. I'm sure the environmentalists would have a heyday with this one had it not happened back in the 1800's when no one gave a golly-gosh-darn. Despite it's unnaturalness, it was still pretty impressive.
We then drove to the Pactola Reservoir to see the Pactola Dam. Pretty impressive and strange enough the reservoir was the first lake we have seen here in SoDak!
After the mine, where Karl carried Pres a good 600 feet in and out, we traded places and headed to the Black Hills Caverns for a 60 min underground tour. This was a cave discovered by a man looking for gold who stopped to rest in a creek valley only to find a cool breeze blowing on his back. Thinking he would find gold in the cave he bought the land only to discover that it was all limestone and thus not gold bearing. The land was then bought by a Doctor who wanted the cave for tours and thus we have Black Hills Caverns! It was a pretty impressive tour and looked like there was a lot left to be seen in there with tunnels branching off all over. Having just heard the theme for Fraggle Rock on the radio before we got out of the car, Karley could not help but look for little Dozers making their edible structures. She's a little crazy. Anyway, it was very nice to get out of the heat and into the 50 deg caves! Pres was great through most of the tour but pretty much had enough by the end. He made sure to put in his two cents whenever he could. Guess he thought the guide was not giving us enough info. Carrying Pres through the whole tour reminded me that I have a cracked vertebrae and I was glad to plop him back in his car seat! We had planned on hitting one more cave but thought the better of it and went to Sonic instead for a late lunch.
After enduring 100 degree weather we were dying to hit the base pool and cool off if only for a few min. Our hopes were crushed when we found the pool was closed because of chemical levels. BOOOOOO!!! Instead we headed home to pout. My night was uplifted with a request to play Halo with Kevin and Jake. Good times.
The next day, Preston was good to us again, this time sleeping to 8:30!! There was a rubber ducky race to be held downtown in the creek so we packed up and headed into town to watch. It was a fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network where you sponsored rubber ducks for 5 bones each and they were dumped into the creek and the first ones to cross the finish won prizes! Pretty neat to see and it was an excuse to ride our bikes up and down the trails in the city. We'll let you know if we brought home any hardware, haven't checked the site to see if we won! The weather again was HOT and being out in it all day was making us pretty sticky. So we made a quick stop at Lowes and then headed for the pool praying that it would be open today! Thank goodness it was and we took a refreshing plunge before heading back to the house to bring the weekend to a close. The new uhh.....New Kids on the Block song was playing at the pool and Karl felt as if she were a kid again, hanging at the pool listening to the Kids. I could not relate.
Just FYI, we have updated the videos portion of the site so all videos should be working fine and we added some new ones, along with the weekly photos. Stayed tuned as we have a couple of trips laid out. Early August we are going to Minneapolis for a Seahawks preseason game and in September we are So Carolina bound for a wedding and to meet Paige Dorio. Until next week, xoxo

Back in the swing...

As we are no longer sick, prepping to go out of town or out of town we had no excuses for not getting out and seeing some things. Although it was mostly close to home we saw some neat things and soaked in a ton of vitamin D (maybe a little too much on Regan's part as he is slightly red). We had a good week of normalcy and routine. Nothing amazing on the home front. Preston continuing to get around quickly. Seems so odd that he is in the middle of the kitchen floor or any other spot we didn't place him. He loves the Tupperware cabinet (left unlocked intentionally) so exploring is his new past time. He also loves to check on the dog...paws okay, ears okay, tail tastes good, etc. Luckily Coulee is pleased to get the love.

Anyhow on to the weekend, Friday night we went to Red Lobster for dinner and then did some shopping at the mall. Not a weekend unless we hit Target at least once! Got home and put Monkey to bed and then watched Letters from Iwo Jima. I fell asleep but Regan said he didn’t like it.

Saturday we went to swim lessons then to the bagel place downtown. We brought our bikes so we left the truck downtown and rode the bike path for about 6 miles (one way) to the “Chapel in the Hills”. It is an old Norwegian Chapel that is totally made of wood, quite ornate with lots of carvings. Even nooks and crannies that bats live in. Not creepy at all. There is a museum and overall the stop was pretty neat. They even had this other building that had a grass roof, called a stubor. I guess it holds in heat or keeps cool really well.

After that we biked to the flower gardens which are growing well with all the jungle humidity we have…we were all soaked in sweat! Then biked to Story Book Island which is a park here that has a ton of scenes from a lot of children's stories. Everything from Winnie the Pooh to DR Seuss to the 3 little pigs. So each scene is a slide or sand box or something like that. Like a giant themed play ground. (http://www.storybookisland.com/ )Pretty neat to see but was packed with kids and Preston is too young to give a crap.

Then we biked back through a Christian rock concert in the park, not our type of thing but had quite the turn out. Navigating 2 bikes and a chariot along the bike path with the throngs of people was tricky. Then went to late lunch/early dinner at this brewery downtown called the Fire house. All total it was about 12-13 miles of biking we think. Got home and sat still till we all fell asleep.

Sunday we drove to Spearfish to an Art Festival. They had live bands and loads of booths…like an artsy crafty swap meet. It was neat, the park where the art festival was at is really nice and along the river. The heat was amazing and there was no breeze. Another humid, humid day. We stopped at a bike shop and got a bell and mirror for my bike..woohoo!! Then we went back to base and went to the base pool. We picked up a summer pass since Preston’s lessons are over, this way he will still be able to get some swimming in until the next session starts up in Sept. The base pool is a neat facility and even has a water slide that I made Regan go down…too funny! It was really fun. We are looking towards biking there after work for the rest of the summer. Should work out well. Wrapped up the weekend with the Espys and then back to the grind.

Took pics as per the usual and posted a little video as well. Hope all is well with everyone. Paige Morgan and Haeven Grace were both born this past week. We are looking forward to seeing the new little girls. Congrats Dorios & Sweenys!

R&R

Greetings all! Hope everyone is doing well. We are still recovering from last weekend. Karley's eyes have returned to normal color but not without a trip to hospital and some drops. She ended up staying home a day to help get through the other bugs in her system. We continue to battle coughs and are not enjoying that at all. Preston seems to be the most healthy person in our family right now. This weekend paled in comparison to the excitement of last weekend but we still experienced some pretty cool stuff.
So, on Friday, Karley stayed after work to have some drinks with her co-workers and Pres and I went downtown after work to meet her for dinner. We hit up a local Italian joint and let Preston entertain the customers. He always seems to attract some ladies to the table where ever we go. He's a cute kid. We then hit up the mall for some clothes, coffee, and other little nik-naks.
Saturday brought our newest weekend routine. First, Pres and I hit the pool for our weekly swim lessons. Big week for him too as he was dunked under for the first time! No, no, no...it was on purpose. Settle down....all part of the class people. He's getting pretty comfortable in the water! We're hoping to keep the ball rolling. After our swim, we headed in to town to hit up our Bagel shop. Yummers. Pres was exhausted from class so he didn't make it to the Bagel shop and rather than wake him up to drag him inside like usual we got our breakfast to go. And where would a family with bagels and coffee go? Why Bear Country of course! All the animals were happy to see us as usual. All the babies are getting so big! After we said 'bye' to all our pals, we headed back into town to donate money to our local Sam's Club. As usual we managed to bring home WAY more than necessary. One of the new toys was a wall mount for the TV in the bedroom so we had fun putting that up when we got home. Karl enjoys manning the instructions while I wield the weapons. Turned out pretty nice. Freed up some space on the dresser. Preston entertained us the rest of the day. He made a mobility breakthrough that evening! I wouldn't call it crawling but he is getting pretty close! He was definitely happy to be able to get places without us having to move him. All the work tuckered the little guy out and went to bed without any fuss. Karley and I tried to enjoy some shows on the newly mounted TV but we did not last long.
Sunday, Preston and I let Karley sleep in a little and then we made some waffles. We chilled around the house before heading to the grocery store to fill in the gaps from Sam's Club the day before. We then hopped on our bikes and tooled around the base. We had purchased a kiddie pool at Target and put some water in it hoping the sun would warm it up when we were on the ride. I think it managed to bring it up a half a degree or so but that didn't stop our little man from splashing around! Karley is hoping that Preston grows up like Sean, doesn't matter what the temperature is, as long as he's having fun! Pres then demonstrated his mad movement skills by skittering around the house. He's made some vast improvement on his work from Sat night so I think we are going to be in some trouble. He has also taught himself to sit-up on his own! Just kinda happened while he was squirming around and just like that it's part of his movement arsenal. We managed to capture some of his magic on camera so you'll have to keep an eye out for some video on the blog. We are super excited for him but a little scared at the same time.
So that pretty much brings us to the present. Pres is in bed and we will be following him shortly. We're excited for him to show off his new skills at day care! His teachers will be so excited. We need to give a couple shout-outs to some of our friends and family; Congrats to Jake and Liz Nielson and welcome to the party little Ethan! Joe & Kristin Dorio and Holly & Jon Sweeny are extremely close to adding their own little bundles to the world so we are thinking about you guys and can't wait to hear the news! And a big congrats to my Bro, newly planted in South Carolina, he and his girlfriend Laura have just got engaged, can't wait to plan another trip out east for that!
That's all from SoDak for this week! Hope everyone is lovin life! Talk to ya later!
-Regan, Karley and our newly mobile monster Preston!

Catching up!

We have been off the radar for a bit but only because we have been busy with chores and what not. Not too many adventures to speak of so it was easy to put blogging off. We have no cause or distraction to slack off for a while so we should be posting regularly again.

Last wrote after fathers day weekend, the following weekend was full of organizing and cleaning as Regan's parents were due to come through. The office is where we would shove visitors and it was the room that was not done yet. Well after some elbow grease, some blind hanging and a few pictures for the walls the room was complete. Halsteds came in that following Monday. They were passing through in route to MN for a family reunion. They were here Tues-Thurs, leaving Friday for MN. Due to the 4th trip Reg & Karl had not planned to take any days off but Preston came down with a case of the ol' rosie ball (aka pink eye) and that allowed for some sick time home with the folks. They did minor sightseeing including a Scandinavian chapel and the local museum. Besides that it was cards, BBQ and chit chat while observing Pres.

Once the Halsteds left we had a weekend spent prepping for the eminent 4th camping trip. Lots of shopping and list making. Amazing what a fam of 3 (basically 2.5!!) needs to go away for 5 days. So needless to say that sapped up the weekend. We did go to swim class and morning bagels, also dropped in on a local attraction called Art Alley but besides that it was mostly uneventful. Sunday night the Halsteds returned for some enchiladas and a little rest before they finished the drive back to Spokane Monday morning. We were glad to see them and sorry not to spend more quality time.

Then finally the camping trip begins..er...kinda. We got off to a slow start as the whole fam came down with some cold/fever hybrid. All had fevers, congestion and coughs. What drag. We had Pres in and out of the clinic checking for pink eye or anything else. Regan doing all the packing sick as Karley slept on the couch. Even an incident where Karley passed out in the truck while it was parked in the driveway for 30 min. Good thing it was only 95 degrees outside. The plan was for us to drive halfway on Tuesday night to Sheridan, WY. Then press on Wednesday and drive the remainder to Big Timber, MT and meet up with everyone. In order to appease the germ gods we waited till Wednesday to leave and drove straight through. For an 8 hour drive Preston champed it up. He took a good nap and then conked out at his bed time. We pulled into the campsite and found our cabin by 830. The Benavidezes got in at 130am, Dentlers at 1030 Thurs and the Fetchos got in close to 3pm.

The site was a trout farm with camp sites for tents, RVs and the cabins. The cabins and sites we stayed in were on the river. Literally 10 feet from the Boulder River. With all the rains the river was very high and moving extremely fast. I think we were all thankful that 3 out of the 4 kids were not mobile. Markus Fetcho was the only walker of the 4 kids and he was really good about staying away from the river. He even made a point of pointing at the river and saying "no, no no!" There were bathrooms and showers that were separated from our cabins by a trout pond. The campsite was pretty full. We set up a screened-in sun tent that was like a nursery and there was also a open air tent to block sun. Everyone had a stove or grill and we had the picnic tables pushed together. There was, of course, a fire pit where the obligatory marshmallows were roasted.

All together we did community meals which worked out famously! Cook a couple meals for all and you are set. While there we visited the Land Bridge State Park, hiked to a waterfall, squeezed in the city pool in between thunder storms, biked around the site (mostly to bathrooms) and into town, played some boccie and lawn bowling, few rounds of catchphrase. There was some fly fishing...nothing was caught. Overall it was a lot of hanging out and enjoying the company. The only downfall was that Karley was sick the whole time, lost her voice for 2 days and then wrapped up the trip by exposing the campers to pink eye!

We have been horrible with the camera so sorry for the lack of pictures of all the things discussed. I think we were just so excited to be with the friends and family we only recently left that picture taking wasn't our first thought. We are gonna try to get the pics from everyone else. We had such a great time and loved seeing all those little boys.

Lastly I will leave you with our suggestion to listen to 80's stations while driving, makes for great rehashing and if you get the chance watch the show called Wipeout...hilarious!!

Father's Day Weekend

Before I get to us...
On the right is a link that I think you all will enjoy. Titled "Noah and the Bike Music Video", this is some footage of Noah Meloeny on his Like-a-bike. This is a balance bike that has started to become THE trainer for kiddos learning their way around a bicycle. Not only is it a chance to see the bike in action but Matt (Noah's daddy and one of Dan Halsteds good friends) put together an impressive video. We never tire of it. Enjoy!
Returning to the regularly scheduled programming:
This weekend Preston finally started swim lessons. We signed up for them way back in April, so the suspense alone was a killer. We were very anxious to get Pres in the water and see how he liked it. As much as he loves bath time we figured a huge tub, or pool, would be a hit. Overall it went well. Preston woke up a little crabby, his top teeth are really bugging him, so we were worried that he wouldn't get to have any fun. He was more sedate than usual but seemed to have a good time. Took him about 20min to take it all in. He was focused more on all the sights and sounds rather than just having fun in the water. May take a few more lessons so that he gains familiarity with the facilities before he really hits his stride. He did do well and was even used as example baby in class. The teacher thought he did great. 3/4 of the class is older than him and the class is aimed at safety more than technique. At this stage we are just getting Preston familiar with and comfortable in water. Eventually the goal is that if he were to fall in he would relax, get on his back and then float. His Mom & Dad think that is a fine idea!

Saturday we wrapped up with a trip to Lowes, some baby proofing (chords, plugs, gates, etc) and yard work. The weather has been hit or miss lately with daily rain so we took advantage of the sunshine that came with the weekend.

Father's Day was kind of blah for Reg as he got his gift a week early(fly fishing lessons & gear). He received Fathers day cards, coffee and donuts before we commenced with more weekend adventures, here's hoping that the appreciation Preston and Karley feel was conveyed via sugar and hugs.

Team Halsted then ventured out to Deadwood, SD. For those of you who were not hooked on the HBO series, Deadwood is the location of the largest gold rush in US history. More gold was found there than both SF & Klondike. In addition many note worthy folks were locals; i.e. Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, The Hearsts, Seth Bullock.

This weekend was Wild Bill Days in Deadwood. This included bands, fiddling contests, quick draw contests and shoot out reenactments. Loads of people turned out and is a popular event. This could be attributed to the open container law for the weekend. All you can drink beer with the purchase of a cup and you can walk all over town with it. Mix in the fact that this is now a casino town and you get family fun!

We made our way to Mt. Moriah which is the cemetery where Wild Bill and others were buried. Quite the hike to get there but the views and sights were well worth it. Although wearing flops was not a wise choice, we will chalk that up to lesson learned. We then headed to Adams Museum which provides a lot of local history and exhibits. We made sure to take in Main St, grab some grub at Kevin Costner's hotel and catch Lonestar in concert. Unfortunate that Pres's first concert was country music but we will make it up to him. Also did a little slot machine tango...we are up $0.25. Take that Deadwood!!

Great weekend and good weather. We took advantage where we could. Pictures are there as usual if you are interested. Happy Father's Day to all those dads out there. Not for you there would not be nearly as much rough housing or giggles in the house, in addition most Moms would not be able to find time to find their sanity if you weren't there to take up the slack. xoxo

Flyfishing, Bear Country, and Crazy Horse

Here we are at another weekend. I hope everyone is doing well. Shall I fill you in on what adventures Team Halsted got themselves into? I think I shall........
So, on Friday night the plan was for Regan and Preston to meet Karley downtown for our typical night out on the town. Karley had made plans to have a drink with coworkers and then dinner with the fam in good ol' Rapid City. Unfortunately a bad email was sent out at Regan's work and to punish the bad airmen, "since we had time to make bad emails when there was work to be done", all were forced to stay at work until the higher ups thought we had learned our lesson. SO, the night out for the Halsted fam was canceled. Good times.
Saturday saw the arrival of an early Father's Day gift for Regan. Karley and Preston had arranged a 1 on 1 fly fishing lesson for Regan at a local shop in downtown Rapid. So Regan spent the morning taking instruction from Hans the fly fisherman while Karley got an unexpected gift from Preston.........sleep! Sleep till 10AM!! The lessons were super fun and Regan is hopeful to turn fly fishing into a hobby as we seem to be in prime location for it. It was a lot harder than he expected but he got some good pointers and a rod and reel to practice at home before hitting the local rivers and lakes to terrorize some fish!
After the lesson, Regan returned home to the rest of the well rested team and we tinkered around the house before Karley decided it was time to get out. And what does a family do in Rapid City when they have no other plans? They go to Bear Country......again! This time there were bears and elk and wolves and.......wait.....
Sunday was the big day for the weekend. We decided to head out and see the Crazy Horse Memorial. For those not in the know, this is another large sculpture in the side of a Black Hills mountain similar to Mt Rushmore except this one is privately funded and is planned to be much bigger than the 4 Presidents. This weekend was also picked for this outing because on this one weekend each year, the owners open the memorial to the public for a 6.4 mile/10k Volksmarch in which people are allowed to hike up the mountain and see the sculpture up close as it is under construction. Obviously no work is done while people are hiking around. SO, we ended up getting a late start on the hike because with the threat of thunderstorms we needed to get a light jacket for Preston and that was an adventure in itself. We went to the mall but they ended up not opening till 11 and to make things better, there ended up being a shortage of baby jackets or something because no one had any! Luckily, we ended up finding one at a store in Hill City on our way to the memorial. Finally we had Preston ready to go and were on the trail. The hike was a little more than we had expected as we meandered through the woods and then up the side of the mountain to wear the work is being done. It was well worth the trek up to see Crazy Horse up close and personal. It is an amazing sight to see. After enjoying the views and marveling at the construction, the team headed back down. We are all exhausted now and resting up for the coming week.
Please take a look at the pics to see our return to Bear Country and trek up the Crazy Horse Memorial plus a couple random pics of happenings at the house.
Hope to hear from everyone soon!
Later!
Regan, Karley, and Preston "Monument Climber"

Spearfish Canyon

Spearfish Canyon is in the Central Black Hills. A forested, limestone canyon with a highway running through it. It has been likened to the Grand Canyon by folks like Frank Lloyd Wright, although we thought it was a poor comparison. It was also used for scenes from Dances with wolves. The drive is gorgeous, about 45 miles west of Rapid. We got a late start as we had to wait for Pres to nap and the thunder storms to stop. Once we got there we were pleased with our find.

The trails that we took led us by waterfalls, botanical gardens, rivers and a dam. We saw another snake, this one considerably larger than the last. Other than that mostly birds, turkey and some deer. Not a bison in sight! The weather was great and we were glad to have avoided the rain. Pres liked it and made sure to keep cadence or provide insight about the sights & sounds.

Other than some hiking and scenic driving the weekend was pretty mellow. We were able to hang up some blinds and pictures in our bedroom as well as tackle the hall portrait hanging. Slow and sure but we are settling.

Coulee finally gave chase to one of the myriad jack rabbits that live around us. It did not disappoint as the rabbit had to give little effort to avoid Dog-dog. Hilarious and wish I had video. Although to his credit I am certain this was the fastest I have seen Coulee move EVER.

Not much else to add, hope the relaxy-bug bit you as well. Yea for Spring!

Love from So Dak Halsteds

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend meant a 4 day weekend for both Preston and Regan and a 3 day weekend for Karley. Plans originally were to head west to Devil's Tower and camp there and see what was to been seen. The weather ended up being against camping as thunder storms and rain were forecasted for the whole weekend. So with those plans down the drain we tried to come up with something else. We wanted to make a trip for the weekend but we seem to be too far from most everything to make a quick weekend trip. SO we settled on seeing local things on little day trips and fixing up the house.
On Saturday we decided to once and for all, get Preston's room ship shape. We put up his pictures and other decorations and got him some cubbies to store his books and toys in. His room now seems to be the best in the house! He's got some cool furniture, nifty pictures, lots of toys, and a bed he can't get out of decorated with his dinosaur friends. Heck, he doesn't even have to go anywhere to go to the bathroom! He can just poop his pants and people change his clothes on his own changing table! I threw some photos of the completed room in the picture section of the blog.
Sunday, we got out of the house and headed for Wind Cave National Park (about 40 miles south of Rapid City). The weather cooperated with us for the drive thank goodness. To get there we drove through Custer State Park which is quite beautiful. We saw a couple herds of buffalo in the mountains and some pretty cool scenery. I gotta say, we are getting our fill buffalo! We seem to see them everywhere we go here! We decided that we will have to come back later to fully explore the park. We got to the cave and signed up for the next tour. Learning our lesson from the last spelunking expedition, we got Preston strapped into the front carrier from the get go this time! The Wind cave turns out to have over 100 miles of mapped tunnels, most of which are no place to be taking an 8 month old, even if he is well versed in the art of cave exploration. Our tour only took us on a 1 hour loop on a concrete path but was still very impressive. The cave was much dryer than the last and because of that, there were no stalagmites or bats or anything else you would normally find in a cave. We ended up following a couple from DC through the cave who were here on vacation with their daughter and her friend. The ladies were totally in love with Preston and seemed more interested in him than the cave! All ready hitting it off with the ladies, we could be in trouble! The father seemed hell bent on letting Karley know where every low ceiling or slippery spot was on the whole tour! "Ooo, watch out, here is a step." "Watch your head, there is a rock here." "Make sure you put one foot in front of the other when you are walking." "Use your lungs to suck in air so you don't die." Didn't let up for the whole loop. Preston handled being underground like a champ again and even entertained the group with his own comments every now and then. He has been very good to us on these trips we keep dragging him on.
Once we got topside again, we headed to the town of Hot Springs to see the Mammoth Dig site. It is a big building built up over a prehistoric sinkhole that was discovered back in the '70s when a developer was plowing to build houses. The sinkhole made a pit where a bunch of Mammoths and other animals fell in and died. Their bodies were covered over the years and preserved. Archaeologists are still digging there today and let people come and see their work in progress. It was a pretty impressive site to see. Hard to imagine that there were these great elephants and lions and huge bears all living right here! It was pretty amazing that they were able to stumble upon such a unique phenomenon as this sinkhole, makes you wonder how many other places there are similar to it (if any) still waiting to be discovered or perhaps already destroyed unknowingly! We grabbed some dinner at a local Mexican place (which ended up being better than anything we have around) and Preston got his first experience with Zwieback toast! It was like a toy he could eat! Needless to say he loved it.
Monday ended up being a lazy day for us. We slept in as much as Pres would allow and hung around the house most of the morning. We then went and grabbed some lunch and headed to Karley's favorite local pastime.....Bear Country! The weather did not cooperate with us then as it rained the whole time we were there. Luckily, it turns out that most of the animals don't really care if it's raining!
So there you are, the weekend is coming to a close and we are home and pouting because we have to go back to work. Maybe not the getaway weekend we had planned but an enjoyable one none the less! Hope everyone had as much fun this weekend as we did and we hope to see you all soon. Please be sure to check out the picture page to see the photos from the weekends adventures!

Take care!

Regan, Karley, and Preston (spelunker, archaeologist, and wildlife expert)

Hill City is alive with the sound of music

This weekend the troops ventured to Hill City, SD. This is a city in the "heart of the Black Hills" that was a junction point for the train. This town has a lot to offer for a day trip.

Our first stop was at Prairie Berry Winery. A local winery that uses local produce like choke cherries and buffalo berries in their wines. We haven't been to a winery since Pres was born so we were excited to go. However there was a little apprehension as we likened it to taking your baby to a bar. So the compromise was that Regan did the tasting and Karley made sure to look like a responsible adult with a baby. The use of 4 syllable words was imperative to sell the crowd...who really could not have cared less that a baby was there. Anyway Regan was pleased and 3 bottles came home with us.

Next stop was the Geological Museum. This is run by the same folks that discovered SUE the T-rex. We were really impressed by the collection.

The Mickelson Trail is an old rail bed that they have graveled and maintained for recreation. It is over a 100 miles and has multiple tunnels and bridges. We tackled a fraction of it and really enjoyed it. The views were great and the trail was in great shape. We even saw a snake! Karley thought it was an anaconda and Reg was saying it was just a garter snake...pretty similar so nothing really to argue about.

We wrapped up the day by grabbing dinner at the Alpine Inn. This is a local place that is known for their dinner. The only option on the menu is 6 or 9 ounces. They serve salad, fillet, potato & texas toast. We lined up with the other patrons and 50 min later were seated!!

Great weekend and nice weather. We are over 80 degrees...wind still here but at least there is no snow! Made some time to squeeze in dog park & Bear Country, whole family was happy. Pics waiting if you want to take a glance. Sending you love from So Dak!

Happy Mother's Day

I am a big fan of this holiday...restaurants, gifts, bears..oh my! I think I even may be up for celebrating this again next year!

Really though as far as first Mother's Days go, this one was really nice. Regan & Pres let me sleep in, then we got ready and went to brunch. Afterward we headed to Bear Country USA. This is a local attraction run by a family which includes a 3 mile drive through various animal habitats. One of the habitats is Black Bears. We were expecting 4 or 5 but there had to be well over a hundred. At the end of the loop is a walking exhibit which includes otters, beavers, badgers, bear cubs, red fox, etc... As the weather was gorgeous, the populous was out and about with us.

We wrapped up our animal tour and then went to Canyon Lake Park. This is one of the City parks located along the bike path. We took a little spin and all got a bit of sun. We then slapped the stroller wheels on the Chariot and walked around the lake to look at the ducks.

The day ended with dinner and a half&half cone! It was really nice and so glad the weather held for us. There are pictures if you are interested. Hope all you moms had a great day also or you treated the moms in your lives to something special.

xoxo

by the way...there are some new pictures in the "day to day" album

Spelunking Sunday

Well another weekend was upon us so we headed out to explore some more of the Black Hills. This time we headed under the hills by going to Rushmore Cave and Big Thunder Mine located near the town of Keystone which is near Mt. Rushmore. Which is in South Dakota located in the central US. Which is in North America on the planet we all know as Earth.

The caves were quite enjoyable! We decided to drag Preston along by using our hiking backpack carrier as the cave was not stroller accessible and we did not want to carry him for the 1.5 mile trek into the mountain. It turns out that the cave was a little more narrow than we anticipated and we ended up abandoning the pack and using the front carrier to avoid bashing the poor little guy into the low ceilings and tight corners. He was perfect throughout the whole tour even adding in his own commentary at parts of the tour.

The pictures we took did not do the cave justice. Taking pics in the dark was pretty difficult so I apologize for that. Some of the formations and caverns were breath taking! It was amazing to see how much there is underground in these mountains and this is one of the smaller caves in the area! It was a good mix of Geology and creativity in looking at the various rock formations and then seeing that it looks like Dumbo or Jabba the Hut's child.

We left the caves and headed into the little tourist town of Keystone, which is pretty much there because of Mt. Rushmore. While there we sampled (or bought every flavor of) a local taffy shop where you can watch the stuff getting made. We then headed to one of the local gold mines.

Big Thunder gold mine peaked our interest because, in our guide book, it was the only one that was stroller accessible and the description seemed promising. We were in for a surprise or I guess lack there of would be more appropriate. The outside of the mine had me very optimistic as it seemed very authentic with antique equipment and buildings. The tour started off pretty neat with each of us getting our own hard hats (which proved very useful as I swacked my head not 20ft into the shaft!). It quickly went downhill from there as our teenage guide admitted that this was only his second tour and it was quite obvious that public speaking was not his strong point. He had a veteran guide (another teen) tag along to help him out and he did.......several dozen times. The story behind the mine was interesting as it was owned by to German immigrants who decided to mine for gold as a hobby after their normal jobs. They started blasting away into the mountain after a vein of gold that was discovered in a nearby mine was found to be headed through their claim. Apparently this was some tedious work back then as we learned it took them 15 years to travel maybe 30 yards only to discover less than 3 ounces of gold. But on they dug. Now the guides seemed to keep us interested as they made it seem that there was a wealth of gold to be discovered in this vein, they just had to find it. It ends up that the whole mine is only about 100 yards long and in the end when these two crazy old Germans finally decided to stop (both in their 70s now!!!!) they found a total of around 10 ounces. The whole tour was of a totally failed attempt at striking it rich. Very depressing. Just like at Wall Drug, we had fallen victim to another tourist trap! It also turns out that our rookie guide is an aspiring actor! He told Karley that he is going to acting school and wants to get into the entertainent industry. Yeah, don't think you'll be seeing him anytime soon on the ol boob tube.

All in all it was a fun little expedition. Preston seemed to enjoy bouncing around underground and never gave us any trouble. We know there are lots more caves to explore so we will be definitely be headed back into the earth in the future.

Until next time. Hope all is well with everyone and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

-Regan, Karley and Preston (Spelunker Extraordinaire)

April showers bring May Blizzard!

We are so used to severe weather forecasts that we hardly think much of them anymore. Between the Spokane weather forecasters and Rapid City folks crying wolf so many times... hearing that a Blizzard was coming, did not even make us blink an eye. Yesterday the weather was supposed to be rain & heavy snow, it was mostly clear. Last night around 9pm the winds really kicked up. We had hopes of having a 'snow day' but we all know they never seem to happen, especially when you go to bed and it's raining.

This morning during the 4 o'clock hour we woke up for the regular Pres feeding and checked outside. I couldn't see out the windows. Not because the visibility was poor but because ALL the windows were covered with snow & ice. Completely covered and I'm not exaggerating. I checked the local closures and I-90 was closed from Wyoming to Wall, SD. By 5am both of our works had called saying stay home and we did a little dance for Snow Day!!

As this is the first Blizzard for the 3 of us we had no idea what a Blizzard was. Turns out it is kinda like a snow hurricane. We have had sustained winds of 55 mph since last night and gusts up to 65. Cant really tell accumulation as the wind blows everything and creates huge drifts. The blizzard warning is in effect till 6pm tonight. Needless to say we will not be outside enjoying snow angles, snow ball fights with Coulee or a nice walk in the fresh fallen snow.

Regan attempted to go outside to get some pictures and first had to fight the front door to get out. He had to push the door through the snow, shoulder first. The front of our house is somewhat protected as the winds are blowing from the back of the house. However, when he got out there he was instantly cold and covered in blowing snow. Coulee of course thought it was fantastic. We have put up what pics he could grab in the 2 min he was out there.

Looks like weather is crazy everywhere, we just wanted to share our little piece of the craziness. By Sunday we will be in 60's and sunny.

Reptile Gardens

There are many animal preserves in the area, today we visited Reptile Gardens. We were pretty impressed considering not all the exhibits were open yet. Once the warmer weather gets here they move some of the creatures to outdoor enclosures and there are more interpretive presentations.

Today we caught the "Snake show" and took in Prairie Dog Town, the indoor exhibits, the Bald Eagle enclosure and the tortoise exhibit. Preston's favorite was the prairie dogs, probably because those little guys run all over. The indoor exhibits featured loads of snakes, lizards, bugs, crocs & gators, turtles and various birds. The bald eagle is a rescue, although neat to see you can't help but feel bad for the guy since he can't fly anymore (the exhibit indicated that he had been shot in one of his wings). The tortoises were impressive, they are huge, move faster than expected, are gassy and almost seem animatronic. One came right over and seemed to want to chat with me...unfortunate as I don't speak tortoise.

Although some of the exhibits were quite creepy it was a good time had by all. Regan might recover from all the spiders before we go to bed tonight. Hadn't realized he was creeped out until his phone vibrated and he jumped out of his skin.

A sampling of the pics are posted in gallery if you are interested.

Until next weekend....
xoxo

Trial Run

Someone told us that if you have kids than "you have to have a web page". Luckily we know someone else who started one so we could copy the idea and make pictures of our adventures available. This is just a start so forgive us if it is a bit hokey.

We moved to Rapid City, SD early March and have been settling in ever since. We have come to find that this city has some to offer us. However, it has been averaging 40 degrees outside with 15mph winds. Needless to say there has not been a lot of fun in the sun. Outdoor activity requires more bundling up than we would like for Spring. As it warms up we will get to hike, bike and hopefully get some vitamin D!

Will get more pics up soon, maybe once we know this initial post works the way we hoped. For now we miss you guys and hope to see you soon...feel free to visit!

xoxo
Reg, Karl & Pres