Let the picture overload begin! I'm happy to report we had a great vacation. Owen is in the midst of potty training and only had one accident the entire trip. Yay Owen! I was pretty stressed about the potty stuff before we left, but everything worked out fine. We got to see lots of family and natural wonders on our trip.
The plane rides were OK. I think Owen just gets so excited about being somewhere and doing something new. All of a sudden I feel like he has eight arms and I can't stay ahead of him. He wants to grab and touch everything and wiggle all over the place. Everything was on schedule timewise and ran smooth. We were even on our second flight with cousin Veronica and didn't even know it until we got off.
The first part of our vacation was spent with the Thorson/Thompson side of the family at Cuzzfest 2009! The last gathering was in 2006. Owen was still in my tummy, so it was fun for everyone to get a chance to meet him. Owen did assault my cousin Tye with an orange crayon, but other than that he was pretty well behaved.
We shared a very nice cabin at the
Palmer Gulch KOA with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Our location in the Black Hills was just a short drive from Mt. Rushmore. The KOA was awesome, we did not have time to do all the activities they had!

Mark and Owen playing outside our cabin. Owen made a beeline for those rocks as soon as we arrived.

Owen and Nana on the cabin deck. They are watching the horses go out to pasture for the night. There were trail rides available, and Owen enjoyed going down to the stables and visiting the "ponies".

Playing on the rocks holding two of the toys Nana got for him. I wish I knew she was going to bring the toy store, I could have saved myself the trouble!

Owen and mommy at the
Crazy Horse Monument. This is a mountain carving type monument, similar to Mt. Rushmore. This is unique in that it is not state or federally funded. The carving is done mostly by family members of the original sculptor.

On the left is what the mountain will look like when it is done. Beyond that you can see what they have carved so far.

Owen, Nana and Mommy on the swings at camp.

Playing putt putt with no shoes on. This was his first time playing. He treated it more like fetch. Each time someone would hit the ball, Owen would helpfully retrieve it for them.

On the hay ride around camp.

With the hay ride ponies.

Funny ceiling made of sticks. This restaurant was horrible!! We waited to sit, waited to order, and waited for our food. But this picture is cute.

Entrance to "the faces" as the locals call it.

Owen was calling all the mountains "Mt. Rushmore" after this.

Dad and his sister, my aunt Kim. I love this one!!

Mt. Rushmore lit at night. This was Owen's first really late night of the trip. The program didn't get started until about 9pm. He was in bed past 10pm and up by 7am.

Silly great-Aunt Katie and great-Uncle John in their "sweat" shirts. The family was gathering to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

At
Reptile Gardens. Between Rapid City and Mt. Rushmore there are all these tourist attractions. We visited this one with my cousins.


Huge snake!!

Owen's favorite part of the place was the sandbox.

Trying to pet the turtle.

Checking out the prairie dogs.

Hugging the giant tortoise.

Back at camp. Trying to gather everybody for a family picture.

Much of the gang taking pictures of John and Katie as they cut the cake. They brought their wedding pictures and many anniversary pictures from over the years. We had a great time looking at those.

Owen wearing his new backpack. I bought this so he could carry his stuff around. It worked better than him trying to carry 10 toys in his hands.

My uncle's drive through liquor store in Newcastle, Wyoming. I tease, it's a bar/coffee shop/restaurant too. My dad and his siblings grew up in Newcastle. We went to my Uncle Lee's restaurant for dinner and family presentations.

Uncle John starting things off. Each branch of the family did a presentation about their Thorson. My aunt Kim brought a great video about my paternal grandma, Marjorie. We saw so many wonderful old pictures of the family. It was a lot of fun. Owen had an even later night, not getting to bed until past 11pm. But he wasn't as cranky as I thought he would be. He was a trooper.

Keeping the kid busy. Nana and some stickers work wonders.

Siblings - Kent, Kim and Lee

Cabin playtime

"Steering the steering wheel" in Papa's truck.
Next.....off to Wyoming and Yellowstone!