Reptile Gardens

The Black Hills do not have a zoo but they do have Reptile Gardens, which is obviously devoted to our reptilian friends.  It isn't a huge place but does have some fun shows and is quite interactive.  We were excited to get to go with Grandma and Grandpa Manning and even Great-Grandma.  It was a beautiful day and as always, we had a great time!!

Have you ever noticed that parents become NOTHINGS when Grandparents are around?  Who needs parents when you can hang with awesome grandparents!  And Caleb has been blessed with the best!

During the snake show we got to see a variety of snakes and watch the snake handler work with many snakes including a rattle snake, the most poisonous snake, and of course a python.  Grandma made sure she stayed all the way in the back of the theater but Caleb thought it was fun to touch the snake.

I have always found the Prairie Dog exhibits funny.  These were some fat busy guys.

Lov'n the Snake!

It was fun to get Great Grandma in on the snake action!  Too Cute!

The Alligator Show is Reptile Garden's claim to fame.  During the show, the trainer wanders around the Alligator/Crocodile pen and eventually finds a Gator to wrestle.  He then drags the Gator to a fairly safe spot and proceeds to teach everyone how to wrestle a Gator.  It is really quite neat to see and always makes you a bit nervous.  Our trainer had a lot of fun feeding the Gators and had a couple aggressive big ones coming after him.  In the end Caleb got to touch a 2 year old American Alligator.

They have a cute little bird show that even featured a rare (simple) performance by a Chinese Ring-Necked Pheasant.

I remember these giant tortoises from when I was a little girl.   You could actually sit on them back then.  Caleb was surprisingly a bit nervous about touching them but eventually warmed up to them.

Inside the dome is a beautiful garden full of reptiles and birds.  The flowers and ponds are amazing!

Getting to touch a blue-tongued skink and then seeing one of the largest crocodiles ever.  This thing was a MONSTER!

We became a Criminal Family at the Gardens!!  You didn't know we could get so wild on our vacations, did you?

It was a great outing with the Grandparents!!

Jewel Cave National Park

While we were in South Dakota, we took the opportunity to visit Jewel Cave National Park. It is the 2nd longest cave in the world and is still being explored. It is still a live cave and is one of the few caves in the Black Hills that I hadn't visited.  We got to go with Grandpa Manning and Aunt Tabitha and it is a beautiful cave.  Most definitely my favorite of the Black Hills caves now.  We had a great experience, except when we got smack dab in the middle of the cave, Caleb informed us that he had to go potty.  We still had about 45 minutes of the tour left and obviously no restrooms.  We did pass one garbage can that was almost used and I was contemplating how much my clothing and Caleb's clothing could absorb if we became desperate.   We had to make sure we left no human trace in the cave and so I was glad we didn't have to try either option and the poor little guy made it.  He was almost in tears by the end but he did it!!!  We survived Jewel Cave!

The cave is of course dark but I tortured everyone with a picture down there anyways.

Our Nice Cave Family Photo!

Some pretty nice cave formation photos.  I was really impressed with our camera down there.

This is a really cool straw stalagmite.

Some more fun pictures of inside the cave.

We went up and down a lot of stairs.  Caleb was a trooper.

This formation is actually called "The Bacon Strip"  You can kind of see it but in real life it really does look like a strip of bacon on the the wall.  Look right in the middle at the reddish colored strips.

We love nature and caves are such a rare thing to see.  I am always amazed at the beauty of the Earth God has created for us and how diverse it all is.

Kindergarten Here We Come!

Kindergarten Here We Come!!!

It was hard to believe but the big first day of Kindergarten finally arrived for us this past week.  Five years went so quickly and Caleb was so excited to start school.  It was a big day for the Manning family!

Caleb was so excited that he could hardly sleep that night and finally daddy snuggled him until they were both sound asleep.  Caleb requested a special breakfast of oatmeal but hardly ate any of it.  Instead he got all ready and then sat in the car waiting until we could leave.

I did convince him to get out of the car to take the traditional First Day Photo.  Look at how big that backpack looks on him!  What a smarty!

Daddy got to come be with us for the First Day of School.  It was fun to see how confident and excited Caleb was.  He only got a little bit nervous as we headed into the building but that quickly left.

An OFFICIAL KINDERGARTNER now!!

He made it through the long day from 8-3!

He even had a smile for me when he got out!!

Kindergarten has been a bit more of an adventure then we had hoped for.  Our experience at this elementary school has not been very smooth and we are currently trying to decide if we should continue on or find another option.  I actually didn't end up crying after I dropped him off.  I think the whole experience has surprised me so much that I was just worried about him.  I did eventually have my cry day on Wednesday though.  One of those my baby is in school and what is the best choice for our son moments!?!  More than anything I hope that he loves education as much as his parents do and Kindergarten is just the beginning!

2255 Miles, 6 States, and 6 Grandparents

After reviewing the calendar, we realized that if we wanted to visit family, it needed to happen rather quickly.  So we were really lucky and with only a weeks notice, daddy was able to take some time off and we drove up to South Dakota.  It was a great trip and we were happy we could make it before school started.  Caleb has now traveled 8604 miles in a car and been in 20 states so far in less than a year.   Pretty crazy!  But he is such a trooper and the drive was fine.  Long but fine.  During the trip we got to visit lots of fun tourist sites and spend time with Brydon's parents and grandmother, my parents and grandmother, and lots of other fun family and friends.  We do love South Dakota and it was so green and cool compared to Texas right now. 

We added another 2255 miles to our car and checked off a couple more states to this years list.  This trip was only 6 states, but 6 pretty big states.

The view on the way there through Kansas.  We went through a lot of small towns and a lot of farm land.  It was very beautiful but sure would be tough in the winter, since there were no big towns at all.

We got to visit Jewel Cave and it was so amazing.  My favorite cave in the Black Hills so far.  It was fun but did get a bit adventurous when Caleb needed be go to the bathroom halfway through the 3 hour tour at the bottom of the cave. 

A great visit to Reptile Gardens was also on the list. All the snakes and alligators were amazing to see.

We always have to visit Mt. Rushmore when we are in the Hills and this year we went to the evening lighting ceremony.  It was a beautiful evening.

We got to have our annual visit with some of our best friends!  I can't believe how much everyone had grown.  They are growing up too fast!

Visiting the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs was really amazing.  All the cool Mammoth bones were pretty exciting and it was fun to finally take Daddy there.

The pictures of the horse back riding didn't turn out well, but as soon as we got to my parent's house, Caleb couldn't wait to get on a horse.  We are very blessed to have so much amazing family in Huron and they are kind enough to let Caleb just hop on a horse and hang out.  He loved hanging out with all the fun cousins.

On the way home, Caleb and Mom decided to do a long drive together in one day.  Dad had to fly off for work duties earlier and so this is how Caleb survived the 980 mile trip home.  It took us about 18 hours but we made it all by ourselves!!

"Guess What!?! I'm FIVE!!"

Saturday morning, we heard a big thud from upstairs and then heard running as Caleb woke up and shouted from the top of the stairs, "Guess What?! I'm FIVE!!".  He was so excited and this seemed to mark a triumphant birthday.  I love planning his birthday parties and we have so much fun celebrating!  His birth is certainly a day of celebration and miracles in our family.  We feel so blessed to have him in our lives.  This year we invited 4 families to come party and Caleb wanted a Cars 2 Spy Birthday Party complete with a Mater Birthday Cake!  I only had a couple days to pull everything together, since we had just gotten home from our trip to South Dakota but I think it turned out well.

The Big Birthday Boy!

To begin we did a bit of spy training.  They made disguises for their spy person and then got fingerprinted to see if they could be spies.

We played some games where the kids got passports and visited Antartica and went "Musical Iceberg Hopping" and then to France to play Pictionary.  To become official spys, Mater had left spy clues in our house, and they searched for clues to find their official spy kits.  They kits were super cheap to put together but seemed to be a big hit! 

The Big Birthday Wish!!  We were informed later that his birthday wish had come true!

Of course presents are always so much fun to get and Caleb was very spoiled by all his great friends and family.

THE MATER CAKE



Overall I think the cake turned out pretty cute and was fun to make.  Caleb loved it!!!  And well that is the whole point of making it anyways.  It is a lot of fun to make his birthday so special and turning 5 turned out pretty great!

School Registration

All registered for Kindergarten!!!  I can't believe it but my sweet baby boy is now 5 years old and is officially registered for Kindergarten.  He is so excited and is counting down the days until school begins.  We will start next Monday!  My heart is heavy but so excited for him.  I am going to miss my best buddy and being a stay at home mom is going to change drastically now.  It was a tough decision to know if putting him into Kindergarten right now was best or not.  With an August birthday, we could have waited a year but after a lot of thought and prayer, I think we are making the best decision for Caleb.  He is super social and smart and really, really wants to learn and be in school.  It is harder than I thought to send your baby out into the world.  It has most definitely made me analyze my parenting more and wonder "Did I spend enough time with him?"  "Did we teach him how to make good choices?"  "Did I enjoy the short time I had at home with him enough?"  "Does he really know how loved and special he is?"  "Is he really ready for school?"  and "Did we do enough and do best?".  We most definitely tried our best and we are most definitely not perfect parents but we were given an amazing son.  Thank goodness for that.
In Abilene, kindergarten is all day and so he will be gone from 8-3.  I was hoping we could work into this school thing by starting off with a half day but Oh Well!  I will survive.  The hardest part about it all is not that my baby is going to school but that I never dreamed it would be my only baby going to school.  I thought I would have a few more years before the house was empty during the day.  It is one of the moments when the realities of infertility hit just a little harder than others.  Thank goodness for good friends and lots of fun craft projects to work on.  Plus that marathon I am training for.  I am sure between bugging the Elementary school through volunteer work and the PTA, Primary, and home projects, I will find ways to fill my time.  I am so grateful for an amazing son who I am so proud to send to school.