Bardsley Beginnings: Vacation Trifecta

In July, we turned an intended trip to South Dakota
for a family reunion into a trifecta of vacation family fun.
Heck, if you're already driving 20 hours, what difference
does it make to add an additional eight? :)

Our first stop was Williston, North Dakota. Not only
did we get to enjoy the fabulous company of my brother
Sam, his wife Emily, and their little family, we also got to add an extra state
to our list! And a difficult one at that! State #32!

We met baby Declan for the first time. He and
Grace got along well, obviously. Ha! Cutest, cuddliest little
guy you'll ever meet. And Grace got to have all kinds of
fun with Edison and Alex. Add multiple delicious dinners and
lots of fun game time after the kids were in bed, and a great trip was had
by all.

This time, we decided to try the driving-through-the-night-trick. Now, I realize it's probably not for everyone, but I LOVED it. I drove from 8:30 pm to about 8:30 am the next day, only having to stop once for gas. For one, so much faster. Almost twelve straight hours of uninterrupted road trip bliss. I popped in an exciting book, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

And, really, how often do I get to spend 12 waking hours without anyone asking or requiring anything of me? And watching the sun come up? Awesome. On the way home I drove through the night again. Loved it just as much. Sure, I could barely walk and was mostly incoherent the next day, but hey, totally worth it. And it made the additional ten hours the next day seem like so much less. Ha.

Anyway, if nothing else works out in my life, I think I could probably be a pretty awesome truck driver. Just sayin.'

After North Dakota, we made our way down south to meet up with Spencer's family at Mount Rushmore. We stayed at Custer State Park and had a fabulous time camping, seeing the sights, eating, playing games, swimming, and hanging out with family that we see far, far too seldom.

Pictured below: Lilly, April's youngest. Adorable. And Mom Gwen. Also adorable. So glad she was able to take some time off from her mission to be with us!

And then there was Sylvan Lake. Wow! So beautiful.

I think we all would have spent the entire five days here if we'd known how awesome it was going to be.

Max Fairbourne, Luke's fellow redhead.

Below: Whitney, baby Sadie and Landon (left) and sweet Sammy Fairbourne (right).

From back (L to R): Calais Roemer, Olivia Fairbourne, Anthony Bardsley, and Heather Partridge.

Grace had no idea she had so many cousins. She loved every minute of it. Especially the minutes she spent hiding in our tent, decompressing. What can I say, she needs her Grace time.

Anna meets the paddle board. So fun.

Of course, we went exploring at Mount Rushmore

and spent the evening back at camp watching "North by Northwest."

How could we not?

Isabella, Grace and Sydney. So cute together. The last day, they made a nest together at the campsite complete with all kinds of wildflowers and leaves. It was pretty awesome. Any bird (skunk, squirrel, chipmunk...) would be lucky to call it home.

The whole crew of cousins. Mostly.

The whole crew of Bardsley siblings. Complete. :)

Hanging out at the campsite. Grace made me that bouquet.

She took off her shoelace to keep it together and everything. I am loved. :)

We also explored the Jewel Cave National Monument. Very cool. Very glad Luke didn't come. Grandma Gwen kindly took him while we went on the hour long version of the tour. He, reportedly, cried through the entire twenty minute version. Ouch.
Somehow Grace got Chrystel to carry her almost the entire time.
She's a saint, I tell you.

We had so much fun. Can't wait for the next Bardsley family reunion! And next time, for sure Luke won't spend the entire time constipated and grumpy. For sure.

On our way home, we decided to check out Badlands National Park. So worth it. It was really nice to have a just our family portion of the trip, albeit rather short.