MEDORA!

 If there's no movie playing, we are likely to lose consciousness in the van.

 The first thing we visited on our trip to Medora is...THE SHOOTING GALLERY! I've never shot a real gun, but I'm pretty good with these fake ones. I beat Rick three out of three shootouts throughout our stay.

 The girls enjoyed stopping and sitting on every bench, chair, swing, etc that they passed along the way.

 Can you figure out why Chelsea liked this place so much?

I think copycat Abby is pretty cute as well.

 I'm glad there are attractions that the young ones like, such as this huge western themed playground. They wanted to play every time we passed within sight of it.

 There were several Lalaloopsies with us at all times.

 The girls even made some new friends here and there.

 Hotels. As the girls get older, hotels are less dreadful. We don't do well sleeping in the same room, our family. We learned in Jamestown not to put Chelsea and Brie in the same bed, no matter how big. "She's kicking me!" "She's in my space!" "Move over!" etc. etc. etc. Oi.

 

 There were several museums. The girls liked this big pink car for some reason.

 And here we are at the park again.

 This is the fancy shmancy (expensive!) hotel we stayed at. My only complaint was the lack of continental breakfast. Seriously. We pay enough for it!

 You can't go to Medora without hitting up the pitchfork fondue and the musical.

 Here is a view of the stadium/musical stage from up where we ate dinner.

 Here are the guys cooking the meat on pitchforks.

 They had different menu options. We got the girls the hot dog selection instead of the ribs or the fondue meat. It's a good thing too.

 Chelsea ate a lot, eh? She didn't even like the beans, so she didn't eat them.

She was also SO tired. She was the first one up, about three hours earlier than I had hoped. She didn't rest or nap, and the fondue and musical were LATE as far as the girls timing goes.

 Here you can see all of Medora in the center of the photo. Then off to the middle of the right side you can see the Chateau de Mores, the white house, that we did tour.

 She's not frowning, just squinting. 

 This is Chelsea's most recent personal purchase. Prairie Dusty Trails.

 This is Gretchen, another friend the girls made on the trip. Abby could see some horses in the distance.

 Chelsea thinks this is the absolute funniest photo of the whole vacation. Abby is throwing her blanket up, and then spreading it out on the ground.

 The famous Medora Musical. It was really well done. I liked it a lot. 

 Abby was interested for most of the show. By the end when it was completely dark outside and nearly three hours past bedtime, she was ready to go.

 Chelsea looks bored to tears, as does Brie, but they were just tired. They really did enjoy the show. Brie really got into it as it went along and was pretty hyper, but attentive, by the end.

 Mango Tikki Wikki explored the Cowboy Hall of Fame with us.

 Abby loved all the horses she saw. She even got to pet one for real when they went on a stage coach ride.

 The girls loved this little area of the museum. They had hats and boots to put on, and conveniently, three horses to ride. The middle one is mechanical. They each got a ride for a quarter apiece. After that, the greeter lady came and gave each of them a quarter to ride. So they got to ride twice.

 They also really loved pretending to cook and eat/drink by this fire.

They had a little booklet thing where if you visit so many places, and get a stamp at each one, you get a free ice cream. So of course we earned it! The girls loved it!

 I think this is the Chateau de Mores house that you could see distantly from the pitchfork fondue pics. It was fun to see how the rich lived in this, their hunting lodge. It had 23 rooms or something. I'd like a regular house with just one or two rooms more than I have now. But 23 rooms, for a hunting lodge? Wow.

 I thought of Grandpa Kelly as soon as I saw these puzzles. I, of course, remember how it's done. I tried to teach Chelsea, and she really wanted to get it, but it was too tricky. Otherwise, they make great handcuffs!

 There's no Abby pics here because her and Daddy were napping at the hotel during this time. Mommy and the big girls went around to the different shops, and took about 18 potty stops, and ended up at a different park than the western themed one. I let them do something that would have NEVER happened for me growing up. I let them put their fingers in the water of the little fountains outside one of the shops. Gasp! I know, right!?! (hee hee!)

 Chelsea at the second park. Abby calls all parks and play equipment castles, by the way. It's really cute.

 Here we are at a family fun park. Brie got all ready to jump, but then refused to actually jump. I think there were too many people watching and she got bashful.

 Chelsea was not afraid to jump!

 Here was the main draw of this place. The HUGE inflatable water slide!

It was quite fun. Brie only went down alone once because she got splashed in the face and didn't appreciate that much. But going down with Daddy was acceptable. We didn't send Abby down on her own at all. I think she would have hated us for that. 

 There was a water balloon shootout thing and another water crank thing that dumps water on your opponents, but we didn't get any pictures of that. The sand was pretty fun for most of us. Chels didn't want to play in it. And it took Abby awhile to warm up to it enough to put her feet in it, but then she played and enjoyed herself.

 They all liked getting the sand washed off, despite super cold water!

 Another riding bull, which Chelsea kissed.

 This is super dark, but I didn't want to risk waking anyone up with a bright flash in the middle of the night. I shared a bed with Chelsea. Brie was coughing during the night so I got up to help her. When I got back two minutes later, this is how I found Chelsea. Across both pillows. I got a good chuckle. Daddy shared with Brie. Both of us grown ups were kicked and prodded and crowded and breathed on. But it's better than listening to the kids squabble. Abby slept in the pack n play.

 At the taffy shop. The girls aren't big taffy eaters, so they chose a colorful twisty sucker instead.

 They make the taffy right there in the store. I'm not a huge salt water taffy eater, but this stuff was pretty good. It was interesting to see them make it and to see how the machine wraps the candy. There were tons of colors and flavors as well.

 Here is the stage coach ride I mentioned earlier. Abby got to pet the horse for real.

 We stopped several times at the shooting gallery. Brie was up for trying it.

 Chelsea wasn't interested in shooting. She hated the loud noises the things made after they were hit. The "breaking" glass bottles were especially painful for her ears.

 Abby got into it on our last trip past. Up to this point she just fussed and whined at our legs. She's been quite the fussy girl this trip. She didn't want to walk much either and wanted to be carried around. My arms and legs were actually sore from carrying her around so much.

 Here's the patio outside the hotel where we ate our breakfast every morning.

 This is not Medora. We stopped in Dickinson which is really close to Medora on the way home. We were hoping to walk through the dinosaur museum they have there. There was a shindig of some sort going on there. We walked through some of the free historical exhibits. And took this free photo op.

 Here is an old church in Dickinson. We never did go through the dino museum. The girls were all pooed out and just wanted to get in the car and go home. Plus it didn't look so big, and we were done spending money for awhile. So we picked up some McDonalds and hopped in the car.

 I don't know how this ended up down here, but this is the western park again.

And here is more fun with just mommy, dancing in front of a mirror in a shop.

We had a fun vacation, but we are all glad to be home! We all slept in today, which is unusual. Where should we go next vacation? What is a good place that you recommend? We wanna know!