Paw-Paw & Nathan's 3rd Annual National Park Tour

In January 2008, Steve went TDY to Las Vegas for two weeks. Nathan and I joined him and Paw-Paw flew out for a few days to babysit Nathan so we could go out. We also (excluding Steve) took a trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam while he was there too. Paw-Paw had so much fun with Nathan after that trip that we decided that he should take Nathan to a national park every January.

Here they are at the Grand Canyon when Nathan was 9 months old.
Hoover Dam.
Paw-Paw and Nathan went to the Smoky Mountains in January 2009.

They kept the tradition alive and went to the Badlands this January while he was here visiting. It was so cold that we decided that their trips don't have to be in January anymore. They can take their trips whenever they want so they can actually enjoy the outdoors. It was unbelievable cold and even more unbelievably windy.
Nathan hates the cold just as much as me, if not more. He's still talking about how windy it was that day.
Here is Baby Sister at the Badlands.
As we were driving around Nathan kept saying, "Look! There's a bad land. Look! There's a bad mountain."
Nathan's commentary on the Badlands.

After we drove through the Badlands, we had lunch at Wall Drug. Nathan hadn't been there since his first birthday and it was Baby Sister's first time there. You can't live in South Dakota and not visit Wall Drug.
I don't even know why I was looking at the menu. Nathan eats the same thing all the time.

Chowing down on chicken and french fries.
Nathan and Baby Sister. Doesn't Nathan look so grown up?
Here he is posing for a picture for Paw-Paw. Nathan is still talking about "Wall Drud," but only because Paw-Paw bought him a couple of new airplanes there. Paw-Paw told Nathan that he could pick out a couple of new airplanes, so Nathan grabbed one in each hand and started walking to the register and told Paw-Paw to get the rest that were on the shelf. Typical Nathan.


Baby Sister had a good time too.

This is for everyone who thinks I'm just being a baby when it comes to the weather here, here is a semi truck on its side that was blown over by the 60 mph winds that day.
Later that night, we went to the Firehouse for dinner. Nathan didn't want to wear the hat, he preferred that Paw-Paw wear it.
Kathryn and Paw-Paw were exhausted from such a fun day.
Just what every little girl needs to compliment her wardrobe, a coonskin cap. Nathan got one of these on his first visit to Wall Drug too.
Here is Nathan sporting his coonskin cap almost two years ago.
The national park trip is originally Nathan and Paw-Paw's thing, so I suggested a yearly beach trip for Kathryn. I think that will be more her style. We'll see if we can make that happen.