Summer Vacation

My mother and I have decided to take the kids on a vacation this summer. We will be headed to North Dakota. What? you say, North Dakota? Yes, it is an odd summer vacation destination, but we are in fact, odd. We also have family there. We took Alyssa when she was 9 months old and had a lot of fun, but now we are taking an 8YO, 4YO(who can be a royal pain in the...well, you know) and a 2YO. Of course Alyssa is thrilled and has already started planning, in fact, last night she asked if she could start packing. The fun stuff for her will be the stops we make along the way. I have been searching and planning because that's what Type A's do!! Here's the tentative plan...

Day One ~ start from here and drive to Kansas City, MO. (estimated time, 5-6 hours) We will arrive in town around lunchtime and visit The Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park, KS(http://opkansas.org/_Vis/Farmstead/index.cfm). From the website:

Admission to the Farmstead is free. Please look for donation boxes to help support the best park in town, or consider becoming a Friends of the Farmstead Member today at our join and support page. Visit the Farmstead with your family and here's an example of what you will see:
Charming One-Room School House
Kwanza Indian Encampment
Interactive Dairy Barn with in-house 'Moovie'
Stocked Fishing Pond
Pony Rides
Playground
Authentic Mining Exhibit
Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners farm crops, veggies and flowers
Horse Drawn Hayride
Kiwanis Repose Garden
Butterfly Garden & Chimes
Concessions and Picnic Pavilions
Animal Exhibits including goats, chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs, cows, peacocks, prairie dogs, turtles, fish, bald eagle, hawk, bob cat, ducks

Whoo Hooo! Sounds fun!

Day 2 ~ We leave Kansas City and head for Sioux Falls, SD (estimated time 5-6 hours) I have not started searching for Sioux Falls activites, but that is the plan for today. I can't wait to see what there is to do! Arrival in Sioux Falls will be afternoonish.

Day 3 ~ We leave Sioux Falls and head to Minot, ND. Currently it is below freezing there, but they have beautiful summers (and HUGE mosqitos). As a kid, all the aunties and cousins would pile into the car and drive up north. One year there was SIX of us that went and we drove in my aunt's VW Rabbit...yeah, you heard me right, a VW Rabbit...we all had to lift our butts when there was a bump or we would scrape the ground!!!! And yes, my cousin did throw up once. Good Times, Good Times. All that trauma aside, I still like to go there! LOL While in Minot we will visit with family and just relax and have fun. We will be making a trip over to the Space Aliens Restaurant(http://www.spacealiens.com/) ...we missed it last visit and I couldn't have been more disappointed!

Along the way there will be hotels with pools (a must) and lots of dining out...which we LOVE to do. On the way back we will be stopping at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota (http://www.mountrushmoreinfo.com/) and the Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska(http://www.omahazoo.com/) .

TO BE CONTINUED...