4th of July - Spearfish Getaway

We signed up for a family retreat over the 4th of July weekend. It was through the chapel on base, and it was about building better families. The whole thing was free, and we got a weekend away in Spearfish, so we figured why not? We arrived Friday afternoon and checked into the hotel. We got a 2 room suite! That was so nice. Payton, Eleanor, and Carley claimed the fold out couch in the living area, and Maggie, Amelia, and Eric and I claimed the master bedroom with the king size bed. We all fit! The first order of the weekend was to the waterpark. We had not been to this waterpark since the summer we moved here. This time it was much more fun. Nobody was afraid of the water, and we all had a great time. Payton is finally old enough to go down water slides, so she did that and had a blast. We then went back to the hotel for dinner, then bed. The next morning, we dropped the kids off in a banquet room that they had set up for childcare, and us parents went to some speakers about family communication. It was really great. We learned a lot about how to communicate better with our kids. We will for sure use a lot of it when they are a bit older. After that, we were pretty much free until that night, where we headed downtown to the carnival and to watch fireworks. The girls had a blast. Payton rode the tilt a whirl with me for the first time. Phew. I barely made it through. I forgot how much that really spins you! Next time she might need to ride with Eleanor. The next day, we got up, and drove the 45 minutes home. It was the perfect way to spend a weekend. (need to add pictures)