Date with Afton

As you can tell by previous posts, I make it a point to spend special time with all my nieces and nephews with yesterday being no exception. First, I took Abby horseback riding about a month ago. Then it was Gideon's turn and took him panning for gold and ever since, Afton has been asking when it will be our turn. Because I've been doing this with them for years now, I'm running out of cool things for us to do. Here is a list of all the places I have taken these three special kids: Numerous hikes through the hills, Legion lake paddle boating and playing, Sylvan lake swimming, Blue Bell stables, jewel cave, Old McDonald's Farm (one of their favorites), Bear Country, Reptile Gardens, movie theaters, Gold mines, miniature golfing, Flinstones, shopping, fancy dinners, Gultches of Fun, Crazy Horse, and now, Putz and Glo, Gemstone panning, and the wacky maze. I'm sure there's more but I just can't think of them. So if you have any new ideas of things to do in the hills that children will enjoy, just let me know!

Afton and I had a great time. I did her hair before we left which she absolutely loved, got her a special pop all of her own, and headed to Rapid City. She loved miniature golfing but refused to take the time to hold her club right or even hit the ball standing on the correct side of it. She wouldn't even let the ball stop before hitting it again in a mad attempt to make her target. I had to smile seeing so much of myself and instant gratification in her not caring about the little rules and more concerned with enjoying the moment. At first, I tried to get her to play by the rules; take turns hitting our balls, and doing things right, but who cares! We were just there for fun. So, after going through 18 holes in less than a half an hour we headed outside for the fun filled maze. Afton ran through that thing and I had a hard time keeping up. She'd find one of the many destinations and start yelling that she had found it while punching the card provided with a hole punch to show we had actually found the designated areas. Then she'd take off on another mad dash. However, we did finish by coming out the "Entrance" rather than "Exit" cause she started getting frustrated. After that, we got a bag full of dirt and she learned how to pan for gemstones. She loved finding her beautiful rocks and insisted on dumping them all out on a piece of paper in the car once we left trying to examine every one while they slid everywhere. I took her to the mall, bought her a new outfit which, may I add, I had to buy her a size 24month shorts in order for them to actually stay around her waist. She's 5 and 1/2 years old! Then took her for her favorite: McDonald's. We had a wonderful time and I value every minute spent with my heart. She's my poop scoopin' it lovin' it! Thanks for a wonderful afternoon baby ATON! Auntie loves you more than anything in the world.