I guess you could classify today as "animal" day in Rapid City. We heard about a place called Roo Ranch, where you get to get up close and personal with Kangaroos. So we thought that would be a unique experience. And we decided to go today because it was "Wallaby Wednesday" so kids get in for 1/2 price, plus we had a buy one get one half off for the adult admission. And after visiting we were very grateful we had not paid full price!It seems to be in its up and coming stages, with hopes of one day being a really cool place. As of right now, it isn't much to see. They do have quite a few different breeds of Kangaroos and Wallaby's as well as some other unique animals like Sloths & Possums! They also had a sugar glider- which made the kids very excited as it reminded them of their own Kamikazee back at home. (Rachel now thinks she needs to paint a closet black and give the sugarglider full reign to try and trick it into thinking it is night time when it really isn't!)
The only upside of our visit to the Roo Ranch is that the kids got to pet a Kangaroo named Matilda. They thought that was pretty cool. Lincoln thought it was so much fun he decided to put her ear in his mouth!! Nasty! we also saw white Kangaroos which was really different. I can not believe how many "white" animals we have seen so far on our trip. We saw a White gator, a white buffalo, and now a white kangaroo!
The adults were a little disappointed with the "Roo Ranch" so we hoped our next stop would prove to be more worthwhile! And I can now saw it truly was an experience that the kids should remember for awhile, for a number of different reasons.
The place we took them was "Old McDonalds Farm" and there was a ton to do there. The 4 older kids got to ride a pony. Cutler loves to point out that he rode a horsey and the horsey had to pee! (Basically, the worker placed the children up on the ponies and started them around the enclosure. When all of a sudden one of the ponies stopped and peeed! It was the pony right in front of Cutler so I guess he had a pretty good view!) They also got to pet baby calves and feed them with a giant baby bottle, feed chickens, watch a pig race (Oscar Meyer won), pet huge horses, look at baby chickens
and rabbits and watch Mountain goats high over head on a small bridge. And if that was not enough we got our first taste of real South Dakota rain. It started to sprinkle a little during the Pig Race but it subsided enough to continue the exploration of the park and to let the kids ride the train. (Which really isn't a train at all- it is small compartments being pulled by a small John Deere Lawn mower. But the kids liked it no matter what it really was!) We even started to feel like they should have named it differently there at the end- something like Noah's Ark would have been a perfect fit! 
And it wasn't because there were 2 of every animal, it was because of the downpour of rain. This was no drizzle- it was a torrential downpour! We made a run to a covered picnic table hoping it might let up, but it just kept getting harder. So we made a run for the gift shop/entrance/exit! By the time we made it there it was really coming down, so much that the shop itself was flooding! So we sent Rachel out to move the car closer to the front. Then we sent all the big kids and then my Mom and I made a run for it. But by the time Rachel was done helping Cutler into the car, putting Mabry in, and throwing the strollers in the back, she looked like she had just gotten out of the shower. 
But even though we were quite wet and a little chilly we did not let that stop our schedule of events for the day. Instead we just pressed on to the next stop- Reptile Gardens! Lucky for us it was open and the rain stopped. So we got to enjoy the many different shows and exhibits it has to offer. We saw the bird show, the snake show and the Alligator Show. Rydman's favorite show was the Snake Show. He thought it was really cool how the guy handled all the different types of snakes. Cutler really liked the Rattlesnakes. I think the girls favorite part were the Prairie Dogs. They had tons of fun going down into an observation bubble that allowed them to get really close to the animals! They also had a chance to pet a baby alligator and a Giant Tortoise! 
Some of the other things we saw there was a giant Alligator called Maniac. He is 16 feet long!! You think some of the other ones are big until you see him. (We felt kind of bad for him though, because his "home" was not much bigger than he was. We also saw a huge Boa Constrictor and Python. Let me just saw they have a lot of snakes I would never want to meet in a dark alley, or a lit one for that matter!! What is really nice about the farm and the garden is that we can go back whenever we want while we are here! So even though we got rained out at the farm we can go back without having to pay again. (At least not for the admission part- the pony rides and train rides are extra of course!)
There is still so much to do here in South Dakota that we have decided to stay until Saturday! That gives us an extra day to fit in some more fun things!!
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