South Dakota Trip Report - Introduction

A much younger Sophia takes her rightful place among the great Presidents.

I'm about to unveil a series of posts that have been nearly six months in the making. Around October of last year, the Hafner clan journeyed back to the Black Hills of South Dakota for my cousin Carol's wedding - a weekend-long spin through the homeland and through both sides of my family. Since two weeks in South Dakota isn't nearly enough time to pack in all of the fun and socializing we like to do, a weekend is such a short amount of time to reconnect that it's almost painful.


Okay, okay, here she is actually at Mt. Rushmore, not just in front of the picture at the airport. As you can see, Sophia very much enjoyed her time at this scenic National Park.

There's something about going back to South Dakota that is very special for me - after moving around a lot as a kid, the Black Hills was the one place that always felt like home. For many people, family is a burden. Not for me. For me, getting together with family is a chance for fun and relaxation. It's the one place we know we belong.


Sophia sacks out while Momma gets her caffeine fix in the airport.

Everybody in South Dakota - we enjoyed seeing you (although it was six months ago). We love you all and miss you even more intensely than before, if that's possible.

This also marked Sophia's first time on an airplane - an event we approached with much trepidation. We needn't have worried. Our worst fear - a baby who screamed and wiggled non-stop through a total of eight hours in the air, failed to come to pass. However, and fans of the poop shoot blog story should enjoy this, she reached new levels of creativity with her poop. More on that, and the trip as a whole, in later installments.


Here's Sophia with her Grandma & Grandpa Hafner, along with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Holland.

And, yes, I realize that these photos are six months old. She might have been smaller, but she was still cute - her screaming fit at one of America's most patriotic landmarks notwithstanding. Perhaps she just wasn't a fan of Teddy Roosevelt - he was a pretty polarizing figure.


I couldn't resist putting in another recent photo of Sophia, again with Kal Marie.