Greetings from North Dakota!
Mostly we just did a whole lot of this:
Laying around. Talking, watching TV, reading, and cuddling with the Boofers.
This makes for an awesome vacation. But not very exciting pictures. Usually I was too lazy to even get up and find the camera.
We got to see Aunt Kathy and Grandma Caroline. Or, as Frankie calls her, "Grandma Hat" (instead of Grandma Pat). Grandma and Grandpa Anderson; and Nick and Alison, made the journey, too.
We also:
Went on walks. Frankie liked seeing the pump and going in the old barn. He was disappointed that there were no animals inside.
We went on drives, where we ignored seat belt laws as long as we were on the dirt roads. Frankie thought it was cool. These were probably my favorite moments of the trip. We would stop and moo at the cows. At one point, the cows were closer to us as we mooed at them. They surveyed us skeptically, and then all started running.
We created a stampede. I was laughing so hard.
We took Grandpa's truck for one of our rides.
We got see Great Grandma Ethyl. Frankie took this picture. Kid's got skills. One of these days I need to do a post of Frankie photos.
We ate popcorn that was popped on the stove and then topped with butter and salt. It was amazing. My mouth waters just thinking about it.
Jeremy eradicated many a gopher.
We rocked out to Rock Band, and I failed to get any pictures. But Frankie took this one of the guitar for me. Frankie liked Rock Band. He told Jeremy one day "it's game time!"
We played cards.
And shot some pool.
We visited Jeremy's Dad's family where Frankie entertained us all.
And styled some awesome shades from Grandma's toy drawer.
Photo ops with Grandpa Rob:
Great Grandma Lois:
And Great Grandpa Chuck:
We also visited Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom at their house, and saw Aunt Becky, too. We walked around the farm a bit, viewing all the tractors and equipment. I'm so sad I forgot my camera that day. Frankie even got to climb into a huge shiny tractor. I didn't know tractors could be so huge. Or so shiny.
Lunch at Kenmare's famous Pizza Hub.
Complete with some games of Pac Man.
After Pizza we stopped at Liver's Chill and Freeze for some ice cream. I ordered a Grasshopper Sunday thinking it would have the cookies smashed up on it. Instead it had this strange green goo. It was sort of frightening.
Alison and Nick were more pleased with their butterscotch Sunday.
Frankie, for whatever reason, requested a blueberry Sunday. We have never had blueberry - anything really - at our house. He was fine with it, until he tried the butterscotch. Then he wasn't so sure about his decision. Notice the booster seat thing he's sitting in, we bought it in Bismarck (where the airport was), because it was $45 cheaper then renting one with our rental car. Ridiculous, no?
On the last day I went and sat in a field to paint a little study of this abandoned church. Isn't it awesome? It's so crazy, just out there all by itself. The sun came out for a few minutes and I was able to get this picture with it lit, so I can paint it again.
We were sad to go. It was a good break, from life and from the heat. I've got to admit, North Dakota is growing on me. I was humming "America the Beautiful" to myself the whole time we were there.Until we meet again...
