Counting Down the Days: Dakota Splashdown

A couple of weeks ago, while exploring the mall alone, I discovered an indoor water park.  The kids were SO excited when I told them and were promised a trip before school started.

David was not too sure about the whole thing at first.

Eli, Ruby, and Jason went right for the three water slides.  On the first one, Jason lost his glasses.  After some diving, his glasses were recovered, discovered to be someone else's glasses, and finally the right pair was found.  Seriously, he has this thing with loosing important stuff at water parks!

After a few minutes of clinging, David was warmed up and ready to go... down the frog and duck water slides over and over and over....

 

A wonderful time was had by all.  It has been so much fun to discover all the fun indoor things to do here in Minot.  They will really come in handy during those -25 degree winter days!

Play Date

We had a wonderful play date last week with some friends we met at a local park.  They moved here about 2 weeks after we did-- from Texas!

I got this shot before our friends arrived.  I almost deleted it, but I decided David's expression was too funny to get rid of!





This sphere is actually supposed to be a globe, which David is attempting to prevent from spinning.

We checked out all the little buildings in this Scandinavian "village", but really, the kids' favorite thing to do was roll down the big hills...

... or maybe it was to climb on the rocks!

... or was it splashing in what they referred to as the pee of "pinata guy"!  ... or playing "Would you rather?", the stomach-turning version!



I wonder if Ruby was telling the troll all her secrets?

Luckily, no children fell into the waterfall in the making of this blog post!  (As much as they tried!)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Lucky 13

August 14, 1999

August 14, 2012

Take Me Out to the Fair

This year the kids and I had the opportunity to attend two fairs.  Our county fair in Indiana and the state fair in North Dakota.  The county fair was filled will running into friends...

LOTS of sensory experiences...

(The woman who owned this animal was looking for "R" names for her crew.  When she met our Ruby she proudly declared she'd be using that name on the next newborn!)

and good-byes.



The North Dakota State Fair was filled with time with dad...



and lots of rides...

(Note to self:  35 year old women should not ride the teacups.  Ever.  Again.  That is all.  Although hearing David giggle uncontrollably through the whole thing almost made it worth it.  Almost.)

great food, and one game that a certain 10 year old could not be talked out of!



The Best of June 2012

It's already August and I haven't even shared most of June!  I guess there's just been a few other things going on the past couple of months (wink, wink)!  To save myself some energy, but not skip the amazing memories of June, I'm putting the best of June into one blog post.

1.  Our baby boys turns 2!  Although we had originally planned an all-out Sesame Street party, David's birthday was just right for our little guy.  I made him an Elmo "fruit cake" and we took him to the local outlet mall to ride the Elmo car.

2.  Carmen comes for a visit!  My friend Carmen and her family made to trek back to Indiana for a wonderful week of fun.  I said it last year and I'll say it again this year, when Carmen comes, it's like a vacation for all of us!  Water balloons, water gun fights, Wii time, indoor playground, and pizza lunch-- perfect!

3.  Field trip to Clifty Falls.  Although it was pushed back due to Jason's phone interview with Ackerman, the five of us took a field trip to Clifty Falls.  It is such a gorgeous place and the last time Jason and I had been there was when I was pregnant with Eli (11ish years ago, yikes).  I was so thankful we were really able to enjoy a day together while Jason was out of work.

4.  Interview trip to Minot, ND.  Jason and I were able to go to ND for a face-to-face interview, without children!  Although it was a quick and exhausting trip, it was nice to take it all in-- just the two of us!

5.  Laura's baby shower.  My friend Laura was expecting a long-awaited baby girl and Ruby and I were able to share in the fun.  Here is Laura sniffing candy bars inside a diaper!  As it turned out, this was the last time I got to see Laura before we left Indiana.

6.  "Daddy Day Camp".  One very hot afternoon we watched "Daddy Day Camp" and then had our own egg and 3-legged races.  Other than the really bad case of "road rash" I got from trying to catch up with Ruby and Jason, a great time was had by all.  The kids talked about that for at least a week!

7.  Camps.  Eli participated in Lego Robotics camp while Ruby took part in theatre camp.  Even though both kids needing to be dropped off and picked up from their camps at different times during the same week led to a lot of drive time for Mom and Dad, they both loved the experiences they had.  On Friday, Ruby had a small roll in "Willy Wonka".  I think her love for musical theatre has begun (Hum, I wonder where she got that from!).

8.  Soul Surfer.  One evening we rented "Soul Surfer" from Red Box (Haven't seen it?  Rent it.  Now.  I'm not kidding!).  To go along with the movie, we made Nutter Butter flip flops and had coconut M&Ms.  It was an all-around delicious night!

Wow!  What a June!

Why Not Minot?

Tomorrow the kids and I say good-bye to Indiana.  And by Saturday, we will be saying hello to our new home... Minot, ND!

Jason left on the 4th of July to find a rental for us and to begin work here...

 

Ruby can't stop talking about seeing this "pinata guy" in person!

And we are all looking forward to seeing Dad again (and I'm looking forward to the spa day I have been promised!)!

This is easily one of the hardest things we've ever done.  We're saying good-bye to family, we're saying good-bye to amazing friends, and we're saying hello to the unknown, the scary.  This, though, is exactly where we believe God wants us to be right now.  And we will follow.  So... Why not, Minot?