Sunday Funday

Sunday we traveled to Jamestown, an hour drive away past cornfield after cornfield, to church.  The small ward was very welcoming, and curious about where our big crowd was from. It is refreshing that no matter where we go to church, LDS chapels are always comforting and feel like home.  

After church we visited the Biggest Buffalo in the world.  The kids had a blast checking him out.  And Isaac felt right at home.  I turned my back for a moment and the next time I saw him he had his pants around his ankles and was peeing.  That statement in itself pretty much sums up how his potty training has gone.  He knows when he has to pee; he prefers to go outside; and isn't shy about it. But he is doing well!

That afternoon back in Pettibone, Grandpa John headed up a community fish boil at the town park.  The fish boil was the main dish with a choice of walleye or crayfish.   Everyone in the town was invited to attend and to bring a dish to pass.

  

About 80 people showed up and we had fun visiting with the folks of Pettibone and experiencing the culture that exists there.  The kids spent hours playing at the playground and making and playing with new friends.

That evening we went to Lake Williams to go for a swim.  It was cool but refreshing.  It was a pretty place, but the lake felt naked! There were hardly any trees anywhere!  You don't find that back home!

Isaac decided to introduce Pettibone to the idea of lumberjack log rolling

The beginning of our adventure

The caravan left Rhinelander at 1:00 Friday afternoon.  The cars were filled with excitedly anxious children, parents, and grandparents.  Excited because the family vacation we had been awaiting was finally here; anxious because we were embarking on an almost 12 hour trip.  The kids started out great.  They busily colored and tinkered; watched movies and played games on the tablet.  

Minecraft kept Jack busy

It was our hope that they would fall asleep and sleep for the majority of the trip, however the first child in our car fell asleep at 9:56pm after our 4^th stop and chance to let the wiggles out. The quiet only lasted about 45 minutes, however before the crying began.  Isaac started crying, which woke Cass who also started crying.  We shushed them and offered comfort and they fell back asleep within 10 minutes.   We completed this cycle a few more times over the last few hours of our trip.

We made our way into Pettibone, North Dakota at about midnight.  After finding Hiedi and Chris, they took us to our home for the next week.  We stayed in the middle of thousands of acres of farmland, on a farm! With cattle!  We unpacked the vehicles and finally tucked the kids into bed at 1:30 am. (YES A.M.)  

The next morning it was so fun to wake up and discover all that surrounded us. Since we pulled in in the pitch dark, we had no idea where we were.  There were fields for as far as the eye could see... for miles.  Round hay bales dotted the fields near and far. (These had been the only thing I could see illuminated by our headlights for the last 4 hours of the trip.)  Hay bale towers (that I hoped to climb perhaps more than the kids did, but didn’t after a warning about raccoons) could be seen in the distance, a tire swing, tractors, balers and other farm equipment, sheds, barns, silos, calves, and gardens... everywhere we looked there were new things to see. Oh, and there were new smells too. The aroma of manure and fresh cut hay is ever present in these parts.

the early risers - and first to go exploring

It rained for most of the day Saturday but we found indoor activities to keep us busy.  We played with our cousins, painted finger nails, and made the short trip to town to experience the town’s only Café’s french toast, omelets, and pancakes.  (We were not disappointed.)  

 

We also found ourselves fishing in the rain, mooing at the newly returned grazing cattle (who stood in a group together and looked at us with ears cocked and eyes wide in utter amazement and astonishment), slip and sliding down the hill in the middle of town with Aunt Hiedi, feeding some horses nearby, and then escaping to fish yet again once the rain had let up a bit.  The troops who went out for the second round of fishing brought home 67 walleye and a northern.  In 2 hours.

imagine you hear them all mooooing

I just cracked up at these scaredy-cows! They all scrunched together at the sight of our moooing kids!

 

My favorite quotes from today were “Look at all those hay barrels!” and “Isn't it nice seeing cows all day long!?”  That evening Jack experienced something new when he got to go crayfish catching with Aunt Hiedi. They left about 9:30 and were gone quite late, because the crayfish come to the surface from the deep when it is dark outside. These crayfish would be a local delicacy available at our fish boil the next day.

The day ended with a bunch of tired but also excited kids.

getting back up to speed

Yikes! It has been a long time since I have posted!  I guess that would have to be due to the large amount of time we have been spending away from home.  Summers are just so busy -- you have to cram everything you want to do outside in the few warm summer months we do get when the kids are off of school.

After returning from a wonderful week down in Milwaukee in the beginning of August, I had just under a week to prepare for 10 days in North Dakota with the Lindner side of the family.  Andy and I were list-writing, planning, shopping, packing freaks!  We had extended planning sessions, and probably 5 sheets of notebook paper riddled with chicken scratch lists of things to buy, things to find, things to prepare, and things to pack.  I had so much to do that I even got a babysitter so I could get the shopping done and still maintain my sanity.  ( and 4 hours later, I was sure glad that there was a sitter at home because I would have never made it with my 4 helpers!)

We are home now.  We got home Sunday evening about 6:00 and promptly unpacked the vehicle.  The kids got their bikes out and stretched their legs.  Andy shop vac'ed the boat and truck out.  He then power washed both.  Who does this within an hour of being home?!  Andy does!  But I guess I shouldn't talk because by the time he had the vehicles taken care of, I had unpacked our bags, and the cooler, delivered all of our 'stuff' to the appropriate places and started a load of wash.  I guess you could say that we are pretty efficient in that respect.

Now that we have been home for a day and a half, however, I am thanking my prepared-ness stars that I thought ahead and got the school supplies purchased before we left.  I remember seeing a friend and fellow mother at Walmart right before we left, who had just returned from vacation.  She saw my cart of supplies and told me just how hard it was coming off of vacation mode; that she hadn't even thought of school and didn't even know what day school started. (to be honest I didn't know when our first day was either!)

I know exactly how she feels now.  Despite our uber-organized unpacking on Sunday, I would have to admit I have kinda been in a foggy zombie mode even since.  Heck, we all slept in til 8:30 the last two mornings (even Isaac! but unfortunately not Andy who gets up waaaay to early for work) and I haven't showered before noon.  Pretty sure it took us until afternoon to get the kids out of their pajamas and dressed, too.  So if I had to be organized enough to juggle three school supply lists right now, I'd be screwed.  I guess somehow I knew that and planned ahead. I guess I am pretty smart. *wink wink*

We had an incredible time in North Dakota.  Honestly it wasn't what I was expecting, really, at all.  I had envisioned way more fishing and hunting.  There was a good amount of it, but I would have to say that the place we stayed, a cattle farm took more of a front seat as far as experiences go.  It wasn't elegant, and it wasn't lavish and it wasn't pampering.  But it was relaxing and fun and educational; it was small town (think population of 69), and new experiences and refreshing and rejuvenating.  Honestly it was perfect.

Now that the fog is starting to lift, I am going to go through my hundreds of pictures and start a series of posts about our adventures in a little town called Pettibone.  It was a place full of adventures and some really great people.  People we now call good friends. I can't wait to sit down and relive all we were fortunate enough to experience.

We just returned from a wonderful time down in Milwaukee visiting mom and dad and Jenny's family.  We spent an entire fun filled week together and jammed as much stuff into it as we could.  After a day full of rummages, a visit to the mall, the kids played outside with their cousins and friends,  we went to a park, I got a few photo sessions in, we hit up Target (twice!), made our annual trip to the State Fair, and then visited with Great Grandma and Grandpa on our way back up north.

 A trip to Milwaukee wouldn't be complete without a stop at the Union Star Cheese Factory!

 

 We made our annual trek to the State Fair and made sure to stop at all the usual places.

We got our favorite treats... flavored milk, cream puffs, grilled cheese and WI baked potatoes. The kids loved the root beer flavored milk, and I decided to leave my chocolate standby behind and ventured to try the birthday cake flavored milk, which I ended up really liking. We also tried the other new flavor, Fruit Loops, but the general consensus was that it was pretty terrible.

There were no disappointed parties when it came to cream puffs! (perhaps only those who wished they could have had more!)

After we were good and sugared up, we headed over to the ride section. (Logical order to do things right?)
Jack rode down the giant slide, as he loves to do and then they each picked out a ride to go on.  Jack and I rode on the largest traveling coasted in the USA, the Comet, and I now question why it has been so long since I have been on a coaster.  It was a BLAST.

I spent the quality time with Dad that I had been needing, following his diagnosis.  It was just so nice to see him face to face and to get to hug him.  I must report that things are moving along nicely, and I truly believe that prayers are being answered.  One complication he was initially dealing with was a vessel blockage doctors had discovered during preliminary testing.    While we were there, Dad had a cardiac catheterization done. They were trying to gauge the blockage severity to determine how to proceed with treatment. The results were a little mind blowing.  After completion of the procedure, the doctors brought us almost unbelievable news.  There was no blockage.  The initial results that showed that there was a blockage were because of the severe anemia that dad was experiencing as a result of the carcinoma.  So in a blink, the cardiac precautions were dismissed and we could stop worrying about that complication.  It was as if a small weight was lifted.  

Dad started low dose chemo and radiation a few days ago.  They evidently work best together.  Side effects of such a regimen are not supposed to be as extreme as some higher dose regimens are.  It has only been a few days so he hasn't experienced much yet. Fingers crossed that it remains that way.  

We had a really great visit, and with all that we crammed into our week, it went all too fast!