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.