North Dakota/Minnesota trip

We took the kids to North Dakota at the end of July. It was nice to take them to see the place where we are headed to live. That's right, I said we are going to live in North Dakota. Long story for another post. As we were flying into Fargo, Bella turned to me and said, "This doesn't really look like the middle of nowhere." Later after she saw Carrington (our new town), we discovered the middle of nowhere in her mind looks like Hurricane, UT. As we drove into Carrington, Sophie covered her eyes and in a sarcastic tone says, "Oh, come on!" These two were cracking us up. While we were there we were able to go to church in Jamestown (42 miles away from Carrington). It was nice to go and get an idea of what are life is going to be like. Jay and Cindy (the dentist and his wife) rented the Carrington pool on Monday and invited everyone who had kids around the same age as ours to come and swim. The kids had a blast. After we had a picnic in the park. Bella and Sophie have already made friends. Sam decided for the first time he liked the pool and even splashed a little. Tuesday I took the kids to a house called the Dakota Sun Gardens. Things actually can grow in North Dakota! This couple have these elaborate gardens on their property and they took us on a little tour. The pictures of the flowers are from the gardens. Bella and Sophie took turns taking pics. They actually did a really good job. We were also able to take the kids to the house we are going to buy. That was nice so they could see and visualize their rooms and home. Wednesday we went to a little town north called New Rockford and went to see a play called, "All Shook Up". Jay (Ben's new partner) is very musical and was in the play. We took the girls with us. It was full of lots of Elvis tunes. It was pretty cool to see Jay in action. Jay and Cindy have been so generous and have made us feel very welcome in their town.

On Thursday, we left ND and headed across the border to Minnesota. Jay and Cindy have a lake house that we went to for the remainder of the week. Can I just say, "Heaven"! This house is my dream. It's not just a little cabin, it's a full on 3-story house with everything you could want. Their own pool and hot tub, big yard, private dock with their boat in the water, theater room, and did I mention the lake! I woke up Friday morning looked out the back to the sight of pure glass on the lake. We didn't even get out on the water until about 11:30am and it was amazing water. Oh, and we were the only boat out there. What??? I could not believe it. The whole time we were out we were the only boat out there. I am still in shock. We got to water ski, the girls knee boarded and tubed. It was great! While we were there the girls got to fish for the first time. Bella caught 6 fish, Sophie caught 3. They really enjoyed that. We also swam in the pool a ton, had a fire pit, went and ate fried pickles, and had a surprise party for Cindy. It was an amazing trip. Did I mention, we can use the lake house whenever we want. I am so excited!!! Thank you to Jay and Cindy for making our week so incredible.