North Dakota

It's hard to believe it almost been a month since I've updated the blog but we haven't been around much. On July 11th we took Buttons back to the vet. The vet said his eye is healing nicely and she won't have to remove the eye, we'll have to wait a few more weeks before we can tell if he has sight or not. On the 15th Vaynn and Mason went swimming at the local pool as a reward for completing the summer reading program at the library. On Saturday the 16th Valynn and Mason went swimming at Mason's baseball coache's house for an end of the season party.

On Monday the 18th the kids and I loaded up and headed off to North Dakota. We spent Monday night with our friends the Scheel's in Mankato, MN. We had a great time, the kids played outside the whole evening and then had sleep overs with their kids in their rooms. Tuesday was a long drive to North Dakota but the kids were great. I'm very blessed with how well the kids travel, that's not to say we don't have our moments but overall it's usually smooth driving. We had a good time in ND but unfortunately this wasn't a trip of fun as much as work this year. A week before leaving my parents got 1 1/2" of mud from the sewer in the basement. A lot of time was spent trying to get the basement in order before the burial. I got put to work mowing, cleaning pool, painting, cleaning, and cooking. This isn't to say we didn't have time for fun. The kids got to go swimming more then they have in the past, usually with Uncle Brady because the water was too cold for me. The kids are getting much better in the water. Mason jumped off the board without his lifejacket. Valynn can do a flip off the board. Kyra will get in the water and swim all over the shallow end with a floaty. Kyleigh also is a fish in water. They got to sleep out in the camper, basement, living room, and bedroom or wherever they chose to sleep. Kyra and Kyleigh drove the Gator and Valynn and Mason got to drive the golf cart. We also got to meet Cousin Joy.

On the 29th Mark flew into Minot. The kids were excited to see him. Friday night all the aunts, uncles, and cousins came over for supper. It was great seeing everyone. Some I haven't seen since our wedding, others I saw back in May at Tyler's wedding. On Saturday we had my Grandma's burial and lunch was served by the Auxillary and then went out to Dick and Linda's for supper. We had a great time visiting everyone at Dick and Linda's because it was 1:00 in the morning before we got back to Lignite. Valynn got to sleep over at her cousin Elizabeth's house. It sounds like the girls had fun and cousin Jerome survived a houseful of girls.

On August 1st we dropped Mark off at the airport in Bismarck and spent the night with Brady and Jodi. Tuesday night was spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Rinkel. Wednesday we stopped to see my college roommate Christy and her two boys, we also saw Aunt Bonnie briefle. We made it home late Wednesday night. Here are some pictures and video from our travels.