Summer Adventures Part 4: Denver Ho!

We traversed the wilds of Oklahoma and Kansas to finally reach the suburban homestead of the Flinders. This is where our company divided. Gabriel and Elijah were picked up by their Opa who took them to Disneyland and Legoland with some of their cousins. Meanwhile, Marc and I and three littler boys stayed in Denver to do Denvery things with uncle Marcus and aunt Rebecca. We were a little nervous about sending the twins on away on airplanes for several days without us but by all accounts they were pretty well behaved.
Our first little side trip in Denver was a small historical museum which included a little outdoor town. While we were touring the various buildings, some sheep escaped their pen and started running down the main pathway. There were no employees about so I took it upon myself  to herd the sheep back into the pasture and close the gate. From now on, I expect people to address me as "shepherdess".

Our next mini-adventure was to a place called "Tiny Town". It is what it sounds like... a town made of tiny buildings, more than 100 of them in fact. There is also a real steam engine that will take you for a ride to see more whimsical structures that can't be seen from the walking paths. The little boys loved it! It didn't hurt that there was a playground and soft serve ice cream. Beware the gift shop, however. Everything in there is outrageously priced, even for a gift shop. We just walked through it to see how much an engineer's hat would be. The answer was $20, which was too much for a child's hat even though they were cute. Unfortunately, while we were in there Tobias bumped into a plastic snow globe which fell on the floor, cracked and started leaking. You can find this quality of snow globe at any dollar store but we had to pay $10 just to throw it away. I hope you enjoy our generous "donation" tiny town. Anyway, we did have a lot of fun playing in and around the miniature buildings. Our favorite was a little greenhouse complete with a search and find puzzle hidden in the intricate details.

Of course, we also had to hit the zoo while we were there. We saw several baby animals, fed the lorakeets and watched the hyenas during feeding time. The boys were fascinated by so many of the animals. Here are some of their favorite things we saw.

Mommy and baby leopard. He was nursing when we first came in. So cute!

The green mamba, a snake Marcus became acquainted with on his mission in Cote D'Ivoire.

Benjamin is utterly unconcerned by the presence of a deadly snake.

Seahorses... "those don't look like horses Mommy."

The Komodo Dragon, the hardest kind of dragon to train.

It's a hip-hop-o-potamus, his lyrics are bottomless.

The boys could have watched these penguins forever.

David John found this convenient place to rest his map, if only it was a little bigger he is sure he could figure out where to go.

We're glad we paid the extra bucks for the wagon. By the end of the day we were all jealous of his supine position.

Marc hit a Rockies game while we were in town and got this cool shot of the stadium.

Happily, the twins did make it back from their California trip and we prepared to make the long drive home to North Dakota. Our last stop was to see our dear friends Carla and Kevin and their new baby Luana. For Tobias, it was love at first sight. He didn't want to stop staring at her and kept begging to hold her. I can't blame him, she is a doll. We played at the park and had a very sophisticated meal at McDonalds, the boys had seen a McDonalds with a playland and were desperate to go. It was so good to catch up with some of our Cleveland buddies.

And thus ended our insane summer road trip of awesomeness. We all made it home in one piece and lived happily ever after.... or something like that.

Some Like it Hot

And in North Dakota we love it when it gets hot, especially after a brutal winter. Of course, "hot" is relative. Growing up, my mom had a hard and fast rule that it had to be 82 degrees or hotter for us to run in the sprinklers in our backyard. We've had to be a little more lenient or the boys would hardly ever get out to play in the water. The boys took swimming lessons this month and, some days, they were in the outdoor pool when the temperature was in the mid-50s. Luckily, in the North Dakota the outdoor pool, which is only open in the summer, is heated. Gotta love it!

The boys used these water blasters, ostensibly, to help water the plants.

Of course, they watered each other too.

And joust with them. I don't think any of the blasters will last the entire summer.

Jami's in our plant-watering bucket bridgade.

Tobias is a water-baby. He could play in this bucket all day.

Look at all those bare legs! I love my shorts-wearing boys.

Many a popsicle was eaten on this bench by the boys... and Daddy.

The Belfield pool where we take lessons is awesome. It has playground for the siblings who are waiting.

It's 64 degrees out and he still wants to be in the kiddie pool.

The other boys took lessons too, but none of my pictures through the chain-link fence turned out. Benjamin is waiting for his turn.

What says "summer" more than a fire-pit?

I'm pretty sure they are roasting marshmallows in there. 

Tobias ruined their perfect kindling set-up, but luckily his brothers are forgiving.

Summer Adventures Part 3: Up a Creek

Next stop was the capitol of the great state of Arkansas, Little Rock. That's where my Mom's parents live, again in the same house she grew up in. Although the Adays live in the city, my Grandpa loves to hunt and fish and hike. There is a creek near their house where we would always go to play in the summers and look for freshwater mussels, wade in the water and sometimes fish. We took the boys to the creek and we played in Grandpa's back yard where he set up a little archery range. The boys thought shooting a bow was pretty awesome and I have to agree. There is something about pulling back that string and looking down the shaft of an arrow that just makes you feel cool like Robin Hood or an Amazon warrior princess. I wasn't a bad shot either.

We also got to go to my Uncle Sean's house for a BBQ. While there, the boys went fishing in the lake behind Sean's house. David John caught a fish that was too small to keep but the way the hook went in we weren't able to get it out without killing the fish. My Uncle said he should throw it in the lake and a bigger fish would eat it, but David John said that since he killed it, it was his responsibility to eat it. Uncle Sean dutifully cooked up the little fish and David John had his first experience in being the provider of his own meal. He felt pretty big and is eager to go fishing again.

We loved spending time with the Adays. I wish we could see all of this family more often. Maybe when the boys are little bit older, we'll just have to get a big RV and drive across the country all summer so we can see everyone. Anyway, after just a few days in Arkansas it was time for us to be on the road again.

Catching Fire(works)

Catching fire would also be an apt title for this post about the 4th of July in Dickinson. I have never seen anything like it. Technically, there are laws prohibiting the use of fireworks within city limits. I grew up in a town with the same rules. People usually bent them a little. You know, sparklers, maybe some bottle rockets or a roman candle. Here, citizens use fireworks so extravagant that we were unable to tell when the official city fireworks started and stopped. We could look in any direction and see some pretty amazing fireworks... for hours. We were with a large group of friends and acquaintances at a local park. In our group alone there must have been a thousand dollars worth of fireworks set off. I was torn between feelings of awe and fearing for my life. I was sure something was going to burn down at some point. My fears were grounded. At one point a large number of sky lanterns were launched and one of the dads handed out bottle rockets to all the boys over the age of eight so they could try and shoot the lanterns down.... over the heads of the rest of us. Yeah. Testosterone and fire at its best. Happily, nothing burned and we had a wonderful time. I guess here in ND we just can't contain our patriotic fervor, we're on fire.