Kaye K and Big Daddy!

My parents are in the states for an extended furlough and started their time in the US with us in Minot!  We were blessed to have them live with us for a full month, which included plenty of fun adventures and a lot of just living life together.  

Acting out one of the battles from the Old Testament with army men =)

testing out Rooke's new clubs on a junior course in town

baking cupcakes for their tea party

making trips to the library is always a part of our week

the kids love a good Dairy Queen treat!

new outfits for everyone from Uncle Steve and Aunt Vallerie!

Kaye K got to take Bridgette to her summer music class

Losing his first tooth!

Fourth of July lunch: fried chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, deviled eggs, and baked beans.  YUM!

We visited the Scandinavian Heritage Park and were able to go inside the stave church

A day at the zoo . . . look how close they are to those lions!

Kaye K loves cheetos . . . a special treat for our zoo picnic

Their special tea party

We made it to the state fair on the last day!  We enjoyed great weather, pig races, farm animals, barrel races, and lots of fried food!

The gift my parents gave us in spending a month living life with my family is priceless.  They listened, loved, cared, served, cleaned, played, babysat, mowed, read, encouraged, hugged, and were a blessing each day we spent together.  

Camping in Medora

I've shared before that camping in the summer with my family are some of my favorite childhood memories.  Ryan and I hope to create the same opportunities for our kids.  This summer, my parents took us camping!  We headed to Medora, about four hours away, and completely worth the drive.  The scenery was beautiful, the national park was a fun place to explore, and the outdoor musical was surprisingly entertaining!

This was our spot.  See that pop-up camper?!  A while back I went to an open house at the outdoor rec. store on base solely for the free burgers they were serving (come get dinner, kids!).  I threw my name in the prize hat and ended up winning a free boat rental!  I asked if they would swap for a free camper rental, and they said YES!  So we took the camper, and don't you know that was the highlight of the kids' anticipation in our camping adventure?!

Rooke said his favorite part of camping was riding his bike around the campground.  His spirit of adventure was uncontainable!

There were a few different trails from the campground that led to the Little Missouri river.  We took this one each morning to go throw and/or skip rocks, whichever your skills allowed for!

The Medora Musical has been running for 50 years and we were pleasantly surprised by the performance.  The town exists for tourism in conjunction with the national park, and was a quaint spot to enjoy.

We spent time on both full days we were in Medora to drive through Theodore National Park, and do some light hiking.  The landscape was beautiful, offering strike contrast to the forever-prairie-land we typically see in Minot.  

While driving on the first day, someone in the van spotted that bison on the hill.  See the brownish-looking spot?  We were so excited to have actually spotted a bison!  Little did we know what was waiting for us just around the corner . . .

. . . this!  At least twenty bison had stopped traffic and we timed it perfectly to get a front row seat.  They are massive and strange-looking creatures.  It felt surreal to see so many up close.

The kids worked on getting their Junior Ranger badges.

Our last morning at the campground before driving back home.  Camping is always a lot of work, especially when you go with young kids, but it was worth it!