We've made it to the legendary North Dakota and for some reason, the kids were being legendarily crazy.
 |
| Jason, Choice, Ryder, Shiloh, Tate, and Juliann |
Choice managed to get his arm and head stuck in a Frisbee. We spent a good 10 minutes trying to calm him down and maneuver his arm and head in just the right way to free him from this entrapment. There is a never a dull moment.
 |
| Choice |
We made it to Fargo for our visit. I should've known by the way the kids were behaving on the way that this was going to be a challenge for them to sit still. We tried to tie up our lose ends before entering their home.
 |
| Ryder, Juliann, Tate, Choice, and Shiloh |
 |
| Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
 |
| Choice, Tate, Juliann, Shiloh, and Ryder |
The kids were fascinated by the intercom system in the townhouse complex. They loved that we needed to call the house to be granted access into the building.
 |
| Juliann, Shiloh, and Tate |
 |
| Shiloh, Tate, Choice, Juliann, and Ryder |
Sweet Dorothy was waiting for us in the hallway in front of the entrance to their home. She was delightful from the onset and the kids really took to her.
 |
| Ryder, Shiloh, Dorothy, Tate, and Juliann |
 |
| Ryder, Choice, Dorothy, Shiloh, Tate, and Juliann |
Dorothy and her husband Greg are from North Dakota. They have a home in Mesa, however, to escape the winter. We were grateful to be able to meet up with them today and thank them for the generosity they showed our family by reaching out and donating after the Yarnell Hill fire. The kids made a thank you card for them out of the art project Shiloh created.
 |
| Ryder, Dorothy, Juliann, Choice, Tate, and Shiloh |
They invited us into their home where we are blessed to meet Greg, and their son Tim. Such a beautiful family and a lovely home. My fear set in when I remembered how awful the children had been behaving this morning.
 |
| Juliann, Dorothy, Tate, Shiloh, Tim, and Greg |
They were doing well at the beginning. Shiloh found a new friend in their dog, Cosmo. He was a sweetheart and Shiloh gave him plenty of TLC.
 |
| Dorothy, Ryder, Cosmo, Juliann, Shiloh, Choice, and Greg |
The boys cuddled up with Greg and Dorothy and shared with them the thank you cards and Be Better Bands we brought for them.
 |
| Greg, Ryder, Tate, Choice, and Tim |
I was able to chat with Tim about what he is up to in his life. I was envois to hear that he is moving to the big island of Hawaii in the next couple of weeks. We may have to pay him a follow-up visit. :-)
 |
| Tim, Tate, and Juliann |
Then all at once... THE CHAOS KICKED IN. Choice and Tate were literally bouncing off the walls. These are always such humbling moments as a parent. It is tricky to discipline the kids without looking like a lunatic in front of these dear people who have welcomed us into their home. Especially because I can go from 0 to 60 when the kids are whining or not showing manners.
 |
| Choice |
 |
| Choice |
Greg and Dorothy kindly said they didn't mind. As brand new grandparents, they appreciated learning how to child-proof their home. I wish we could have brought a different form of assistance to them. Unfortunately, today we came with only this bag of tricks. Aye yay yay.
 |
| Greg, Dorothy, Choice, and Tate |
 |
| Greg, Dorothy, Tate, Tim, Choice, and Ryder |
 |
| Greg, Dorothy, Choice, Tate, and Tim |
 |
| Tate, Greg, Dorothy, Tate, and Ryder |
They were wise to suggest that we go outside to the playground. Look how amazingly beautiful it is there...
 |
| Cosmo, Ryder, Choice, Dorothy, and Juliann |
The kids had a great time playing while I was able to visit with Greg and Dorothy about what prompted them to reach out and bless us.
 |
| Tate, Choice, and Ryder |
I've learned so many different reasons for why people feel compelled to serve. That call to act sometimes comes from a commonality with the tragedy, i.e...they are part of the fire service, they have experienced a similar loss in their family, they grew up without a parent or lost a spouse, etc. Other people feel connected to our family, i.e...they have four kids, they are a single parent, they live in Arizona and it hit home, etc... And then there are those, like Greg and Dorothy, who are just thoughtful and loving for no other reason than it felt like the right thing to do. Greg tenderly said, "We couldn't not do something. We were so saddened by the tragedy and wanted to do whatever we could."
 |
| Dorothy, Juliann, Tim, and Greg |
 |
| Ryder and Choice |
 |
| Shiloh |
 |
| Cosmo |
 |
| Ryder, Tate, and Shiloh |
 |
| Ryder, Tate, Shiloh, Greg, Tim, Dorothy, and Juliann |
 |
| Shiloh and Tate |
 |
| Cosmo, Dorothy, Tim, Greg, and Ryder |
 |
| Greg, Dorothy, Juliann, and Cosmo |
 |
| Tate and Shiloh |
 |
| Tate, Ryder, and Shiloh |
 |
| Tate, Ryder, and Shiloh |
 |
| Choice |
The only challenge other than the kids bouncing off the walls, was the wind. Dorothy shared that even though Chicago is known as the windy city, she thinks Fargo gives it a run for its money. It was so insanely windy, I thought Choice may blow away. They let me borrow a jacket knowing that I am a wimp from Arizona.
 |
| Dorothy, Greg, and Juliann |
 |
| Greg, Dorothy, and Juliann |
 |
| Choice, Juliann, Tim, Dorothy, Shiloh, Ryder, and Cosmo |
I had such a wonderful afternoon with this sweet family. With their help, we were even able to pull everyone together for a picture in their backyard.
 |
| Tim, Shiloh, Dorothy, Cosmo, Ryder, Tate, Juliann, Greg, and Choce |
 |
| Tim, Shiloh, Dorothy, Cosmo, Ryder, Tate, Juliann, Greg, and Choice |
 |
| Tim, Shiloh, Dorothy, Cosmo, Ryder, Tate, Juliann, Greg, and Choice |
Before saying goodbye, Dorothy put together a delicious snack for us. Each kid had their own bowl of juicy fruit. They were ecstatic!!
 |
| Choice, Dorothy, Tate, Shiloh, and Ryder |
 |
| Juliann, Dorothy, Greg, Choice, Tim, Tate, Shiloh, and Ryder |
 |
| Tate, Shiloh, Ryder, and Choice |
 |
| Tate and Shiloh |
 |
| Tate |
When the kids were done with their snack, they brought Greg, Dorothy, and Tim out front to show them our home on wheels. They were so encouraging and supportive of our journey. Remarkable people, doing their part to Spread the Better in North Dakota!
 |
| Shiloh, Rusty, Juliann, Greg, and Dorothy |
God bless you Greg and Dorothy for blessing our lives and easing our burdens. We feel honored to have been invited into your home, and into your hearts. We hope to see you soon. And Tim...get ready for some surprise visitors at your new place in Hawaii!
 |
| Shiloh, Juliann, Rusty, Greg, and Dorothy |
We said goodbye to Fargo and headed to Dickinson.
Dickinson is home to an amazing dinosaur museum. All of the bones on display have been dug up here in North Dakota by paleontologists. The kids were mesmerized.
 |
| Ryder, Choice, Tate, Shiloh, and Jayce |
 |
| Jason, Choice, Tate, Shiloh, Ryder, and Juliann |
 |
| Choice, Tate, Shiloh, Ryder, Juliann, and Jason |
Their energy was expressed in different ways while in the presence of prehistoric dinosaurs.
 |
| Choice, Shiloh, Tate, and Ryder |
 |
| Choice, Juliann, Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
 |
| Juliann, Tate, and Choice |
 |
| Shiloh, Juliann, and Choice |
The boys liked the tyrannosaurus-rex the best.
 |
| Shiloh and Juliann |
Shiloh was more fascinated by the triceratops.
 |
| Jayce, Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, Juliann, and Choice |
 |
| Juliann and Shiloh |
 |
| Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, Juliann, and Choice |
I preferred this terrifying dinosaur...
We spent a couple of hours viewing the dinosaur exhibits and educating ourselves a bit.
 |
| Shiloh and Choice |
 |
| Shiloh, Choice, and Juliann |
 |
| Tate, Ryder, Juliann, and Shiloh |
 |
| Choice and Juliann |
We were moving right along until we came upon this display...
It is a representation of the human skull past, present and future. The kids were beyond amused by this. Ryder in particular couldn't stop talking about it. In fact, he expressed over and over again how afraid he was for people to look like that in the future. The wide eyes and oversized cranial cavity for the brain was on his mind for the rest of the day. The alien-like head shape was a bit terrifying for him. I'm not sure that I helped the situation by explaining to him that we would all be dead long before that happens.
 |
| Choice, Juliann, Shiloh, Ryder, Jayce, and Tate |
 |
| Shiloh and Ryder |
 |
| Choice and Shiloh |
 |
| Shiloh |
 |
| Jason, Choice, and Juliann |
 |
| Tate and Ryder |
 |
| Juliann, Choice, and Ryder |
 |
| Tate |
Jason was a huge help keeping the kids calm and quiet.
 |
| Ryder and Jason |
 |
| Choice and Jason |
 |
| Tate and Jason |
 |
| Tate and Jason |
At the end of the museum, there's a real dinosaur bone that they encourage you to touch to get an idea of the size and feeling of these bones.
 |
| Choice, Tate, Shiloh, and Ryder |
 |
| Choice, Tate, Shiloh, and Ryder |
 |
| Juliann and Jason |
We couldn't stay long as we had more of North Dakota to see. We made our way to Medora and I immediately fell in love with this quaint little town. It reminded me of a movie set without any crime or pollution. Everyone you passed smiled and said hello. It was serene and almost make believe. We spent several hours there taking it all in.
We are lucky to have Jayce on this portion of the trip with us. We borrowed him while in Minnesota and he has been traveling with us. The kids love him to pieces and it is fun for Jason to have his nephew around.
 |
| Jayce, Rusty, Shiloh, Choice, and Ryder |
 |
| Choice, Rusty, Ryder, and Shiloh |
We experienced so many neat little things while in Medora. We stopped by the theater where everyday at 3:00 they have a theatrical reenactment of Teddy Roosevelt. The actor was phenomenal and there was a packed house.
 : |
| Jason |
 |
| Tate, Juliann, and Choice |
We stopped by the tiny Medora Fire Department.
 |
| Choice, Ryder, Jason, Shiloh, Juliann, and Tate |
Their bank and post office that look like they are straight off the set of an old western film.
 |
| Juliann, Jayce, Shiloh, Tate, Choice, and Ryder |
And rounded off our day with a cherry on top. A horse carriage ride around the park and downtown area.
 |
| Ryder driving horses |
They asked Ryder if he would like to drive the horses. In order to do so, he had to take an oath. They asked him to raise his right arm to the square and repeat these words...
"I, Ryder, do solemnly swear that I will take seriously my job as a horse driver and when I am 16 years old I will not ask for a car, but a couple of horses instead."
HAHAHA, I'm not sure he'll be getting any sort of horse power until he can save the money for it himself. Better start now son.
 |
| Ryder |
 |
| Shiloh, Ryder, Choice, Tate, and Jayce |
His passengers seemed to enjoy his driving, for the most part.
 |
| Choice, Shiloh, Ryder, Tate and Jayce |
 |
| Choice |
 |
| Choice, Tate, Ryder, and Shiloh |
 |
| Tate, Choice, Ryder, and Shiloh |
My favorite part of the ride was the serenade by the host. He wore a microphone and was equipped with a sound system on board. He sang old country songs as we trolled along. It was like stepping back in time. We all had an amazing experience.
 |
| Tate, Choice, Ryder, and Shiloh |
 |
| Ryder, Shiloh, and Jayce |
 |
| Ryder, Shiloh, and Jason |
 |
| Juliann, Jason, Jayce, Tate, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder |
I would be remise if I forgot to mention the beautiful Clydesdales. Mom on the left is 21 years old, and daughter on the right is 11. She must have gotten her height from her Dad.
 |
| Shiloh, Choice, Juliann, Ryder, and Tate |
All good things must come to an end and we headed back to the open road. As long as the day was, and with a line up of wonderful memories, there was still one more beautiful site to behold. The sun was dark orange and low on the horizon. It was a soothing reminder to calm down and enjoy the beauty around us.
We will continue to stay the course. Next stop...Montana and Wyoming.
:
No comments:
Post a Comment