Bismarck Vacation

This summer has blown by SO incredibly fast. Here it is, already August, and I am just now getting caught up on some of our amazing memories from June. Yikes! After the kiddos finished out Vacation Bible School and baseball, we headed to North Dakota for a 15-day retreat to our homeland to share time with friends and family.

We had loads of fun including the "regulars":  a trip to the Bismarck Zoo and Sertoma Amusement Park, miniature golf, swimming at the Elks Pool and Lil's pool, biking along the river, attending Art in the Park in Mandan, fishing with Grandpa and Grandma Clark, playing with cousins and celebrating Grandma Good's 71st birthday. We also attended my 30 year high school reunion which was a BLAST. It was wonderful sharing time with friends from all 3 high schools for 3 days straight. I am not sure who had more fun, Dave or me, but it was fantastic. We also shared time with Grandpa and Grandma Kemmet and spent some quality time catching up on their outside deck listening to dad's stories which always make us laugh hysterically. 

Something new this year, we decided to treat the children to a trip to Medora. We loaded up Grandpa Clark's mini home and headed to the Badlands in western North Dakota (oil country!). Grandpa and Grandma Clark came too. We camped for two nights; they stayed at the Badlands Motel which had a pool and came in handy during those hot 100 degree days. What a GREAT trip! We toured the Teddy Roosevelt National Park (all 37 miles) and saw live buffalo, wild horses, prairie dogs galore, deer and breathtaking scenery of the Badlands. We also went horseback riding, shopping and touring around Medora (old Western town), swam at the pool and attended the Medora Musical which was downright OUTSTANDING! Not only did we have perfect seats in the gorgeous outdoor ampitheater (right across the aisle from Mrs. Harold Schafer) on a perfectly clear summer night, but we got to sit right behind some new friends from Colorado we met at the pool.

When we returned to Bismarck, the kids treated Grandma Good (her birthday present from them) to an outdoor play at the Chidlren's Theatre for a rendition of Grease. We have been there twice now; the first and the last! Maybe they just had a bad night regarding  audio "quality" but they also needed to tone down the vulgar language; it is a childen's theater after all. At least the kiddos enjoyed the music and set. They sat in the front row on a blanket while Grandma, Dave and I sat back a few rows in our lawn chairs. 

All in all, we loved being back in North Dakota. The people of ND (Nodaks) are just so darn genuine, authentic, hard working and downright fun to be with. Please click on our brand new link, Shutterfly, in the right hand column of this blog to view our photos from our trip. There are two albums from our trip:  Bismarck Vacation and 30th Reunion. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making the memories.