First trip to the farm

We went to Blacktail for the first part of the day, but I don't think I took any pictures. That's pretty unusual! Janette and Gary weren't there, so we mostly just hung out on the deck with Karen, Dawson, Vanessa and Danica. We took the paddle boards out a few times, and I saw my cousin Miriah when I paddled over to her place. It was nice to be out there, even if we didn't do too much. It was one of the things we always like to do when we're in ND. Can't have a summer trip without visiting the lake. 

We had a really nice time out on the farm this evening. My brother has done so much work to get things cleaned up and looking nice out here. He had our old trailer house hauled off and he bought a new one. He also painted the garage and the quonset to match the house. It's so peaceful out here, and it was a beautiful evening. 

One of the first things I do is to take a walk down by the creek. There's no sign of where we spread my dad's ashes in the water. We should placed a marker of some kind there, but the creek changes so much each year when it freezes and thaws, so we'll just have to remember. They haven't had too much rain, but it does look pretty green down by the creek. 

Dave was taking a picture of me and Ava, but Tyler wanted in on it. 

I'm so glad my brother finally got a new place out here. He had been staying in his 5th wheel for the last few summers, and the old trailer was pretty run down. I think it was about 50 years old, and hasn't been kept up very well in the last ten years or so. The new place is really nice, just what he needs out there. 

He also put up two more of these giant grain bins, so he now has three large ones. The smaller ones are all still there too, but they're pretty old and aren't fully sealed anymore. 

I'm not sure if it was Karen or Tyler who took some of these photos below as they both had their good cameras out snapping shots. 

I think Tyler took these, and I love them! Ava is so beautiful, even though I know she doesn't like these photos. It's so crazy to think of how much younger she was the last time she was out here. 

After saying that, I had to go find the last photo she would have taken at the farm, in July 2022. She had Covid, so we made her wear a mask or stay away from us. Poor girl, such bad timing. 

Ok, back to 17 year old Ava...my pretty girl. 

Silly photos with her dad....

Seriously, how gorgeous is she? I love the 9 pm sun flare behind her. 

Hey look, it's my old horse! If you know you know....

This old truck was one of the first I learned to drive. It's a cool old Dodge Powerwagon, stick shift of course. The first vehicles I ever drove were farm trucks when I was about 12 years old. I needed to help move equipment a few times, so it was time to learn to drive stick! 

Jason was a great host to all of us tonight. He deep fried some delicious walleye and we had a great dinner in the garage. Karen and Dawson were out there too and we all had a really nice evening. There's nothing like deep fried walleye! It's by far my favorite fish, and Jason is so good at cooking it. 

It's not a trip to the farm without some photos in the wheat field. We aren't usually there this late in the summer, so we haven't has as many visits when the wheat is close to harvest time. 

Of course I had to find some old photos of my babies in the wheat. 

Here is one of Jason's newest pieces of equipment (which cost as much as we paid for our house 20 years ago--and it's used!). It's a sprayer, and Jason said it's made a huge difference in his farm operation. It has arms that fold up on the sides, which you can't see. It's a massive piece of machinery.  

Jason has the garage fixed up really nicely too. He has a pool table out there, all of my dad's old neon bar signs, heat, and comfy seating. There are bins of old photos as well, so I had a good time looking through those. If I had more time, I'd organize them a bit and try to scan some favorites. He said he'd bring some with when he visits this winter, so maybe it can be a project later. It is always so fun to go down memory lane with old photos. 

We all took turns trying to beat Jason, which is pretty much impossible. He's really good at pool--state champion good. It was a really fun evening filled with all of our favorite ND things. The only thing missing of course, was my dad. It's great that my brother has kept things up so nicely and made it his own. It's a really special place to all of us. 

Headed back to ND!

It's been a long time, but we're finally headed back to North Dakota together. Last time all four of us were there, it was the summer of 2022 when we were celebrating my dad's life, shortly after his passing. We didn't stay long, only a few days, and Ava tested positive for Covid while were were there. The last time we had a good trip to ND was the previous summer, 2021 when we did all of our favorite things, and my dad was there. I went back for a few days in 2023 when I drove back with my mom, and then Dave went hunting last fall. It's the longest time I've ever gone without visiting my hometown. With the kids getting older, it's harder and harder to find times to travel, and it certainly isn't getting any cheaper to visit ND. The reason for this visit was to celebrate Grandma Vivian's 100th birthday, and the whole family wanted to be there. This will be a short trip though. We hopped on an Allegiant flight bright and early on Friday morning, and we head home on Monday. It was going to be a longer trip, but there was an issue when I booked the flights. I'm not sure if it was something I did, or if it was on Delta's end, but the tickets I thought I booked directly into Williston didn't go through. I only found this out when Karen asked me to confirm what flight I was on, and when I couldn't find a receipt, I knew something went wrong. By the time I went to book again, the flights on Delta had gone up from about $320 per person to over $700, so obviously I had to find another option. There are a lot of cool places I would spend $700 to fly to, but Williston isn't on the list. Luckily, Allegiant had a much cheaper option, but it meant we'd only be able to stay a few days. We decided that would have to do. It'll be interesting to experience a ND trip now that the kids are grown up. 

Everything with the flight went smoothly, and we picked up a rental car in Minot before making the 2 hour drive to Williston. One of the first stops we made when we got into town was to go visit the birthday girls (ok, her birthday isn't until October, but it's her weekend). I haven't seen my grandma in 3 years, and last time she saw the kids, they were much smaller. I think it's partially the perspective of this photo, but Tyler looks like a giant compared to his great grandma! 

Doesn't Grandma just look amazing? She doesn't look a day over 85, and at least for now, is still living at home on her own. She does require a bit more help these days, as would be expected, but my aunt Mary and my mom help her out. It'll be a big weekend for her, with a lot of family coming into town for her birthday party. Since we have limited time here, we're going to try to fit in all of our favorite things to do.

On our first evening here, we didn't do too much. Ava was in pretty desperate need of a haircut, and my cousin Miriah was nice enough to come in to her salon on a day off to give Ava a fresh cut. It looked so good! We settled into our house, got a few groceries and then met Mom, Mary and David, Andy and Vanessa's family at a new pizza buffet place in town. Later on, Danica came over to the house and watched a movie with Ava and Tyler while Vanessa, Dave and I walked a few blocks downtown to an awesome new wine bar that recently opened. It's so cool to see all the new places that Williston has now. A lot has come to town since I was last there. 

For the first time ever, we are staying somewhere other than my childhood home. When we were all here last time, we still owned the home, but sold it in shortly after my dad passed away. My mom stays in Mary's duplex and doesn't have room for all of us, so I found an AirBnB not too far from downtown Williston. It was perfect! It had two bedrooms downstairs where Tyler and Dave stayed, and then I opted to stay up in the attic with Ava. It was such a fun little space! 

Mornings before everyone else wakes up have historically been one of my favorite times of day, especially when I'm back home. This house didn't have the best outdoor options, but I enjoyed my coffee on the front stoop. The weather is pretty warm here this weekend, so it's not the big break from the heat that we usually hope for on a ND trip. 

On Saturday morning, mom stopped over and we walked downtown to check out the Farmers Market on Main Street. They had quite a few local vendors, and we saw a few people mom knew. 

I've never noticed this mural before, but it's painted on the side of the movie theater. There are a lot of cool places downtown for photos. I joked with Ava that she could just take her senior pictures here. She didn't think that was a very good idea. Later today, we plan to go out to the farm for the evening. I don't remember what else we did that day since I'm writing this a few months later, but I'm sure we spent time visiting with family or getting things ready for the party. More to come with photos of our trip to the farm. 

More flying toddlers and Ringling!

Our trapeze group has really enjoyed having a little one around the rig, as you can tell by all the pictures I have of little Rayn. You won't ever see her face on here though, as they don't show her face on the internet. Taeko and Rayn stayed for the week while Ryan went back to Vegas to work, and then he'll be back to go to Ringling with us. 

The belt she's been using was a makeshift set up using a safety belt along with some ropes that were fashioned into a harness, but George got her a new harness that could be combined with the best. 

It was funny to watch all of the team working together to try to figure out the best way to get this on her properly for the first time. How many people does it take to put a harness on a toddler? 6 apparently. 

Since Ryan wasn't here, she let Coconut try to catch her! "You catch me Coconut?" Yes, I have Rayn call me by my camp name--it's way more fun than Erica. Of cousre, she didn't actually let go of the bar, so I didn't catch her. Probably a good thing though, I'm sure Ryan wants to be the first one to catch his girl. It's so fun to see her big, happy face swinging through the air!

The other fun thing happening this week is that Ringling is back in town. We all went two years ago too, so it'll be great to see the act again. Our crew is planning to go Saturday, but since Ryan can only be in town for today's show, a few of us decided to go twice. 

Little Rayn has watched more circus performances than most, as she spent nearly a full year of her life on tour with her momma in Germany. There are some cute videos of her standing in the audience, mimicking the dances the performers are doing in the ring. 

We know quite a few of the performers in the trapeze act, and of course, Ryan knows them all. After the show, we got to say hi and take a picture before the security team finally managed to get us to leave. Afterwards, a few of us went out for drinks and late dinner with some of the trapeze team. It was great! Earlier this week, we also hosted a bunch of the Ringling cast and crew out at George's. We had food and they got to fly. It was mostly non-trapeze people flying, but it was a fun chance for some others to get to fly. 

A couple days later, we did it all again! Dave and Tyler joined me this time. I think Tyler goes to things like this partially for the production value. He was pretty impressed by the rigging systems that go into making this happen. Sounds like Ringling is struggling a bit financially, so they are cutting their season short and may not be coming back for awhile. That's sad to hear, it' is really a great show. 

StuCo goes to Disney

Ava has an exciting year ahead of her as a senior, and as senior class president. I am so proud of her for taking on this leadership role, and for doing all the things I've spent my career encouraging college students to do. She has also had a very busy summer, working full time as a lifeguard and synchronized swim instructor. Between work, seeing friends and spending time with the boyfriend, she is not home much! She did get one mini-vacation though, a Student Council trip to Disneyland. In addition to the fun of Disney, they were participating in a Disney Leadership Institute for a couple days. If you think these Minnie ears look familiar, they're from her Halloween costume when she was three. 

I don't have much to say about any of these pictures, which were all borrowed from her Instagram. 

They had a long day at the park! I think they arrived early afternoon and then stayed until the park closed. There was leadership training mixed in with fun time at the park. 

These were some funny photos from a couple of the rides they went on. They're all doing the same gesture in this one. 

This is their entire group on the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. That's Ava in the front row in the middle.

Day two and they're all in their StuCo shirts. This time she's wearing the Minnie ears she got when we went to Disneyland as a family in 2022. 

I love that she's getting to have all of these great experiences with Jodi. These two have been friends for a very long time, and it's great that they're finishing off high school together. 

Before leaving Cali, they got to spend a little time at the beach taking photos (they weren't allowed to swim), and then they had lunch at a restaurant on the pier before heading home. 

Their time on the bus was for planning some of their activities and themes for the year. They picked Homecoming themes and spirit days, as well as some other planning for their year as student council leaders. There is a lot of responsibilities for this group, and some extra stuff just because Mesa has so many strong traditions that the StuCo upholds each year. It's going to be a great one! 

The other thing Ava has going on right now is her Lifeguard Olympics. All throughout the summer, the Mesa pools are competing against each other for LGO, but there is a final event after all the kids competitions are over. Each pool competes in a couple different events, bu the big finale is the synchronized swim competition. Ava and her co-coach taught all the lifeguards at her pool a routine using music from Lion King (each pool was assigned a different musical). It was so fun to watch all of their routines, they were so creative with their costumes and their moves. It's pretty impressive that they could teach synchro to non-synchro people and have it turn out that good! Here are some pictures Ava posted from LGO. Jodi's pool was doing their routine to Greece, and she was playing Sandy. These girls had so much fun! I think lifeguarding has to be one of the best jobs for a teen out here. It's great pay, reasonable work, and so many fun people. I loved being a lifeguard, but it looks even more fun now. She's living her best life this summer! I'm so proud of her.