Jamestown, ND is the closest "big" town to Gackle. It is about 45 minutes away, with a population of about 15,500. It is where we go to church, grocery shop, visit the library, swim (when the Gackle pool isn't open yet) etc. Last summer some friends of ours camped at Lakeside Marina. We were in Jamestown one of the days they were there so we stopped by. It looked like a fun little campground, so we put it on our list of places to visit this summer. Jason called last week and they were full for Father's day weekend, he had us put on a waiting list and then later in the week he got a call saying a spot opened up. We left Friday after Jason got off work, ate at the Tastee Freeze, and headed over. It was nice camping so close. It stays light here in ND until after 10pm. While Jason got everything set up the boys and I rode bikes around the campground. The campgound is set up in a loop so we just rode the loop over and over and over...they loved it. Ollie is good enough on his bike that he could ride around himself, but Max needed supervision.
Having a snack before bed.
We let our kids stay up super late, because at this point it is way more fun when they are awake. We regretted that decision the next morning when they were both super cranky. We decided naps were going to be a necessity that day. At the marina they serve a hot breakfast so Saturday morning we headed over there. The guy who made the breakfast was dealing with a camp issue so while we waited we went down and checked out the water and the pontoon boats (we considered renting one).
Max had a great time throwing rocks in the reservoir.
They also had games there, so while we waited for our breakfast we played a game of Yahtzee and Memory.
The reservoir has a little island and we had hoped to ride our bikes around it after breakfast. Ollie does fine, but Max is SO SLOW. He is two and likes to take his time and look around. He can keep up when he wants to, he just doesn't want to very often. I took Ollie for a little bit while Jason started back to camp with Max and then we met up with them. I guess the catfish in the reservoir have some kind of virus right now so there were tons of dead fish, and it stunk so bad. Needless to say we didn't hang out there long.
Here is our little family of bikes. Max is doing so well on his balance bike we are contemplating getting him a pedal bike so he can better keep up with his brother.
After that we just hung around camp, kicking the soccer ball around (Ollie is signed up to start soccer in the fall).
Jason set up the awning for me. I feel like the awning makes your campsite more homey (I'm a dork). We really didn't need it on this trip and it was actually more of a nuisance, because it was so windy.
After lunch, we finally got the boys to sleep. It took us an hour, because they insisted they "weren't tired".
After naps we took them to the Jamestown Municipal pool. It was really windy that day, but the pool is heated. We had a good time, but our skinny boys were freezing when we got out.
We came back and started getting ready for dinner. Ollie took it upon himself to be the photographer. He loves taking pictures with the camera and does a pretty good job. I love seeing what he comes up with.
I made broccoli salad on Friday for us to eat on Saturday so I would have less to prepare.
After dinner we rode our bikes some more. We visited with some people from Gackle who were also camping there that weekend. They had a camp fire and Max became obsessed and all he could talk about was us getting some wood and building a fire. When we got back Jason and Max went to the marina to get some wood. Ollie and I stayed back and just hung out together. He is such a fun boy. Jason and Max came back with no wood. I guess you buy it at the marina and they deliver it to your campground, or you can buy it when she comes around. Good to know for next time.
While we were waiting for the wood to be delivered, Jason heard the sound of racing engines. He got on his phone and found out that there was dirt track racing going on at the fair grounds near the campground. It was getting late so we didn't want to go in and watch for long, so we found a place and parked. Jason put the boys on the top of the car so they could see better and we watched for a few minutes. We even got to see a crash!
When we came back our wood was there, but it was time for the boys to go to bed. We ushered them in the camper before they could see the wood (which they had forgotten about with the excitement of the races). We donated the wood to our friends. All that wood was only $5, and it was delivered to our camp site, we definitely aren't in CA anymore.
For some reason we had a medicine syringe in the bathroom. The boys had a great time with it during their bath.
Baby girl is very active. She is kicking hard enough that the boys can feel her. I love it. We make up dialogue like "Hey brother stop pushing on me, I'm already super cramped in here"and then she will kick. Or, "hey brother I can't wait to meet you, we are going to have so much fun together". The boys get a kick out of it.
Sunday morning we laid in bed for a long time having family cuddles. We finally got up and started putting everything away. Then we went to church. After church we finished taking down camp, stopped at the dump station and were on our way. It was such a great weekend. I look forward to the other camping trips we have planned this summer and I am really thankful for a husband who plans them.
I love this picture of the boys. I just wish the ugly hookups weren't in the background.
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