Camping Trailer

We bought a camping trailer!!  This has been many years in the making.  Jason researches the crap out of everything we buy, sometimes to the point that we don't actually end up buying said item because he can't decide on the "perfect" thing.  This year the topic came up again.  We were discussing buying a full RV for our long drives to ND, but I just thought that was a little too much for our little family.  Jason had been looking at a couple trailers, one in Michigan (17 1/2 hours away) and one in Colorado (10 hours away).  There is a craigslist type website here called Bisman and I asked him the other night if he had check that. He hadn't so he did and he ended up finding a great deal on a 2006 model in Williston, ND (5 1/2 hours away).  We left Friday morning to head up there and check it out.  We got there late afternoon.  Williston is an area of ND that has grown a ton with the oil boom.  We were not fans, at all!  Anyway, the outside of the trailer was a little rough from sitting outside through 7 North Dakota winters, but the inside was practically brand new, only having been used approx 4 times for just sleeping.  When she took our low ball offer we decided to go for it.  That night we towed it to Minot and spent the night at a cute little RV park.  There was a huge storm with thunder, lighting, and a torrential downpour, but we stayed cozy and warm in our little unit.  We are pretty excited about it and are even taking it out again this weekend.  

I thought Max was such a goofball for sitting in this basket.  

About 2 seconds later.

On our way through Bismarck we ate at Big Boy.  Everyone talks about how great it is, it was good but not amazing (in our opinion).

Our little Flex was seriously loaded down, but it did great.  This was one of the reasons Jason has never wanted to get a minivan, no towing capabilities.   Most of the time we will use his work truck to tow it.

After our first night in our trailer.

The boys love it.  It has bunk beds and Ollie got to sleep on the top.  He woke up the next morning and said "I love our new camping trailer".  

Along the drive was a town named Max, North Dakota.  Of course we had to stop and take pictures of Max in Max. 

Jason could not wait to wash the trailer.  It looks so much better.  

The queen bed pulls out from the rear. 

 The bunk beds are at the front.  We have the bottom bunk bed folded up right now.  That area doubles as a storage area and it fits a pack n play perfectly.

We are super pumped about it.  We have lots of camping planned in the future and love for friends to come with us (sleeps 8)!  So lets start planning!

Who Ever Said North Dakota Is Boring??

We have been busy.  It seems like the days of not having much to do here in ND are gone.  I think that eventually, no matter where you live as you get involved with more and more things, life gets busy.  A couple weekends ago Jason participated in the Xterra triathlon in Jamestown.  He has not been training at all but this race was much shorter than his normal races.  The only downside was that it was a mountain bike course.  Jason hasn't ridden a mountain bike in years and doesn't own one.  He borrowed his dad's bike which is a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike.  The swim was .5 mile, 15 mile bike and a 5 mile run.  I guess the bike portion got a little dicey for him, but he still had a good time.  

Getting ready for the swim.

Coming out of the water.

We weaned Max off his binky but lately we have gone back to using it when we are desperate.  This day I needed him to nap in the Ergo so he got his binky. 

Transitioning between the swim and the bike.

On the bike course.

Transition from bike to run.

It was nice because the transition area was the same for all the transition (no other race has been like that) so the boys and I just hung out in this area and got to see him at each transition.  It was a really warm day (look at Max's little face).

 Family picture.

 After the race we came back to Gackle for a Miller Honey Farm BBQ.  It was just something fun to do with all the employees.  We grilled, ate, and just hung out and enjoyed the nice evening.

Ryan and Sherri (and Todd) maning the BBQ.  I'm not a huge steak person but the rib eye was delicious.

 For these pics I just went around to the different tables.  I tried to learn how to say "Smile" in spanish for the Mexicans but I wasn't too successful :)

 The kids played at the park.  My kids are very familiar with this park, we frequent it almost every day.

Mindy and I did desserts, here was our spread.

Like most little boys, our boys are OBSESSED with anything that goes.  Max sat on this little four wheeler for days pretending to drive it.  Sweet Olivia took them for rides on it after dinner.

 In other big news, we got a wagon.  My aunt has one of these and my kids love it.  Ollie rides his bike around town a lot but sometimes he gets tired and I end up carrying it, while I push Max in the stroller.  This wagon is awesome for taking walks and I never have to fight the kids to get in.

This was before I put it together.  They were pretending it was a boat, and Ollie was using the "oar" to fight off sharks and pirates, quite the imagination on that kid.

There were lots of T-ball/softball games last week.  We enjoy walking over after dinner and watching.

 I always get these grand ideas of fun things to do with the kids, but most of the time I realize my kids are just too young (does anyone else do that?).  One of these ideas was a lemonade stand.  I thought Ollie would totally love it.  We made cookies and muffins and lemonade. While Ollie had fun, he wasn't THAT into it.  It was more work for me.  I had fun visiting with people I know and meeting new people and we made $20.  In a couple years they will love it and it will be a business (and tithing) lesson.

 That afternoon we headed to the pool.  My boys are kind of wussy when it comes to water.  They love it once the warm up to the idea (last year in Mexico Ollie couldn't get enough of the water), but they take awhile to warm up.  This afternoon I had SO MUCH FUN.  Seriously, I haven't had that much fun swimming in a really long time.  I played with some of the young girls we know and we thought it would be fun to take pics.  I don't mean to toot my own horn (but toot toot), I earned a lot of cred with the girls at the pool :)

Trying to catch a ball.

Front flip.

 Not sure what was going on here.

 Backflip (and no I did not belly flop).

Keeping It Real In ND

I like to keep it real.  Lately I have been talking about all the things I like/love about North Dakota. Today I want to talk about the things I dislike.

-Ticks.  I have never thought much about ticks, but in North Dakota they are rampant.  Any area with tall grass is a breeding ground for these nasty little bugs.  Ollie peed on the side of the road the other day and when I went to put him in his carseat there was a tick crawling up his knee.  Today I was changing Max from his swim shirt to his regular shirt and found a tick on the top of his head!!  I got off, and no harm was done, but still!!  Disgusting. And Jason sometimes picks over 10 ticks off a day when he is working out in the bees so I am constantly worried that I might get a tick on me.

-Crappy cell phone service.  80% of the time I have no cell service.  It really sucks.  If it seems like I am not answering calls or texts, it is probably because didn't get it or if I did it was hours and hours after you sent it.  We do have a home phone, but I can't call long distance.  You can call me though, so if you want my number let me know and I will send it to you.

-Wind.  It is so windy here ALL the time.  I'm talking 20-30 mph winds pretty much everyday.  On a really hot day it is kind of nice, but most of the time it just annoys me.

-Mosquitos and flies.  Jason has been warning me for months about how horrible the mosquitos are here.  So far they haven't been bad at all (insert me knocking on wood).  Everyone keeps telling me they are coming so I thought I would add them to the list since I really hate mosquitos, especially with kids.

-We live in the middle of nowhere.  Flights coming in to ND from anywhere are ridiculously expensive (and the closest airports are at least 2 hours away), therefore we are sequestered from our family and friends while we live here.

That is all I can think of at the moment.  Everything else is pretty good.  I just had a bad couple of days and was feeling unusually negative.  I'm over it now :)

Going once, going twice, SOLD!

Nothing too crazy going on here (surprise, surprise).  I'm shocked by how quickly the weeks go by here.  The highlight of last weekend was the auction of a house in Gackle, as well as all the belongings inside.  It was SO fun!  I loved it.  I'll talk more about it below.  

A couple more things I wanted to add about Gackle.

-Everyone leaves everything unlocked.  The other night we were walking by city hall and I was peaking in the windows and Jason says "Just try the door" so I did and it was unlocked.  So we walked around inside.  All the papers that seemed like they would be important just sitting out.  People also leave their keys in the ignition all the time.

-Everyone waves to everyone, whether you know them or not.  It is really weird at first because I rack my brain trying to figure out who people are, but then I realized everyone waves, even if they don't know you.  I'm totally on board now and wave to everyone. It is fun, it makes you feel like you have tons of friends :)

The newspaper didn't really have anything interesting in it this week :(  Word on the street is Jason's dad might be in it next week since he donated a truck to the City of Gackle.  We'll see.  

We visit the Tastee Freeze for ice cream a couple times a week.  The boys love it and it has been a great bribe to get them to eat their dinner every night.

 A few times a week John (Jason's dad) comes by and picks up Ollie and takes him to mow lawns on his riding lawn mower.  Ollie is convinced that he is "helping" and every time he see papa he asks "papa do you need my help".  Max is still a little young but I always feel bad for him being left out so a lot of times Jason or I will take him for a ride on the red scooter.  He LOVES it and just grins the whole time.

Sunday evening we walked to the Gackle cemetery.  Cemeteries are really depressing to me, but I have a strange fascination with them.  I don't know what is wrong with me.  Anyway, there is a little hill you have to go up to get there. Ollie was on his bike and asked me to give him a push up the hill.  I did and as I let go his bike skidded on the gravel and he ate it.  It was so sad.  He cried really hard for about 30 seconds and then after that he was so tough.  He was kind of dramatic about it afterwards though and would limp around :)  We got it all cleaned up and he is doing much better now.

We walked to the honey house this week.  This is the old sign on the road going into the honey house. 

Ok on to the auction.  We had seen signs in front of this house since we got to Gackle saying it was going to auction.  We have never been to one and so we were very interested.  I have been looking forward to it since we got here, and it did not disappoint.  First they auctioned of the house.  I put a video of that below.  It ended up selling for $38,000.  To most of us that seems REALLY cheap for a house, but here that is a kind of a lot.  We talked to one guy here who bought his house for $8,000 in 2009.  Crazy!  Granted the homes are much older and usually pretty small, but still!  This was the auctioneers truck.  

How it works is, you get a number to use for bidding.  You fill out your info attached to the number and turn it in.  Then you use that number to bid.  Mine was #53.  I wish I would have taken a pic with my number :)

The boys had fun running around, sitting on all the furniture etc.  They are wearing their shirts Aunt Letty got them in Turkey. 

After the house sold they started auctioning off the boxes covering three big trailers, one box at a time.  If no one would bid on a box they would throw in another.  One time I bid on a picture for our house and what I didn't know was that it included a box of junk with it.  But a lot of times you were buying the box for like $1.  I got two different big salad bowls with matching little salad bowls for $2.  I was having so much fun bidding and winning things.  It was a little addicting.  Jason took Max home for a nap and I ended up staying most of the day.  I had a good pile of stuff I accumulated.  When I got home I went through and kept what I wanted and took the rest to Goodwill.

Ollie found a nice spot in this tree.  

I guess they have auctions all the time and I can't wait to go to another!