Racing turtles & other things -- In Turtle Lake, North Dakota

Wow, I've had quite the blogging lull!  Since that start of Spring, life has just seemed to be incredibly busy. We had heaps of DIY house projects that we were able to re-start (some of which we even got to finish!!), plus we had two sets of wonderful visitors and even a couple short outings of our own. I'm hoping I may be able to do a few catch-up posts on those; but for now, our most recent getaway --

North Dakota!
Jason grew up visiting his Dad's hometown of Turtle Lake during the summers to see grandparents and participate in the town's Turtle Days festival, which includes a parade, box car derby races and most importantly, the International Turtle Races!!

I think it's been eight years since we last attended Turtle Days. Since we are living less than 6 hours from Turtle Lake, it seemed like the right time to introduce our kids to this part of their family history.

Jason's parents met up with us in Bismarck for the long weekend which was really great and we also got to catch up with some of Jason's other relatives. Bonus!

A big highlight for me on this trip was seeing this beautiful (award winning) barn which belongs to a cousin of Jason's Dad.

The road to ND, flat & straight.

Hotel life -- watching a TV, swimming & waterslides -- thanks to Jarvis & Marilyn for the early birthday present!!

Seeing some of Jason's family -- aunts, uncles, cousins and the kids got to meet their 2nd cousins.

With Mimi & Papa at Turtle Lake's mascot - Rusty!

Parade fun! Two full bags of candy! 

Lower left two pictures taken by S. Werre

Visiting some of the family farms (Jason's Dad was born in the small structure on the far right)

And the kids got to see gravestones for great-grandparents along with great-great grandparents. Pretty neat.

More photos & fun at the cousin's farm.

Luke & Mabel's first visit to a Capitol building. One of the few non-traditional building styles.