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.

Changing jobs ... without moving!

Jason just finished his second week at a new job. He is now a Service Forester for the state of South Dakota! And, the best part? We didn't have to move to a new house, city, state or country to make this happen! Hurray! An added bonus? Jason's new workplace is a mile from our house, so he can ride his bike to work and there is a park nearby that makes it easy for us to meet up as a family for his lunch break. Woo-hoo!

Most of all, we're hoping this position will be a good fit for Jason and his skill set. Although the National Wild Turkey Federation was a good employer and he learned a lot, his position was lacking in what he'd gone back to school to do - Forestry. While there are Forestry jobs across the world, after being here 20 months, the kids and I were just starting to feel settled and have friends, so Jason looked a little locally and came up with nothing. Then he was approached by someone at the State regarding this position and the rest God lined up for us. We are thankful.


First Day of Work --

Spring in South Dakota with Mom & Dad

My parents arrived for a lovely, long visit on Wednesday evening ... the day after we had yet ANOTHER snow storm!! Our first day of fun together looked like this --

Petting bear cubs

While I was away earlier this month, Jason got to take the kids to a local tourist attraction, Bear Country, USA. My MOPS mentor mom, Karen and her husband generously took them to the park on their season pass. Specifically, for a very special, one-weekend a year event -- Cub Fest! The one weekend where the new crop of bear cubs are able to be pet by visitors.

The big catch to attending this event (other than the cost) is that you have to wait in line inside your car alongside the highway for close to 2 hours before you actually can get in park ... with your small children. Ugh! I am really glad the kids got to go, but I'll admit I am glad I didn't have to be there waiting in the line :)

The park does contain a lot more than just bears ... the kids had a great time checking out all the other animals, and especially loved the bouncy house play area (of course!). Big thanks to Dale & Karen who treated our family to such a fun, memorable day!!!

 

Having a VERY fun week - with visitors, a 6th birthday & getting away for 57 hours!

We just had what for us was a very busy (and super awesome) week!

It started when our Idaho friends, the Hayes family mentioned they might be able to stop in again as they headed home (woo-hoo!). They spent the night and were able to celebrate Luke's birthday morning with us. Such a perfect start to his big day!

Later on that day, we had a play date with Luke's Rapid City friends and then a family party in the evening (complete with "minion" cake per Luke's request).

Then ... it was time for me to get ready to go on a two-day women's weekend retreat with our church - all the way in Bozeman, Montana!! Woo-hoo :) It was really, really good to get some space from the kids and get re-grounded; with an amazing, added bonus -- my very good friend from high school, drove 10-hours round trip to hang out with me for a few hours during the retreat. SUCH a special treat to see and catch up with Gail.

And now, just as our rhubarb, lemon balm and bulbs were starting to come alive, we're in the middle of yet another snow storm! Ahhh!

Luke picked Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast - a first for him and now he's hooked!

We were incredibly blessed by a friend who helped us find a new {used} bike for Luke for FREE!

A birthday playdate at the Outdoor Campus 

Making a Minion cake -- got a pretty late start on my preparations, but got it finished before Luke went to bed!

Love those Montana mountains, the Rapid City ladies at the Retreat and especially seeing my amazing friend, Gail!!

Spring in Rapid City -- one day it's warm and things are starting the grow, the next day we're in the middle of a winter again.

Having our own 'March Madness'

This month has gone by in a bit of a blur --

• With some tax refund money in hand, we've been able to restart some house projects that have been on hold for nearly a year. It feels great to be getting close to finishing work on at least one room in our house (the bathroom!).
• In the midst of this, we got to experience winter storm "Ulmer" (a bomb cyclone) which meant Jason had two days with his office being closed and we were all house-bound together. 
• We celebrated a very random holiday, Casmir Polaski Day with an introduction to all kinds of delicious homemade Polish food with some fun friends, the Bruno family. Perogies, potato pancakes, polish sausage, sauerkraut, braised cabbage, caramelized onions and even paczki (Polish donuts!) So so delicious!
• Jason and I got to go on our second date of the year (woo-hoo!) and see our first movie in a theater in SIX years! We saw 'Free Solo' which was a-mazing!
• And then! As the snow drifts cleared, it seemed Spring actually started to arrive! We've even had a few days outside without snow gear. Awesome!
• Twice this month, we experienced the incredible generosity of a neighbor who passed on a large number of really, really nice children's games, crafts, books, activities and toys.
• I got to have my first overnight away from kids since before Mabel was born, a really lovely 18-hour local MOPS retreat. Kind of surreal.
• And to top it all off, we had some fantastic friends from Idaho stop in for a weekend as they headed East on a road trip. They brought special foods/drinks to share with us and treated our whole family to a day at our local indoor water park. So much fun! So thankful to get to continue to make memories with their family.

A few snow drifts in our yard post-winter storm Ulmer. 

What to do during a blizzard--stay in PJ's, read books, puzzle and accept amazing hand-me-down toys from neighbors!

Celebrating Casmir Polaski Day! YUM!

Playing with good friends, Evelyn & Fiona

Growing pinto beans in a ziploc in our kitchen window.
How to garden when everything is cold & snowy.

Enjoying some time on our local walking path on one of our recent "warm" days.

Enjoying a free cone at Dairy Queen for the first day of Spring -- poor Luke had been feeling sick beforehand
and got really sick afterwards for several days. Mabel wanted to curl up on the couch 'just like Luke' even
though she wasn't sick.

Fun playdates with friends

Idaho friends Brynn, Connor, Merritt, Luke & Mabel ... all enjoying some olives on their fingers.

Meeting Mammoths and ... enjoying an above freezing day!

A couple weeks ago, we had a Saturday forecast for a "warm" 33 degree day and sunny. And Jason was home. And, really awesomely, someone had anonymously sent us money with a note to do something fun with our kids. Seemed like an outing was meant to be!!

The kids have been interested in visiting the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD so we headed that way.

It was a very cool place with active excavating still occurring and over 60 mammoth skeletons found so far. Afterwards, we decided to take the scenic route home, through Custer State Park which was beautiful, as always.