Thanksgiving in North Dakota

In November we went to North Dakota to celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother, his wife, and my parents. We have been anxious to visit them ever since they moved while I was pregnant with Ryker. Our kids are not thrilled with car rides, so it was more difficult than it sounds. We broke up the 12 hour trip by stopping at a motel in Miles City. (It would normally be a 10 hour drive, but Ryker had only been potty trained for two weeks. We literally stopped every thirty minutes for him to pee). We picked up a pizza and did the whole pool thing. Radley hated the pool, but Ryker loved it! Josh and I quite enjoyed the hot tub after a long day of driving. Unfortunately we weren't able to bring Ranger inside, so Josh had a long night of keeping the car warm.

Making Lefe

The following morning we got up early and got on the road. We made it to Beulah by lunch time after a quick stop to see my Aunt Sheri in Dickinson. Breanne was busy in the kitchen finishing up some pre Thanksgiving dishes while Jesse was at work. For the afternoon we made a batch of our families famous Lefse. It is a tradition to make it every year for Thanksgiving. We made a small batch since we all needed to travel home, but usually we make enough to freeze some for Christmas and Easter. Jesse had set up his Ice Castle for us to stay in while we were there. We settled right in and had Radley down for a nap in no time. Ryker loved getting to run around with all of the dogs. Jesse and Bree have Gizmo and Indy. My parents brought Jo-Jo, and we had Ranger.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent most of Thanksgiving hanging around the house. Josh and I took Ryker to see the train tracks. The train travels right through the middle of town. We were able to listen to the horns all night long. After dinner a few of us headed to Shopko for a little black Friday shopping. We found a few deals, but we mostly enjoyed walking off all of the yummy food we had eaten! On Friday we took a tour of one of the local coal mines. Breanne's dad Stacey has worked in the mines for years. It was a very informative tour! Bree's sister-in-law Allison watched Radley for us. Ryker was a trooper through the whole thing! He loves all kinds of trucks, so we knew he would enjoy it! We spent about four hours there. We were able to see all of the different areas involved and even followed one of the trucks through the process. The best part was seeing all of the big trucks.

On Saturday we all got dressed up and drove an hour over to Richardton to take family pictures on my Grandpa's farm. It was below zero with the wind chill, but I made everyone brave the weather for a quick minute! We had planned these pictures months in advance, so there was no quitting allowed! The kids hated every minute of it, but we got a few good shots. After taking a quick lap around the farm looking for pheasants we headed to my cousin Ashlynn and Anton's house in Dunn Center. It was about another 45 minute drive. Sheri and Ashlynn had fixed a big lasagna dinner for all of us. Ryker and Radley enjoyed getting to play with their son Bray. Unfortunately Madison was with her mom for the weekend. We hope to get to spend some more time with them this Summer. Josh and I cut the evening pretty short since we needed to pack up and get back on the road.

Josh, Radley, Bray, Ryker

Sunday morning we got up at 4:30 and we were on the road home by 5:30. We put the kids in the car while still asleep and took off.  After a couple of hours on the road we pulled over to take a twenty minute power nap. After, we hit up a McDonald's drive through and we were on our way again! The trip home went surprisingly well! The kids were exhausted from all of the fun we had had, so we were able to power through! After a stop in Billings for lunch and a stop in Bozeman for groceries we made it home by about 6pm. It was a long trip with too much driving, but it was well worth it! We are really looking forward to our next trip out there.