Father's Day Fun

My husband and I headed up north once again to Williston to spend the day with my ND family; Mom, Dad, Kurt, Jocelyn and her family. My mom was here for a week (and went home on the train Sunday evening).

Fort Union Trading Post was having a rendezvous. It was pretty neat! This was a very wealthy fort way back when; they traded 25,000 bison hides and $100,000 a year.

The father-to-be checking out a cannon.

Many people were dressed in period clothing, showing guests everything from skinning a beaver to flint knapping to blacksmithing.

My wonderful parents :)

The fort was right near the state line.

We also visited the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers.

"Here, Mommy!"

Mike Mulligan's steam shovel! We really loved that book on tape when we were kids.

Haas-ifer. What a sweetie! He was crawling all over the place, with no interest in walking whatsoever.

Vivy-girl, full of life as usual.

She was snapping picture after picture with her mommy's camera, keeping both eyes open the whole time.

Our drive home. I just never get over how beautiful the Badlands are. The land opens up, and you drive downhill to the Little Missouri River, then back up again, and suddenly you're back driving over rolling green hills.

It was a great way to celebrate my awesome dad, and my sweet husband who will (God willing) be a father in 15 short weeks. 

This is the *real North Dakota

 {Little Missouri National Grassland}


Mike (BIL) and Kurt at the Little Muddy River

Cut Bluff in the distance. Lewis & Clark explored here.

Kurt and Mom overlooking the Little Muddy

This is the *new North Dakota. Trailers everywhere

"No Trucks Allowed"

Which is better?

"Welcome Nodak Babies"

That was what the cake read at the surprise baby shower for Melissa H and me. I was definitely surprised! Not at the door to the shower, but a half hour earlier at home. I was having a bad morning (cranky, had a backache), and I had decided to stay in bed for the day. Mark's job was to get me to Lorina's, so he ended up telling me about the shower to get me up and dressed. I'm glad I had time to get decently dressed...

There were fifteen ladies at the shower. All of the single girls came, and Jocelyn, Viv, Bre-Lyn and her sister Kayla came down from Williston. I was pleasantly surprised by how many people were there! We had a great time. The smaller (than other showers I've attended) group number allowed us to play some games, the food was absolutely delicious, and I got some adorable gifts.

I generally don't like this kind of surprise, but it really turned a kind of crappy day into a great day. Afterward, Joce, Viv, and I joined our men and Michael Mass fishing. A good Sunday all around.

Cross Ranch SP Camping

This was our first camping trip as a married couple. The weather could have been better (45 degrees and rain off and on), but overall, it was really fun! I look forward to many more camping trips with my outdoorsy husband.

That's a lot of stuff for two people. We did use most of it.

Mark chopping us up some firewood.

I woke up from a mid-day nap to find these on the picnic table. So sweet :) He found everything on the beach.

Handy-dandy place to put the tools.

This is his "explorer" face.

Cross Ranch is a very neat park, because it is on the Missouri River. There are sandy beaches all along the campground. Auntie Jan recently traveled there too, and we got the idea from her.

My very sweet hubby also made this for me to see...

We couldn't agree on what this was, and never did find out.

We went fishing in the river, at my suggestion, no less. It must have been the perfect time of day to fish, because there were fish jumping all over the river. A short time later, Mark caught this king salmon (isn't it strange there are king salmon in ND?).

And then I got this northern pike. My second fish (I think, the first being a sunny way back when) ever!

The third and final catch of the evening was this little guy.

We cooked up the salmon on the grill with potatoes and onions, and it was pretty tasty, but hard to eat because of all the bones.

After two rainy nights, we headed home a day early, but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself on this trip.