Brandon, SD

The final leg of our vacation took us to Brandon, SD to meet Don's brothers and parents. The brothers all went golfing Saturday, while the cousins stayed home and had fun. We got to meet Mike's granddaughter/Shaleigh's daughter Kylen, who was just 7 days old. Megan finally met Mike and Dawn's daughter Breanne, who is ~1 year older than she is (but not as tall). We haven't seen Mike's family since Breanne was born (although we did see Mike at Wendy's funeral). It was nice to have a gathering that did not revolve around a funeral. Fun was had by all.

 Grandma LaFleur and her 3rd Great Grandchild, Kylin

 The newest Grandpa LaFleur in the family

 Eric and Dallas

 Pyper, Breanne, and Megan

Falls Park

Before heading to Brandon, we stopped at Falls Park in Sioux Falls.  It was beautiful outside.  The park was great to explore, although a little smelly closer to the water.  We were here once before when the boys were 3.  The kids watched some tadpoles and did lots of climbing.  Megan did her best to keep up with her brothers.

Barnesville

We took a slightly more scenic route leaving Park Rapids on our way to Sioux Falls. We stopped in Barnesville to play at a few parks and grab a few geocaches.  The Blue Eagle park got 2 thumbs up from all-it has some play equipment that has been banned in most places-a merry go round and teeter totters.  The kids enjoyed both without sustaining injury.

Long Lake

Thursday night we went to Aunt Amy's house for supper. After supper, Uncle Whitey took us out on the pontoon. We were so cool. The kids each had a chance to co-Captain the S.S. Fugly.  We tried fishing. No luck.  We had a near miss emergency when Megan's new sparkly sandals fell off the boat.  Her screams were as loud as when she sees the Space Alien mascot.  Thanks, Uncle Whitey!

 The boys (unsuccessfully) tried bare hand fishing off the dock. Maybe there is a Merti badge for scouting for this.

Life is Good

Evergreen Park

The sun finally came out Thursday in Park Rapids. Don and I took the kids to the little amusement park north of town. Thumbs up from the kids

 Megan was finally big enough for the bouncy thing-a-ma-jiggie

 Eric and Megan conquered the maze!!

 Jonathan flew up the wall his first attept

 Eric took a few tries.  He got a little scared the first few times.

The boys were slightly bummed that they were too short (by ~1/2") for the 'fast' race cars, but still had fun with the smaller ones.  Next time we visit they should be tall enough.  It will also cost Don and I ~$6 extra per kid for the wrist band :-(.



Vacation

Monday we left on our Summer Vacation Extravaganza.  We are keeping it simple this Summer because of The Trip we plan to take in Spring 2012....just going to my parents for a few days in Park Rapids, then meeting up with Don's and family in Sioux Falls.  Since it's vacation and not just another trip to Park Rapids, we stopped to see the buffalo in Jamestown.  The kids played on the playground-#7 of the Summer-for a bit.  We stopped quick in Fargo to drop some stuff off at Uncle Brad's.  Noticed a neat playground by his house so stopped to play there for a bit.  Once we got to Park Rapids, the boys got out the BB gun and the archery set (early birthday gift).  We shot Diet Coke cans. 

Since then, it has rained, so we have been inside.  We have been glued to the computer watching the flood in Minot-Don and Kathy were evacuated again, and the dikes have been breached. 

The sun is supposed to come out tomorrow.

Friday

/Hunter moved in to his PATH home on Wednesday.  Today we picked him up after lunch to spend some time with him.  We visited our 5th playground of the Summer (way behind schedule to hit our record of 26), went to the Gateway to Science Center, had a snack at McDonald's, then drove North of River Road to check out the flooding.  We continued North once we got to Hwy 1804 (Don and I are known for doing crazy stuff like that). We drove far enough North that we ended up at Double Ditch Indian Village.  In another moment of reckless abandonment, we turned in to the Double Ditch lookout to check it out.  None of us have been there before.  The kids had a blast exploring the area....at least until Eric tripped in a hole and suffered some road rash along his shin.
Speaking of Eric....he has been having a very hard time with all of the change in our home this past month.  He has not been sleeping well-worries so much, especially at bedtime.  We were hoping with some of the craziness settling down that he would settle down.....no luck with that yet.  So, last night I gave him melatonin.  He was sound asleep within 30 minutes of taking it.  Tonight.....same thing.  Two nights in  a row!  Sleeping by 9:15! 
I did not bring my camera with today, but did take some pics on the phone....maybe I will post some.  Or....maybe we will just have to go back to Double Ditch.

Cub Scout Day Camp

Day Camp was this week.  We were not able to attend the last 2 Summers, so we, errrr, I mean the boys were excited to see what it was all about.  The first day was no fun.  It started raining just minutes into the start of camp.  The rain was soon followed by thunder and lightening, decreased temps, and wind.  After an hour, I took the 4 Bear Scouts that I brought  back to our house, and we did our own day camp.  Yesterday was beautiful.  The sun was shining, and there was enough wind to keep the mosquitos off, but not so much that we were miserable.  Eric and Jonathan both enjoyed archery and BB gun shooting the most, with fishing coming in a close second.  Megan and I were there for the last half of the camp session.  We left before the campfire program-we were tired and anxious to get home.

pictures

There was apparently an update to blogger....I am noticing that the pictures look a little blurry in the posts.  If you click on them to enlarge them, they look better. 

Girl

Boys

Gymnastics

Megan started gymnastics on Friday.  She was one very excited little girl.  She will go on Friday mornings through July. 

Roosevelt Zoo

The Bismarck Zoo is currently closed due to the flood.  Since we were in Minot Memorial Day weekend, we took advantage of the Roosevelt Zoo.  I didn't know how it would work taking 4 active kids to the zoo with my walking boot and limited mobility, but I thought it was worth a try.  Glad we went when we did, as later in the afternoon the Roosevelt Zoo started feeling some of the pain of the flooding.  After the zoo, we found our favorite playground at Oak Park, and officially kicked off our Playgroundpalooza Adventure of 2011.  The record to beat is 26 playgrounds.  I believe we started our Playground Adventure last Summer at Oak Park as well.