The Grass is Always Greener...

The grass is always greener when you go "home" to the Red River Valley. It really truly is - the lack of rain up there doesn't affect the lawns the way it does here because they have the rich black soil...Unlike the clay we try and grow things in here!
We headed up Thursday night as has become our way...traveling when the kids are supposed to be sleeping. Sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't ~ This time the kids stayed awake the first 4.5 hours and finally crashed just before we hit GF...We arrived safely at Grandma's and thankfully the kids stayed sleeping for the transfer from car to bed - Bosco however wasn't impressed that Grandma Betty wasn't waiting up for him and spent the entire night pacing her house, whining and crying and looking for her.

Friday was spent playing and having fun with Grandma, Auntie Amy and cousin Matt (or "Max" as H likes to call him!) The little miss was so tired she conked out at 6:20 pm for the entire night! D was glad to have Grandma Betty all to himself - with the exception of Bmann of course...and he (D) ended up passing out in the stroller on a walk with Grandma.


Gramdma Elizabeth "Betty" showing Derek it's ok to play trucks in her flower garden since nothing is growing there right now!

Grandma got H a set of "twins" - she prefers the "boy one" and since you can only feed "ONE AT AT TIME MOMMY!" the poor girl baby spent much of the weekend on Grandma's end table!



And who doesn't love Grandma's very own trampoline - jumping from the love seat onto the air mattress!



You can't tell because of the angle of the camera and the couch - but he truly is in mid air here!


Saturday was the reason we went to NoDak this weekend in the first place - the second of two baby showers for Andrea. This one being hosted by myself and Heather at Grandma Gladys' place. It was tricky hosting a baby shower four hours from home but it went off without a hitch and a good time was had by all (at least I think everyone had a good time!) Andy and Andrea were showered with lots of love, good food and loads and loads of loot for the new baby boy that will be joining our family within the next two months! It was great to see people we hadn't in quite some time and spend the afternoon visiting.

Great Grandma Gladys and Grandma Linda check out the "babies" that Grandma Sandy brought for people to see - she teaches birthing education and had babies from just a few weeks from conception on up for people to see how big they are at each stage of development, and show people what Andrea is carrying in her belly right now - ie: similar to what Grandma Linda is holding! (Great Grandma Gladys is holding a little one!)











While I was at the baby shower in Fargo, the hubby had the kids at a 50th birthday party in GF for his aunt and uncle...

My man with his Dad - aka - Grandpa Larry


Hails and Auntie Amy coolin' off by the pool


D running around as he did the entire time they were at the party!

What a great party that was too - seeing cousins that he hadn't seen in years (and that I had never met until that night!) Everyone played in the pool, filled their bellies with food and drink and had great conversation...it was a great trip "home" to North Dakota.

We headed back "home" to the Twin Cities Saturday night after all the festivities ~ none of us really wanting to leave. H kept telling us - "You and Daddy take Buddy and go bye bye, me and Bosco stay here with Gamma." Over and over she kept asking "Why I can't stay at Gamma's house?" It breaks my heart to hear her say that - I love that she loves her Grandma...but I'm sad that she doesn't get to spend more time with her.

As we drove down I29 the sun was setting over the fields and provided us with the most glorious sunset views ~ they have those all the time back home, man I miss those ~ There's just something about watching the sun setting over a combine in a wheat field. Something serene. Something simple. Something...almost magical?