Take Me Home - Country Roads

So this post is going to be pretty hap hazzard but I had a whole bunch of pics to share & so well...
whatever ~

We don't go 'home' much to North Dakota anymore ~ a couple of times a year and that's about it - don't even get me started on THIS topic - it's one I could go on and on and on about - I am homesick a lot of the time - but in the way of I miss our family and not so much North Dakota - but on the flip side of that - I do miss when things were more simple - when I wasn't driving 70 miles a day, every day ~ when we could ride bikes in the street or walk to the store...

It's hard, raising kids by ourselves with minimal 'real life' interaction from our blood relatives. They don't come here so the only choice we have is to go there. I don't get that part - there are soo many things to do here, shopping, zoos, parks, lakes, really cool car shows, shopping, US!?! I'm not gonna lie - it sucks - packing up the family, which includes the 100# dog, bringing 10 changes of clothes per kid for 2 days - because you know, JUST IN CASE, and inevitably, you forget the favorite dress at home because yesterday you thought THIS was the favorite dress...and then there's the long ride (5+ hours one way) the need for potty breaks for our tiny potty trained travelers, the un healthy snacks & meals for our eat like birds children and lack of any sort of routine whatsoever & it makes for a pretty stressful trip *home* ~ thankfully winter is only 10 months out of the year in North Dakota so we have a tiny shot of having decent roads for a trip up there once in awhile...

So...while our families are overall really great about keeping in touch via technology...There's just no substitute for the real thing... See for yourself...

Thanks to cousin Kayla for GRADUATING so we had a good reason to come home! Congratulations!



Here is D with his lil cousin who is 20 months old, ironically with the SAME NAME as his sister but with a T instead of an H! This lil cutie is getting a new brother or sister in the fall too! fun times...
It's always nice when the kids have someone around their age to play with when they are stuck at family functions...










Hails enjoying some downtime with older cousin Maddy ~


Sneaking in some cuddles with her namesake Grandma Elizabeth (Betty)


D is SUCH a good helper and Grandma Betty is SUCH a good sport about letting him help!


COUSINS!! (7 years age difference between the girls...then there's D peeking his head in there!)


We missed Grandpa Tim this trip but his presence was felt ~ D thought Grandpa's boots were made for walkin'!


But he DID get a bit of time in with Grandpa Larry ~ I love how the kids don't know that a year has passed and just love up their grandparents like it's only been a day...








Here is the Hubs with his two sisters...


We also made a few other non-photo-documented stops with Great Grandma Gladys, cousin Heather and a few more - a busy trip indeed ~
And then...our lil man had had enough family time & it was time to come back to our new life regularly scheduled programming....