June and July came and went!

WOW!  June and July have come and gone! June was spent with plenty of time outside as some pretty hot days.  The end of the month we headed for our annual trip to ND.  It was a wonderful trip.  We made the drive out at night and the kids and I slept most of the way.  A little more than half way there we hit some pretty heavy rain.  Wouldn't know know it?  Right in the middle of a pretty good shower off flew the driver's side wind shield wiper,  We did stop at a rest stop to try to switch the other one over, but it was about 3 in the morning and neither of us could figure out how to get the good one off.  By that time the rain had let up and we said forget it.  Things were good from there on until we got about 40 miles from my parents' house and hit fog with almost zero visibility.  Do you think we stopped at the next gas station to buy wipers.  OF COURSE NOT.  Instead we cranked the heat and Mike drove looking out my side of the wind shield.  Needless to say, we made it there in one piece.

Shortly after arrival (10 minutes)  Mike headed for bed.  He was whipped.  I, on the other hand, had some breakfast and then headed off to the county fair parade and county fair with my kids, my mom, my sister, her kids, my cousin and her husband and daughter.  It was SO much fun to watch the kids (ages 2 - 6) bond.

The next two days were spent hanging with my immediate family, as well at my cousin's family, my dad's sister and her husband, my dad's brother and my Grandma.  I love that we were all able to be there to spend that time.  Unfortunately, my dad's side of my family is pretty spread around the country and VERY RARELY are about to get together at the same time.

In that time, we also celebrated Mike's 34th birthday.  The kids loved helping their aunt to decorate the cupcakes for his big day.

The next couple of days were pretty chill.  We did make it up to Lake Sakakawea  and the Garrison Dam.  We couldn't miss out on seeing the lake at historic levels and the spillway letting out water for the first time ever.  It was amazing to see that much water moving that fast!  After that I got to try out my Dad's new mower.  First time I've mowed lawn in over 10 years!

The weekend before the 4th of July, the made it out to Lake Sakakawea for a second time.  Except this time we took Grandpa's boat and went for a ride.  The kids loved it! That evening we had our own mini firework show at the farm.  Mike was like a little kids.  Growing up in MN, he never really got to shoot fireworks so my dad let him have free reign and sat back and enjoyed the show after years of put it on himself.  Since this year the 4th fell on a Monday, Hazen held their firework show on the 3rd.

We headed back to MN the morning of the 5th.  On the way, we stopped to see two large animals.  The giant Holstein in New Salem, ND and the giant Bison in Jamestown, ND.

The next 3 1/2 weeks as Kenna attended summer school and we spent a lot of time just trying to stay cool and temps hit record highs.