2011 June 20-26

On Monday, the girls (and Susan and Cassie) took their cousins swimming at the West River Community Center.  This was Marly's opinion of an opportunity to swim.

Davis, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it!  (That's Abigail holding him with Suzanna to the left and Hillary to the right.)

Davis, his cousins, and "Unka Kevin" played outdoors a lot.  (I think his hat may be a little too small for my head.)

Marly is nearly as amused with bathing in the bathroom sink as she was with swimming at the WRCC.

Thursday, June 23

I had to go to work, but Davis and all the ladies took a daytrip to Medora just to walk around and see some sights.  Davis liked Medora's Wild West theme.

Suzanna, Davis, Hillary, and Abigail at the children's park 

In Medora, the group met up with Susan and Cassie's aunt Jake, her kids Jon and Kelli, and Kelli's daughter Kynnedi (that's Jake in the red and Kynnedi to her left) for some ice cream.  They live in CO but are in the area for a family reunion that starts tomorrow (more pics on that to come).

2011 June 13-19

Friday, June 17

The arrival of house guests: Susan's sister Cassie and her two kids, Davis (two years old) and Marly (three months old--and my soon-to-be goddaughter)!

Davis needed sunglasses for the car ride.  Clever style of wearing them!

Abigail and I were delighted to meet Marly Sue!

Seeing History Being Made

Russ and the gentlemen at Farmers Union Oil Co. in Westhope, ND did a fine job of repairing our vehicle; it ran smoothly the entire way home.  We took Hwy 83 south toward Bismarck; and because we were in the area, we took advantage of the opportunity to turn off onto Hwy 200 and go to Riverdale, ND so that we could see an historic even in progress: the water being released from the spillway gates of the Garrison Dam.

(Remember: click on any photo to enlarge it for greater detail.)

Unexpected Vacation, Day 3

(Recall Day 1 and Day 2.)

Russ, the mechanic, expected the distributor for our vehicle to arrive around midday today.  However, we had to check out of the motel by 11:00 A.M., so we ate our breakfast, took our showers, packed our suitcases, and walked the couple blocks from the motel to the automotive shop.  A gentleman getting out of his pickup on main street saw us hauling our luggage and bags down the sidewalk, and he offered to give us a ride to wherever we were headed.  More small-town hospitality!  But we were just a half-block away from the van (still parked outside the shop, which told us that the distributor still hadn't arrived), so we declined his offer, packed our belongings inside the van, and walked around town again to kill some time.

Unexpected Vacation, Day 2

(Recall Day 1.)

I knew from yesterday that the Farmers Union Oil Co.'s automotive shop would open at 7:00 A.M. today, and I was up and ready by 6:30 so that I could be sure to be there when they opened.  Yesterday afternoon the van died while we were parked on the street by the Farmers Union, so that's where I walked this morning.  I tried to start the van to see if I'd be able to drive it into the shop at least, and to my surprise, it started and ran just fine.  I even took it for a drive out of town a ways and back, and it seemed perfectly normal.  Still, I didn't want to take any chances of our getting stranded again while driving home, and I asked the mechanics if they could look it over.

Unexpected Vacation, Day 1

Earlier this afternoon, we left Lake Metigoshe en route to Bottineau, ND for juneberry malts at Denny's Pizza Inn before departing for Dickinson, ND.  Well, we made it as far as Westhope, ND, which is where we are right now.  Yep, automotive troubles have left us stranded in a small town in rural ND on a Sunday night!  Ready for this tale?

Camp Trollfjorden, Year 3

In 2009, our family attended Trollfjorden Language and Cultural Camp (at Lake Metigoshe, ND) for the first time (remember?) to learn more about our Norwegian heritage.  We enjoyed the experience so much that we returned again last summer (remember?).  Thereafter, I was invited to join the camp's board of directors (remember?), which pretty much guaranteed that we'd be returning to camp again this summer (and each summer for the foreseeable future).  The overall schedule for the weekend was the same as in past years, but I do have photos, videos, and anecdotes to share of details unique to this summer's camp experience.

(Remember to click on a photo to enlarge it for greater detail.)

Hospital Visitors

My stepmother is still in the hospital in Bismarck (remember?).  The girls had orthodontist appointments in Bismarck this morning, so we went to see Beverly afterward.  We took Dad out for dinner at Red Lobster and then returned for more visiting with Beverly, leaving when they brought in some blood for a transfusion to boost her energy.  (Getting her energy up and strength back are the priorities now that they have cleared up her infections.)  It has been a long road to recovery, but it seems that she is "on the mend."  Here's hoping that she will be feeling like normal and can return home soon.

At Long Last, Our Home Theater

Don't judge me too harshly.  One of our Christmas gifts to ourselves was a Blu-Ray Disc/DVD high-definition home theater system with surround sound speakers . . . that I just today set up.  What?!  We've been busy.  Actually, our multi-state road trip at Christmastime did keep us preoccupied, and then school/work resumed soon after we returned, and I scootched the box out of our way until I had time to get to it.  Well, now that we're on a summer break, I have time.  The girls watched today as I unpacked and sorted all the pieces of equipment, and they helped me hook up wires and troubleshoot until everything was functioning properly.  The sound is great; the picture quality is great; and the Internet connection via our home theater system means that we can view online videos on our big-screen TV, as well as select whatever movies we wish to view and download them in high definition from online movie services.  It even plays the radio and our CDs, making them sound spectacular, too.  Success!

Paging Dr. Suzanna

Here are the girls' current career aspirations: Hillary wants to be a herpetologist, a zoologist, or a science teacher; Abigail wants to be a pediatrician; and Suzanna wants to be an obstetrician/gynecologist.  With at least two of them as doctors, Susan and I should be well taken care of in retirement.

To prepare for a career in medicine, Suzanna has taken advantage of an opportunity to volunteer this summer at the local hospital.  Having completed 7th grade, she is now old enough to volunteer there; so she filled in an application and asked people to serve as references and sat for an interview, and they accepted her!  She will volunteer one day a week greeting and helping patients at one of the hospital entrances; and one or two days, she will work in medical records with sorting and filing, etc.

Her first shift was this morning, and she enjoyed it!  She has a photo ID and a shirt with the hospital's logo on it, so she looks very official.  Today she spent a lot of time visiting with elderly men who engaged her in conversation as they waited for their appointments.  Tomorrow she will learn what her medical records duties involve.

Smak av Sommer

["Taste of Summer"]

Suzanna spent a good part of the day at the house of one of her friends, and Hillary attended the birthday party of one of her friends, which worked out fine for Abigail since it was her turn to be my helper for this week's Scandinavian Saturday supper.  We chose a summer-y kind of menu that turned out to be very tasty.  Click on the pic below (and/or any that follow) for a detailed look and then read on for all the delicious details.

Ascension Day

Today is Kristi Himmelfartsdag ["Christ's Ascension Day"] in Norway.  We call it Ascension Day, but it's more fun for English speakers to say it in Norwegian.  Twisted, I know.  In any case, I hope you got to celebrate it, no matter what you called it.

Thrifty Tour of Norway

Here is an easy way to visit Norway and enjoy its beauty without having to pay a cent or step away from your monitor: