Wow it's only taken me two+ weeks to write about this post, that's not long, right?
So we went to North Dakota to visit Aaron and April (my bro and his amazing wife), May 23-28. It's about 844 Miles to get there which is a little over thirteen hours, let me just say it was a long drive and there were a couple factors that seemed to make it longer.
#1 Reason!!!
Grandpa Shaw's Van... Current mileage 200,000+ miles.
I think we went 65 mph or less the entire way there. The speed limit was at least 75 mph 98% of the way there. Lets just say that added 5 hours or so on to the already long trip!
#2 Reason My Overactive Bladder
I'll just let the Medical Journal speak for me!
What are symptoms of an overactive bladder?
The symptoms of an overactive bladder include frequent urination, urgency of urination, and urge incontinence. Overactive bladder may cause significant social, psychological, occupational, domestic, and physical problems. Again, these symptoms should not be considered a normal part of aging.
Well that's good to know, considering the fact that I'm only at the ripe old age of 23! Now that I know my problem isn't normal maybe I should get it looked at....
Basically we had to stop at every gas station we saw, add another 3 hours!
#3 Reason My two cute Kids
Let me just take this time to say that I have two of the BEST long distance travelers under the age of six! They are so awesome on long car rides! The only reason that they made the trip longer is because we all felt so bad for them having to sit in the car strapped in their seat belts for 24 hours, so we would stop to let them run around.
Other than those minor set backs it wasn't too bad, the kids watched movies all day and me and Josh read our books while Mom and Dad drove!
When we turned on the road that goes to Aaron's house we noticed it was called the ENCHANTED HIGHWAY! We thought it was a perfect fit for Aaron to be there because he is so enchantedly awesome! ;)
North Dakota is beautiful! You can see the entire sky over beautiful green land. I doubt we have ever been to a place that is so relaxing and peaceful.
Daimen and
KayBree had a blast. They were able to walk out of the front door, and "hunt" for rabbits alone, without me freaking out that they were going to get stolen. No one was around for miles! It was great! They took their trusty hunting dog, Nelly, and had many grand adventures.
Aaron and April have 17 acres of land and in the back of their house they have 3-4 hills, that were HUGE for
KayBree and
Daimen so they thought they were awesome to be able to hike to the top of them.
KayBree named them "The April and Aaron Hills" which we all thought was a fitting name. We hiked to the top of those hills quite a few times and one time we even found a dead bunny, all that was left was it bones and it's two, furry back feet.
KayBree decided it was a mystery, that she and
Daimen needed to solve... The case of the Bunny Bones and Furry Feet!
My Dad brought out a 22 pistol for the kids to shoot while we were there. I think his main objective was to to see if he could scare Daimen into not wanting to shoot a real gun because it was too loud, but it didn't work out so well. He held up the gun while Daimen pulled the trigger, and he didn't even flinch at the gunshot he just kept pulling the trigger until his clip was empty, then with a big smile on his face asked to do it again and again. KayBree shot next, and she rocked! She hit the target a few times (an old plastic bottle on top of a metal barrel). She was so proud of herself and of course got an abundance of praise from everyone! Josh tried next, I think he was going for the gangster approach, you know gun held out at arms length and rotated in slightly. Needless to say he didn't hit anything. Our conclusion... he wouldn't make a good gangster! Then of course I tried and having been raised shooting guns, totally hit the target with amazingly great accuracy. What can I say I'm a mom of all talents! :)
It was nice to get out of the city of Logan, and be able to breathe fresh air, relax and completely detoxify. We loved staying there and cant wait to make the trek out there again soon (in our own car of course going at least 80 mph).
We even found a house that we could buy out there not to far from Aaron and Aprils house. It was a pretty good sized house, and it came with 40 acres of land for only $75,000! Josh is pretty set on moving out there so he will be applying at all the schools. Just think April, we could be neigbors! :)
I am so thankful to have a brother who I know I can always turn to, and that he finally found my long lost sister, April! (I just wish it would have been sooner, due to the fact that she makes our family so much better)
Dear April and Aaron,
Thank you guys so much for the AMAZING time we had, and even though you probably don't believe us we will come out again! We miss you everyday and think about you always!
