Bubbles and Cousin Fun

 They hadn't played with bubbles much until they got a new bubble gun that had little bubbles in a big bubble. They made a lot of big bubbles and Tor had a great time using the squirt gun to pop the bubbles.

 This is the second installment of working on some new rock houses.  We had some interesting shapes in cardboard pieces that they made into some fancy houses with some neat furniture, rugs, and beds inside.

 They came upstairs laughing to show me how they had dressed up Jillian.  Jillian was a good sport to go along with their silliness.

Ava and Harper got into the house business too.  Bridget put the finishing touches on her barn for all her rock animals.  There was a lot of painting and glittering going on.  Ava made a neat slide for her rock to enter it's house. Harper's house was pretty fancy.

Beach, Day 2

The weather was on and off all day, so we adjusted as necessary. We started with some board games, like Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters and UNO.


We went to the beach for about an hour before the tide got too high.



This was followed by the usual ice cream at Adelaide's.

After some time at the cabin, there was another break in the weather, so we biked to the park and library.

Hot Dogs & S'mores

Andy and Karlie showed up at the cabin just in time to eat hot dogs and s'mores. Then they all took off and played "war" around the neighborhood.

August Swim Lessons

Not many kids at the 9 am session, so the kids are getting lots of instruction and reps. Jillian is still in Level 6 (fitness, or in other words, lots of laps). Bridget got to move up to Level 3 (she was so excited!). And Tor moved out of armbands to Level 1-1/2 (swimming on his own and also putting his face down in the water).

Yard Sale Fundraisers

Both Jillian and Bridget set up shops to earn money at the annual Castle Rock Yard Sale. Bridget had a portrait drawing stand where people could have their likeness captured.


Jillian sold her coasters and laminated pictures of photographs that she had taken herself.



They made a few dollars from their efforts (it was donation only). After an hour or so, they lost interest and went to playing.

Longest. Train. Ride. Ever

Actually, the train ride home tied with the trip to ND. They both ended up being about 9 hours delayed. This pic shows us waiting at the Whitefish depot at midnight -- there was a derailment in Shelby, MT, so we were transferred by bus (2+ hours of terror on the winding roads of Glacier) to Whitefish, and once on the train, it was 3 more hours (4 am) before it finally departed.

Throughout both trips, there were hours of delays caused by waiting for the freight trains. We got out and walked at all the stations whenever we could.

Last Day in ND

It was our last day in North Dakota. We started by going to cousin Ashley's Main Street Boutique in downtown Rugby, where the girls picked up some new bracelets.

Tor got to pick up a toy tractor at the John Deere dealership.

We also went to the Knox cemetery to visit Grandma Karlene's resting place.

Wee wrapped up the day traveling to Minot to go out to dinner with Ron and Jenny.