North Dakota Fun

Hi everyone. It's been a while since I last posted but I just thought I'd fill you in on the incredibly fun weekend we just had.

A few months back we received a save the date card for a wedding in Bismark, North Dakota. Our Tae Kwan Do instructor and hubby's former co-worker was getting married Saturday, September 24. Miss Jen (our instructor) had told me that she was looking into hotels with water parks/pools and that kids were welcome so I knew this could be a possible vacation for us.

When the invite came with all the information, I decided to give a call the my wonderful parents and ask them a huge favor. Would they like to take a trip to Bismark and spend time with their grandchildren while hubby and I attended a wedding? Mom was able to get the weekend off so I made hotel reservations.

So this past Friday, I packed up the van, loaded up the kids and we headed north. The kids were totally excited about staying in a hotel and seeing Grandpa and Grandma. I was excited both to see the parents and to be able to attend a wedding without the 3 kid distraction.

The first highlight/ funny moment of the trip was when we were just north of Brookings, SD going about 80 on the interstate. I noticed a van on the other side of the road parked funny and it looked like there were people walking about. My first thought was they had car trouble or blew a flat and I was hoping someone called for roadside assistance. As we got closer, I saw a Highway Patrol car parked behind it with lights flashing. I though oh good, they have help. As we were passing the area, I saw another patrol car with light flashing, stuff scattered all over the spot and a large dog, possibly German Shepard, wagging his tail like crazy. Ummm, I don't think the van had car trouble. Both hubby and I laughed as we thought about this being one of the few times a person would not want to see a happy puppy wagging his tail. The "what's in your suitcase?" jokes followed.

After stopping and eating, the loving husband learned of my intentions of just driving though to Bismark and he wasn't too thrilled. I admit, it did sound like a good idea...drive the 7-8 hours that night. The kids would sleep in the car, and we would have the whole day to spend with the parents and more time to get ready for the afternoon wedding. By the time we hit Fargo, it was after 8 and we were tired, and the kids were not gonna just fall asleep. And we still had 3 hours to drive. Ok, not the best of ideas but I did however see one of the most beautiful sunsets as we were driving to Fargo. I'm also glad that we had a DSi, portable DVD player, and a IXL (DSi like) to keep the kids occupied so I only had to listen to "Are we there yet?" 50 times instead of 200 times.

We finally got to our hotel sometime after 11 and as I was checking in, I was told our room was double booked so they were gonna give us a poolside room for the night and discount coupons for the restaurant. The room was just down the hall from the entrance and on the 1st floor so all we had to do was open the sliding glass door and presto...water park time. I decided to keep the room for the second night since there was no real reason to switch. We were not gonna get any more of a discount and we weren't going to spend a lot of time in the room during the day when it would be the loudest so why pack up and move to a room farther away.

Saturday morning the kids were up early and ready to start the day. I took the kids over to the fancy (their words, not mine) restaurant and we ate breakfast. They got to use all those manners we have been practicing at home. Afterwards we went back and changed into swimsuits and hit the water park area. This hotel had 1 really big slide and 2 smaller ones and a little baby shallow play area. The kids had a blast going down the slides. The only bad thing was the 2 shorter slides were located in the deep end of the pool so hubby had to be the one to supervise since he could touch and the kids are not the best swimmers.

After swimming, we all headed out to get something to eat. My parents were planning on taking the kids to the Bismark Zoo so we drove over there. The zoo is located in a very nice park near the river. We had about an hour or so before we needed to get ready for the wedding so the kids played on the park equipment first and then went with Mom and Dad after we left to go back to the hotel. Later we found out how much fun they all had. One interesting moment occurred when Andrew threw a fit in front of the Mountain Lion cage. I guess the kid was kicking up so much racket that it caught the attention of the big male lion. According to Mom and Dad, the lion went into the crouch/hunting pose and stared intently at Andrew for the duration of his tantrum. Even passers by were commenting on the lion and what he was doing.

The wedding itself was great. It was more contemporary than what I've seen but the service was heartfelt and the bride looked absolutely gorgeous. We were sitting in a back row with other Tae Kwan Do members who came up to celebrate this day.

After the ceremony, we went back to the hotel to relieve Mom and Dad since we had a few hours before the reception was supposed to start. Of course that meant getting the suits on and swimming. We got a pizza for the kids and Grandparents and Andrew fell asleep in the car so we just put him to bed and Mom and Dad got to play with the other two kids for most of the evening. We had decided we would get something quick to eat and then head over to the reception.

Earlier in the day we had passed by a place called Space Alien Pit BBQ. Of course the husband was curious so I asked the hotel staff about the food and was told it was very good. Hubs decided we should go up and check the place out and see if it was any good. We parked out in front of the building and as we were going to go in we saw a sign that said it was closed for a private party but would open on the 27th. There were people on the patio but we were still confused and the door was unlocked so we thought we would go in and check any way. A very nice man met us at the door and asked if we were part of the party. We said no, we were just passing through. He then told us that they had less people show up than planned and if we wanted to we could come in and he'd feed us for free. Gee, twist our arms. As it turned out, the guy was the owner of the restaraunt franchise and this place was set to open up on Tuesday. This was him getting his staff used to cooking the food and making sure everything ran well. He spent about 20 minutes or so chatting to us about his restaurants. He owns the Space Alien Bar and Grills and this was his first venture into smaller more specialized BBQ places. As far as the food went.....OH YUMMY!!!! If you ever get to Bismark, ND you gotta eat at this place. We waddled out of there and headed over to the reception.

Of course since we got there late, we missed the free drinks and all the other "wedding" stuff. We got to spend time talking and laughing with friends and enjoying the beautiful fall evening. We were there when they did the garter auction. There was a twist though. It was done as a scavenger hunt/musical chairs thing. The participants had to run to the crowd for items and then run back. Each time a chair was taken away. One of the items was a man wearing lipstick. The lady sitting next to hubby (fiancee of one of the TKD folks we knew) tossed him her lipstick and said "here, put it on" The reason was her finance was one of the participants in the game. Hubby with lipstick and sitting on a guy's lap....no I did not get a photo but it was funny.

We left soon after and went back to the hotel room. I stayed behind with Matthew and Carolyn and hubby took Andrew and went back to the reception. I got to spend some time with my parents chatting about the day's events and other things too. We figured since Andrew slept all night he'd be wide awake and I would have a hard time getting the other 2 asleep. According to the loving husband, Andrew was a total hit. He danced and played cute for all those around him. The noise level from the pool area died down just after 11 so the kids were able to fall quickly asleep soon after.

The next day we packed up (after swimming of course) and said our good byes. Matthew had the moment of the day as we were driving out of town. The route we took passed by a large prision. Hubby asked Matthew if he knew what that large building over there was. "The Capital of North Dakota!" was Matthew's enthusiastic answer. No, Matthew, that's not the right building.

The trip back was pretty uneventful. We made good time and when we got back home the kids were able to ride thier bikes and play outside for a while. It was a fun fun weekend.