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| The
4th is a time that lots of family come "home." Ken flew in from St.
Louis to attend a class reunion. Here Ken and sister Koreen posed with
Aunt Glorine.
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The
4th of July is a BIG deal in Mandan. We took in the largest parade in the
Northern Plains. The week also included one of the top 25 rodeos in the
USA. |
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| This
is one of the 170 plus parade entries. These kids were enjoying throwing
candy to the spectators.
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After a hot and blistering parade, we cooled off at the Mandan Moose club with
drinks and free sloppy joes.
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America spends over $1 billion each year on fireworks. For three nights,
this was the view from our RV.
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We
got to catch up with Larry's sister-in-law Gloria and her husband Martin and
kids--Diane and Rick. |
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We spent an evening catching up with Glorine's nephew Dennis and Nadali and
niece Lynn and Randy. |
Then we flew to California for three weeks. Playing in the pool is the
grandkid's favorite pass time. |
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All of the grandkids keep busy with summer activities like swimming,
cooking classes, band and soccer. |
U2
Experience was playing in the Brea Park, near Carmen's. You guessed it--it
was a tribute to U2. |
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We caught Dakota practicing her flute, which is what she chose for 6th grade
band. |
We
took the kids to Laguna Beach to take in the 50th anniversary of the Sawdust Art
and Craft Festival. |
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After stopping at 200 vendors, the kids took a break to pose by this huge
art deco. |
From the festival we spent a couple hours at Laguna Beach, where the kids swam
and made sand castles. |
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We attended a live performance of the Beauty and the Beast. Some of
the kid's classmates were in the play. |
Each
year, we take the kids to the Orange County Science Center, which the kids love. |
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year, the center had a traveling exposition of life size animatronic
dinosaurs. It was awesome. |
Sierra has become an avid reader. We caught her reading to Hunter.
What a nice "Big Sister"! |
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Another treat for the kids is the largest water park in California called
Raging Waters. |
We
got there at 10 and left at 7. Here the kids are taking a break from the
action with some ice cream. |
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While Dakota and Sierra liked the Dragons Den and the Bermuda Triangle,
Hunter enjoyed the Lazy River. |
This
is one of 12 extreme rides that kept the kids wet. We bought "fast passes"
so we skipped the lines. |
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Glorine was the inspiration to get some much needed irrigation repair done.
It took two days, but we got it done. |
Our
last event while in CA was watching Dakota and Sierra at their Piano
Recital--with teacher Ms. Lisa. |
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On the road again--back to ND. First we visited Chuck and Jean at
their time share in San Clemente. |
Then
three nights with Dennis and Nancy near Tucson. Hot summers in AZ means lots
of cards and games. |
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Early mornings were cool enough to get in a mile or so before more eating
and card playing. |
After two days on the road we spent a night in Rapid City with Glorine's niece
Cindy. |
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We got to meet her family at their daughter and son-in-law's microbrew pub.
After sampling, we bought two 64 oz. grawlers to share back in North Dakota. |
The
last day of July, we toured Deadwood. We broke even at one of the local
casinos and took this picture of bikers arriving for the upcoming Sturgis Rally. |
