| Here we are on the first leg of a six-month RV trip through the Midwest. With most of our summers spent in the Midwest, we decided to dock our Pontoon on Prior Lake, Minnesota at Denise and Craig's lake home. So our trip started with both of us driving with most of our toys in tow.
Let's keep in touch--click here to share your stories. Larry and Glorine
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| Our first stop was at a road side RV park in Eastern Idaho with a great view to the Tetons. While the roads were in great condition, most of our views were of beautiful snow-capped mountains. |
Can you believe it is the middle of May? Here we are stopping for a lunch break in West Yellowstone, Montana. From there, we drove to Billings to spend the night with friends John and Victoria Cech. |
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| We spent the night with Larry's sister Lorraine and her husband Frank, who are putting the finishing touches on their brand new home in Dickinson. They designed it to display their thousands of antique collections. |
While we were there, Larry's other sister, Claudia and Lou (from Oregon) stopped in to
sneak a peek at their beautiful new home. They are among lots of family converging on Bismarck/Mandan for a big Barnhardt wedding/hoe-down. |
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| You can't have a wedding without a bachelor party. So Randy and Marla put together a joint bachelor/bachelorette Texas Hold-em poker party. Here, Beth Barnhardt sits with all the winnings. |
Coincidently, Mathias Barnhardt, Ben and Nikki's little boy turned five years old over the weekend. They had a big birthday party at one of the local restaurants. Here he is with Dakota Rose. |
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| The birthday party was also a family get together. Here is Carmen and Ben getting caught up with each since their childhood days together. |
This party also gave Grandmas' Glorine and MaryAnn an opportunity to enjoy their newest grandchildren, Sierra and Gracie. |
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| Here is Mathias, Dakota, Mike, Carmen, Sierra, Glorine and Sarah (Patty and Paul Weber's daughter) enjoying themselves at the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck. |
Meanwhile, on Glorine's side of the family, the Resslers' gathered to celebrate Brittany's high school graduation. Brittany's mom, Lynn, is Glorine's Godchild. Here is Lynn's mom, Marlene with Glorine and brother Ray. Also, Lynn's brothers Dennis and Alan took part in the festivities. |
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| While Randy is not the youngest among the Barnhardt cousins, he is the last to have a big traditional German Catholic wedding in Mandan. The fact that Marla is also from Mandan, meant lots of family members on both sides were out for the celebration. |
Jack and MaryAnn greeted guests as they arrived. All of their children, brothers, sisters, and most of the nieces and nephews were there to join in on the festivities. |
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| There is nothing like being surrounded by family and friends. The wedding included a reception, dinner and dance, each being lots of fun. |
Gift opening the following morning is another one of those traditional celebration. Here Marla and Randy are opening one of the gifts we bought while we were living in Mexico--a Tequila decanter and "shot" glasses. |
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| With Carmen and Denise spending an extended weekend in North Dakota, we took them all in a RV drive down to Fort Lincoln State Park, south of Mandan. "Hey, who is driving the RV?" Clara is checking it out. |
We spent most of the day in the park walking around the old block houses and enjoying being together. With one being in California and one in Minnesota and their growing families, moments like these become prized possessions. |
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| After spending a week in Mandan, we took the Saturn to Minnesota to spend a couple days with Denise, Craig and Clara. Here Clara is sporting her new Mexican dress. |
From there, we flew to California to help Carmen and Mike move from their condo to their new home, about a mile away. From a low maintenance condo to a high maintenance home, it must seem like "green acres" to both Mike and Carmen. We plan to go back to Fullerton again in early June to help them settle into their new home. |
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| During our week long stay, we took a few breaks from moving to spend some quality time with Carmen, Mike, Dakota and Sierra. |
We were lucky to be with them as they celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary. |
