The next stop on our trip was my relatives house in North Dakota! My grandma was from North Dakota and quite a few relatives live in the area. I hadn't been there in 20 years and had never met the younger relatives!
My relatives have a cattle ranch and had horses for the kids to ride. Even after Elizabeth's big hive incidence in South Dakota, she was determined to try again...this time wearing long sleeves and pants!
Elizabeth's cousin led her around on her horse. Success! No hives! She was really happy about that. It was so nice of our cousins to lead everyone around and drive us all around.
Nathan getting led around.
I had not been on a horse in...wait for it...20 years. Needless to say, it was not like riding a bike and I had no clue what I was doing. I used to ride alone no problem. It's sad I lost that ability.
And...a picture of the last person on a horse. This was actually Jeremy's very first time ever on a horse.
My cousins had kittens at their house! Now, both Nathan and Elizabeth are very allergic to cats and they know it, but the pull of those cute little kitties was just too much for Elizabeth. She just wanted to snuggle them all-all at once if possible.
Remember that old Looney Tunes show? There was that little girl Elmira who was obsessed with cats and was always carrying around cats and they were always trying to get away? Yeah, that was Elizabeth. She loved those kitties so much and I think they desperately wanted to get away from the harassment . But Elizabeth was determined to carry around as many cats as she possibly could. Her eyes were watering and swollen and she had a stuffy nose, but she didn't care. I felt like I was giving her Benadryl like it was candy.
There was fun on quads here too! The kids love those and wanted to ride all day.
Jeremy and Elizabeth zooming along.
I should mention that we were party crashers. I had never actually been a party crasher before, so I guess it was time. TWO of our cousins had birthdays when we showed up. I felt bad about that, but it just happened to be the day we were driving through.
Also, that sweet girl above spent hours making sure that her very own birthday cake was safe for the kids' allergies. She made milk and egg free cakes for strangers she had never met!! Talk about unselfish. It was so, so nice of her! I couldn't believe someone would be that nice. These relatives were also AMAZING at taking care of all our allergy issues and also made everything safe.
Did I mention our cousin actually made TWO safe birthday desserts that both kids could eat?
Nathan had his turn riding (and driving) the quad.
To our shock, the kids managed to find dirt piles to play in. How they love a good dirt pile.
We went on a rock hunt and Elizabeth found some new rocks to add to her collection. Her favorite was the flint. She also found a "pointy" rock to stand on. She wanted to take this one home...
Nathan got this wooden rifle at Fort Mandan and had a fabulous time riding along and pretending he was shooting things. Again, I'm pretty sure he would do this all day.
Elizabeth had a little friend to hang out with on the quad.
Nathan doing his "hunting."
I can't tell, but I think this might be a rock? Or a big clump of dirt?
My cousin has a great talent of making wooden toys. The kids crashed his birthday party, but somehow they were the ones that ended up with new toys. They each got a cool wooden shotgun. As we were touring his workshop, we realized that at some point, my parents had bought a lot of the different toys he made. We recognized a lot of them as toys the kids played with when they were little!
Elizabeth with her shotgun. These kids and their toy guns. But I guess when your Dad is a cop who collects guns, it's going to wear off on them!
A picture with my relatives before we left.
Here's a few fun photos that Jeremy took with the kids overlooking their beautiful property. Again, another place we visited that was just so beautiful!
After we were back home, BOTH kids said that this was their very favorite stop on the trip. Well, of course it was! They got guns, rocks, and cats (although none of the cats came home with us)!
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