Sunday, July 27, 2008

North Dakota Reflection












We've been home for a few days now. Due to my awesome husband, I came home to a clean house. Even the carpets had been steamed cleaned. What a great way to start a new school year.

I've been busy getting the fridge and cabinets filled with groceries. Lately, I've been shopping at Costco. I really like that store. We are not able to eat any of their processed foods, but I really appreciate their organic selection of fruits and vegies. I also like that they carry many natural meats (no nitrates, etc.)
We had a great time in North Dakota with my sister and her family. The kids and I had planned to return to Fargo from McVille last Friday, but ended up staying and were so excited when Kurt came all the way to McVille to join us. It was McVille Days last weekend and we had soooo much fun. There were tons of kid activities including a bike parade, paper plate toss, canoe races, street dances and much more.

Quite impressive for a small town of 450 people out in the middle of farm country. Kurt and I figured our immediate neighborhood of 82 homes has about 450 people. We would never feel such a community of belonging and friendship here as we did McVille. It was truely a breath of fresh air.

It was actually hard to leave McVille last Sunday as we drove to Fargo. I've always loved farms and open fields of grain and corn. To me, it represents such a dynamic portrait of what God created thousands of years ago. I can honestly say I find as much beauty in North Dakota farm land as I would in the mountains or at the ocean.
Other adventures for our week in McVille included fishing, tree climbing and horseback riding. It was also very fun spending quality time with my nieces. We love North Dakota.
We start a swim camp tomorrow. Four mornings a week for the next two weeks. We are also planning to do an Olympic unit study with some homeschool friends of ours. I'm looking forward to getting back into some kind of routine.
Farm girl living in the city,
Annette

4 comments:

Courtney said...

How sweet of your hubby to have the carpets cleaned!
I've heard that Costco has a really good grocery section. Our closest one is a couple hours away, so I've never been. We really don't have much for good grocery stores here and there is just a teeny tiny food coop, but I don't think it even carries meat or produce. Thankfully, we have a huge organic garden and we butcher our own pigs so we don't buy a whole lot of meat. We would love to get a few chickens as well. Eggs have been going up in price so now would probably be a good time.
It's a shame you have such a city boy, it sounds like you'd really love it in the country.
Well, good to hear that you are home safely and had a wonderful time.
I'll be waiting for news of a baby bean. ;) Now would be just about perfect because you'd be able to wrap up the school year before the big event. :) I'm just teasing you. You're not too old though. Really. My husband is no spring chicken. Lots of his peers are having little ones right now too.

Unknown said...

Love, love love the horses, Annette! I can't ever get enough of them! The photo of yoru precious boy fishing is fantastic! :)

Have you gotten to Dead Heat yet?

Tanya said...

I came here to say just what Angi said.....that pic of your little man fishing is PRECIOUS! What a great shot!

Beth said...

I clicked over to your blog from Angi's (Choice Central). I was reading through your posts and I see you have visited & have family in North Dakota. Cool! My dad's family is from Binford/Cooperstown and we spent many summers in N.D. I even recognized the name of your sister's town...(McVille).

The pictures of your boy fishing are wonderful.