Teddy had the right idea...

We took a drive...

out of Williston...

away from all the hustle and bustle of the oilfield...

out where our eyes could rest, tired from the sight of endless people and all their accoutrements...

where finally, after weeks of being squeezed in by all things oilfield and work, we could exhale...

We headed down just past Watford City, to the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in late June.  We didn't expect to have the park to ourselves, but that's pretty much what we found...

Whatever the reason...I'll take it and be glad for it.  Peace and quiet, with a hefty dose of natural beauty, is like a healing balm for my soul...

We took our time, driving slowly through the park with our windows down. The cool breeze blowing through the car...taking all the tensions of being too long cooped up in a town with it as it whispered in and back out...

Driving right on past the little Visitor Center, we didn't even stop to get any Jr. Ranger books (shocking, I know ;)...), we followed the road until we came to the picnic area.  Everyone tumbled out...shoes were kicked off, footballs grabbed.  The only sounds were of running feet and happy chatter as the kids played, free...

Between games of catch and tag, we grilled up some sweet corn for our supper.  Oh my word...ya'll, that was the best tasting corn I have ever had.  Sweet, buttery, salty, and a tad bit smokey tasting...
good stuff :)...

We stayed there quite a while, just hanging out.  Just as we were packing up to leave another family showed up.  They had armfuls of firewood and headed for the little open-air stone building with a fireplace built in.  I hadn't even really noticed it until then, but made a mental note to myself to come back someday and bring some wood.  I do love a chilly night under the stars with a cozy fire (and smore's, of course).

When we left there, we continued on deeper into the park...

we walked a few trails...

the views were simply beautiful...

Then, towards the far back end of the park, we came upon a large group of Bison (Buffalo, whatever). 

There were even some babies!  They were so cute :)...

this little guy was grunting like a piglet...i don't think he liked us ;)

I was focused on a group of Buffies (what the kids call them) off in the distance, atop a hill, and had my camera up to my face getting ready to take a picture.  We were slowly creeping along in the car...I snapped the picture and took my camera down and was face to face with a huge Buffy!  He was RIGHT THERE!  HAHAHA!!!  It's funny now...

that brown blur...my buffy photobomber ;)

It was getting late, close to 9pm, and we still had close to a two hour drive to get back to our camper.  Dan had to get up early, early the next morning for work or we would have stayed til the sun went down.  Sunset is my favorite, but this...

...this is pretty good, too...

A North Dakota Christmas...

We have been traveling now for seven years.  Seven years, seven Christmases, seven different states.  Just for the fun of remembering...the first year we were in Louisiana, then Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, California, Florida, and now North Dakota.  So many miles...

Anyway, back to the present :).  This year we are in North Dakota...aka the frozen arctic.  Sooo cooold.  This is the first time in my life that I have completely and totally packed up the flip-flops.  I won't even wear them around the house, I'd freeze solid if I did ;).  Given the extreme cold that this part of the country is prone to, I try to plan our outings accordingly.  Above zero?  Time to get out and run all those errands that I had been too cold to do before...

the green gummi bear is drinking a coke...kids have the best imaginations :)

One thing that I took a gamble on weather wise was a special Christmas concert in Bismarck, ND.  Tickets went on sale a couple months back and I bought them with hopes of no blizzards and decent roads between here and there when the time came to go (it's a 3 and a half hour drive one way).  The same concert was coming to Williston the next week, but getting tickets or groceries or anything else around here takes lightning fast skills.  By the time I had heard about the concert, the tickets for here had long been sold out.  Oh well, I do love a good road trip :).

The day of the concert we got up early and headed out.  Stopping along the way to admire Lewis and Clark...

...grab some Starbucks in Minot.  What is it about Starbucks that everyone is so gaga over?  I like it ok (my kids love it), but it is by far not the best out there...

...then Bismarck.  HuHot, TJ Maxx (my 2 favorites), then on to the hotel.  It had been frigidly cold and snowy, but the week of the concert we had a warmish spell and the roads actually thawed out...thankfully!

HuHot...sooo good

the apple he sweet talked the hotel clerk out of...this boy could live off of apples...his favorite :)

ready for the concert...bye!

The concert/Christmas program was great.  It was called The Reason, with Moriah Peters and The Newsboys...

the drummer's platform thing rose up from the stage...

...flipped sideways, and spun around in circles WHILE he played!

tired but happy...I kept them out til midnight :)

The next day we slept in, then hit up the mall (i'm not a fan of malls...but again, the kids love it) to do some Christmas shopping.  Shopping and one haircut later, we found ourselves parked at the HuHot again before hitting the road for home...

Oh wait!  There was one more thing.  Hehe...  We don't have any bakeries or donut shops in Williston, which is probably for the best...ahem...but in a town named "Bismarck" we figured there would at least be some good donut shops.  There was exactly one...called the Bearscat Bakery.  Their specialty?  A bear scat donut...you know it's funny ;).  Gross, but funny...

HAHAHA!

Early, early, early the next morning we went to volunteer at our Bountiful Baskets site and get our produce for the next couple of weeks.  The kids really like volunteering...

veggie day at the Williston Recycle Center

and THIS was our greeting as we left to go home <3.  Wow!

Then we went to the rec center to work off those donuts (hah!)...

Speaking of the rec center...it just opened this year in Williston and it is AWESOME!  I can't imagine spending a winter here without it.  We buy a membership every month (you can get annual ones, but we never know when we will be leaving...so we do it monthly).  Tennis, indoor golf, basketball, racquetball, soccer, volleyball, and most important of all...swimming!  They have an indoor waterpark that is wonderful.  Slides, lazy river, flowrider, so many things for the kids to do...

When we were coming and going from the rec center, we noticed a man doing an ice carving out front.  Something special for Christmas...

It amazes me how that is even possible.  I mean, it's ice!

several days later...still standing!

Another fun thing that Williston had going for Christmas was out at Spring Lake Park.  There was a holiday lights drive set up and activities certain nights of the week in the building.  Movies, crafts, that kind of thing...

I showed ya'll a peek at our Christmas tree the other day.  This year, just like last year, the kids did all the decorating.  Dan and I did help pick out the ornaments and tree, but the arranging was all the kids doings :)...

we had our tree in that corner first...but ended up having to move it

With Dan's work schedule, we ended up opening presents a few days before Christmas and then making gingerbread houses on Christmas Day.  Pretty much something fun and special every single day that week :).  I'm so glad that the kids could enjoy themselves and have fun...

We got Dan a bunch of ice fishing gear for Christmas...he had a break in his work schedule and was able to take the boys out fishing a few times over the past several days... 

the boys took these next few pictures...i haven't been out there...

look how thick that ice is!

Ya'll, I can't help it...ice fishing creeps me out.  Is that weird?  Just the thought of being out there...on ice...over water that's who knows how deep...drilling HOLES, driving around, setting up heaters and whatnot.  Creeps me out.  But the boys aren't bothered (no surprise there).  They quite like it :)...

Well, that was our Christmas in a very large nutshell...hahaha!  A cold one, but a good one ;).