Bismarck ND Zoo

The perfect tree for a tree house, too bad it's at the zoo!



Before



...was, of course, one of the first places we went.  It is very small but wonderful in it's own way.

We love the train ride around the zoo, the playground, feeding the animals and climbing the trees but our MOST favorite thing about the zoo is their GIANT freshly made cotton candy!  It's always just a bit warm from just coming out of the drum and melts in your mouth.  After years of cotton candy in a bag this was a big eye opener to the kids.  They really pile it on too, usually about two feet tall and a bit.  We love to get a cotton candy and get on the train for a ride around the zoo.  We all share one and drink a ton of water enjoying our exploration of Bismarck.



After



First Day of School

Jacob in 5th grade, Julia in Kindergarten and Joey headed to her first day her YMCA "school".

Because we were still in the middle of our move in August Allen and I finalized our decision to put the kids in public school this year.  We knew where in Bismarck we wanted to live and I had even scoped out a school I really liked the look of.  As luck would have it, our apartment complex was in just the right spot for Solheim Elementary.  Here are some first day pictures.  The kids love their school and their teachers.  Julia has been talking about going to Kindergarten for months and months. 

Color Guard that greeted students as they arrived at school.

This is what we saw as we walked into the school.  After I made sure the kids got to their classes, Joey and I were going to head up to the YMCA to get our family membership set up.  As we were leaving the building the principal made and announcement for all the classes to meet out by the flagpole.  I noticed some parents milling about and decided to wait and see what was going on. 

Traditional first day flag raising.

All the students came out (538) with their classes and gathered around.  The principal explained that every year for the past 20 some odd years, Solheim had started their school year with a flag ceremony by the local VA branch.  He then turned the microphone over to the color guard man in charge.  The man took a few moments to explain what was going to happen, then explained some flag etiquette and told the kids what to do with their hands and hats and who should be saluting.  Then they started the flag raising.  As they put the flag on the pole a group of six or eight teachers sang the national anthem. 
After all that the principal thanked the color guard and welcomed everyone to a new, great year at Solheim. 

My apologies to Greenfield, PA Elementary School but ND schools ROCK!

GO COUGARS!

Can't wait till Jake's in high school then I can  yell,  GO DEMONS! and be totally justified.


Julia and Miss Moen

I get the daily update on all the cute clothes Miss Moen wears and how nice and pretty she is.  Julia loves her teacher.

The Motorhome



Breakfast in Bed

So, the motorhome discussions began in the middle of May 2010.  It started with Allen calling and letting me know that he was now the only paleontologist in the program and they wanted to know if he would be able to run a field camp this summer. 

Of course I said, "Of course you can!".  Allen wasn't convinced.  It had been 11 years since he had been on an actual dig and had never been in charge.

Laura -  How hard can it be to go dig in the dirt for 8 weeks?

Allen - It's more complicated than that.

Laura - Don't you already have a site to work on?

Allen - Yes

Laura - So its just a matter of loading up your tools and going out and showing people how to dig, plaster and carry  off a dinosaur bone?

Allen - It's more complicated than that.
Laura - You could do it in your sleep....In fact, I think you have.
Allen - It's more complicated than that.  I'd be camping out there all summer but off on the weekends.  They're talking about hiring a cook and I told them you had some experience with that.  You and the kids want to come out for the summer?

Laura - It's more complicated than that.

In the end, the kids and I decided to go and I started Allen looking for a small camp trailer or Motorhome to accomodate us.  Yes, I have camped in a tent for some extended periods of time but that was about 20 years ago and before I had two girls under 5 living with me.  My point, we needed a bathroom that wasn't a bush outside the door in the middle of the night.

I was looking at several possibilites but finding everything too expensive.  Then I cam across a listing on Craigslist Bismarck and sent Allen out to check it out.

The DinoDigger

What he found was a 1977 Ford RoadRunner Class C Motorhome.  Very clean and nicely painted.  51000 miles.  Yes that is Fifty-one Thousand original miles.  Listed for 1800.00  Allen test drove it and reported that it had polyester tires that flatten while they sit then round up again after being driven a bit.  Also original to the vehicle, I'm assuming, since I've never heard of them but my Dad knew what he was talking about.
 

We bought it, drove it to Base camp and lived in it from June 1st to September 1st.  We did take some weekend breaks in hotels but it was our home the entire summer.  It was not as bad as I thought it could be.  It sheltered us through some seriously intense Thunderstorms and a couple of big downpours.  No leaks until August when a little one started dripping on Jacob's head. 

We plan on using it again next summer.  Field Camp '11





Allen is sitting under Jacob's bed, in front of the playroom on his side of our bed.
I wonder why he looks tired?



Backwards

..Is how it is probably going to end up. I am back on the blog but will be trying to catch up on the last 14 weeks while keeping up with what's going on here and now.  I'll start with some odds and ends from the summer.

Howdy, Stranger.

We were wondering where you were...

Jacob get's some skills....

Jacob driving through the cattle gate.

Why WE go to Sturgis!

Happy Fourth to everyone!

Yesterday we went to our first Pow Wow. The have them every weekend all summer in different areas of the Dakotas. Interestingly, every Friday all summer is half day off paid as the tribe's way of encouraging people to learn about their culture. Here is Jacob and Wilma with one of the dancers. This little guy had two younger brothers and an older brother that were all performing. The above photo is the older brother. Their costumes were amazing.

We're off......

After eight weeks without Allen we'd had enough and so decided to surprise him for his birthday. We arrived at his workplace at about 1130 am on May 28th. The day before his birthday. He was pleasantly surprised.
We are now about to begin week three of the dinosaur dig. We are a small group this year, just Allen, a grad student Wilma, Aljoe our native American employee, Phil our native American Security Guard, Laura our camp cook (yes, even getting paid a bit) and the dogs Marley and Bobasaurus and Jacob our volunteer digger and Jue and Joe the resident goofy girls and jr assistant grocery shoppers. So far so good. We've survived a couple of incredible storms with nonstop lighting and weirdly, no thunder, some high winds and all the joys of remote camping forty miles off the nearest paved road. We have a little motorhome that we are living in. It deserves it's own post all to itself so I will post on that later.
We are in northwestern South Dakota just south of the "town" Morristown. Our cellphones don't work in SD and we have no 3G or other service. So when no one hears from us, that is why. We have been coming to Bismarck every other weekend or so and try to make calls and email on those weekends.
House news. We have a closing date for our house on the 13th of August. Thanks for everyones prayers.
We have a P.O. Box here in ND

P.O. Box 486
Mandan, ND 58554

We still have our Pittsburgh Cell numbers but it is hit or miss on reaching us.

Just a little update, will post pictures later when they are available.

Funny kid things

A couple of funny things have happened in the last week or so.

Julia informed everyone that she has chosen a middle name. Her name is now Julia Rose Shaw. I never knew how important it was to her to have a middle name. I should have listened to you, Susan! Now if you see her, you all know to say "Hello, Julia Rose." Hey, she's making all of us do it!

Jora potty trained herself. She likes the first words I hear every morning to be "Mommy, I'm wearing my underwear, I'm a big geel." (That is not a spelling error, it is actually how she says it.) Allen brought home the Go Potty Go video for Joey a few weeks ago and Jo was hooked. She asked Allen to get it for her from the library two additional times and then last week, TAA DAA! Potty Trained. All I did was put the underwear in her drawer. That's what I call potty training!

Jacob is working on losing another tooth. He has broken the bank this year with his liberal tooth loosing policy. It's gotten to the point that I'm actually a little relieved to see new ones come in and fill some of the gaps.