Vacay to Bismarck

 We kicked off our family vacation with a family picnic out in Driscoll, North Dakota.

 I know the people from Minot that came over for the afternoon, but I have no idea who the rest of the people are or how we may be related. They did have HEIT on their mailbox though, so that was comforting. 

 They were very hospitable hosts and even introduced us to their five new little kittens. Brie wasn't so sure about them but she did actually pick one up and hand it to Daddy at one point.

 Chelsea had a great time with them, though she didn't want to pick them up. They did have pretty sharp claws, though, so I don't really blame her.

 Daddy loaded me up with all five little kitties. They were so cute, and so noisy! Mew! Mew! Mew!

 While Daddy was outside with Chelsea, some of us were inside enjoying the coolness. Brie found a Highlights magazine and made herself at home. She was content to study it for a good half hour.

 Grandpa Heit called us out to check out the go-cart. It was kind of like a lawn mower with a seat on the front. Both girls LOVED it! It was noisy and bumpy, and one of the dogs kept trying to bite the wheels while it was driving, but they had big grins.

 We tried the helmet on Brie, but in the end her head was just too small. These Heits had a couple dogs, several cats, three goats (which Brie enjoyed looking at and scaring by getting too close) and many, many FLIES. But that just means we had superb food and the flies were attracted. :)

 What is this, you wonder? Well. It USED to be Gummy Bear Vitamins, but this is what happens when you leave the bag in your purse in the car while picnicking. Oh well. I guess the girls will survive for a few days without their vitamins. 

 After the picnic we headed into Bismarck for dinner and fun times at Snoopers. This place is like McDonald's playland on steroids. The girls loved it and didn't want to leave. The ball pit was a big favorite for them, especially Brie.

 But we couldn't play forever at Snoopers because we needed to get settled into our KOA Kabin (it drives me nuts that they spell it with a K) for our first night. We chose the Kabin for our first night because of hotel availabilities. But I always loved camping growing up, even though cabin camping is kind of like cheating. Us Kellys were tent campers.

 I didn't mind leaving the tent behind though, really. The cabin was really cute and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I just wish Brie had SLEPT that night. She was up nearly the ENTIRE night, and therefore, Daddy and I were also up nearly the entire night.

 Chelsea gladly took the top bunk. I was a little nervous, but she did great. Brie visited her up there and promptly jumped up and hit her head. Luckily she's a toughy and didn't even really seem to notice.

 We brought plenty of blankets and such, but we hardly needed any covering to stay comfortable. In the end, Brie ended up sleeping next to me on this bed and Daddy took her lower bunk, after two trips in the car to put her to sleep, she was still not ready to conk out for the night. Finally she slept a few hours next to me. I didn't sleep much because I was afraid she would fall off the bed (which happened while she was on her own bunk) but we survived well on our lack of sleep the next day.

Next day, Daddy took Chelsea swimming at our schmancy hotel pool (poolside room!) while Brie and I slept/rested in the room. Ahhhh...it was much needed. I don't know how Daddy did so well on such a small amount of sleep, but he did!

Just chillin out watching Phineas and Ferb.

Brie had a great time answering the phone. I'll try to remember to add the video at the end...

One of our wear-out-the-kids stops was the American Heritage Museum. It was kind of a bummer that the kid's section was blocked off for construction, but we didn't tell the girls that. They still enjoyed several aspects including these two little wooden horses.

Here is Brie after coming back from the Raging Rivers Water Park. I don't have any pictures from Raging Rivers which is sad because the girls were being all kinds of cute, but I left the camera at the hotel for peace of mind. I didn't want to have to worry about keeping an eye on it or keeping it dry. But as soon as we got back and got Brie out of her suit, she bee-lined for the bathroom, unloaded her bath toys, and sat in the tub waiting for her bath. So cute! You can also see the only photographic evidence of my new maternity swim suit here. It's drying on the tub. No, we didn't take any pictures of me in it. Your not missing out, I promise, hehe. ;)

Funny how some kids get comfy eating their dinner in hotels.

Have you ever seen so many olives on one sandwich? It's good though because all she ate of it was the meat and the olives. Goofy picky girl.

Another stop was the Bismarck Zoo. There was a huge rainstorm during the night which caused several parts of the zoo to be flooded or muddy, so we didn't get to see it all. But what we did see was fun.

We even got to pretend to be prairie dogs!

The Discovery Building was lots of fun also. Brie has gotten exponentially better at puzzles, even though we haven't been doing them too much with her. She was able to name all the animals and put them right into the right spots without any trouble at all. Smarty.

Look, I made it into a second picture! We made a stop at Famous Dave's on our last day after checking out of the hotel. Mommy sure did enjoy the ribs and other sides. The girls ate pretty well also. One can't go wrong when serving corn on the cob to my kiddos.

We went over to the little amusement park that's over by the zoo after lunch. The kids had lots of fun on the kiddie rides. Brie was even able to do most of the same things that Chelsea did. Chelsea did get to go on a roller coaster that she was technically too short to ride, but she did great and even raised her hands up in the air. She's getting so big.

Driving along in a stationary vehicle full of still animals. I guess it's fun!

Daddy took a few practice swings as well.

We had some time to kill before heading back to Minot so we went to a little playground within walking distance of the amusement park. From there we could easily walk to another park. From there we could walk to another. We just kept on park hopping till we ran out of parks. There were five or six in all along that strip of river. After a nice long walk back to the car we were hot and tired so we went to Dairy Queen. It was gooooo-ooood! It took Chelsea an hour to eat her ice cream cone. The cone actually started disintegrating and leaking before she got close to finishing. It worked according to plan though. From there we got some gas, changed kiddos into pajamas and got in the car with the hopes of kids going to sleep. Chelsea was out in no time. It took Brie a good hour of chattering away/crying before she fell asleep. But it worked in the end! Good vacation. 

I did remember to put it up! Brie will make a great phone answerer, and hanger upper. She's not too great at the conversation in the middle yet.