Puppy

A sweet little sable pup will be joining our family in a few weeks . . . the kids can hardly wait! 

Dakotas - snapshots

Medora, North Dakota (Theodore Roosevelt National Park)

Keystone, South Dakota (Mount Rushmore National Monument and Wind Cave National Park)

Kadoka, South Dakota (Badlands National Park)

Little Pine Lake

"Hiwot, Burke, and I (Maegli) have enjoyed riding our bikes to the swimming beach on Little Pine Lake. Which is only 1.5 miles away from home. It is a really nice beach and I would like to go their again. Burke is a really good swimmer and has enjoyed going there to sharpen his skill. Hiwot likes to go there and refuses to go deeper than waist high and likes to have a towel on the dock. I like to go underwater and swim ( I recommend not to put your feet on the sand underwater, its covered in seaweed. BLECH!!!)

"Finally Mom drove the whole family to the beach (Dad not included, he was at work). The babies enjoyed going in the water with Hiwot and playing in the sand with Davis. Kolpin enjoyed throwing water in the air with a bucket. Mom finally after forever wore a swimsuit. Tesfaye fished the whole time  (At the end Tesfaye let me fish. I got a bite but it got away).  Hendrick fished with a net and caught quite a variety of small fish (he put in his fish tank when we got home). Maclaren and Dabney liked to splash and jump in the water.  Davis, besides playing in the sand with the babies, went underwater and grabbed peoples ankles and scared them half to death (me included).                         IT WAS AWESOME!!"

- Maegli

Turtle Fest - Turtle Races

Our town made the list of "20 Best Small Towns to Visit in 2018" by Smithsonian Magazine.  Some of the big draws listed in the article: our county has more lakes than any other county in the country (1,100 lakes!) and is celebrating its 150th anniversary, our downtown boasts unique specialty shops and eateries, 250 miles of snowmobiling trails, and lots of small-town pride evident in community wide events and traditions held annually.

The big event and draw to downtown each summer are the Turtle Races - celebrating 40 years and held each Wednesday throughout the summer.  Hundreds of people congregate at Turtle Park.  For a $1 entrance fee, racers select their turtle (or bring their own)  and in heats of 10 racers compete in the racing ring - the first turtle to cross the line at the outer ring being winner and earning their $1 back.  The day's grand winner earns $10 and a t-shirt.

This past week, 250 racers competed.  Along with the turtle races, kids collect free samples, and downtown is busy with food trucks, farmers. market, souvenir venders and bouncy houses.
Our kids have enjoyed riding bikes to town and participating in races.  Davis is our only winner so far.  

Hendrick, our herpetologist, was really excited to learn our new town hosts turtle races and Turtle Fest each summer - he was eagerly anticipating it over the long winter and has been volunteering each race day as line judge or turtle handler - he is loving it!   

Turtle Fest - 5K, 10K, Half-Marathon

As part of Turtle Fest weekend, the XC team hosted 5K, 10K, and Half-Marathon races for 184 participants at the large city park.  Jackson Tesfaye ran the 10K race along with several of his track and XC teammates - 10K (6.24 miles) being the longest race he's run to date.  The runners began early Saturday morning and thankfully just beat the rain to the finish line.

The crew of track/XC boys started out fast and in front and were quickly passed by their track coach who led the entire race. 

Tesfaye kept up with the top runner (only 30 ran the 10K race)  until the final mile.  Rounding the corner into the last stretch to the line, Tesfaye pushed himself to finish strong, completing his first 10K in 40 minutes, 20 seconds . . . running an average of 6.26 minutes per mile!  

(His coach finished the race in just over 37 minutes!)

Jackson Tesfaye finished THIRD overall and won FIRST place in his age category!!! 

It was an impressive run for our 13-year-old.  

(We dodged the rain and celebrated with a huge breakfast at the Fireman's Pancake Feed)