Summer Holidays: Day 7 & 8 "I feel happy of myself"

The kids and I have been watching this Youtube video of a little kid giving an inspirational speech after learning to ride his bike.  You can watch it here

Anyway....the kids have been quoting this line from the video where the kid says,  "I feel happy of myself" (ie: I'm proud of myself).  It's funny all on it's own but it really is how I've felt this past week.  There have been trips before but this is the first big one that I've planned, executed and paid for all on my own.....and having it be such a success makes me, well...."feel happy of myself" :)

I didn't blog Tuesday night because the hotel we stayed at (that boasted free wi-fi) apparently forgot to mention that oh yeah...the wi-fi only reaches to select rooms and not to the rooms by the pool....oops.   So, no blog.  

But, here's a brief glimpse at our last 2 days:

Thanks to the flooding and construction and detours on the I-29, we saw a lot more of Iowa than we'd intended to so on our way back to where we were supposed to be in the first place, we found this rest stop with a lookout tower and we stopped to climb it and take pictures of the countryside.

Iowa:

Flooding and sand-bagged roads by Sioux City, Iowa

 We stopped in Watertown, South Dakota again on our way back up and had lunch one more time at Dempsey's (we had to pick up rootbeer of course).  We also stopped at Target for some snacks for the ride to Fargo.

 Egan's snack - Milk Duds (the last of these met their demise the next day when he left them in the Hot Van while we were shopping).

 Cale's snack:  Reese's PB cups, and licorice.....this from the boy who only decided a year ago that he liked licorice at all.

Mica's snack:  A gigantic box of Cheese Balls.  Go big or go home, right??  Actually....Go big AND go home.  That was her theory.

And my snack....I stuck to simple Starbucks :)

We stayed in a hotel on the border between Fargo & Moorehead - it was good and not good.  Good because when we got there, we realized the pool was 10 ft. deep in the deep end and I have 3 kids who LOVE to swim (and after this hotel stay, also 3 kids who love to DIVE!!!).  We had so much fun.  One glitch was that we forgot the boys swim trunks in Nebraska so we whipped into Target in Moorehead, MN to find a couple of pairs and we were back swimming within 30 minutes.    

 The only downside to the hotel was, like I said before, no wi-fi in our room.  When I asked at the front desk about it (after trying unsuccessfully to get online for hours - even with help from the night clerk), the manager said, "oh yeah....we've had trouble with it  because the hotel has cement walls and the server is in the basement on the far side away from your room."  Oh, really??  Didn't think to tell me that when we checked in?  Didn't think that maybe advertising Free Wi-fi and then having it only reach half the rooms might be a little bit of a mis-advertisement??  So, no blogging last night.  No work done.  I swam instead.

Today, Wednesday, we spent shopping in Fargo & Grand Forks.  It was hot-hot-hot again.  It's been the best weather.

We also had lunch at our favourite rib-place:  Famous Dave's.  Yummmmy.  Finger-licking yummy. 

Our drive home was uneventful....the US border patrol stopped us going into the country with police lights flashing so obviously they were looking for something (or someone trying to get out??) and at the Canadian border, we were 3rd in line and our stop there took about 3 minutes tops.   Very nice.   Aside from the decreased speed limit on our side of the border, it was very nice to be home and we're all very happy to be tucked into our own beds for the night!

The end of our trip.

But not the end of blogging.

I have Clear Scraps to show you soon and I think I'll give some of my excess away.....so keep your eyes open for a chance to win some acrylic.  Tell your crafty friends :)