Spring Break 2008

Rather than head south for Spring Break like everyone else in Indiana, we decided to head north...North Dakota to be exact.  We had a great trip and spent time with family and friends along the way.  We visited with the Kielty's (Brian's college roommate) in Minneapolis on the way up.  We spent 2 days in Fargo with the Caillier's (Brian's sister) and Brian was able to attend his fraternity's annual alumni Pig Banquet.  It was the first time he attended since graduation!

On our way to Minot we visited Mike Odegaard (Brian's fraternity brother) and his family.  They live on the Missouri River just north of Bismarck.  In our 3 days in Minot, we hosted a few of Brian's college friends now living in Minot as well as the Odegard clan (the battery on our camera died so we have no photos from this gathering).

On the return trip we stopped in Grand Forks to have lunch with Rick and Diane, Matt and Kayla.  Matt was in town setting up for the ND Democratic Convention which featured both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  We stopped in the Twin Cities again and this time visited with Jon Kragness (Brian's fraternity brother) and his family.

One of the highlights of the trip for the boys was stopping at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells.  They claim to be the largest water park resort in America and they didn't disappoint.  Kristofer wasn't as excited as the other two but he eventually warmed up enough to play in some of the kiddie pools.  He did reluctantly go on one of the raft rides with us but he didn't enjoy it.  Kylan was fairly timid in the water only a couple years ago but he took on the tall body slides over and over.  Erik was the daredevil doing every slide at least once.  We look forward to returning to the Dells area again in the future.

After a brief stop at the Lego Store in the Woodfield Mall in Chicago, we made our way home with a day to recover before getting back to work and school.  A fun time was had by all and we managed to miss all the snow storms that came through the area.  We actually had pretty good weather (upper 40s and 50s) most of the trip.

Scott and Erin Kielty chase after Kylan	Kristofer sneaks his head up through the tube
Erik "The Fish" takes a brief break from swimming	Kylan is a much better swimmer now but still used the tube occasionally
Kristofer can't wait to get rid of the water wings	It was only 40 degrees outside, but Erik, Scott, and Brian took a dip in the outdoor hot tub
Maya and Kristofer have become very good friends and play together very well.  They were joined at the hip the entire time we were in Fargo and never fought!	Kristofer and Erik got to extend their birthday celebrations while at Becky and Chad's house in Fargo
Everyone wishes Erik and Kristofer a Happy Birthday	Kristofer and Maya play in the basement
Minda was thinking summer with her bathing suit (she had tried on the grass skirt we got her in Hawaii); Erik tries to find information on Jurassic Park on a play laptop	Erik then tried to call Dr. Grant on a cell phone
The kids all enjoyed dinner together	Didn't I say Maya and Kristofer were always together?
Kylan shows off his toothless smile	Moose is Chad's very loyal black lab
Becky and Jean discuss how to ditch the guys and have some real fun!	Fargo still had some snow from a late snowfall (they received another 9 inches a week later!)
Maya and Kristofer say goodbye	Kylan was stubborn and refused to pose for this photo but the cousins all enjoyed the visit
Erik holds up the State Capital Building in Bismarck	Ironically, North Dakota has the only skyscraper capital building in the country
Brian with Mike Odegaard	Erik plays in the Odegaard's back yard with the Missouri River in the background
A view of the buttes and the Missouri River from Highway 1804 north of Bismarck.  The highway on the other side of the river is Highway 1806.  The highways are named after the years Lewis and Clark traveled through North Dakota.
Erik and Kylan rush into Grandma's house while Kristofer stops to give Grandma a hug	Erik and Kristofer get to have another celebration at Grandma's house
Kristofer was so excited when he opened his present box; he kept saying "Oh My Gosh" with everything he pulled out
Erik's cake was decorated with dinosaurs	Kristofer's cake featured a Lightning McQueen car
Erik posing with his cake (he wants to go to MIT)	Erik blows out his candles
Kristofer was excited about his Cars cake	Kristofer had a hard time blowing out his candles, but he needed to get a little closer to the cake
This home in Minot was built by the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in 2006	This is the house Brian lived in during junior high and high school.
The kids enjoy playing our Wii on the 52 inch TV	Bruce McLean had his hands full with Di at work
Renee (Knorr) Beeter and Ryon Boen visit in the kitchen	Kylan had too much fun and crashed on Grandpa's lap while watching the Twins' game
Erik playing "professor" at Grandma's office at Minot State University	Kylan in Grandma's office
Kristofer shows off a cheesy grin	Grandma gets ready for her Intermediate Accounting course with a couple of new students in the back row
Kristofer loves wearing his "Purdue Pete" sweatshirt	Kylan runs through the pool at the Wilderness Resort water park
Kristofer spent more time with his towel than in the water; he scraped his chin at the bottom of a kiddie pool	Brian, Erik, and Kylan enjoyed the large raft ride in one of the parks
They survived another run and looked to go again	Erik and Brian were waiting for the big waves in the wave pool
Each park had a large bucket of water that dumped into one of the pools; Erik and Kylan are in the middle in orange trunks	This was the view of the outdoor park outside our room
This is a view of Klondike Kavern with the Hurricane ride on the right	The rooms had a nice "wilderness" decor to go with the name