Biggest Cow in the World! Our Mini-Trip

Once a year we try to go on a mini-vacation with all the kids at home.  This year we headed out to a small farm west of Bismark, ND.  On the way there we couldn't help but see this huge cow on a hill in New Salem, North Dakota.  As we got closer we just had to drive up the hill to see the world's largest holstein cow.  After a short discussion on how we'd get cows this size in our barn...

We realized we'd only need one to fill our tank!  This is way bigger than any hill we have at home with the exception of Bemis Hill so the family was excited to hike up to the top.  I guess the town's sports teams are know as the New Salem Holsteins.  Go, Holsteins!

We went to a one day Project Appleseed as part of "Prairie Days". The Project Appleseed is put on by the Revolutionary War Veterns Association.  They tell lots of history of the founding of our country along with tons of marksmanship training.  Everyone loved it, except for Miriam and I who weren't in it, although we enjoyed watching.  I thought our guys were pretty good marksman but they learned a lot anyway and look forward to going again, somewhere, someday, maybe even here!

It was a really, really windy day so the targets were actually  moving around some.  They teach you to shoot in different positions.

As part of the Prairie Days, with quite a few homeschool families, they had different people give old time skill demonstrations.  Isaac did a trapping demonstration that the guys especially enjoyed.  I noticed afterwards they got Isaac to hike down around the river to look for beaver evidence.  He came to the conclusion no beaver is going to stay in one place long because there just aren't enough trees anywhere!  North Dakota is pretty barren.  The hills are beautiful though and it wouldn't bother me to live where I could see for miles!

There was an old time spelling bee that Priscilla participated in.  Dads and Moms were included too if they wanted.

If you haven't noticed, different people are dressed different.  They encourage people to dress in prarie time outfits.  I loved seeing the creativity of some.

Hosanna and a couple others played recorders for fun.

The valleys have trees and the hills often had cows on them.  They remind me of the song, "He owns the cattle on a thousand hills..." Not too many things prettier than a sight like this.

Cora of the "Maiden in a House of God" blog encouraged us to come.  Thank you, Cora, we had a wonderful time!  Cora is very sweet and we enjoyed getting to know her, her brothers, and her mom.

A good game of volleyball.  See Davy Crockett?  Not sure who he was but Arthur enjoyed fellowshipping with him about this and that.

Miriam on stilts.

And Cora on stilts. 

Well, that is our mini-trip for 2011.  It's hard to get away with the whole family more than a couple of days.  I actually was dreading going because we were camping out and I'm not much of a camper but I had a good time and actually look forward to going camping again sometime.  At least our tent didn't get wet like the girls ;)  And we didn't choose to sleep out under the stars, I mean rain, like the guys.

Now that VBS is done, and our trip, getting ready for the maze is next.  It's quite overwhelming to say the least!  My have-to-get-done list is a mile long and growing.  I'm so glad God gives us sleep at night!  Well, the weeds in the garden are calling me!