Fun in Fargo

I think Montana is known as "Big Sky Country", but that could easily apply to North Dakota. With the flat terrain and few trees, the sky is the dominant feature of the landscape. It makes sunny days seem sunnier and stormy days more threatening.

We had great weather last weekend. Across the highway from our hotel is the Red River Zoo, which is a perfect size for young kids. When you drive past the zoo, you can see the camels from the highway! The kids and I spent Saturday morning there. They enjoyed the farm animals the best, especially the cow with the really long tongue and the pigmy goats. We saw 4-day-old twin goats that were so cute. The best part for Billy and Maddy was an old-fashioned merry-go-round -- we rode it twice. The first time Billy sat on the "couch" (one of the benches on the merry-go-round), but the second time he decided to "race" his sister on one of the horses.

Sunday we drove to one of the local parks near the river and rode our bikes along the river bike path to downtown Fargo. We would cross over these little bridges into Minnesota and back again. There was an arts and crafts festival in town so we went to that -- it was a lot like the St. Johns Mint Festival in Michigan. We probably rode close to 15 miles, which is a lot for us. (Fortunately, most of it was flat). We also saw a floodstage marker which measured how high the Red River has been when it flooded. The worst was 10 years ago, when it was 40 feet above floodstage and topped the dike, flooding downtown.

Some observations about Fargo:

• There aren't a lot of burger fast food places (I've seen 2 McDonalds and 1 Wendy's), but there are several different taco chains, including Taco Bell.




• The Starbucks here all have drive thrus (good) but no Madeleine cookies (bad!) Apparently the cookies are a regional thing. It's too bad, because they are the kids' favorite.




• The grocery stores here treat Italian food as ethnic cuisine. Pasta, sauce, etc. are in a small section in the "ethnic foods" aisle between Mexican and Asian food. In NJ stores it's a lot easier to find.
  

Hmm...all food related.

Things I miss from home:

• Family (of course)!




• Bagels




• Good Italian food (although we have found good Thai and Greek restaurants)




• TiVo!




• Our house and backyard. Our kitchen is going to seem so spacious when we get back!




• Dates. Matt and I were supposed to have our first ND date tonight, but Matt woke up with a fever this morning, so we'll have to reschedule. One of the girls from daycare was going to babysit. Maybe next week.
  

It's supposed to be nice weather this weekend too...we're hoping to get to one of the state parks in MN to do some biking and lake-swimming.

Talk to you soon!

Settling In

We've been here a week and a half now, and we're starting to get into a routine. Matt and I were talking last night about how funny it is that, in spite of the change in geography and living arrangements, our lives haven't changed that much: get up, go to work, come home, eat, play with the kids, put the kids to bed, watch TV, and go to bed.

In my case I'm living my dream of being a professional student...or at least, acting like one. (I know, I should dream bigger!) This week I've been going to the library at North Dakota State University to study after I take the kids to day care. With my backpack and ripped jeans on I feel just like I did when I was a college student 16+ years ago, but I can tell by some of the looks I get that I must not look the same as I did back then. I was in the student union bookstore at lunchtime the other day buying extra note cards and I asked the cashier if there was a restaurant in the union. She gave me a funny look and said, "No, there's a food court." Of course -- students don't eat at restaurants!

The kids really seem to be enjoying their North Dakota day care. Every time I pick them up Billy and Maddy are playing together. It's also been good for Billy to get the same lunch as everyone else...it has forced him to try new things, most of which he doesn't like but at least he's trying them.

Billy celebrated his 4th birthday last Friday. He enjoyed getting all the packages in the mail! We decided to keep the celebration low-key...just ate at "home" and spent some time in the indoor pool. The kids love swimming with their life jackets! They would stay in the pool for hours if we let them.






Today's the first nice day we've had in several days. It rained most of last weekend so we mostly stayed in, but this weekend is supposed to be nice so I'm sure we'll be able to find something to do.

Time to go to the Fargo post office and pick up the mail...they're already getting to know me over there.

We're in Fargo

Well, we made it! We left the Jersey shore Wed. afternoon around 3 pm, and arrived in Fargo Sat. night 9:30 pm Central time. In between, we spent a day in Michigan visiting my family. We

had our best meal on the road at my parents'...corn on the cob and tomatoes from Dad's garden and Mom's blueberry pie. It was nice to have a day of no traveling. The kids enjoyed exploring Dad's garden. Billy "harvested" a tomato, a cucumber and a carrot.

The road trip itself went much more smoothly than expected. I was expecting to stop every hour for an hour of potty breaks and screaming at the prospect of getting back in the car (the kids, not me.) The kids adapted pretty well, although I admit that having the DVD player in the car helped tremendously. After leaving Michigan Friday afternoon, we only got as far as Rockford, IL that night and I fully expected we wouldn't get to Fargo until Sunday. Saturday was our longest day on the road, almost 12 hours including pitstops, but the kids were cooperative and we were able to get here on Sat. night.

So, we've been settling in the past few days. For a metro area with around 100K people, Fargo is surprisingly easy to get around in: wide lanes, little traffic and the ability to make left turns! And yes, people do talk like they do in the movie "Fargo". There is a great park on the banks of the Red River which borders Minnesota, and we have been taking the kids there to play at the playground. I found a good supermarket nearby so we can start cooking...food on the go gets old after a while. And, we have started receiving our forwarded mail!

The hotel has been nice...it will be comfortable for the time that we are here. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen/dining room/living room. Our kitchen in our "North Dakota home", as we refer to it for the kids, is sufficient to cook simple meals...a 2-burner stove, microwave, toaster oven and a crock pot (that we bought here...we needed a new one anyway). The kids are living in the lap of luxury in their bedroom here...they each get a full-sized bed and have their own bathroom! They look so little in their beds. There is a fenced-in common area that serves as our "North Dakota backyard", and an indoor pool which we checked out yesterday for the first time...the kids loved it!

Today (Wed.) is the kids' first day of day care here, and I think they were as ready to get back into a routine as I was. They got new backpacks and were excited to use them. They are in the same room together which should help with the transition. The cost is less than half what we pay in NJ, and all food is included! No packing lunches for them for a while (although I have been making Matt's lunch...can't get away from it! :-) ) I'm anxious to hear how everything went when I pick them up later.

Studying for my exam also begins today! I have a big box of notes to dust off and organize. I'm ready to get started. Tonight we're meeting up with a retired professor that Matt met at the airport when he first came out here, and we're going to a picnic for the Democratic Party of Cass County. Should be interesting... :-)

Talk to you soon!

Update from the Shore

We're at the shore!

We arrived in Beach Haven late Sat. night. Sunday was a good beach day...the kids had a blast! Maddy loved playing in the waves. Billy eventually warmed up to it, and once he did, he didn't want to stop! Today has been raining on and off, so we've been hanging out around the beach house, and we went crabbing in the bay. Maddy really liked the hermit crab Aunt Pat caught. The Dougherty clan also caught a few small crabs and a sea urchin. Matt demonstrated how to pick up a crab so it doesn't pinch, but I prefered to just observe. It's clearing up now...getting ready to go for a bike ride. A couple more days of R&R, then it's road trip time.