Spring in North Dakota creeps in as slowly as possible, followed a few weeks later by the humid stickiness of summer.
By mid-May it was hot enough to hit the splash parks. Both kids were SO very excited to go. Did they get wet? No. Did they even think about getting wet? No. I guess the excitement was all about watching the other children run shrieking through the fountains and sprays. Oh well, fewer towels for me to wash. And we did get to work on getting a bit of color on our lily-white North Dakota selves.
FATHER'S DAY
On Father's Day we drove an hour west of Grand Forks to Larimore Dam, just to explore and see what it was like. It felt good to just relax and have fun for an afternoon, and the kids were not timid about the water this time. Haley had been wanting to learn how to fish and had lots of questions for this little boy.
A HAPPY (AND HOT) FOURTH OF JULY
We packed in the activities for the Fourth. Rob had the best start of the day - he ran a 5K race first thing, before we all headed downtown for the children's parade. It was HOT that day, and we were all wilted by the time we rolled into the town square for the opening ceremonies. 
Nothing that a snow cone couldn't fix though, and we went on the explore the car show (Haley's strange latest obsession), studiously steering the kids' attention away from the big, air-filled bounce-around things with miles of children waiting in front of them. Besides, we had other plans. We headed out - way out - of town to some friends' farm for a picnic. Haley ran off with her friend Audrey the whole time and we only pried them away from each other in the evening by promising they'd see each other again at church. 
We had planned to drive back into town for the fireworks, but Haley fell asleep on the way home and we decided it wasn't worth it to wake her. So Rob and Jake and I watched them through the trees from our front porch as a huge lightening storm moved in and joined the fireworks with flashes throughout the sky.
