It is tradition (or at least we’ve made it a tradition) for Travis and I to bring the kids home for the Thief River County Fair which is always in July. Our boys have looked forward to the fair since they can remember and this summer, the girls were all excited about it too (although they didn’t really even know what they were excited for!). Back in the winter my mom had asked me if we were planning on coming up for it, so she could figure out her vacation time of course! 
And like usual we said yes!!
It just so happened that two of my cousins who have weddings this year ended up planning a shower the weekend before the fair came to town in TRF. The shower was in Alex and so we decided to head over for that and then head up to my parents house. Travis normally always goes with me when we go out of town just for the mere fact that it is a LOT of work to take four kids anywhere let alone a week long trip by myself! But…because other summer busyness he has taken so much time off that we decided I would do this trip on my own. This is the first time I have gone for more than a day without him (excluding times when I have been home while he is away). Anyways, so this was my first adventure on my own away from home with my four monkeys!
Friday night we headed to Alexandria where I got to see 2 of my cousins who are working overseas and I hadn’t seen in a very long time. I also got to see my Grams (who is 87) and my aunts and uncles and other cousins as well. It was great!! We had the shower and then my sister rode in my car with me to help with the kids as we trekked up to Thief River Falls. My parents were also with in their own car. Krista and I took all my kids plus Isaiah in our van. It was all going well until Nadia decided she needed to poop. She was frantic that she NEEDED to go to the bathroom, so we found the first gas station we could and pulled over. Unfortunately by the time we stopped she was in such a tizzy that there was no way she was going inside to go to the bathroom. Why you ask? I’ll tell you why: “That bathroom is too dirty. I will NOT go in there!” I tried over and over to convince her that she had never been to this bathroom and that she wouldn’t know if it was actually dirty, but of course she was not convinced. So the drama continued. All the while, my parents are siting in their child-less van ahead of us wondering what the ordeal was. Ha! Somehow we eventually convinced Nads that it was fine to go use that bathroom (I’m pretty sure Krista bribed her although I don’t remember for sure!) We go in and go to the bathroom. Nadia does not even poop! lol…figures!! We get back to the car and my parents see us loading up so they start heading out of the parking lot. Well because we had 5 carseats/booster seats in the car, the boys were having trouble buckling their seatbelts because all the seats were so squished in the back, so it took another 15 minutes just to get everyone buckled back in.
As we were heading out of the gas station this random guys comes out of the store, looks at us and says, “you guys roadtripping?” I kind of laughed and said, “Uhh, I guess you could say that.” He goes on to say, “that’s a lot of kids in one car!” LOL! You think so buddy? I replied with something like, “uh-huh” Looked at Krista and we both laughed! It was a nice twist to the normal comment I get which is “You sure have your hands full”. I’ll give the guy props for that!!
So we finally get back on the road and see that my parents had pulled over to the side of the road waiting for us! ha! We made it safely to Thief River later that day and began our busy week away.
While in TR we got to go to my parents church picnic where we saw lots of old friends and enjoyed some fun games and activities for the kids. My mom had every afternoon off while we were there so we stayed busy with going to the Red Lake Falls pool one afternoon and then to the McDonalds play land one and enjoyed ice cream treats thanks to grandma!
On Wednesday my sister-in-law Karen brought my nieces and nephew up for the fair. My kids were so excited! The loved going on rides and spending time with their cousins! The boys got to ride on some of the bigger rides and the girls enjoyed the cars, the slides, the merry-go-round and the tea cups (there were a few others too).
It is tradition that Krista and I always take a spin on the tilt-o-whirl whenever possible! haha! This year the boys were big enough to go on it on their own. Zane, Tate and Isaiah went on it a few times and then Krista and I decided we should go too. So, we got tickets and took the girls on it. Kinzey was crying the second it got going, surprisingly. Nadia didn’t say much while it was going but never once cried. When we got done she said, “That was my favorite!” LOL! I was really surprised she liked it so much and was so happy! I hope she turns out to be my little tilt-a-whirl partner in the future!!
We ended the night with a parade where my kids each took home about a grocery sack half full of candy! They looooved getting so much candy and I loved watching them squeal and run after the candy as it was thrown. I ended up getting soaked because the boys kept trying to get parade participants to spray us with water and throw waster balloons at us! It was fun though!
We went back to the fair, let the kids ride some more rides, watched the fireworks and then headed back to my parents house. The next day we got everything packed up, watched Isaiah’s baseball game, and then headed back to Brookings. Unfortunately right as we were getting ready to leave town something was strange was happening with the car, so we had to have it looked at. Turns out it was just the rear brakes, an easy (and quick & inexpensive) fix so that was good. We ended up not getting back to Brookings until late Thursday night. It was wonderful to be home. And for the most part it was pretty uneventful. I had my moments of course, like any mom of four), but luckily for me my family was a lot of great help and made the trip enjoyable too! Life is always so much more fun when Travis is with us, but this time it worked out for us to go without him. I am pretty sure he missed us a lot and will be going with next time though! It’s not the same to be left with a quiet house than it is to leave a busy house.
