Christmas in Langdon

The cousins: Ashly, Brittany, Jordyn

We took off for North Dakota on Saturday morning feeling real optimistic...that is, until we heard that I94 and I29 were closed in North Dakota. We thought we would at least make it to Fargo. We were prepared and brought our swimsuits, thinking that a hotel stay might be a real possibility. Our drive wasn't bad until about 20 miles out of Fargo and boom...we hit blizzard conditions. Out of desperation at that point, we pulled into the C'mon Inn near Steve's place and got ourselves a room. We invited everyone to the hotel, hoping we could have a pizza party and see everyone. Bobbi, Ross, Maddie, Ethan, Brittany, Jordyn, Blake and Jennie made it. Steve and Libby could not get there and they lived the closest. There were three cars already stuck on their road and no chance of making it out of there. We all had fun, opened some presents, ate some pizza and went swimming. We sure did miss Steve and Libby though.

Ethan, Maddie, Jordyn, Brittany, Christopher and Ashly at the hotel.

Eating pizza for Christmas!!!

Opening presents at the hotel.

Getting ready to swim!

Fun new toys to explore!

Sisters: Me, Jennie and Bobbi

Another fun new toy!

The kids opening presents. Not exactly the traditional way of doing Christmas. At this point, we didn't know when any of us would make it to mom and dad's.

Ross opeing presents.

Jennie opening presents.

Blake opening presents.

Bobbi put Christopher to sleep!

We woke up Sunday morning, I called the front desk to find out if the roads had opened. At 8am they opened the interstate north. So we packed up and made our way to Langdon...finally!!! So, we made it home for Christmas!!! And we got to spend exactly 24 hours in Langdon before we had to venture home again. Not exactly the plan of having four days there, but better than nothing. When we finally made it to Langdon on Sunday afternoon, we spent the day with my cousins: Cadyn, Caylee, Carter and Carissa.

Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Dad opening presents.

Mom opening presents.

Playing with new toys!

Me opening presents. It was so fun and it felt like Christmas with mom and dad, but I missed the rest of my family!

Matching hats: Big Guy and Little Guy

Cool truck from the TV shop dad worked at many, many years ago. Mom and dad saved this truck to give their grandson.

Opening presents downstairs.

Christopher on Grandma's rocking horse. This horse was handmade and painted for her when she was a little girl by her uncle.

Another family portrait....ahhhh! What do you think? Do we resemble the Adams family more or the "Leave it to Beaver" family???

Ben Franklin socks and book. One of mom's cousin traced our family tree back to Ben Franklin...so I guess we are related to him.

The wind mills on the way home right outside of Langdon.

Chadd learning how to nonchalently wave to the locals when you are cruising through the small towns. Now being that he grew up in Bloomington, this waving thing is a whole new concept, so this was pretty entertaining.

Stop at Steve and Lib's on the way home. Christopher got rats...that's normal, I guess....hmmm.

Look, I'm the meat in the Steve and Libby sandwich! How lucky am I??!!

We made it home around 930pm on Monday night, unloaded the car, serviced Christopher, in bed by 1100pm and up for work by 5am!!!