"Spring" in North Dakota

Emmeline and I ventured to North Dakota March 28-April 5 (yes, I know I am posting out of order.  Just chalk it up to editorial privilege).  We had all sorts of fun, but stayed pretty close to my parents' house.  It was so nice to relax, eat someone else's cooking and spend time with my family.  Unfortunately, the Red River crested on March 29 and parts of the city were closed down.  It brought back a lot of memories from the 1997 flood when Paul and I were juniors in high school.  That year the dams broke and about five weeks of school got cancelled.  Hundreds of houses either suffered water damage or were a total loss.  It was a very sad time.  Thankfully this year in Grand Forks the flood seemed to be safely contained behind the new dikes and concrete retaining walls.

Snow was in abundance there and I had made sure to pack Emmeline's warm winter clothes and boots.  She, pa-pa and Uncle Nathan had fun building a snowman outside.  Well, actually, Emmeline wasn't thrilled about the snow, but humored us long enough to take pictures:

There is nothing better than a cuddle with

grandma on a snowy day.

Emmeline and auntie Jacy playing the piano

together

Emmeline was thrilled to meet Paul's cousin's new son:

Caeden Michael

We made a trip to one of my favorite childhood spots in

Grand Forks: the public library

I don't know what this pirate ship is doing in the library,

but she had plenty of fun walking the plank!  Yo-ho-ho!

My dad enjoyed spoiling her every chance he

could get; here she is eating peaches and

cream...

...and here they are sharing cake and ice cream!

(I think these two pictures were taken on the

same day.)

For some reason on this visit, Emmeline

was hesitant to sit with my grandma Alice.

My grandma figured that the best way to

get Emmeline to cuddle with her was to

bribe her: it worked.

A new Elmo! For me?!

Emmeline cuddling with her great-auntie Darlene

Emmeline playing wii with Jacy and her

"friend" Dan. Emmeline was not sure what

they were doing but that did not stop

her from mimicking them!

Na-ma had fun dressing Emmeline up in

hats and all sorts of girly things...

...but she soon lost interest.

Emmeline is sitting in the passenger seat of auntie Jacy's 

new car; yikes!