Bismarck or Bust

It was a long weekend last weekend (camp finished on Thursday afternoon, so I had Thursday evening through Sunday morning off), and there was one clear thing to do: Headin' out ot Bismarck. I love spending time with my good friends Jeromie and Missy, and their son, Drew. While we aren't blood-related, Drew is, by all intents and purposes, my nephew. He was the ring bearer at both weddings I attended at the beginning of June, but I didn't get much time with him.

When I got there Thursday night, Jeromie and Missy were playing in their sand volleyball league, so Drew and I built sandcastles. Friday was Kristin & Drew day. Missy went to work, Jeromie went to class, and Drew and I played all morning long. I chased him around the house, we read a couple books and we went to the park. He's very verbal now, and speaks in near complete sentences. He's also learning to count to 10 and learn who everyone is. The park is about three blocks from their house, so Drew sat in the stroller and I pushed him. As we walked, he would randomly start counting or shout out every time he saw a truck, boat or dog - and there were a lot of them.

I wanted to take some cute pictures at the park, but I got wrapped up in playing with him. I decided to test the video feature on my new camera, and taped Drew while we were on a swing.

(I hope you didn't get dizzy watching that). :-) It's a good thing he's so darn cute, cuz he's a little bit of a punk. Obviously, he knows I'm not Mom, but he sure got a kick out of himself.

After we got back from the park, Missy came home to join us for lunch, and brought a surprise guest - my best friend (Missy's sister-in-law, and Drew's aunt) Abbie! Abbie spends a month in Bismarck each summer, but had told me she wasn't getting into there until after I was there. She thinks she so tricky.

We all sat on the patio for a few hours Saturday morning after some delicious french toast. The adults drank coffee, chatted and laughed, while Drew played in the yard. We did a little shopping, and then after Drew's nap, we all went out on the river. It was a gorgeous day, I got a little sun, and played a pathetic game of bocce ball.

I live for weekends like those.