Grether =: Windmills and Plaid.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Windmills and Plaid.

Back to part two of our trip up North.

We had a great drive up from Bismarck to Williston. Greg drove, Eli slept, and I giddily took photos from the passenger window. It does something to my soul, to look out over miles and miles of prairie. Especially when the sun is shining in a bright blue sky and the clouds are so close you can touch them.

As you can see here, they have lot of windmills in ND, using the crazy wind that exists there to work on some sustainable energy. They are really tall.

We had one quick night in Williston before heading up to Crosby to catch the Threshing Bee, see family, and stay at The Hunting Shack for a night. More on all this later.

Since my whole immediate family was only going to get to be together less than two days (before Greg had to head back), I was adamant we take a few good family photos of the whole bunch. We did get the Twins shot I posted earlier, thanks to my 2nd cousin Pam. And then I made us pose next to the outhouse for another shot using the auto function on my camera wedged onto my dad's pickup windowsill.

And out of the six shots we got (which everyone else would argue was five too many), this one taken while I set it up is my favorite:

I guarantee you my dad had just made some off-the-cuff remark. No idea what it was, but I know that it was funny because my mom's face shows it. And he's just hilarious like that. Never a dull moment with him around. Also noted is how totally zonked Eli is, how ready Ali is to smile, and how the Lipperts are thinking "oh geez Heather do we really need to do this?"

This is the best end result:

Now I wouldn't say anyone in the above photo would be known for their good style. But I think at least four of us figured out what was "cool" this summer. Plaid.

Too bad no one told us it doesn't look right when you all wear plaid shorts the same day:

Eli actually had plaid shorts. I put them on him when he was laying flat and when I sat him up, his belly protruded out the top and he grimaced. Too tight! I undid the top button and all his squishy fat rolls gushed out and he smiled. So yea, he never actually got to wear them. Poor guy.