On the Ball in August 

Starting out right: On the 2nd, Donna took the Cleveland

gang to the Indians (Guardians) ball game. We won!

Josh Dockter and his wife entertained

at Music in the Park on the 5th

Bob and I tried our hand at golf on the 7th.

Note Diane's hole in one on the fourth hole!!!

If we had quit at nine holes, I would have won.

We didn't quit at nine, and Bob won by one!

The 16th hole killed me. Now I know how

the pros feel.

Oh, by the way, it was mini-golf. :-)

Six quarts of cukes waiting to be processed on Sunday, the 9th.

Four hours later: 8 pints of bread and butter pickles!

Still have six more quarts of cukes in the fridge.

August 17th: First day of school in Killdeer.

Matthew, senior; Grace, sophomore; Luke, 6th grade;

Mary Kate, kindergarten; George, preschool.

The whole gang showed up to cheer for Matthew

in his first football game. They won 45-20!

We shuffled off to Buffalo on the 23rd after church

and played pickleball with Ana and the girls that night.

While we were driving to Iowa on the 24th, 

Julia and Sara went back to school!

The presidents greeted the students at St. Agnes!

Halfwaiy to Trina's

Jett and Caiden have their own business in Iowa.

On Tuesday, Trina took us to see the

largest truck stop in the world

on I 80

The truck museum is across the road.

How would you like to use this for a moving van?

Guess what..electric trucks have existed

since the early 1900s

Don't think this farm truck would make it today!

Cleveland Police Paddy Wagon 1913

Depression era snowmobile!

Speed demon here!!! Top speed 10 mph

Then, on to Davenport where we met Ari

and Ophelia and they took us to the 

John Deere Harvester Museum 

and a John Deere showcase museum in

Moline, Illinois, across the Mississippi

from Davenport. Eric met us for lunch 

at Johnny's next to the gift shop.

On Wednesday we went to the Czech Museum

where we watched the video showing

how the 3 million pound museum got 

moved from the flooded Cedar River

to its present site. The clock tower

showcases the workers in the Czech

and Slovak countries dressed. 

These figures are carved in wood and 

rotate around when the tower doors open.

From the museum we ventured in to New Bohemia

to buy some kolaches. Not as good as Aunt Ida's recipe.

Then we headed to the NewBo City Market because

there was a Lebanese food place, but it was not

there anymore. We settled for oven-fired pizza

with gluten-free crust to take back to Trina's.

Thursday evening was the water ski 

show. Tom was emcee as "Doctor

Feel Good".

Annika was on the ski team. Jett and Caiden

were on the show team all summer, 

but after school  began, they quit.

Not showing off her muscles, 

the team did a dance on shore.

Annika's in the middle of this ski line. 

Trina said she's next to a tall blonde. Hard to tell.

Annika is on the third tier of this pyramid!

On the way back to Ana's on Friday,

we stopped at the John Deere Tractor

and Engine museum in Waterloo.

I think this one said 1911...

Didn't know they made tractors then.

This is really the best John Deere museum.

Working engine at the Waterloo John Deere museum

We got back to Buffalo in time for

Cecelia and Lydia's volleyball game.

Cecelia's on the left; Lydia on the right.

Dave's Restaurant in Charles City, Iowa has great pies.

On the way to Trina's we bought a peanut butter pie;

Coming back north, we picked up this coconut cream

pie with a huge meringue topping! Claire did share

it with the rest of us. :-)

On Saturday, we went to a huge flea market 

before heading home and then to the Community

Center to watch the NDSU Bison win their first

game in Division 1. 

On the way back to ND on Sunday,

we saw this helicopter putting wires on

the power poles. Sunday night we had a huge

rain and windstorm that dropped .75" of rain.

Still windy today. August is going out like a lion.

July, 2026, busiest month of the summer

Heading to Jimmy's on July 1st, we stopped 

at the Heritage Center Museum in Bismarck

to see the 250 years of ND history 

exhibit in the Governor's Room

The Germans From Russia were part of this exhibit

Then we went to Jimmy and Kelly's.

George was reading to Gramma :-)

Returning to the Cobblestone, we were

treated to a fireworks display

by some early revelers.

View from the motel parking lot

On the 3rd, we enjoyed ice cream cake for Jimmy

and chocolate/white cake for George. :-)

Meanwhile, in Miami, Ana and Sara's families 

prepared for their snorkeling adventure

They took a boat ride to the snorkeling area!

Later, back at Donna's condo, the girls got "framed"

and Tom, Jett, Caiden, and Annika arrived

in time to watch the USA team win in round 32

Jett and Andrew at the Argentina-Cabo game

Ana's girls with RJ and Julia before the game..

Donna had tickets for everyone on July 3rd, 

and they also enjoyed the hospitality room!

Tom, Ana, Doug, and Sara with the 

mascots from Canada, Mexico, and the USA

They watched Messi score the first goal

and Argentina win in overtime! Awesome!

The whole gang with Donna. She told me that she had four

tickets for each of the seven games in Miami. She got the 

tickets a year ago and traded with friends to get 

enough for all the kids and sold the rest.

We were in Killdeer to see lots of horses 

in the 4th of July parade.

This is definitely cowboy country :-)

Kelly's sister was in the Class of 2001,

so their family came from Wisconsin for the holidays.

Heading home after the parade, we stopped in Rugby

to check out the finished mural on Lee's Bar. The artist

 is the lady from Chicago who bought our duplex.

After church on Sunday, we headed to the lake

to watch the water ski show at 3 p.m.

Nephew Brad's 11 and 12-year-old girls joined the ski team

this year, and friend Meghan's 15 and 16-year-old

girls have been on the team for five years. This team

is not a competition team like the one Tom and the

kids are on in Iowa, but it was fun to watch.

Hardware Hank sponsored a country singer

for Music in the Park on the 8th. His friends

served the ice cream!

Roving country singer....

Always looking for a good deal...the 711 stores had 

free slushees today (7-11), so Sara and the kids

made it to three stores! They froze some of them. :-)

This presentation on the 12th was supposed to be

at the Rugby Museum, but it was 102 degrees

outside, so they had it at the high school.

On the 15th, we drove to Fargo for the Germans 

from Russia Convention. The first event was to 

see the GFR exhibition at the NDSU Library. 

Then we walked down the street to see

the newly-remodeled Newman Center

which has its own coffee shop.

The chapel...this church is the campus

church for NDSU and where Bob 

attended Mass when he was in college here.

After registering at the Ramada, site of the convention,

we walked across the street to Sickies grill

and met this bunny on our way back to the motel.

On Thursday, I spent three hours at the

West Acres Mall in Fargo which is also

the location of the Roger Maris Museum.

A memorial to the man from Fargo 

who hit 61 home runs in 1961.

Maris played for the Indians in the late 1950s.

One of his uniforms when he played for Cleveland.

On Thursday, our niece Andrea did a presentation

explaining how she found Fritel family 

members in Germany and Kazakhstan.

After 100 years of not having connections with

the descendants of Grampa Frank Fritel's siblings,

Andrea has found families of his sisters and one brother:

more than 100 relatives we did not know existed!!!

Ana and the girls before the dance on Saturday.

Andrea shared the photos and stories 

from her trip to Kazakhstan in June.

Ana's girls and another family with five kids there

enjoyed the dance and entertained all the old people.

The band members are behind them.

The kids dancing to the Cowboy song

End of a fun weekend. L to R:

Bob's sister Kathy, Diane, Lydia, Ana, Claire,

Cecelia, Bob, and Andrea (Kathy's daughter).

Andrea, Kathy, and Bob's Brother Steve visited

family in Germany and Kazakhstan!

Got back to the farm on Sunday, loaded up

 the pickup camper, and drove to Medora on Monday.

Teddy Roosevelt spent three years in Medora,

hunting, fishing, and raising cattle. He came

here after his wife and mother died on the same day.

While looking for the ice cream shop, we ran into Teddy.

We found the ice cream/fudge shop, and I got my

mint chip ice cream. Bob wanted a root beer float,

but the girl said they were out of vanilla ice cream,

so she used chocolate chip ice cream. Many of the

workers in this resort town are young students

from European and South American countries.

The Medora campground has some changes. 

This is a giant sandbox in the playground area!

On Monday night, there was an ABBA

concert in the amphitheater. This group

came directly from Sweden.

On Tuesday morning, we went to the Theodore

Roosevelt Memorial Library which opened

  on July 4th. We were there almost three 

hours but could have spent all day. 

Upon entering your name, email, and photo

 are entered into their computer system.

Several of the interactive activities upload

 your photo. This is cowboy Bob.  At 

the end of all the activities, your results are

 compiled and your personality is identified. 

 Bob is a Patriot. Diane is a Protector.

We also took the outdoor walkway to the

top of the roof to see the view.

Wednesday morning we left Medora,

stopped in Minot for my annual hearing test, 

went to Rugby to water my flowers at the

house we haven't moved into, and went

to the park for a Hamburger Picnic

and Music in the Park to hear

"Too Old To Stand." They play oldies

but goodies music. Got home at 10 p.m.

On Thursday morning I "hit the garden" to pick peas,

a handful of beans, lettuce, and three grape tomatoes.

Donna sent this "Bob" blehead for his birthday.

Apparently you can have your face put on everything.

I made him a root beer float pie!

Then we went to the "Church of Cash"

concert at Music in the Park in Rugby.

On Thursday, we went to the lake,

Diane played pickleball, Bob went for 

bike rides, and we lounged around a lot!

When we bought this cowgirl outfit

for Mary Kate's 6th birthday

on May 6th, we didn't know there

was a cowgirl dance camp for

her age group this week.