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 playedd for the Indians in the late 1950s.

One of his uniforms when he played for Cleveland.

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!

 

• June! School's Out and Summer Fun Begins 

   

RJ graduated from 8th Grade and was awarded a KC scholarship

School ended on Thursday, June 4th, 

and Lydia and Cecelia did a triathlon on Saturday!

The busy summer begins.

While Bob watched the tractor parade

at the Hawk Museum, I roamed the

buildings. This popper caught my eye.

I thought these were bells, but they are part of the

 more than 1100 blowtorches donated to the museum.

I missed the Doll House last year, but had lots of time

and memories. They are all from one person's collection.

Didn't even know there was a Clock House

until this year. Thousands of specimens here.

Trina, you would love this!

This 1921 Harley should have been in the

motorcycle museum in Cedar Rapids.

Went for a morning walk at the lake.. finally, a quiet

day with no wind and not a lot of people out at 6 a.m.

Went to church at the lake Saturday night, 

so I had a peachy Sunday morning...

and canned some cherries, too. Later, we

went to the Fritel reunion for lunch,

but most of the cousins had left already.

About 30 still around to visit.

Helped with the blood drive in Rugby

on Wednesday afternoon, then listened

to a lot of Johnny Cash songs 

and ate ice cream at Music in the Park,

I tried to capture the rainbows.

on the way home, but the car windows were dirty.

We donated money for the new hospital,

and got our name on one of the doors.

June 25th Pierce County Fair opening ceremony 

with the grain elevators in the background.

The Heritage Singers from Minot and a local

ukulele group played and sang.

My garden is one month old and has survived the 

terrible windstorms. The goal up here is that the 

corn is "knee high by the 4th of July". It's 

getting close. Yesterday I picked a gallon of spinach,

my first spinach crop in at least five years!

We have had almost three inches of rain 

in the past three days--our first measurable

amount since we got home on May 12th!