I know that our friends and family love us and everything but when we were moving and everyone muttered something similar to, “We’ll definitely come up to visit you and see North Dakota!” I put little to no stock in those words. Not that I don’t believe you family, it’s just that, well, it’s North Dakota. Not exactly on the way to anywhere.

Well, we have been proven wrong. We had our first visitors!!! It is no surprise that Danny’s parents Jenni and Dave made the trek (because they are awesome). I feel like the pull was more to do with Benjamin and less to do with the giant bust of Theodore Roosevelt we’re sporting here in Watford but I don’t care. So, their visit begs the question, what do you do with visitors in Watford City? I asked around to my friends, asking where they take their visitors and I feel like I was just met with blank stares haha. High on Benj’s priority list was playing trains with his grandpa. High on Jenni’s priority list was taking a rest from her busy work life. High on my priority list was keeping everyone fed and happy. So it seems that, fortunately, laying around the house playing, hanging out and eating fit everyone’s criteria.

We did a lot of this:
and this: this is three generations of train lovers here:   Those boys are so adorable. Benjamin bossed his grandpa around all weekend. We did take a break from laying around to drive them around Watford and the surrounding area. We looked at oil wells and showed them some of the crazy housing here. It was really fun to look at this area with new eyes again. Even though it was freezing we had to take them to our favorite place, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Dave recently had surgery on his foot so he was a major trooper following us through the park! I love the park. So far I’ve been there in late Fall and winter and, though we can’t spend very long outside on account of the temperature, it always makes me feel refreshed when we visit. I can’t wait until temps warm up and we can do some real hiking. We had to visit the most popular restaurant in town, Outlaws, for Danny’s birthday. And I got to laugh at my warm blooded Father-in-law for walking in 5 degree weather without a coat.   It was such a treat to have familiar faces. I love my mother and father in law so much. We spend so much of our time here meeting new people, getting to know new people and trying to present ourselves as normals. It was really nice to sit back and relax with family. It surprised me how much their visit meant to Benj. I think he misses his people more than I realize. He was happy to jump right into grandma and grandpa’s arms. For days after they left he wandered the apt asking for them and carrying around this picture of them: You can see his little hand trying to grab it back, he didn’t like me taking it to snap a pic. He knows they are his people. For the rest of you contemplating a visit, we can promise lots of junk food, a comfy couch, hilarious antics from Benjamin, and a few sites to visit. We are preeeetty full up on visitors so you’ll have to book in advance but get in touch, we’ll do our best to fit you in 😄