I am super behind on updating this!
I sent a few notes to my friends Sarah and Sara while I was in North Dakota...
Day 3
Yesterday was great! I woke up and did some reading, thankfully didn't have to do that very long as BB woke up shortly after and so Tom, BB and I went downstairs to play.
BB has an amazingly close bond with her grandmother. She is pretty much BB's favorite person in the world. I don't know if she can sense if her grandmother is grieving or just knows grandma is awesome, but either way it's really heart warming to watch.
BB's grandma made us a great breakfast, all the fruit had been grown and canned on the farm. Macie, BB and I went out and played with the farm lab/retriever Abba. Abba literally smiles and is sooo happy. She's not too interested in BB only because BB won't rub her neck or belly. Abba makes BB literally squeal in delight. She's a total dog lover like I am!
(This is Abba, shortly after I asked if she liked to swim, lol!)
After playing with Abba, we went down and pet the horses, BB isn't afraid of them but doesn't squeal like she does with puppies. BB's grandma plopped BB down in a wheelbarrow with a blanket and took her around the farm to do chores together. It was adorable!
Tom, Macie and I got into the side by side and took a tour of the farm. Sunflowers and wheat are the major crops. The land gets rented which is good so BB's grandma gets a portion of profits of its a good year and doesn't have to maintain the land or machinery. Her great grandmother's house is on the property, it's is an old school house Macie's brother remodeled into his home.
We headed into Bowman (town) to get lunch. The town is so small it has no stop lights.BB's grandmother introduced to me to just about the entire town she was so proud and so sweet and introduced me as BB's birth mom and said she couldn't wait for BB's other grandparents and my sister Katie to arrive from DC.
(One of everything please!)
We visited a few of Macie's friends, and same thing. No hesitation and everyone was so welcoming! We stopped by Macie's dad's grave to pick up some flowers and crosses left there. I'm so glad he got to meet BB.
We left the cemetery to check out a coffee shop BB's grandma used to work in. It was just like a shop and boutique out of old town Occoquan..so cute! We brought some coffee to Macie's older brother. He's a master architect who builds things out of wood. He asked us to deliver some paint so we stopped in a realtor place which used to be the restaurant/realtor/gift shop Macie's family ran. Her grandmothers would do all the cooking, her father ran the realty part and friends ran the gift shop. Some of their employees who worked them still worked at the realty office. High school Football is a big discussion anywhere you go, everyone knows the names of all the high school football players. Everyone there was so kind as welcoming as well. I was worried for no reason; I thought everyone would wonder why I was there, that it wasn't my place, and that it was weird. Nope!
We headed back to the farm so BB could nap. I got some reading in while Macie and her mom made dinner and Macie's brother came over to join us. He seemed very stand offish with her at first but she immediately wore him down and she was bouncing around on his lap while he made motorcycle noises and she giggled. We had a very "Midwestern" meal- ground beef, layered with green bean casserole and tater tots. Apparently it's a big comfort food out here, each family has their own twist on the recipe.. It was a great meal! Macie's mom made that with a great Asian salad and rhubarb bread pudding, it was really good! Sadly we had to leave shortly after that to make the 3 hour drive back to Bismarck.
Macie's mom gave me a big bear hug and said "I love that were all one big extended family." So do I! She and Macie's brother will be there for BB's birthday on Saturday! On the drive home we had fun asking each other chuck klosterman's questions. They are bizarre but a really god way to get to know people! BB slept the entire way back. We got to the house about ten thirty and crashed.
Day 4
Tom went into work so Macie, BB and I will be doing some party prep and we'll surprise the family at the airport when they get here tonight! Tom went into work today but was kind enough to drop off some donuts for breakfast, one of them even had captain crunch sprinkled on top. It reminded me of VooDoo Donuts in Portland! After breakfast, Macie and I went shopping in these amazing beachy/ artsy/fun boutiques with BB. We then went out to lunch for Mexican food. We picked up Tom from work and went to the grocery store and dropped him off afterwards (he always tries to spend his lunch break with Macie and BB ).
We went to the party store, came back and played in the backyard all afternoon until going to the airport to greet my family. It was supposed to be a surprise but Katie skipped over that part of the message. We all hung out in the hotel for a bit and went out to dinner and came back to give everyone a tour of Macie and Tom's house. They just dropped my parents off at their hotel.
(I will never understand the excitement in this photo but i LOVE it!)
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