Back from Fargo

We made it back from our short weekend trip out to Fargo. I had actually only visited Fargo once before I moved to North Dakota, but I have grown to like it over the last 6 years. The people are very friendly and there are a number of things to do in the area. Many of you probably think of the movie "Fargo" when I mention this city in the blog. The accent of the main character in that film still cracks me up when I think about it. People in this region do have a tendency to roll some of their vowels on certain words, but Hollywood definitely played it up in the film.

The weekend was fun except for the behavior of my youngest child. All of my kids had their moments, but my youngest child decided that Sunday afternoon at Barnes and Noble Bookstore was the perfect setting for the best tantrum of her life. Let me just say that it was one for the ages. For the most part, my first two children robbed me of the opportunity to witness the grandeur of a true tantrum. Our third child has definitely filled in the blanks for me. Barnes and Noble is a big store and my son and I could hear this tantrum "going down" in the ladies bathroom. My wife and oldest daughter Kamryn were in the bathroom with my youngest, so they got a front row seat to the show. The situation was precipitated by my wife and I correcting Kaylin for defiant behavior and then putting a book back on the shelf that we had originally intended to buy for her. The situation was actually quite embarrassing. I knew it was bad when I overheard store management commenting on the screams coming from the bathroom. One guy commented in front of some others that he "thought it was all because a mother wouldn't buy a book for the kid". I felt pretty helpless at that point. I was just hoping they wouldn't call 911. I didn't want to barge into the ladies room, but the thought did cross my mind!! The tantrum did last for nearly 15-20 minutes and spilled over into the car. When it ended, she was asleep within 30 seconds. The final score of Sunday's tantrum at the bookstore was kids 1 and parents 0. I have been doing this parenting thing for nearly 10 years now, but I still feel like it often gets the best of me. It is still the toughest job I have ever known. I do want to clarify that it is also the most rewarding job I have ever known.

On another note, here are some pictures that I snapped on the drive back from Fargo this afternoon. The waters are rising along the backroads and the interstate. The drive back was interesting to say the least. There was heavy rain and dense fog along with some strong winds. We are expecting heavy rains and violent thunderstorms over the next two days and then it is supposed to snow again. The countdown for the move to Maryland is 12 days and the countdown for my departure for Finland is 6 weeks. We can hardly wait. Here are the pics.

A newly formed river alongside interstate 94

Warm temps. in the upper 40's and low 50's (okay warm for here) causing melting snowpacks to form new bodies of water

Was a field full of snow last week this time

Lights out.