The Anue Family
Lisa brought her two young kids Josh and Karsen to meet us at the capitol building in Bismarck. Josh (9) and Karsen (6) seemed a little shy at first, then we asked if they wanted to do some jump shots and they broke out of their shells.
After walking around the capitol building area we realized it was cold, so we headed to Lisa’s place. We made a pit stop at the Lewis and Clark monument in town along the way to her suburban home. The plan was to wait an hour or so until her husband Jeff got off work, then pack up the family and head south for the night. Jeff got delayed at work, he even got to hold the Fed-Ex plane, so we got a chance to play street hockey.
Lisa set us up with some pizza, video games and driveway sports. Jeff was home and we were ready to go. The six of us, and their dog Gizmo packed into the Honda Pilot and headed to South Dakota.
Lisa, Mark, Josh and Karsen are such an awesome family. Going on the little family road trip with them is easily one of the highlights from the trip so far. Their hospitality and generosity made it feel like we were part of the family, not just some guests for the day. The kids are hilarious too. Karsen told us how she doesn’t like McDonalds because they put owls, eagles and hawks into the nuggets. Then about five minutes later she’s calls out from the back seat “I want McDonalds for supper”. Josh got our attention when he told his mom that he wants to go hitchhike around America. We assured him it’s not a good idea and to wait until he’s much older. Then we called ourselves a lawyer.
The drive was fun and included all the typical driving with kids events. “Are we there yet” began about 20 minutes into the three hour drive and continued until arriving in Pierre. When the kids weren’t glued into their DVD players it was non-stop games of telling jokes, bugging mom and dad, asking questions and taking photos. In other words it was a lot of fun.
We got to Pierre around 10PM, but held off on capitol photos until the morning. The six of us split into two hotel rooms, but hung out for a couple more hours. Josh and Karsen got some ice cream for a late-night snack, so they served as the entertainment. We even had a game of hotel room hide and seek.
We now know a new recipe for entertainment and fun: Start with a late night, mix in some kids, add two servings of ice cream, wait 10 minutes for results and enjoy.
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After walking around the capitol building area we realized it was cold, so we headed to Lisa’s place. We made a pit stop at the Lewis and Clark monument in town along the way to her suburban home. The plan was to wait an hour or so until her husband Jeff got off work, then pack up the family and head south for the night. Jeff got delayed at work, he even got to hold the Fed-Ex plane, so we got a chance to play street hockey.
Lisa set us up with some pizza, video games and driveway sports. Jeff was home and we were ready to go. The six of us, and their dog Gizmo packed into the Honda Pilot and headed to South Dakota.
Lisa, Mark, Josh and Karsen are such an awesome family. Going on the little family road trip with them is easily one of the highlights from the trip so far. Their hospitality and generosity made it feel like we were part of the family, not just some guests for the day. The kids are hilarious too. Karsen told us how she doesn’t like McDonalds because they put owls, eagles and hawks into the nuggets. Then about five minutes later she’s calls out from the back seat “I want McDonalds for supper”. Josh got our attention when he told his mom that he wants to go hitchhike around America. We assured him it’s not a good idea and to wait until he’s much older. Then we called ourselves a lawyer.
The drive was fun and included all the typical driving with kids events. “Are we there yet” began about 20 minutes into the three hour drive and continued until arriving in Pierre. When the kids weren’t glued into their DVD players it was non-stop games of telling jokes, bugging mom and dad, asking questions and taking photos. In other words it was a lot of fun.
We got to Pierre around 10PM, but held off on capitol photos until the morning. The six of us split into two hotel rooms, but hung out for a couple more hours. Josh and Karsen got some ice cream for a late-night snack, so they served as the entertainment. We even had a game of hotel room hide and seek.

We now know a new recipe for entertainment and fun: Start with a late night, mix in some kids, add two servings of ice cream, wait 10 minutes for results and enjoy.
4 Comments:
That's all so great! ~natalie
That's all so great! ~natalie
from Pierre you should try and get a ride to Minneapolis. south dakotan's are generally bored and like to head to "the cities". I'd offer but we're not doing it until thanksgiving....
good luck
Hey, guys: One thing I love about following your journey is how you have fun with all kinds of folks. Young women, families, strange people, old people. It's great!
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