an old-fashioned threshing bee

Sunday morning we were heading to an old fashioned threshing bee near Stump Lake.  But first, Grandpa recorded everyone's win-loss guesses for the boys basketball team season.  We'll know the winner in January :).

Then, a 50 mile drive to Stump Lake.  Stump Lake is in a large county full of North Dakota prairie and not so full of people (less than 3,000 in the entire county!).   The threshing bee was really cool, kinda like a small county fair.  There were horses and old steam engines and horse-drawn plows and an old grain mill and a one room schoolhouse and all kinds of things to look at and walk in and explore.

There might be more restored vintage tractors in Nelson County than people.

Notice the horizon.  Yep.  That's prairie farmland.

Grandma grew up on a farm with a truck just like this one!  And Grandpa grew up driving tractors just like the ones on display - and he was driving them early too... started when he was 7!  {It's stories like this that encourage me that my boys can be held responsible to remove their dirty clothes from the bathroom floor and put them in the laundry basket - if Grandpa was driving a tractor at their age?  Also, I have one son who would be a superb young tractor driver, one son who - propelled by sheer curiosity - would dismantle the entire tractor and one son who could charm a stranger into gifting him a tractor.  Any guesses?}

Parade time!  this was rural North Dakota awesome.

The kids even participated in a pedal tractor pull.  Based on Sunday's results I wouldn't counsel any of them towards a career in tractor pull (but their older cousin Carson did win one when he was younger!).  But they were so brave to try a new activity in a new environment and these people make me so thankful I'm their mama.

Back at the campground, time for another yummy meal and campfire.  Brothers learning to be strong together :)

What a sweet weekend!  And now back to the real world and a washing machine full of camping laundry - perfect start to the week!