Well this weekend was the annual Corn Maze weekend.  Every year for as far as I can remember my family has come up for the Sever’s Corn Maze.  It is tradition.  So this year Mom, Mike, Nancy, Danielle, Brady, Eric and I went through the maze (well not mom), we saw a skunk, a possum, a woodchuck, a fox and Jared Allen in the animal show.  Seriously…we saw Jared Allen!  We fed goats in the petting zoo area and jumped around in shelled corn. Again I have corn all over the house.

Jared Allen!

 After the corn maze Mike, Mom, Nancy, Eric and I went to Eden Prairie for lunch and Costco. Bradley went to Maplewood to buy a car and Danielle stayed home to study. Long story but the car doesn’t run but Bradley will fix it. After Costco, we picked up Danielle and went down to Jim’s Apple Orchard for candy, fudge, and apples.  Eric bought me this:

It is cool. 

Last night for dinner, we meet Greg, Celeste, and Evelyn at RubyTuesdays.  The meal was delicious.  I ate so much crap last night I gained a pound…and that was even with a 5 mile run/walk/shuffle yesterday morning.  Yep…I did over 5 miles…5.2 miles to be exact. It felt great but that didn’t help me keep the pounds off.  Darn.

Today Mike and Bradley went to Maplewood with a trailer to pick up the car Bradley bought and drove it down to Mankato.  The rest of us went shopping/hair cut in Eden Prairie.  Of course we played plenty of cards!

Now they have all left.

What a weekend.   Let see where to begin. Well our 10th Anniversary came and went.  Not much happened. We both worked. After work Eric went to class while I cleaned the car and went grocery shopping. Very romantic, eh? Saturday was much the same. I made Monster cookies (and broke another spatula), cleaned the house and picked up a few things at Costco and Eric had class.  

After Eric’s class, we drove down to Mankato and meet my family. We went out for dinner. I had an awesome steak!  It was delicious.  And of course Mike and Mom and to tell them we were celebrating our 10th anniversary so we got a cake and champagne. It was also Bradley’s birthday so he also got cake…but no champagne for him.

After dinner we went swimming at the hotel. When we got sick of that, we played Dirty Clubs…a card game that would never end.  I think Mike ended up winning. Bradley had over 40 points (not good!). Eric and Bradley finished off a bottle of champagne. They were definitely “feeling” it. 

Sunday after breakfast we went to Flandrau State Park in New Ulm.  This is one of my favorite parks because it has a nice sand bottom pool. We try to visit at least once a year. It was the perfect day for it…hot and humid!  We had a picnic lunch and then went swimming for an hour or so.  After swimming we gathered around the picnic tables and played some lawn games.  After everything was packed up and we were ready to leave…Bradley popped the question!  Danielle demanded a soppy story first and then said, “I suppose.” Yep, Danielle is engaged! I couldn’t be happier for them.   I’m very disappointed in myself.  No picture of the ring…I’m not a very good photographer…I should have been all over this.

Well the last two post have been wedding related.  Hmmm...

The next one will be travel related...we leave for our vacation in 32 hours and 24 minutes... 

:-)

With annual traditions, like the Sts. Peter and Paul Fall Festival, I feel like I’m a broken record.  But I did so much more this weekend than usual. 

Saturday morning, I met Mom and Aunt Bev in Eau Claire.  We went to my cousin’s baby shower.  She is due Sunday, she was joking with the host that she wasn’t going to make it to the shower, but she was there. 

After that we drove to Independence and dropped off my stuff and headed to Arcadia to Mike’s house.  We went to the Ashley for the Arts at the Memorial Park in Arcadia. Every year Ashley Furniture puts on this event as a fundraiser for various charities.  It is quite a big deal.  Anyways we went to the 3:30 performance of the Memories.  They were good. They have been preforming in the area for over 40 years! After that we went to Mike’s house for a grill out.  My cousin, Paula and her boyfriend Tom came by.  After that we went to the 7:30 performance of Matt Nathanson.  I’m not exactly sure who he is, I guess he is famous or something.  I didn’t really enjoy that so much so I took Shelly, Mike’s friend, for a walk down Soldiers’ Walk.  I love walking down this timeline of historic events. I showed her the sculptures for all the wars and the beam from the World Trade Center.  It was a nice getaway.  We made it back for the end of the concert and then the fireworks.  For such a small town, they were really amazing. 

Sunday morning started our normal tradition. Go to church to drop off mom’s pies and cakes and turn in her tickets. I’m not sure the last time she did this herself! LOL!  I got my verbal abuse from Becky Maule at the cake walk/sucker pull.  I know it is in good fun. This year she told me she dreamt about me all night and then fell out of bed. She blames me for that.  I spent $15 and didn’t win a damn cake.  They rig the game!  I got my cheese coffee cake and we turned in mom’s raffle tickets.  Something out of the norm for us, we went to the Polka Mass on Sunday morning.  It was nice, as nice as can be.  After church we had Chicken and JoJos from East End Bar. It was good but I really wish that we had the dinner at church. Smelling the meatballs cooking in the church basement during Mass was hard to handle. :(

After lunch Mom, Bev and I went back up to church for Bingo. We didn’t win of course. Never do! We left after Bingo so Mom and Betty Jane could go to Aunt Vina’s wake at the funeral home.  Bev and I went to Anna’s house to get a picture of Mickey as the “wheelchair super hero.”  So during Bingo I get a random phone call from our niece Beth. She is doing some scavenger hunt thing and need a “wheelchair super hero” in purple and white with a “G.” I told Eric he was crazy if I was going to do that.  But I told Mom and she said that Mickey would love to do it. So here he is:

After picking up Mom and Betty Jane at the funeral home we went back to the Festival for the polka music.  Bev and I stayed about an hour and then we headed home. We stopped at Culver’s for a burger and I dropped her off and made my way back home. It was a nice, busy weekend. 

So where was Eric you ask?  Well he was in Mankato working with DJ on his paper. 

What a whirlwind weekend!  I don’t even know where to begin.

Thursday after work we met my mom at our house and drove to Mitchell. Nothing to exciting that day.

Friday morning we left Mitchell and headed for Rapid City.  It poured most of the way there but those die-hard bikers were still out there!  We stopped at a Kadoka gas station and there were 50 bikes under the gas canopy.  Crazy!  We eventually got to Rapid City and the first thing we did after stopping at the parents’ house is go to Red Lobster with Gary, Tracie, Gerald and Abbie.  It was good.  After that I went with niece, Judy, Ethan and Abbie to Albert’s Ensemble performance at orchestra camp. It was interesting. Some of the small ensembles were good, others hurt my ears.  Albert’s group wasn’t bad. We eventually checked into our room at Terra Sancta Retreat Center.  It was a very nice place. I would stay there again. That evening a group of us went mini golfing…there was close to 20 of us. Eric and I were paired up with Libby, Maggie and Maggie’s boyfriend, Cody.  It made for a long evening.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the retreat center and then family pictures. It wasn’t too bad.  Some melt downs but with a family this large that is bound to happen.  The photographer is a family friend and he has done this before with this family so this was nothing new for him. Here is the best photo my mom could get (click to enlarge):

Immediately following the pictures was the Anniversary Mass.  After that we had lunch…tacos…there was a nice video with lots of pictures of the family.  Elaine looks like Judy did on her wedding day. It is amazing.  We relaxed a bit and then mom and I took Allista for some food and to get a card.  Allista was having a bad day so we thought it would be good to take her along. She didn’t eat the tacos so we bought her and her brother, Joseph (who slept through lunch) some Culvers. Joseph was sharing his hamburger with me. He is a funny kid.  We made our way to the house to help get ready for the potluck picnic.  There was a large spread and it was a very nice picnic.   Some drama but overall it was a nice time. Only a few of us helped to clean up and it was way past 9:30 before we were done getting everything into the house and fridge.  We stayed there until 10:30.  We didn’t get a chance to go to Dan’s after party.

Sunday morning we went to Mass at the Cathedral. 9 of 14 kids were there.  That is quite amazing. The funniest conversation of the day was 9 year old Gerald talking to his mom.  

Tracie: Gerald, we have to go to church.
Gerald: I'm not going, we went yesterday.
Tracie: You have to go.
Gerald: Fine, I'll go but I'm not praying.

Afterwards was Samuil’s baptism. That was probably the largest crowd for a baptism in the family!  I took Eric back to the retreat center so he could work on his paper. I swapped my Mom for Allista.  Mom went with Gary, Tracie and family to paddle boats and Dairy Queen. I took Allista tubing in Hisega with Ade, DJ, Tim, Abbie, Beth, Ethan, Judy and Albert.  We only had a few tubes so we had to take turns. I, of course, popped my tube.  We also went swimming in the deep hole of the creek and jumped off rocks…granted it really wasn’t much of jump off, maybe a foot. But it was fun but the water was freezing!  For dinner Mom and I escaped the insanity of the house and went to Arby’s.  I’m sure glad we did.  We spent the rest of the evening at the house. Eric and DJ were hammering out his paper and I just listened to stories.

Yesterday morning we made the long trip back.  We had breakfast with DJ’s family, Ade, and Elaine. We stopped at the house and were on our way home by 11am.  We pulled into our house a little before 9pm.  Eric spent the rest of the night getting his homework done.   There was so much more I could say but this is a brief summary of the 50th Anniversary Weekend.

I'm writing now because heaven only knows when I'll have time again.  Our life is crazy right now.  With long hours at work, horrible commutes, concerts the next few nights, Eric’s final paper, Ade visiting, the roadtrip to South Dakota...just to name a few things going on.

This weekend was very fun-filled.  After working until 6:30 on Friday, Eric picked me up at the bus station and we went grocery shopping.  We picked up quite a few items on Adrian’s list. Ade, Fa and the kids made lists of things they want Ade to bring back to Brazil.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups was a popular item on the list.

Saturday my family came up for our church’s annual Julifest.  But first we had to go to Costco…a tradition when my family comes up.  After that we had lunch at Pizza Ranch and went to the horse races at Canterbury Downs.  My Aunt Bev has never been and boy did she have fun.  Eric was telling her everything she needed to know.  I don’t really think Eric is much of an expert when it comes to horse racing, we having won millions yet, but he plays the par t well.  We stuck around for a few races. It was fun! 

After that Greg, Celeste, and Evelyn joined us for the Polka Mass on the church lawn. It was such a pleasant night, actually a tad bit cold…YES COLD!  July 27^th and the high was barely 60 degrees. A weird thing that happened during the Polka Mass was a car hit the train just blocks away.  The train was stopped for almost 2 hours.  It was a really long train and blocked streets through the entire city of Shakopee. After the Polka Mass we headed for the tents for dinner, Mom had her German Potato Salad!  We also spent some money on the adult games and of course BINGO!  Danielle and I even danced some polkas…my calf muscles still hurt!  And I dragged Mom out for a two-step. She did well considering she had knee surgery not that long ago.  DJ, Beth and Ethan even came to the festival for food and Bingo.

Sunday the family went to my cousins’ house in Columbia Heights. We played cards and had a cook out. It was a fun time.

Yesterday was Eric’s birthday.  After work we went to Centennial Lakes to play mini golf and then went out for dinner. It was a nice evening.  After Eric finished his homework, we went to Mystic Lake Casino…at 9pm last night.  It was such an odd thing for us to do!  We walked out 45 minutes later with $6.05 more than we walked in with.  I won over $22 on one spin!  It was so exciting for me…not so much for Eric.  He didn’t win.

So stupid ol’ MnDOT decided that it was a good idea to close one side of the big Bloomington Ferry Bridge across the Minnesota River and divert traffic to the other bridge.  So they took 6 lanes of traffic and condensed it to 2...single lane across one bridge.  It is a nightmare. The backups are miles long.  So we decided to take the other river crossing on MN 101, you know the one that usually floods and is not very popular. Well yesterday it was very popular, so popular that at 7pm it was backed up 8 miles to Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. We sat in the traffic for about 20 minutes and decided to find another route.  Well this morning it took us 25 minutes to get out of Shakopee. It is insane!

Ok breathe...

Tonight and tomorrow night I have concerts in Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. Hopefully we can figure out a faster way to get home so I can get to my concert on time otherwise I have to hitch a ride with my former boss. 

So not only that, but I have to pack for this upcoming weekend. We leave Thursday night for Rapid City, a 10 hour drive.  Eric’s parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage this weekend so almost the entire family will be there.  Well at least 14 of the 15 kids.  One is not coming because her feelings were hurt when everybody was mean to her.  But the rest of us will have a good time!

It has seemed like a lot longer than a week since I last wrote.  It has been a week of sadness.  My Aunt Grace finally succumbed to cancer and passed away Tuesday. Although she is no longer suffering there is a sense of extreme sadness. As for my mom’s sisters, I was the closest to Grace and her kids.  This past weekend, I got to reconnect with most of Grace’s kids and grandkids and it was great.  It also meant I had to put up with being called Kimmy. Being the youngest of the cousins, I guess I will be picked on. Saturday we went down for the visitation. Afterwards we went to my cousin, Paula’s house for dinner.  The table was all cousins just talking. It was so nice.  And shockingly no cards were played. That is just weird. It is also strange that in a few short years it went from 6 sick sisters to just 3.  Bev, Alice and Mom are left to keep the family together.  The funeral and burial were yesterday afternoon followed by lunch. It was a sad weekend but also a great weekend to see family.  It is really unfortunate that weddings and now funerals are really the only time we see family.  On a funny note, in the Lutheran church they always read the obituary during the service.  As the pastor was reading the obit and got to the family members, I thought of Eric’s parents.  Man their family section of the obit will be long with 64 immediate family members (currently). Good thing they don’t read the obit during a Catholic funeral Mass, we would be there a while.   Anyways, that was a moment that I had a little chuckle.

As for the rest of the week, I tried going for a bike ride on Monday.  The first attempt was on the road bike but the tires got “untrue” somehow and were wobble so back the garage I go.  Next I grab my Townie cruiser. I went down by the river…duh…lots of rain means the river has flooded down there and I had to drive through water and muddy. My tires were caked on and made it difficult to ride so I went home. I thought about taking the mountain bike next but the brakes are bad.  So I settled for crashing on the couch eating raspberries. At least I was eating healthy. :)

Tuesday was finally warm enough for some waterpark action at Valleyfair. Last year with the massive heat wave around this time we were going daily to cool off. This year it hasn’t gotten warm enough yet.  But it was finally almost 90. It was so much fun going down the slides, rafting tube ride, lazy river and wave pool.  We were there about 2 hours. 

Wednesday I took my road bike into the shop for a tune up and to fix the tires.  They won’t have it ready until tomorrow…a whole week! I really need to get training for the triathlon in 76 days…yikes!

Thursday was band practice and boy did we need that.  We start our concert season on July 4^th and we haven’t practice since May 30^th.  The Carnival musical really cut into our practice time. It was tough though. The musical was easy because even though it was over 2 hours long there were a lot of breaks with no music so my chops could rest.  But Thursday night was almost 2 hour solid of playing. My mouth really hurt.

Friday we suffered through 7 innings of Twins baseball.  And I mean suffer.  It was cold, rainy and windy.  But I’m thankfully for the windy because it meant we stayed dry as the rain was falling in front of us. We saw the grounds crew put the tarp on the field 3 times. The tried to start the game, the Twins went into the field and then another down pour came and a delay.  There really wasn’t much rain after that but the wind really picked up. It is crazy that at June 28^th baseball game we would be freezing with sweatshirts on!  We sat in the 2 Gingers bar to stay warm and ended up leaving after the 7^th inning (it was after 10pm already). The Twins were losing so bad that if they did stage a comeback it would have been a miracle. We drove past the new I-35W Bridge to get a picture of the rainbow bridge. It was so nice to get home and wrap up in a blanket.

I-35W Bridge

Saturday we did some shopping and Eric got a haircut and we made our way to Wisconsin.  Here is a picture I took of the 3 remaining sisters.  Grace will definitely be missed. :(

Alice, Karen and Bev - the Stai Sisters

We had a good weekend.  First of all, the weather has finally started to cooperate.  It got over 70 degrees the last three days!  Shorts weather finally!

Friday I went for a pedicure with Celeste.  My toes needed it and with this warmer weather I can now show them off with sandals.  Granted this warm weather is short lived as snow is in the forecast for Thursday. :(

Saturday we broke out the bikes. It was a beautiful, sunny day.  We went on a short ride, about 6 miles.  I know I have a long way to go to get to 14 miles but I'll get there.  Of course my ass hurts.  Why are bike seats so uncomfortable?

After the bike ride and shower we went to the Twins game.  This is my first game of the season. The first game we couldn't go because it was a day game, the second game was rained out and the third game (also rained out) was when mom had surgery.  Eric went to that game, it was Tuesday night.  He froze and ended up leaving after the 5th inning. Anyways, the game was perfect.  The sun was shining, the the temperature was perfect and the Twins won! All around good day. It was also WE Fest Cowboy Hat give away.  Here we are modeling off our new hats...the are made of 100% paper...that is so weird!

After the game we drove to Wisconsin to surprise mom. The whole family was at the nursing home for lunch today.  It was delicious. Mom seemed to be doing good.  She even got in the cowboy hat mood.

Look at the beautiful view from our seats...not a cloud in the sky!

Well I spent today with my mom and sister at St. Francis Hospital, nope scratch that, Franciscan Skemp, nope scratch that too...Mayo Clinic Health System - Franciscan Healthcare (they have had too many name changes!)  Slowly but sure Mom is replacing parts of her body.  The warranty was up on her right knee so she had it replaced.

Anyways the day started at 3am when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.  Then we took mom to her 5:45am appointment.  By 6am they took her back and prepped her for surgery. Surgery started at 7:38am and she was in recovery at 9:05am and too her room by 10:03am.  So they did it fast. She didn't have the general anesthesia but just a spinal block and a drunk cocktail. I think it was probably best decision.  She had tingly feet for a while as the block wore off but she didn't get sick like she usually does from general anesthesia. She was sleepy most of the afternoon but she didn't seem to be in pain, just a little dizzy.  She took a drink of Nancy's Mountain Dew and said that was good. LOL!  Eventually she wanted chocolate pudding, angel food cake and coffee. Well I stuck around until 5pm before I made my way back home.  

Here is a picture of mom showing off her flowers and giving a thumbs up (inspired by her grandson, Dylan)