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!

We had the trifecta this year.  One high school graduation (Adam), one undergrad graduation (Danielle) and this past weekend we went to our graduate graduation (Byron).  So we have seen all three in a matter of 8 days.  Byron’s was by far the shortest at just over an hour.  There were only 100 graduates so that helps.  After the graduation Paula had a party at the house. It was nice to see Paula’s family again. There was a good Williams crew. Chris came up for the day. Terry and Judy were there as was DJ and the kids, well two of the kids.  It was a good day.

The Williams Gang

Last week was a very nice week. Tuesday was blazing hot. We got up to 100 degrees on the car ride home. We didn’t really do much after work because it was so stinking hot.  At 9:30 we went for a short walk but it was still 85 degrees out. 

Wednesday we went for a swim. It felt good to get in the water again.  We did 750 meters so it was a good work out. After that I went for 7.5 mile bike ride. It was a slow ride, at least in the beginning. Once I got to the highest point on the ride at 3 miles in, I coasted the rest of the way.  My goal is 15 mph. My average speed was 11.6 mph.  Once I got over the hill I never really went slower than 14. I think I need a different route because the way I usually go is uphill for 3 miles. Starting out going uphill on legs not warmed up is probably not the best idea. 

Thursday was band day so I didn’t get a work out in, but playing my instrument is workout right? LOL! I think I’m going to do the musical this year. Every year the band plays in the pit orchestra for the city outdoor musical. I’ve never done it before because I’m usually busy in June. This year not so much so I thought I’d do it. I’m not really happy in the choice of musical this year, Carnival!, I’d rather it was something I knew.  The world famous song from the musical, Love Makes the World Go Round, I’ve never heard before. It is sad when you have never heard the “famous” song from the musical. But alas, I’ll basically be living in Eden Prairie in June as there are rehearsals every day for one week and then there are 7 performances over two weekends.

Eric had class on Friday so I went swimming without him.  I did 3/4 of a mile. Again I felt great.  I thought about going for a run afterwards but decided I’d better wash, dry and fold clothes. We had mounds again from the weekend before. My battle with the clothes is never won.  I cleaned out my closet, getting rid of a big garbage bag of clothes. I put away the sweaters (fingers crossed we are finally done with winter) and brought out the summer clothes.  It was a busy evening.

Eric had class Saturday too.  I cleaned the house and went for a 3 mile run/walk.  My legs were tired. I ran most of the first 2 miles but walked the majority of the last one. It was windy! After Eric got done with class we headed to DJ’s house in Mankato and then on to Sioux Falls for Byron’s graduation.  

On our way home yesterday, we stopped at Falls park to check out the waterfalls. It is a nice park but it was raining so it wasn't so pleasant.  

We made it back home last night around 9:30pm.  We hit a pheasant along the way. Or should I say the dumb bird flew into us. Hitting a stupid bird at 65 mph is not a cool thing.  Eric and I both put our hands up because we though he was going to come through the windshield.  Thankfully he hit the top our windshield and hood. No dent and the crack that I thought I saw ended up being a feather or something, I don’t know but there were pheasant guts all over…sadly I don’t think he survived. 

It was another fun filed week.  I wonder what this week will bring. 

The one thing I can say after this weekend is this: I'm sick of driving, I'm sick of food, and I'm sick of boring graduation speeches.  This weekend was really a whirl wind.  We got to see a lot of family.

Friday night we went to Bradley’s parents’ house for Danielle’s graduation party. It was really a nice time. The family is really nice and the food was delicious. I brought Monster Cookies in MSU colors. I’m so smart.  (I saved the left over M&Ms for Viking Monster cookies in September.) We were there for over 4 hours and, as Eric pointed out, we didn’t play cards…SAY WHAT?  Saturday morning we gathered at MSU campus for Danielle’s graduation.  Bradley has the “in” so he got us down to the first floor of the bleachers, right where Danielle walked in and out. Awesome! The ceremony was 2 hours long. Eric, Bradley and I entertained ourselves by making fun of the thesis titles.  Like the one about the Sexual Satisfaction after a Bone Marrow Transplant. Really?  You actually wrote a thesis about this?  Another one was something about the strong Mothers in Modern Family and Parenthood.  Again…you watched TV for your thesis.  Great.  I’m not sure why but there were 3 speeches at Danielle’s graduation.  The first guy was Nepal and according to a good source cheated on his Math tests. Hum…The second girl was Hmong and the third was from South Africa…apparently no American’s were good enough.  Oh Well.  After the ceremony we went to Olive Garden for lunch and then we were on our way to Nebraska.  That 5 hour drive after eating a big meal was brutal.

Once we got to Nebraska we headed over the Chris and Leilani’s house for Morgan’s Birthday Party.  The whole Nebraska crowd was there and Eric’s parents. We had Lasagna and garlic bread. Yum! Leilani also made a watermelon cake. It was frosted like a watermelon and tasted like a watermelon. I had a bite of Eric’s…that was enough for me. I guess I don’t like watermelon flavoring either.

Sunday morning we went to church, and then our traditional run to Starbucks with Juliette.  After that we ran around Papillion and eventually made it to the graduation with 15 minutes to spare. The family was split into two groups.  There were not enough seats so I sat at the top of the arena. I took a picture of the two groups.  In one, Eric’s dad was sleeping and Chris was playing on his phone. The other picture I took was Eric doing homework and Juliette playing on our iPad.  They were really paying attention. LOL!  I can’t say much I was playing on my phone too. A couple things about this ceremony: they only had one speaker…thank God! And the 1^st annual Teacher of the Year award went to…the Head Principal…HuH?  Can we say rigged? 

After the ceremony we took some pictures in the parking lot and then headed over the house for some pizza and veggies with the whole family.  It was a good day.

Yesterday was another day of driving.  We took Juliette to Starbucks, dropped her off at school and went on our way home. It was a good weekend. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

More pictures can be found here:

Danielle's Graduation Party Pictures click here

Danielle's Graduation Pictures click here

Adam's Graduation Pictures click here