The Fast and Furious Visit to Minnesota!

May 2-9, 2021

 

Planning only one week in the Minneapolis area was a mistake.  Talk about fast and furious!  However, instead of the street racing, heists, and spies from the movie, we found ourselves racing time and stealing hugs and kisses!  Every moment was spent jumping between various appointments and time with loved ones and yet we still weren’t able to see everyone we had hoped to nor spend as much time with the friends and family we did see.  

 

Our daughter, Lauren, and her family live in south Minneapolis so you can bet we didn’t take long to find our way to their front door!  Emma is 9 years old and in third grade.  Eli is 6 and in first grade.  Both children attend Hale Elementary School, which is also the school Lauren teaches at!  During our time with them, more treasured memories were made, including hearing Emma’s frequent invitations to paint with her, play cards (she likes the card game Control, and had to teach me how to play), giving each other pedicures, preforming duets on the piano, and playing with her pet crayfish, Sunny.

Lauren has been storing my Bernina sewing machine, so I took advantage of having access to it. I quilted the paper piece Nativity wall hanging I sewed during Advent last year.  Eli was right there by my side and was a big help in the project!  

Eli is a bundle of amazing energy with a curious mind that never stops asking questions (very good ones at that!) and trying to figure things out.  Eli challenged me to a game of chess and really impressed me!  Can you imagine knowing all of the moves each chess piece moves at the young age of 6?!  Reading is such a love for this little guy.  If things seem a little too quiet, you can be sure Eli has picked up a book and gotten lost in it!

 

These two kids did have a bit of trauma in their lives the week we were visiting.  Eli and a shopping cart got into a tussle and the cart won.  The dentist extracted his two front teeth the day following the tussle.  It turns out Eli is also a very brave young man as he endured the entire procedure without a complaint; however, I bet there were a lot of questions!  Emma’s trauma was a bit more emotional.  Emma had won a pet crayfish from a school drawing several weeks ago and it became the love of Emma’s life.  Emma fed it every morning and was diligent about keeping Sunny’s habitat a clean and healthy place.  It was sweet witnessing her love for this crustacean.  Unexpectedly, Sunny left his earthly life one afternoon and Emma was devastated.  One of those tough life experiences.  Emma wrote a nice eulogy and we all gathered in the back yard on a rainy afternoon to say our goodbyes to this special pet.

 

Frankie found time with Maple to be exhilarating!  Tug of war is a favorite between these two friends and once again, we appreciated the worn-out dog at the end of the day!  Frankie’s other excitement of this trip was a brief return to Neuman K-9 Training Academy.  A year ago, we had sent Frankie to “Boot Camp” there.  Following her training, I have continued to struggle with some of Frankie’s behaviors (ignoring other dogs while on trails, barking at strangers…) so we went back for some fine tuning.  Frankie clearly remembered her time there and while we were on campus, her behavior was perfect.  It was very much like that car that won’t act up when you take it to the mechanic!  Well, the trainer, Summer, took us to a trail around White Bear Lake that provided plenty of opportunity for Frankie to show her true colors.  As you might have guessed, Frankie was not the one that needed the training.  I just needed to know how to remind Frankie that she knows how to behave politely!  The people at Neuman K-9 Academy are certainly fantastic at what they do.  We appreciated the time Summer spent with us and her patience in helping me practice working with Frankie.

I have a group of friends, women I met at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Hastings, that have continued to include me in their book club.  I guess the idea of virtual gatherings is one of the positive things that have come from COVID.  While we currently are not reading a book together, Ramona invited Dick and me to her home for lunch.  It was such a very brief visit, but spending even a short time with these faith-filled women was wonderful.  

 

Spiral Brewery is a great brewery located in the historic area of Hastings.  Jean and I have a bit of history of meeting at this spot for an afternoon of catching up.  Occasionally, we even invite our hubbies to join us!  It was through our husbands that Jean and I met, so it's only fitting we allow them to occasionally join us.  Dick and Tim both worked at Prairie Island Nuclear Plant, so Jean and I were members of the non-official "Nuclear Wives Club".  Basically, we clung together during the long hours our husbands worked outages!  Unfortunaltely, Spiral was closed on the days we wanted to “catch up”, so Jean suggested Bald Man Brewery in Eagan.  This was perfect!  Great friends, good beer, outdoor patio and food trucks!  Win, win, win, win!  Although it had been over a year since we gathered together, time flew, conversation flowed faster than the beer, and the companionship with this sweet couple made for a delightful evening!

 

From 2013-15, I taught at Heritage Middle School in West St. Paul, which is where I met Rhonda.  Although I have retired from teaching, Rhonda continues to affect the lives of our youth through the classroom.  Rhonda also owns a travel agency and has planned several of our wonderful adventures including our trip to Dominica, Costa Rica, and Great Britain/Ireland. They have traveled the world themselves and are so very informed on this incredible planet.  I'm always learning new and interesting things from them!  Ken and Rhonda invited us for Shabbat dinner on Friday.  Their back yard is a piece of paradise!  Tulips, bleeding hearts, vinca.. were all in bloom, the fountain was running a soothing babble, and the bird feeders brought winged friends. The companionship of dear friends made for an evening a love and laughter.

 

While in Minneapolis, we also did all of those annual visits to doctors that one does, including getting our teeth cleaned, blood pressure checked (speaking of which, clearly this life style agrees with us!), eyes examined… It’s good to have everything checked and know we are actually doing as well as we feel!  Several of our appointments were in Hastings, and we couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to find our way to the Mighty Mississippi and the trail that winds along it.  Not long ago, we were at the tail end of this water as it empties into the gulf.  We also stopped in to Northland Kitchen & Bath to visit our former neighbor, Jake.  Jake is the owner of this company and I can promise if you need a remodel, you won’t be disappointed by Jake’s work!  I should have bought a lottery ticket this day, as luck was on my side!  Not long after arriving, Eloise and Everett showed up!  Their school is only a few blocks away and they walk down to their dad’s store when their school day is over.  Not only was I able to see Eloise and Everett, but Anna had the two youngest boys (Owen and Graham) getting haircuts at the hair salon only a block away!  Anna is pregnant with a little girl in early July.  Eloise is finally going to be getting that sister she has been dreaming of!  I’m in awe of how Jake and Anna balance their careers and being the parents of these precious children.  

We celebrated Mother’s Day on Saturday with Lauren and Adam.  Traditionally, we have spent Mother’s Day gardening.  Years ago, we would drive up to Mason City, Iowa and help Dick’s parents with some yard work and flower gardening.  Later we would drive to Eldridge, Iowa where we gathered with my siblings and helped my parents with some yard work and gardening.  My mom was such a good guardian with the pocketbook.  She really knew how to stretch a dollar!  I have vivid memories of gathering up the mulch around the shrubs and flowers in the front yard onto a tarp and adding that mulch to the plantings in the back yard.  We then would spread the new mulch to the front yard plantings, giving the yard such a fresh and attractive curb appeal!  It was always followed by a pot luck meal.  Everyone would bring a dish to share so the energy of the day was spent outdoors rather than in the kitchen.  I sure do miss those good times with Mom and Dad!  Well, leave it to Lauren to keep the tradition alive!  She invited us over to help with some gardening in her back yard.  Before we got to work, they treated us to a delicious lunch of chickpea salad!  Yummy!  Once we set to work, we built a raised vegetable garden and planted a few flowers and strawberry plants in addition.  To be honest, I pretty much let them do most of the work while I took advantage of having Emma and Eli to play with.  Who can resist Emma’s “Nana, do you want to do something fun?”  Certainly not me!!  Following yard work and clean up, we invited Lauren and Adam to get away for a bit while we got dinner for the kids.  Carry out is easy and extra time with Emma and Eli is a bonus!

 

As fast and furious as the week was, it certainly was rich and meaningful.  We quickly decided at least two weeks is needed for our next trip to Minnesota.  It will be a year before we are back again.  We are headed west, first to Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, and eventually to Oregon and California!