Minnesota memories

We spent a good portion of June visiting family in Minnesota. We had a great time!

We decided to drive, because - believe it or not, it was much cheaper than flying. We broke up the drive over two days. On the first day, travel went well. On the second day, we got caught up for over 5 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic near the Wisconsin dells. The interstate was closed as a result of recent flooding and we (along with all the other interstate traffic) were re-routed onto a county road. To say the least, it was miserable.

My suffering in the car was so minute compared to the suffering the people in the Midwest have endured as a result of these floods. Please continue to lift up those people in your prayers. Even though the waters have receded, there will be no quick fix.

The first night we were in Minnesota, we attended John's great-uncle Buck's retirement party. We were entertained by tunes performed by all of John's great uncles, John's dad, John's brother and John himself! The food was great and the company - top notch! While there, Rebecca became fascinated with a young lady named Stephanie. Here are some pics of Rebecca and Stephanie - courtesy of Stephanie's mom, Ann.



She was also entertained by a very awesome young man, named Cole (I believe.) Here are some pics of Rebecca and Cole and of the guys entertaining the group.




What a first evening!

The rest of our visit consisted of visiting John's Grandma and Grandpa Carlson, visiting with Great-Uncle Charlie - who was in from California, spending some time with Aunt Carol, seeing John's Aunt Loreen, hanging out with Michelle (Wyatt's fiance,) and celebrating Uncle Bill's birthday in and around Hastings (Twin City area.)

Here's Rebecca and her great-aunt, Carol - AKA "Tuff."

A few days after we arrived, John, his father and brother departed for their annual hunting trip to Wyoming. While Rebecca, Jean (John's mom) and I spent an entire weekend visiting family in St. Cloud. While there, Rebecca and I stayed with John's grandma, Dolores. We visited with Rebecca's great-aunts, Paula and Kathy, and Kathy's friend, Mary. We were also able to see Rebecca's great-great-aunts, Lenore and Pat. Lenore brought yummy sunfish, she caught, for us to feast upon.

We traveled a short distance to St. Martin to attend a very unique, very cool polka mass. I had never been to anything like it in my life!! It was sooo cool. The bishop presided over the service and even pointed to Rebecca during his homily - saying we need to look to bring up new Christian leaders!

The men returned from the West with stories, jewelry for the ladies (Black Hills gold earrings for me - yay!) and a broken truck (transmission trouble - they had to drive back only using second and third gears.)

We wrapped up our travels relaxing at John's parents' home before embarking on our trip back to Kentucky.

Here's a picture of Rebecca playing with some toys at the St. Cloud Catholic Charities office. (Aunt Kathy heads up the food bank and we visited her at work.) It is followed by a picture of Rebecca and Kath. Rebecca looks tired, but it's a good one of Kathy.


Rebecca and Nana......

Rebecca, Granny and Nana

Just a couple cute pics of Rebecca playing with cardboard rings...