Although I thought I must have missed a trip somewhere, it turns out that it is true that I hadn't been back to MN since Christmas until this last weekend. I got all giddy as we dropped through the clouds and I saw the Minneapolis skyline to the north. As we taxied to the gate, the clouds parted and the sun peaked through as if to say "Welcome back, Rob."
"Rick. It's Rick."
"Rick, of course. That's what I meant."
"Whatever, Manitoba."
Wait, where was I? Oh yes, the trip. It was basically the best weekend I've had in a while. I purposely didn't plan much in order to just hang with the immediate fam, but ironically I ended up seeing more people than we normally do in a week-long trip and without the usual running around crazily trying to schedule brief visits with everyone. I even ran into my aunt Lois at Costco in the few hours she was home between RV trips. I got some good QT in with Josie and Nathan; they were not afraid of me as I'd feared they would be. Nathan is walking, talking, and throwing anything he can get his hands on. I have never seen a kid who liked to throw "bahs" as much as him. Alli and Niko have him on a pitch count so he doesn't get worn out too early in his career. Here he is preparing to throw a washer at his unsuspecting cousin.
I believe 3-4 hundred per day is about the norm. Josie is very close to walking and talking and enjoys swinging.
Mark and Danita let me have some of my friends over to their house on Friday night and we grilled and chatted. The next day was My Two Dads day. First, Mark and I took Josie to the Red Bull Flugtag at Harriet Island where we were lucky enough to witness the setting of a new world record.
Later, Jeff Lee and I took young Iris and Jeff's new fishing boat out on Coon lake where I even got to catch a few northerns. It would have been my second summer in a row without catching a fish which is unacceptable...of course I bought a license, what a silly question.
Sunday we had a little BBQ at Alli and Niko's house that was attended by Uncle Myron, visiting from his new home in Norway. I hadn't seen him in probably 6-7 years and he is doing well. We played a game of cribbage speaking in southern accents, which I highly recommend. I also saw Aunts Becky and Lori whom I wasn't expecting to see. Niko's marinated NY strips were superb.
Monday I went to a game at that new Target Field I'd been hearing so much about. I was pretty disappointed. The stands were totally empty and they didn't even turn the scoreboard on. Wait, what? The Twins were on the road? Then who were those guys I watched playing baseball? An elaborate hallucination in my head, you say? Well that would explain why they were all wearing pink tuxedos and the right fielder was an omelet. Weird. In any case the two-dimensional zombie Twins beat Chairman Mao, Gargamel, the omelet, and the surviving members of The Jackson Five eleventy bajillion to potato.
What famous Twins reliever spat out these sunflower seeds in the bullpen? Crain? Guerrier? It's hard to know for sure but they tasted kinda Mijares-y.
To round out the trip we met up for pizza on Monday where I saw cousins Stacey and Tammy and first cousin once removed Erin Brown. It was a great trip which ironically made me more than a little sad. It's easier to be gone when you don't see what you're missing. The sky opened up a can of torrential downpour literally the second I walked outside to get in my dad's airport-bound car early Tuesday morning as if to say "OK, you've had your fun now you best be getting back to where you came from, Boston boy."
"Fine, I was out of clean underwear anyways."
About 20 miles total. We followed up our ride with a traditional summer feast of grilled bratwurst, corn on the cob (from the above mentioned farmers market - from the oldest operating farm in the city limits of Boston), and a cucumber/tomato salad. Later that evening we went to see The Black Keys. The Black Keys played at the Bank of America Pavilion located in South Boston right on the waterfront. It is a somewhat open air pavilion with a large canopy covering most of the seats. The weather was perfect and the Black Keys put on an excellent show!
