Big weekend
My oldest niece Faith has graduated high school, and this last Saturday was her graduation party.
It was at her family home in Osseo, and I caught a ride with my brother's family to get there. It was a nice spread, hot dogs, minifranks, deli tray, popcorn and a keg of root beer. There was ice cream cake as well, but it only came out for a short time because the weather was making it melt very fast.
As is often the case, mostly it was relatives, so I got to catch up with some of them, and a handful of Faith's school buddies.
Faith is going to start massage therapy training in the fall, on her way to becoming a full-fledged physical therapist.
My parents had come up from Sandstone, but parked in Wyoming and had nephew Terran drive them the rest of the way up to avoid the big city traffic. Terran (who is thankfully back in full-time employment with the National Guard, but not being shipped overseas) drove us to Wyoming later in the afternoon.
Once out of Wyoming, we took Highway 61 rather than the freeway; it's a teensy slower overall, but doesn't have the bunching problem, and the scenery is nicer.
It's good to visit with the folks every once in a while.
The next day was Father's Day, with my birthday celebration tossed in, and my brother's anniversary. My family tends to clump celebrations together--Faith was lucky to get her graduation separate!
My middle niece is apparently starved for soda pop (it's a special treat at her house) and bogarted the private stash I'd brought along to drink on the trip back to the cities. Hint: If it's a brand no one else in the family is familiar with, it's probably Uncle Scott's.
Dad got a big book of Disney art, and my brother and his wife got a picture holder in cameo size.
I received an encyclopedia of the little people, a throw pillow, some African tea, a new fancy mug (says "Happy Birthday" on it) and one of my dad's carvings. A satyr/gargoyle wall mask with bulging green eyes made from railroad reflectors. I've hung the last one in my cubicle at work.
We had leftovers from the graduation party and chocolate cake with little candy bars in the frosting. The littler nieces naturally wanted the candy bits, which I'm sure I did at their age too. But was I really that blatant about it?
So that I could stay a couple extra hours with my parents, I went online and purchased a bus ticket rather than catch a ride with a sibling. However, I was not aware that the Jefferson Lines website sets the default date on "tomorrow" and simply assumed that Sunday was the 22nd. It was not until about an hour before the scheduled departure that I realized my mistake. I went online to reschedule the ticket only to learn that "no route is scheduled" for Sunday. I tried calling the convenience store that is Sandstone's bus stop, but the phone number listed on the website was out of service.
So we had to rush up to the store, where the clerk assured me that the bus did indeed run on Sunday, and would stop in Sandstone even if no one had bought a ticket for that day. And I could just pay the bus driver when I got on. (I wasn't too keen on that last bit, as I was already out one bus fare--Jefferson Lines is no refunds.)
Fortunately, when the bus arrived, the driver took one look at my boarding pass and waved me on. I suspect the date mixup happens a lot. The bus was not overcrowded. The overhead lights weren't working, but the outside light didn't fade until just before the Cities, so I was able to read fine.
It was at her family home in Osseo, and I caught a ride with my brother's family to get there. It was a nice spread, hot dogs, minifranks, deli tray, popcorn and a keg of root beer. There was ice cream cake as well, but it only came out for a short time because the weather was making it melt very fast.
As is often the case, mostly it was relatives, so I got to catch up with some of them, and a handful of Faith's school buddies.
Faith is going to start massage therapy training in the fall, on her way to becoming a full-fledged physical therapist.
My parents had come up from Sandstone, but parked in Wyoming and had nephew Terran drive them the rest of the way up to avoid the big city traffic. Terran (who is thankfully back in full-time employment with the National Guard, but not being shipped overseas) drove us to Wyoming later in the afternoon.
Once out of Wyoming, we took Highway 61 rather than the freeway; it's a teensy slower overall, but doesn't have the bunching problem, and the scenery is nicer.
It's good to visit with the folks every once in a while.
The next day was Father's Day, with my birthday celebration tossed in, and my brother's anniversary. My family tends to clump celebrations together--Faith was lucky to get her graduation separate!
My middle niece is apparently starved for soda pop (it's a special treat at her house) and bogarted the private stash I'd brought along to drink on the trip back to the cities. Hint: If it's a brand no one else in the family is familiar with, it's probably Uncle Scott's.
Dad got a big book of Disney art, and my brother and his wife got a picture holder in cameo size.
I received an encyclopedia of the little people, a throw pillow, some African tea, a new fancy mug (says "Happy Birthday" on it) and one of my dad's carvings. A satyr/gargoyle wall mask with bulging green eyes made from railroad reflectors. I've hung the last one in my cubicle at work.
We had leftovers from the graduation party and chocolate cake with little candy bars in the frosting. The littler nieces naturally wanted the candy bits, which I'm sure I did at their age too. But was I really that blatant about it?
So that I could stay a couple extra hours with my parents, I went online and purchased a bus ticket rather than catch a ride with a sibling. However, I was not aware that the Jefferson Lines website sets the default date on "tomorrow" and simply assumed that Sunday was the 22nd. It was not until about an hour before the scheduled departure that I realized my mistake. I went online to reschedule the ticket only to learn that "no route is scheduled" for Sunday. I tried calling the convenience store that is Sandstone's bus stop, but the phone number listed on the website was out of service.
So we had to rush up to the store, where the clerk assured me that the bus did indeed run on Sunday, and would stop in Sandstone even if no one had bought a ticket for that day. And I could just pay the bus driver when I got on. (I wasn't too keen on that last bit, as I was already out one bus fare--Jefferson Lines is no refunds.)
Fortunately, when the bus arrived, the driver took one look at my boarding pass and waved me on. I suspect the date mixup happens a lot. The bus was not overcrowded. The overhead lights weren't working, but the outside light didn't fade until just before the Cities, so I was able to read fine.