We headed North on July 3rd with our packed up Prius, our audio books (book review at the end), and no pets!? That's right, Yahtzee and the birds stayed home alone during this trip. Our most excellent neighbors were willing to visit our house and give the pets some attention. We're still not sure if the pets actually missed us...but we sure missed them! We broke up the drive into two days, and spent the night in Omaha, NE. We decided on sleeping in and enjoying continental breakfast, then taking a dip in the pool before we left. When we headed for the pool, we found out that it was an outdoor pool and that it was wicked chilly!
Monday was a day for hanging out at the Johnson house, and all the sisters were there. There was gardening, croquet, catching frogs, playing with dogs, and fishing.
Tuesday allowed us more time to spend with our nephews, with a short break to do some prep work for the library program on Thursday. For the evening we headed over to Moorhead to have dinner with Erika et al. Then, we finished off the evening by heading over to visit JR and the boys.
Wednesday was a day for lounging at the Kostrzewski house. We introduced Kayla to the fun world of Guitar Hero and we all had a good time. We also fit in some work for "Juan K Technical Support & Graphic Design", as Mondo worked on fixing up the computers and Lady helped Kayla out with a new logo. We finished the day off with some old school N64 gaming with Kayla & Jeb.
Thursday had two main events... Mondo's space talk at the library and Kostrzewski family pictures. In the morning, we put the final touches on the presentation and the slide show and got ready for the talk. Dotz was worried about not having had enough publicity for the event... but she needn't have worried. In a room that is supposed to hold 50 people, the final count totaled 166 people of all ages. Apparently we set a new record for library attendance (and Dotz, feel free to correct our numbers in the comments). It was a huge success, with great questions coming from the kids and adults. We even talked to people afterward who were disappointed they missed it, and hoped we'd be doing it again soon. The craziest part about it was that several kids had to get Mondo's autograph after the talk. Mondo is a bit sheepish about that point, but as long as it means they are getting excited about space, then who is he to argue?! As soon as the mob cleared out of the library, we hurried off to beautify ourselves for Kostrzewski family pictures. We finished Thursday evening off with carrot cake baking, and watching Jeb play softball.
Friday zipped up on us quite quickly. This was our last day up in DL, and we had quite the to-do list on our hands. Juan K Technical Support was at it again, there was a bakery run, we met up with a couple of Lady's friends (Hi Betsy and Allison!), had lunch with Dotz and picked strawberries, then back to the Kostrzewski's for Leroy's big party, which included grilled deliciousness, cotton candy making, badminton, beanbag toss, and other fun. Talk about an action packed day!
Then, it was Saturday, and it was time for us to hit the road again...with our new hose reel (from Leroy) prominently displayed in the back seat. We made it to Perry, OK before we decided to call it a night.
We got back to our house at 4pm on Sunday, which was a big deal considering we usually get in pretty late. Our pets were ecstatic (we were happy to see them, too!), our house was actually pretty clean since we'd gotten that done before we left, and it was time to get back to life as unusual!
I like the blog idea - good to hear that your trip back went well and that all is well with the pets.
ReplyDeleteYour library program numbers are correct, John. 166 in a room for 50. But last Thursday we made yet another record. 183 people came out to see the magician. YIKES
Several people have commented to me about how much they enjoyed and learned from the space program. I think it is one of the best ever.
Just thinking about where I was on this day (July 20) 40 years ago - - I was on a small farm/gasthaus in the mountains of Tyrol. And it was cause for a party because the Americans had landed on the moon, and an American was staying at the guesthaus. Wow! what an awesome event and what a great memory!
ReplyDeleteBeaten by a magician, ouch! Alas, I'll just have to try harder next time.
ReplyDeleteWhat we have done in space has always astounded me. Then to think that I wasn't even born when the first Shuttle flight launched, and yet I got to work on multiple Shuttle flights...wow! Now to usher in the new era of spaceflight, and help us get back to the Moon and Mars...game on!