A family reunion.

A~and I went to a family reunion up north this past weekend. It has been an up and down sort of month. The best part has been hanging out with my son and having so much fun doing things I did as a child, minus the bikes. Reconnecting with some old friends, and finally enjoying a large portion of my job. The not so good has mostly been financial.

***Political rant: I saw that Pawlenty said Obama's health care plan won't save money. To which I want to reply to that: WTF?! I guess I thought the point was health care for everyone not saving the government money. And let me tell you having another option to choose from other than my current suck ass really expensive health care WILL save me money, eventually. I don't expect instantaneous fixing, I expect this country to get it's shit together. Letting these jerks run around with little oversight has just created a bunch of fat holier than thou spoiled brats who whine when you say you don't want to play by their ever changing made up rules. And just like a parent, sometimes, you have to suffer along with the offending child to show how serious you are. It isn't fun, but it gets things done a lot faster than "no, no, jimmy that's a bad touch". Grrrr. Bite me kid and I'll bite you back, that's what I say. [Thankfully A~ never bit me. But my brother did, twice. The second time he learned it's no fun being bit (I did it gently, don't freak out. It's scary enough feeling teeth on your skin, there was no need to make it hurt. And he was too damn cute to get too mad at).]

Ok fun stuff!! This isn't the serious blog I save that crap for somewhere else.

*******

We left in the a.m. headed waaay up north, ok not waaay up north but far enough to be really far, in a car, with my mom, my child, and my brother. We had arranged to meet my grandparents at this restaurant outside of Brainerd that my grandma loves and I swear she liked it because of the pie but, it's a fish place. (?) I've heard about it for years so, finally I was going to go to this odd fish market/restaurant. NoooOOo... We get there and it's been torn down and rebuilt as a strip mall. The fish market is there, no longer kitschy cute, now blah circa 2000 and not a restaurant.

**Hey they make lingonberry or cajun Herring! Yum. (shudder)

We eat at some big lodge place, I think that's actually the name The Big Lodge. Food was decent. I'm bummed I missed the weird store, I would've liked it I think. Then another however long to the "cabin" (it couldn't be further from a cabin). Non stop eating to follow. Why'd we stop for lunch??

A~ was in the water more than out of it, even after finding (and ripping off) a leech! In my mind he is now totally hardcore, I've never had a leech on me and if I did I don't think I'd handle it well. AND I don't think I'd go back in the water an hour later. He had soooooooo much fun! His cousins loved him.

That would be my child on a raft with his cousin. The lake is very shallow so you can walk for at least a couple hundred yards without being deeper than your waist.

The Cabin. And my zombie brother.

Swinging with the dogs

An amazing sunset.

Which I was told wasn't all that amazing and they're almost all like that.

Yeah, well it was amazing to me!

How can you not draw hearts in the sand???

creepy and beautiful

A~ and I went exploring a cemetery today. I suppose it's a little creepy, but it is beautiful. We had a lot of fun sneaking around the Chapel, looking in doors and checking the place out. It's open to the public, but it felt like we shouldn't be there since we were completely alone. The Chapel is just sooooo amazing, words don't do it justice(nor do pictures). I'd get married there in a second. The only thing that'd keep me from doing that would be the whole "you got married in a cemetery, you must love vampires(or goth or something dumb)" thing. No. I just have a strange obsession with architecture and things Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and MCM.

Thankfully I was clueless and took a bunch of pictures, I found out later it's not allowed. Oh well, ignorance is bliss right?

The one thing in the whole place that fascinated and really creeped me out but, I adore her.

(check out the red glow in the lower left, it's in both pics I have of her face. Oooooohhhh...!)

Inside the "crying" room.

Copper doors!

"Memory"

"faith"

(for some reason this is hidden behind a wall, it's freakin' gorgeous)

***

After the cemetery we went for a ride on the trolley. I wish they hadn't ever gotten rid of those, I love them. The sounds are great. It makes me want to go up to the train museum they have in Duluth and ride one of the old trains. I need a second job just to afford all the fun crap I want to show A~. Not really related but, it popped into my head just now, on our way home I saw a Trans-Am with collector plates. Yep, I'm officially O.L.D. I'm not sure what I think of that. (sigh)

Isn't this so much cuter than a city bus??

A fun day.

4th O' JoooLie!

Momma and her babies. We took pictures of them right after they hatched. Now they're so big!

Heyall.
The fourth was fun filled and emotional. Seriously, if I had the $ to go to a Doc I'd go. Between the well, let's just say I have reason to be a little um...worried. But not so worried that I feel like divulging much. Basically, I've got memory issues among other things, at the moment the memory shit bugs more than the actual health shit. Probably stress and lack of consistent decent food (oh, and really suck ass health insurance). Yeah.
Anyway....
We were relatively busy. I took Thursday off. Yipppeee! A~ and I went on the walk. Love those Pics! Friday we visited a friend in So. Mpls and grilled burgers while A~ raided the garden and played with the dog.

Hammerschlagen (I actually spelled that right!)

Attacking the garden, chives, basil, mint, and parsley...yum!
I am pretty sure there was still some left after A~ got out.

Saturday, the 4th o'JooLie we went to the sculpture garden made some awesomely inspiring art,

Lil' booger :)

A~'s was "Modern Art" with animals, Mine was some cross between firework and Tiger Lily.

We watched a couple bands after the art explosion, and then ate (burgers) in the rain before getting stuck in a closed museum by a downpour.

Ptttttthh...to closing a lame 2 hrs early. What's 2 hours?

That night despite the short lived coffee/sugar rush I was toooooo pooped to go see fireworks. So we popped popcorn and watched the big NY fireworks on Tv. Good thing, since I heard the fireworks downtown weren't any good.

A~ with the Monster hoop! Seriously, a group of people applauded him!

Watching short animations, anything that involves headphones is like a kid magnet.
(ok, I guess it's a little bit of a mom one too, sheesh)

Sunday we hung out with the Grandpoo and Nanpoo, and grilled... Burgers!
It was a burger filled weekend.
First there was the business of breaking open a geode Nanpoo brought back for A~ from their vaca up north. A~ and Nanpoo share a love of rocks. It's very cute.

There were only 4 of us, so I'm not quite sure why there was so much food...
Ladies and gentlemen, the King of grilling!

And that Folks was the weekend. Hope yours was as good or better!