It seems time has gotten away from me and I should really wrap up this trip to Minnesota from LAST month. Coincidentally, we are going to Minnesota in a few days again. Our last few days were filled with odds and ends. Here are the odds…leading to the end.
We took the girls and my mom to Como Zoo so we could see the new gorilla exhibit. It was nice and steamy. Loran had never seen the Sparky Show, which is funny because the girls think they are somehow cosmically linked to Sparky and share a bond with him/her (depends on the year). We enjoyed our morning, but didn’t take many photos because we’ve been there many times, and really, how many photos of a giraffe and a squinty kid can you have? First world problems, kind of. There are probably a lot of kids in Africa running around, squinting under the bright sun with giraffes roaming nearby, but nobody to take a photo, let alone tons of photos year after year. Lily insisted she have her photo taken with the lily pads.
When we returned from the zoo, bearing Blizzards for lunch! One of my favorite childhood memories involves the few hot evenings when Mom would just announce it was Dairy Queen dinner night! We’d all sit around the dinner table with our cool treats, a rare treat, definitely savored. My friends would freak out, clearly jealous. Some would even question the practice by saying, “But your mom is a nurse!” Since a sweltering evening in which we were all assembled is rare in Minnesota, it didn’t happen often. Two dinners a summer consisting of Blizzards would not destroy our health. Now, if we practiced that thinking in Texas, we’d have some issues. Probably involving the word diabetes.
Once our treats were done, Grandpa did something he’s been waiting years to do. Tractor rides! Lily had zero hesitation, Ella was a little nervous, but it didn’t take much convincing. They drove around the lawn and back into the trees, around the house. Ella bailed after a while, but Lily would have rode around all day. Grandpa was happy to make it to the garage before running out of fuel, much to Lily’s dismay.
After the wagon rides and playing with the remaining toys in Grandma and Grandpa’s house, the girls were ready for some actual food. It was their idea to have a picnic outside. It was really strange to know that was the last time the girls would play at their house in Minnesota. As I type this, they are preparing to board a plane tomorrow to move to Hawaii. Their house is sold (along with the tractor…no more rides). My parents have never lived outside of Anoka County, and now they’re moving to another state. Not just another state, a non-contiguous state! I’m excited for them, and excited that our last play date in their Minnesota home was full of memories.
Monday evening, I joined my friends at Moms on the Run. I was welcomed back, Texas style! There was also an 80s theme, so really, any bystanders were probably confused/worried/interested in what was happening. I didn’t have any 80s gear with me, luckily, running apparel naturally comes in bright and obnoxious colors. It felt good to run, even if slowly, and realize that I could still run a 5K - thanks to Betsy’s pushing. I can probably count the number of times I’ve run in Texas on two hands, but I can still do it! I couldn’t even run 1 minute when I started three years ago! I’m excited to be bringing MOTR to Austin!
Tuesday, we took the girls to the beach. In Blaine. This still baffles me. When I was a child and Blaine was a suburb of sod fields, trailer parks, and 50s tract housing…that lake was a…sod field. Now it’s in the middle of a huge development of nice houses. It’s a lake that is big enough for boating. People boat on a sod field! This is so confusing to me, but we embraced the nice, combed, man-made beach and lake. The girls had a blast. Loran built a pretty great sand castle that some eight year old boys admired and slowly took over. The girls still talk about the boys, despite reassuring them that it was okay that the boys play with Daddy’s castle.
The morning we left, we took a little stroll in Nana and Papa’s yard and the girls burned off some energy. As we were leaving, I had to stop at my parent’s house for one last hug from my dad in Minnesota. Unfortunately, Mom was at work, otherwise she could have been part of my sob-fest. Then we were off to the airport.
We had an easy flight to Dallas and a little over two hour layover where we planned to get a nice dinner and get the girls ready for bed. We got lucky, as we flew in, some storms were just moving out. We were able to land without circling, apparently one of the first planes to land after many were grounded or circling while the storm rolled through. We had a slight wait on the tarmac for our gate to open up. Once in the airport, we were disappointed as our departure time slowly got moved back. We waited two extra hours to take our 15 minute flight to Waco. If we hadn’t had checked bags and a two hour drive home from Waco, we would have considered driving it. But, the girls were awesome and we just rolled with it. The girls were in awe of the soldiers in uniform that we’d see waiting for flights. They made their own fun with Barbies and their car seats. Once on the short flight, my seat buddy fell asleep. A short while later, we were on the road, getting home after midnight. The girls were happy to be in their beds, the cats were happy to see us and we were happy to be home.
When we lived in Connecticut, it never really felt like home. It was where our house was, it was where we lived, but it wasn’t home. Then, I would refer to Minnesota as home. Now I call it Minnesota. Austin feels like home. My home is in Austin. When we were away, I missed it. When we came back, I was happy to be home. Home. It’s a great feeling.
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