From Left: Myself, Cousin Torey’s husband Colin, twin sister Erica and my nephew Ben, Torey and their son Declan, mother Kay and Aunt Cindy in Flapdoodles parking lot.
Recently my family including my mom, dad, twin sister, and 8 month old nephew visited family in my mother’s home town of Wanamingo, MN. FYI, my nephew was AMAZING and did NOT cry AT ALL the entire time we were at the airport or on the plane. People stared at us and probably dreaded sitting near us but complimented us afterwards how well behaved he was, “more than the adults”. Wanamingo is a very small town between Zumbrota and Cannon Falls. We made it to the airport at 6 am on Friday and our flight made a quick stop in North Carolina. We arrived in Minnesota by noon and drove a rental to the grocery store, Econofoods in cannon Falls which is about ten miles from my grandparents house where we stayed. We were at the house by 2:00 pm. My grandparents were not expecting us until about 4:00 pm. This was just the beginning of a weekend of miscommunication. My parents bought way too much food at the grocery store and we had to rush home because my Dad had to have popsicles, since they were 2 for $5. We told him we wanted to go to the bakery next door and the winery across the street but no. It was even more disappointing because we only ate like four popsicles over the weekend and left all the groceries at their house. We had supper the first night, pizza and later tatter tot hot dish. My grandma still uses the same dishes my mom was raised using and she makes really small portions of everything.
The unfortunate part is that my older sister did not get to come on the family trip because she is 8 months pregnant, has a 2 year old son, and was currently living in Alaska until Aug 1. She has been living overseas for 4 years as a military spouse in the Azores and in Alaska. We would have had to wait even longer until the pregnancy which would be another month later (you can’t fly after 7 months pregnant) with a new born at that. If we had waited, we wouldn’t have been able to take the trip until probably next year. My mom is a mail carrier and I think her reasoning was due to her fear that her parents who are 84 years old, don’t have a lot more time left and she has lost a lot of her customers on her route who have passed away. Her father has had medical problems, they are both hard of hearing and sight. Her brother also passed away a few years ago and she never got a chance to say goodbye or attend a funeral. I have never met my two uncles because they must have disability talking to anyone, even family. They don’t have wives or kids and live next door to their parents. Even I knew this may be the last time I visit them. Throughout my life I have only visited Minnesota 3 times, once when I was about 12, after high school graduation, and now. Since we have always lived so far away in Florida, we don’t regularly get to see any family. They have visited me when I was a baby, high school graduation, and my older sister’s wedding. My grandma use to send a card with $5 every year on my birthday but it stopped around freshman year. We searched through the newspaper for things to do in the area over the weekend. I really wanted to go to the motocross tournament but no one else cared. Come to find out my grandpa wanted to go since my uncle Fred was such a dirt bike enthusiast and use to race. We ended up going to my Aunt Cindy and Aunt Julie house and had ice cream with my cousin, her husband, and their 3 year old son.
Saturday we went to breakfast and my grandpa’s brother Roger and his wife who are going on 30 years of marriage were there and his sisters Charlene and Marcia and their husbands. My Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Dave were there too. We enjoyed breakfast at Area 57 and then went back to the house to discuss what we wanted to do for the day. We went to a cave with my cousin and her husband, called Mystery Cave and it was an hour away. We stopped at Dairy Queen after and then my cousin house and then to dinner at Lost Cajun in Rochester with my Aunt Rhonda, and both my cousins and Aunt Cindy. After dinner we went back to Rhonda’s house for pie and wine. She made Ling don berry and strawberry pie. She babysat my cousin son earlier and he was bit by her dog. I’m glad we didn’t take her up on the offer to let her babysit my nephew while we were at the cave because it could have been him and the 3 year old was having diarrhea problems so I’m sure he was a handful. We took showers there because the house had really smelly water. I hated changing back into my dirty clothes though.
Sunday my dad cooked omelets for everyone. My grandma was planning to make pancakes so I felt bad. My dad made his omelet with salsa and it was much better than mine, I wish he had asked me. We had a family picnic at Soldiers field and even my uncle Dale was there although he didnt sit or talk to anyone. My Aunt Julie’s son Justin was there briefly with his wife during her lunch break. My cousin Tavis made potato salad. My grandmas fruit filling was really good. We made smores on the grill too. I actually had a moment with my grandpa teaching him how to make the perfect marshmallow and using his matches to light the grill. We visited the monument where my Aunt Julie’s late husband had his name from serving in the Vietnam war. Afterwards we went to the Apache mall with my cousin and her family. Lastly we went to my great aunt Marcia and Joes house where we checked out his gun and car collection, shot clay pigeons, and rode to the golf course in a Ford Fairlane and ate Jimmy’s pizza.
My Uncle Joe and I shooting clay pigeons.
Monday my grandma made pancakes. We picked raspberries in the yard and checked out the tomatoes that were almost ready to pick. We relaxed in the hammock and played with the dog and cat. We even shot some golf balls into the corn field that we found in the shed. My Aunt Cindy keeps her stuff in a shed because her husband Tom had a stroke and has no mobility and is living in a veterans hospital now but thinks he will be able to use his golf clubs again one day, its not possible. My aunt drives an hour away to visit him every weekend. So we left around 12 and our plane left at 2 PM. We had a quick stop in Philadelphia and were back to Tampa by 9 PM. I didn’t like the service from the airport and on the plane in MN but PHL was okay. We flew US Airways and the Minnesota security was rude and the flight attendants were bossy. The security guard looked and marked my boarding pass, told me to keep it in my hand and not put it away because I would have to show it again which was not true no one else in my family had to or were told to. I wasn’t in a good mood already because my dad had separated from us at that point since he didn’t see us waiting while he was in line for his baggage. I told the guard I was putting my pass back in my phone clutch because it was in my hand and I wouldn’t lose it. A few minutes later, just to prove his point I guess, he walked over to me and asked me to show it again. Ridiculous. I felt targeted for no reason but because I was having a bad morning and attitude and people thrive off of it. To be completely honest, I am going to miss Minnesota and my family there. I had a really good time spending time with them and escaping my reality at home.
Live.Laugh.Love 