September 7, 2015

Labor Day Weekend 2015



Labor Day Weekend 2015
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 7, 2015


Blue's neutering surgery was a little bit more eventful than we had planned because the darn dog couldn't stop licking his scar.  So it got infected and he had to go on a dose of anti-biotics.  We also had to experiment with a bunch of ways of trying to prevent him from licking himself.  Attempt # 5 was tying a t-shirt around his bottom proved to be the winning method and his scar seems to be relatively healed now.  And his naughtiness level is back through the roof again.


We had an eventful Labor Day weekend.  On Friday, we took another trip to the fair, because really, can you ever get enough of the Minnesota State Fair?


We were on a mission to consume as much naughty food as possible in a short period of time.  Luke led with a foot long hot dog which was a good choice to start the festivities.

 Avery pulled out all stops and acquired a HUGE bucket of Martha's cookies.  According to the Star Tribune, Martha's Cookies brings in almost $3 million dollars a year at it's two locations at the fair.  That's a whole lotta cookies!


When our bellies started hurting, we decided we should check out some of the shows.  The lumberjack show was quite riveting as these guys hammered logs with axes and generally showed how good they were with wood.  I was very jealous of their abilities.


On Saturday, we went out on the St. Croix River with our good friends, the Zitzewitz Family.  It was a hot day, but we had fun staying cool in the water.


Karl always finds fun ways to keep us all entertained.


It's fun jumping off the top of the boat, but it does get a bit slippery up there so we have to keep warning the kids to be careful.  It's a long way down to the water, but it's not quite as far to slam into the deck.


We had to leave the river early to join "Hornbuckle Hell Week" at St. Petersburg Vodka Restaurant and Bar in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.  The Hornbuckles were there before we were and had already ordered a flight of vodka for everyone to taste.  There was potato vodka and rye vodka and I think some that was made with gun powder or something.  I'm not a big vodka connoisseur, but they all seemed to enjoy it.


We did get to experiment with some food we don't normally eat.  Miss Sheri and I enjoyed the Beef Stroganoff which was basically a beef stew with some kind of bready thing covering it up.  I could only imagine I was in the center of downtown Moscow while I was eating that thing.


After we ate, a lovely Russian singer went up to the stage and encouraged us all to join her on the dance floor.  Normally this group is kind of shy, but with some extra coaxing she convinced everyone to get out there.


Kim and Miss Sheri danced together a lot which always makes me kind of happy.


We went to an after hours party at the Baileys where these young ladies performed several other dance routines for the family.  It was quite impressive!


On Sunday morning, Grandma Linda stopped by to show us her new car.  She's very proud of it and we are very proud of her for still being taller than it is.  But just barely.


On Sunday night, we went over to our good friends, the Bollig Family, for dinner and good conversation.  They're so fun to be around.


They have hummingbirds in their backyard which are fun to take pictures of when you can get them to sit still.  It's harder than it looks, though, because these guys are just horrible listeners.


David told me to sit in the chair without moving and they'd come back and sit in front of me.  So I sat out there right next to the hummingbird hangout with my camera in hand and I waited.  This guy finally landed in front of me and posed.  Then he flew away.  I thought that was nice of him.

On Labor Day, we drove to Hastings, Minnesota, to visit our old friends, Cathy, and her husband, Jeff.  They bought a new house about a year ago and we got a chance to enjoy the views of the nearby country side from their backyard.  There's like fields all around as far as the eye can see.  And there's probably fields beyond that even.


The best part of the visit was Jeff's homemade pizzas which he just kept baking one right after another.  We gorged ourselves and then headed home to try to recover from such a fun-filled weekend.

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