2017 Family Weekend at Minnesota State University, Mankato

2017 Family Weekend at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 1, 2017

Some co-workers and I spent a day at a charity event playing bean bags at a local golf course.  I'd like to say I was more competitive in bags than I would have been at golf, but my team was crushed in the first two matches and we were eliminated from the competition.  We did have fun hanging out in the rain, though!

It was family weekend at Minnesota State University in Mankato, so we went down to hang out with Luke and some of his friends.

On Friday night, we joined the fellas to go see the Danger Committee.  They are a group of jugglers and knife throwers who we'd seen before at The Minnesota Renaissance and on America's Got Talent.

The group was pretty funny as they dazzled us with various feats of danger including juggling knives, fire, and knives on fire.  None of us had the chance to go up on stage to join them for any of their tricks which is probably a good thing.  We're missing enough fingers as it is.

We did get a chance to meet the group after the show.  They were nice guys but didn't seem to remember us from when we watched them at the Renaissance or on TV for America's Got Talent.  

After the show we had the chance to meet Luke's next door neighbor, Kelli.  Kelli befriended me on Snapchat soon after the school year started and likes to send me pictures and videos of Luke.  I appreciate that because the boy ends up doing lots of naughty things and it's nice to know someone is keeping an eye on him.  

On Saturday morning, we woke up early and headed to the student union to get in a couple rounds of bowling.  It seemed like most of the students were sleeping, so we pretty much had the alleys to ourselves.

Soon enough, we were joined by our good friends, the Walters Family, and we all headed out to explore the campus together.

The boys were enjoying playing foosball so I challenged them to a match so I could show them how I used to play when I was in college.  We had balls flying all over the place.

On Saturday night, we went to see the Mankato football team take on Northern State.  The team had been undefeated so far, so we were hoping to get to watch a victory for the home team.

We weren't disappointed.  The team was rock solid and beat their opponents by a score of 36 - 0.  It was fun to get the chance to spend a lot of time celebrating touchdowns.

The cheerleaders seemed to be pretty happy the team was scoring so much also.  They just kept cheering and cheering which made us all feel really good about ourselves.

After the game, we went back to the Union to participate in a production of the game show, The Price Is Right.  We became really excited when the announcer suddenly called out "Jennifer Walters, come on down!  You are the next contestant on the Price is Right!" 

Jen got to play Plinko and participate in spinning the Big Wheel.  She won some prizes, but unfortunately I don't think they were enough to allow her to retire or anything.  Maybe next year.  

Blue didn't get to go to Mankato with us, but he was thrilled because he had the chance to go to the house where he was born and spend time with his mother, father, and brother.  This is a picture that was sent to us of Blue and his brother getting some rest after some roughhousing.  I just love how happy he looks in it.