To start with, my grandfather, Jesse Stay passed away June 17. I went to CA for the funeral. Thanks so much to Tamara and Tom who helped me with frequent flyer miles to help get my ticket. The day I left, I went to the Cities in the morning to go take 2 midterms at the Univeristy of Minnesota testing center. There was construction and I missed my exit & I ended up at the Minneapolis campus instead of the St. Paul Campus and then had to negotiate my way back there and ended up being 20 min late for my test time. Luckily, the tests weren't too bad and I had both of them finished with plenty of time to spare.
So, I had lots of time to kill before my flight. My favorite radio station was doing a live broadcast in downtown Minneapolis, so I headed back that direction. I stayed there for the rest of the broadcast time. I then went over to the Mall of America because it was right by the airport. I wandered around for a while just people watching. They had re-done the amusement park since the last time I had been there. It used to be a Camp Snoopy, but it was re-done with a Nickleodeon theme. There were some new rides including a Sponge Bob roller coaster that started out going straight up, and then straight DOWN, plus a loop and a corkscrew. I am a coaster junkie. I don't care much for rides that just spin you around and around, but give me a good thrill ride and I'm there. So, I sprang for the $ to ride it once. Good ride! Worth the $!
Then it was time to head to the airport to catch my flight. I got there about 3 hours before my flight and got situated at gate G7. A nice, quitet gate. After being there for 2 hours, I realized it was a bit too quiet and my flight should start boarding soon. Check ticket. Oh! Gate G11! So, I got up and got to the proper gate just before boarding.
I got to Orange County airport. I checked the arrival screen and saw that Steve's flight was coming in at the next gate in about 10 minutes so I waited for him to show up. Mom & Dad picked us up and we went to Grandma's house. We had some dinner and then Steve & I took the bikes around the neighborhood to see the old school & friends' houses. (we lived in that neighborhood until 1983 so I had spend hundreds of hours biking that area during my youth). Then we went to the beach & found cousins & Jenny & Carl there. We hung out until it was too dark to see.
The funeral was the next day. Thew viewing was at 10:00am. The room was full of old friends & family. Uncle Greg gave the family prayer.
The funeral was at 11:00. I conducted the music and my cousin, Trace, played the organ. Ucle Tim gave the Eulogy and then the whole family (all 4 rows) stood and sang 'Families Can Be Togehter Forever.' Then Uncle Greg, Uncle Larry, Mom, Aunt Judi & Aunt Sharon gave their personal memories. Next, all grandchildren that wanted to (about 20) of us got up and sang 'How Great Thou Art.' That was powrful. I felt like I was singing with the Tabernacle Choir. We all sounded so good together. Then Uncle Randy gave the Plan of Salvation Talk. He said that Grandpa always considered this life to be part of his eternal life and lived accordingly. Finally there was a talk by the Stake President.
The Relief Society had the luncheon for us. Can't have a funeral without funeral potatoes and jello! Dad's brother Dwight had come as well, so we visited with him during lunch.
Mom, Dad, Jenny & Carl left that afternoon. Steve left Sunday right after church. I left Monday Morning. I took a shuttle to the airport and had an uneventful flight home.
Back to normal life. June 25th I went to Valley Fair with Michael and the Summer School. It was a lovely day. We just went from ride to ride and rode all the good coasters. Sarah & Daniel went to the waterpark.
On the 26th I went to Visitor's day at Summer school. I went to Sarah's sign language class & Danile's puppet class. Then we all went to the gym & watched a juggling/clown show. That night we went to the beach for a picnic.
That weekend was Clear Lake Days. There were garage sales in town Friday. Got some good items. We had our annual dairy lunch on Friday. Free nachos, icecream, milk & cheese & crackers in town. Saturday was the parade. Alisha & Emily were in the band, and Sarah & I were on the Girl Scout float.
June 29 was John's birthday. He's officially 18. Yikes! To make me feel even older, he had his girlfriend down for the week. She lives in Virginia, MN (about 3.5 hours away). She's very nice, and all the other kids like her too. She stayed through the 5th of July. Her mom & sister came on the 4th & we all went to Amery to watch fireworks together.
I've started going to Cub Scout Committe meetings. I am also signed up as the Tiger Cub leader. The whole pack has had problems since Michael left (actually before he left) the pack. But we finally seem to have some interested leadership in the Pack, and we are getting things back up & running. Richard has now joined the committe as well. I have 11 Tigers signed up for this year!
In July we went to a couple of picnics. One was for Amery Theatre. One was a Ward Party.
The Girls went to Girls' camp the week of the 14th. They had a blast!
Michael left the day after the girls got back for Scout Camp. He had a good time & earned 3 badges. Richard & I went to pick him up on the 24th & we left for our vacation early on the 25th.
On the 24th, I did something different. I had wanted sing at the local nursing homes for a while. Finally, I realized that I had a friend from the theatre who plays piano & sings as well, so I asked her if she wanted to do it with me. We put together a little act- a Broadway Review- and we performed it on the 24th at Golden Age Manor. We have 2 more 'gigs' lined up as well, including one tomorrow. I play while she sings, she plays while I sing & when we sing together. We did songs from plays that either one of us had been in. We borrowed costume pieces & props from the theatre. Our program went like this:
There's No Business Like Show Business-Both sing
My Favorite Things-I sing
SunRise, Sunset-Kathy sing
June Is Bustin' Out All Over-Kathy sing
Can't Get a Man with a Gun-I sing
Something Wonderful-I sing
Getting to Know You-Kathy sings
I could have Danced All Night-I sing
I Can't say No-I sing
You'll Never Walk Alone-Kathy Sings
It was well received, and we had a lot of fun putting it together.
Well, that may be enough for now. I'll post later with our trip travelogue.
Patti
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