An Anniversary Party and Our Little Weekend

On Saturday, we left early in the morning to go down to my aunt and uncle's (my Dad's brother and his wife) 35th anniversary party, that was held at there church.  We packed yummy lunches on our honey oatmeal buns!  At the party, they had cake, mints, trail mix, and punch.  It was a nice little party.  I am sure my dad really enjoyed it, since he got to see some people he hasn't seen for a while.

My sister just couldn't wait to see our cousin's little girl!  By the end, they were quite connected.

After the party, my aunt and uncle, their daughter (my cousin) and her husband and daughter, and our family all went out to eat.  I didn't really want to go to a chain restaurant, but my dad didn't want to go somewhere very expensive.  A hamburger sounded good.  So, we ended up going to Red Robin.  We had to wait a little while before we got seated, but it wasn't too long of a wait.  We waited outside, and then when we went inside and got seated, the place was FREEZING.

I got just a simple burger with a side of a fruit salad.  This summer I realized how even better a hamburger is with lettuce, tomato. onion, pickles, and ketchup.  YUMMY!!  I got the burger on a whole grain bun.  For being a hamburger place, I thought the burger would have been better.  It wasn't a bad burger, but not the best (the ones at the Twins stadium are the best!).

Our family stayed in a hotel that night.  It was a Residence Inn by Marriott, the kind of hotel that is set up for people staying for long periods of time.  The room set up worked great.  There were two rooms.  Each had a bed and a bathroom.  Then there were doors closing off the rooms form the middle area, where the kitchen, a little living room was.  So, I slept out the middle area, on a roll-away, with both doors to the rooms closed.  When we sleep at a hotel, I am usually annoyed with someone's loud breathing or snoring in the middle of the night, and no one gets a good night sleep (because I am annoyed).  So, this time, I couldn't hear any of those noises to annoy me.

In the morning, I went for a little walk with my mom, and then had to do an elliptical workout.  Once we were all ready for the day, we hit the road.  We ended up pretty much getting a tour of the towns that my dad grew up in.

This is a garage that we drove by... if we were to build a garage, this is what my mom would want it to look kind of like.  So, she needed to take a picture of it.

And, the house too.

We actually did a lot during the "tour".  My Dad showed us around the towns that he grew up in.  We watched and listened for trains (something my Dad did as a kid).  We heard stories about his childhood.

Then, there was this super cute antique shop in one of the towns my Dad grew up in.  My mom and I really wanted to go in.  We almost didn't, but I am glad we did. We actually had some really fun, great finds!

I found this ribbon.  The ribbon is nothing special, but I just LOVE the big, wooden bobbin!

This is a metal turtle for in the garden (outside).  I love gardening, and I collect little turtles.  So, since it is so cute, why not get it?  When we were unloading the car, my mom took it out and set it here.  I don't know if I am going to keep it here, but it actually looks really cute here, so I probably will.

After the touring through the towns, we went to this little state park... and we hike up to this pavillion (is wasn't that far).  The trail they had to hike on was really nice.

We did take a picture up at the pavillion, but even though it was really cute, it didn't turn out.  So, I'm not posting it.  And, finally, we actually hit the road home.