Now to play some catch-up with past events. Over the weekend of the 4th, we spent one night at our family farm so that I could attend some of my 15th high school reunion, and oh yeah, it was the town's 125th anniversary.
Mom and Dad have been going out to the farm about every other weekend to get the house ready to be lived in full time...by them. A big BOO to them moving. But a HECK YEAH to them having Cousin Camp at the farm in the summer! I am already planning to leave the two big kids there for a week next year. (Assuming, of course, that their house here in Fargo sells soon.)
They have been making lots of preparations, but thanks to some less-than-stellar renters, it still has a long way to go. Especially in the way of furnishings, since they are currently maintaining two houses.
While we were there, the kids slept on an air mattress and did just fine, despite the 90+ degree heat during the day. I love how adaptable they are growing up to be!
Adam and his parents did not fare so well. Thankfully, Aaron let me sleep in the next morning, and when I finally got out of bed at a luxurious 7:30am (ha! haha!) I found the entire family outside. Watering plants.
And yes, the kids are in their pajamas. You have to understand that this activity made up a large portion of my existence on the farm. Watering, weeding, dusting "ledges", and hanging out laundry. Oh, and watching "Full House". How we suffered.
Then Aaron informed me that Leah had already pumped five (FIVE!) buckets of water and only stopped to holler, "I need more buckets!". She is a water-pumping prodigy.
PUMP water, you say? What century are you living in, you ask? On the farm we have this obscure thing called a WELL, and that's where we get the water that we use to water plants in the massive garden, of which Mom thankfully only planted half this year. I took this photo last year when we were silly and snuck onto the farm and even into the house on a trip to the West.
Then we went in to the reunion activities. I had been at the big concert in town the night before - Gwen Sebastian. I'm going to do a little bragging here, but she was about 3 years ahead of me in school and her little brother was in my class. I liked her because she was nice to me (that whole class was pretty great). And she's a superstar! It was a great concert (the woman sang both Sarah McLachlanAND White Snake. Can you say "range"?) and lots of folks from school were there, although it seems I missed a few that were on my list.
So anyway. The reunion. What can I say? It was good in that I felt like a mature, confident adult, not the self-conscious, nervous dork that I was. People have not changed that much, and maybe I'll just leave it at that. There are some that I'm hoping to stay in contact with, and many that it will be good to catch up with in another five or ten years. By then we will be less encumbered by small children, and hopefully get more uninterrupted conversation!
My Grandpa Henry maintains and curates the Hebron Museum, so it's his prerogative what goes into it...and wouldn't you know it, these two paintings by his son, my uncle Jim, made the cut. Although I'd personally prefer to have at least the cow one on my wall, I guess the museum is a good second place. Don't you love how enthusiastic Ben looks? Did I mention it was HOT? Inside the museum it was probably about 80 degrees. Yowzers.
I contributed to the local economy by buying a couple of beautiful glasses at the antique store Yesterday's Keepsakes (you can't just go in there and spend 30 minutes and not buy SOMETHING!), some pottery at Dacotah Clayworks (Robin almost feels like family, my mom and grandpa talk about her so often!), and three kuchens at Lapp's Grocercy & Bakery. Yum. Never have I been so glad that Aaron doesn't like rhubarb.
Tomorrow: super cute 4th of July photos!
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What happened at YOUR reunion? (I know some of you had one this year...)
How did your parents torture you? (As in, what chores did you have to do all. the. time.?)
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