We are back in Minnesota for the entire summer, staying at our usual campground. It will be a busy summer of visiting family, friends and getting annual medical appointments done.
Sawmill campground 
I’m lucky!
We had gotten back to Minnesota just before Dave’s birthday. We spent birthday evening at Grizzley’s, having supper with his son Mike. It was so good ton catch up with him. The next evening, we had a pizza supper at Paglia’s with Beth, Aaron and the boys. It was another great family time.
My daughters and their children came out to the campground for a picnic supper on Memorial Day. It was a very chilly 57 degrees but we had a good time. Dave was not able to get too many kids interested in playing corn hole. One of the guests that day was Kyle’s girlfriend Brooke. We were happy to finally meet her.
Om Memorial Day, we attended a ceremony in the Home Cemetery in Sleepy Eye. This was especially memorable because Dave’s Dad, a WWII vet had passed last year and was mentioned in the service. After the service, we went to the family farm for a meal with Scott and Linda, Dean and Karen, Hans and Nettie, Beth, Aaron and their boys. Then we headed to Shakopee to visit my brother and his wife, Kent and Dianne. Kent and broken his femur a week earlier and just came home from the hospital shortly before we arrived.
Our flowers are flowers are thriving!
One of the campers at Sawmill had a family of flamingos. I had never seen the baby flamingos and thought this was neat until the guy told me flamingos on the lawn was a signal for “swingers” and hinted to know if we were interested. EWWWWWE!!!!!
Our first week in June was spent seeing all of our doctors for 6 and 12 month check ups. I tentatively scheduled another recon surgery for July. Later the same day, we met with Dave’s surgeon to schedule his hernia surgery. It matches well with the date I had selected at Mayo.
The third week of June found us at the farm in Sleepy Eye with all of Dave’s siblings. We started sorting 150+ years of family belongings, in preparation for an auction to be held in August. Jane had brought Garrett and Anna along for the week. The week was so emotional as everyone reminisced, sorted, packed and discarded items. It was also a lot of work but an awesome family week.
Because the 4th anniversary of our meeting each other fell while we were at the farm, we decided to go to the nearest Applebee’s — in New Ulm. First we stopped to visit my uncle Curt who had recently moved to an assisted living facility in New Ulm. Curt is my dad’s youngest brother and the only surviving sibling from dad’s family. I loved seeing him, finding him in good health. Then we headed to Applebee’s for the beer (except we had exotic beverages instead this time) and appetizers. We were so disappointed in both the food and service and vowed not to return to this restaurant. However, we still had a wonderful evening, talking about all of the things we have done together in 4 years. Falling in love and getting married topped that list.
Dave’s surgery was June 28 at Wickersham Surgery Center. I was not allowed into the building so Boo and I waited in the truck for almost 5 hours. The doctor called me when Dave was heading to Recovery and assured me that it had been a successful surgery. He would have to take things easy for 2 weeks but there didn’t seem to be any concerns. YAY!
We spent time with Mike and Rebecca occasionally. A favorite activity with them is Happy Hour on Thursday evenings when Mike is finished work for the week. They have come out to the campground a couple of times and we went to Rebecca’s family cabin once for supper and a pontoon ride. We also head to St. Peter some Friday’s for a meat raffle and meet up with other friends. The first raffle, I won a package of sirloin steaks.
We decided to go to Blue’s Fest in St Peter on Sunday, June 13. We didn’t see anyone we knew until we were leaving and ran into Michelle. She is so much fun and we rarely see her so that was special.
We had lunch on July 2 with Ray and Kathy, in Mankato. This has become an annual tradition where I pay up, after losing my bet with Ray regarding the Twins and Dodgers. One of these years, I may win the bet.
July 4 took us to Blooming Prairie. We had a pot luck lunch at Teresa’s house with her family, Angie and her family and my ex-husband. She lives on the parade route and I was happy to see it, since I had not been to that parade since Cameron was an infant, 15 years ago. Before the parade, Dave and I walked to the park a block away to watch part of the tractor pull. The parade itself was fun, on this 97 degree day. The afternoon was spent chatting and enjoying family, before we headed back toward the park, carrying lawn chairs in the evening to watch fire works. The temp was great and for once, their were no mosquitos. It was a long fun family day. Dave, Boo and I had opted to stay overnight at Teresa’s and left after lunch the next day.
We went up to Height of Land on July 6 for 3 days. This time, we decided not to take the trailer but stayed in the cabin with Hans and Nettie. It was a fun 3 days playing games, pontooning and enjoying the gorgeous weather and scenery. We went to a live outdoor music event with them in Park Rapids on the 8th. The music was awesome and it was fun people watching.
Sunday July 18 found us out on the motorcycle for the first time this season. Our first stop was beautiful downtown Henderson for a beer outside the Road Haus. This was followed by a stop at u4ic brewery in Blakely, a little patio music at Patrick’s in St. Peter where we ran into our friend Heather and last, the Flame Bar, also in St. Peter where we ran into a few more friends. This would be our last bike ride for a while.
Monday morning, July 19 had us up at 3:30, heading to Rochester for my appointment in the OR with Dr Doan Nguyen. I really like her but am getting a little tired of the OR visits! Hopefully this will be the last one. The surgery went well and we were able to be home by 5 that afternoon. I knew I was in for 4 weeks of almost no activity but did not anticipate this would be one of the most difficult and painful of my recoveries. As usual, Dave takes very good care of me.
Auction day dawned clear and still with low 80 temps. The hay racks and lawn were full and finally the buyers started to arrive. We were all pleased that most items were purchased. I even ran into a former co-worker, Amanda. The long anticipated and dreaded day was coming to a close. Cleanup would be the next day and then we would all return to our homes in Minnesota, North Dakota and Mississippi.
Tree to commorate Dan 
Dave and I had a day in the Cities. First, we went to lunch at Lord Fletcher’s in Minnetonka. We had a delicious walleye sandwich with fries, overlooking the water.
After lunch, we went to the Arboretum in Chaska. I had wanted to visit this since I was 18 and finally got there. It was worth the wait.. We did a 3 mile walking tour. I had chosen sandals that are normally good for long walks but developed and ugly blister. OUCH! Then we took a 3 mile driving tour some of the same places as the walking tour but also some different parts of the arboretum.
We finished the day at the Henderson Classic Car Roll-In. Luckily I had tennis shoes in the truck but even changing shoes, my blister bothered me. We had a Juicy Lucy supper from a food truck and enjoyed walking aroung looking at classic cars.
On August 14, Angie and I had a mom/daughter winery day. Dave had to come along as driver.
We started at Morgan Creek Winery near New Ulm.. This is the oldest winery in the area, maybe 30 years old, but I had never been here. We started with a wine flight of 4 for each of us plus shared a lunch of bread, cheeses, meats and grapes. How yummy!
Then we went to Indian Island Winery in Janesville. They were having a music day in the vineyard. There was a wagon ride out to the vineyard where tables and tents were set up for guests and also for the band. How neat to sit between rows of vines and enjoy a glass of wine, meat sticks and cheese curds.
Our last stop was Chankaska Winery near Kasota. Angie bought us a bottle of wine but it was super expensive and tiny so I bought some more wine for us to share. What a fun day!
August 20 brought us back to Sleepy Eye for Dave’s 51st high school reunion, delayed for a year thanks to Covid. (It would have been his 50th…). We camped at the Sportsman’s Park outside of sleepy Eye a day early. We walked around the park then ended up at the SE Brewery where we had supper and ran into classmate Mike Radl who was here for the reunion. The next day, we gathered with several classmates and spouses for an afternoon at the home of Carol and Al Fisher where we watched the SE End of Summer Celebration parade. The day ended with a dinner at the SE Golf Course.
The next day was August 22. We met a cousin of Dave’s, Karen and husband John Shenk at u4ic. Dave and not seen Karen in 45 years. She is a cousin on the Peterson side of his family. We enjoyed this mini reunion very much.
We had a campfire, one of our few, at Sawmill on August 30. Dave likes to take this type of picture.
We went to Teresa’a house on Labor Day, to see her and her children. After a delicious meal and time together outside, we started a fire. actually, Kody was excited to start it with his flint. Dave helped a little. We had a teeny, tiny log for the fire.
A few days after that, Boo got very sick. We took her to Kind Vet Clinic in St. Peter where she spent the weekend hooked up to IVs. She had pancreatitis, probably caused by getting into cat food at Teresa’s house. It took two weeks to get her back to normal.
We visited my nephew Andre one day and he loaned me a photo album of his dad’s. I have a similar album packed away. It was fun to go through this with Dave. Below are a sample of photos of my life.
On September 12, we headed to a Twins game with my brothers and sisters-in-law. We had to have our Bloody Mary’s early that day! The Twins lost to the Royals but it was a fairly close game until the end and we had a great time. On the way home, we stopped at The Cheesecake Factory in Minnetonka for supper. Galen, Dar and Dave had never been there. The meal was fantastic and Kent surprised us all by picking up the tab. He didn’t have to do that!
Our campground hosts Loren and Gwen left early for Texas. Sadly, they have decided to give up the job and probably won’t camp in this park again. There has been a lot of laughter and joking about the next Host. Dave and I were the butt of the joke one evening but we spoiled everyone’s fun because we weren’t home. (The entire campground was in on it…) We got even with Loren and Gwen after they had pulled out. All joking aside, they will be missed. There are no hosts like them in any campground.
As it gets close to time to leave Minnesota, Dave and I enjoy our last Sunday in Minnesota Bloody Mary. Boo joined us.
We also played more corn hole and enjoyed another bottle of wine from Sweet Honeymoon Winery.
One of our last visits was with my friend Ree. For once, we remembered to take a picture!
Dave recently sold his motorcycle, a KZ1000, to a company in California that specializes in vintage bikes, mostly Kawasakis. It was a bitter sweet day when they came to pick it up. This is the first time he has not owned a motorcycle since he was 10 and was instrumental in our dating days. (I also have a history with Kawis from that era.)
On the last Wednesday of our Mankato stay, we visited two local breweries. Our first stop was to LocALE, new to Mankato this year.
Mankato Brewery has been around for 20 years. I never heard of it until about 5 years ago and have been there 2 or 3 times. Dave had never been there.
On Thursday, we spent our last Happy Hour at with Rebecca and Mike. As usual, weather permitting, we were on the patio. Either Boo wants a beer or is wondering where her “dad” went.
Friday, September 24 found us at the Redman in St. Peter for a goodbye gathering with a few friends.
Saturday, September 25 is Lucas’ 4th birthday. Where has the time gone? We stopped to visit him and give him a gift , a miniature 5th wheel trailer and truck, before leaving town.
Saturday evening found us in Litchfield, Minnesota fairgrounds to attend my cousin Sandy’s son’s wedding. The wedding took place at the fairgrounds and we were also able to camp there.
Finally, Sunday morning found us heading south. We love being in our home area but 5 months is the longest we have stayed any place and it was time to MOVE!!