David's Spot

Tuesday morning we decided to check out the Minnesota Children's Museum.  The place is GREAT!  It has 2 levels of exhibits - all geared for children.  It took us several hours to visit all the exhibits.  My favorite being the World Works exhibit.  I think Ginger liked the Clifford exhibit and Gavin liked anything with balls.  We would highly recommend this museum to families with children.

We had hoped to go back to the museum after nap time.  I thought I had read that it was open until 8:00 PM so we drove back to downtown St. Paul.  The museum closed at 5 PM, but is open on Fridays until 8 PM.  Ugh.  We checked out downtown St. Paul walking down to a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.  It is an interesting city.  Ginger said it reminded her some of St. Petersburg, Russia because of the little shops and restaurants.  There are some beautiful buildings downtown. 

We just have to figure out what all the Snoppys are about.....

Today (Wednesday) we are going to visit the Mall of America for the morning and then a Minnesota Twins game tonight. 

Posted by: David R. / 6/30/2004 07:33:00 AM

Several years ago my dad and I flew up to Alaska and spent a week touring.  We visited Seward and then drove up to Denali.  I cannot wait to go back and spend more time in both places and visit some of Alaska's more remote areas. 

I was looking over a developer's weblog and found that he had some photo's from a trip to Alaska in 1992.  He is a very good photographer.  The photos made me want to visit Denali again.

Alaska Photos

Posted by: David R. / 6/30/2004 06:40:00 AM

Connilee, one of the bride's maids, just posted a photo album of her pictures from Steph and Mitch's wedding. 

Photo Album 

Posted by: David R. / 6/29/2004 01:34:00 PM

We took Steph and Mitch to the airport to catch their flight for their honeymoon.  They have a long day, but can look forward to two weeks of relaxing in Hawaii.

After we dropped them off, Ginger, Gavin and I took Steph and Mitch's suggestion and had breakfast at the Highland Grill in Saint Paul.  I ate the recommended breakfast burrito and Ginger had a Spinach & Tomato scramble.  We all shared a short stack of Buckwheat pancakes. Very good and well recommended.

Today we wash clothes and rest.

Posted by: David R. / 6/28/2004 11:15:00 AM

Stephanie and Mitch had many family members that were in town for their wedding.  As a special treat, they had a brunch prepared for all of us.  They held it at the same place as the wedding.  The breakfast as delicious and it was good to catch up with friends and family.

That afternoon we went over to Steph and Mitch's house so that they could open their gifts.  We had some drama because we were not able to find the cards from the wedding.  It took us several hours and much anguish before we located the cards.  It was  a good thing, because they received many nice gifts in the cards.

We all rested while the newlyweds packed for the honeymoon.  After they were done, we met Stephanie and Mitch's parents and family back at the hotel and ordered pizza.  We all hung out and relaxed together since it would be the last time we would be able to spend some quality time together for awhile.  Ginger and I played with Mitch's niece and nephew and Gavin.

The entire day was a good way to wind down from a weekend full of activities.

Posted by: David R. / 6/27/2004 11:11:00 PM

The day of the big event arrived and Ginger was off to the hair and make up dressers with the rest of the ladies.  Gavin and I went to the water park and Gavin hated it today.  When we were there on Thursday he loved the place, but not anymore.  They have a train with slides and water toys that the kids play on.  It looks as if the train is getting water from a railroad water tank.  Every 15 minutes the water tank dumps TONS of water on top of the train and into an adjacent pool.  This was very scary for Gavin and cut our day at the pool short.

At 2:30 PM Gavin and I went to join the wedding crew at the Great Hall for pictures.  Gavin tolerated the pictures and afterwards we roamed around the Depot waiting for "showtime".   Gavin and I took our seats a little before 4 PM.  The wedding party arrived on time and in great fashion.  They all looked great.  Ginger was gorgeous! 

Stephanie had asked me to read 1 Corinthians 13 during the ceremony.  My concern when she asked was Gavin, since I was in charge of him for the weekend.  My other problem was my emotions.  Whenever I have to speak in front of people and have any emotions involved I cry and get chocked up.  Today was no exception.  As soon as Steph started down the aisle I started crying and then I looked at Mitch and his dad and they were pretty emotional also.  When the time came for me to read the scripture passage, I tried to get Gavin to sit with his Grammpy.  He refused.  I asked again and he refused a second time.  So I took him with me.  He wanted to hold the microphone, but did not cause any problems.  I got chocked up at one point, but only for a second.  All and all it went well, and I got lots of comments about my sensitivity and willingness to take Gavin with me. 

The craziest part of the day was Gavin falling asleep.  He has never liked to sleep and normally does not fall asleep outside of a dark room or a car.  At the wedding he fell asleep in my lap!  None of our family could believe it.  Once the service was done I walked back to our hotel room and Gavin slept for another hour and a half.  It was a good thing, because we had a late night.

The reception was a lot fun with great fun, a good band and friends and family.  Since the wedding was at the Depot which is an old train station, the theme of the reception was trains.  Each person picked up a ticket as they entered the wedding.  The ticket told them which "station" or table they were to sit.  Each table had a city name, such as, Minneapolis, Sante Fe, Chicago, etc.  The party favors were toy trains.  Gavin has about 20 trains to play with now.  Stephanie did a great job creating the theme for the reception.

Ginger, Gavin and I headed back to our room around 10:00 PM.  Gavin was too wired to sleep so Ginger and I started packing our luggage so that we could check out on time the next day.  We finally got into bed around 11:30 PM.

Posted by: David R. / 6/27/2004 10:55:00 AM

In the book I am reading Bill Bryson has just "stumbled" into the South.  Specifically Mississippi and Alabama.  It is humorous to read about his experiences in Mississippi since I grew up there and lived in some of the cities he visited.  It is especially fun to me to read about Bill's quest to understand the Southern language.

In a conversation with a Mississippi town police.

He said, "How yew doin?"
This so surprised me that I answered, in a cracking voice, 'Pardon?'
'I said how yew doin?'
'I'm fine,' I said.  And then added, having lived some years in Britain, 'Thank you.'
'Y'on vacation?'
'Hah doo  lack Miss Hippy?'
'Pardon?'
'I say, Hah doo  lack Miss Hippy?'
I was quietly distressed.  The man was armed and Southern and I couldn't understand a word he was saying to me. 'I'm sorry,' I said, 'I'm kind of slow, and I don't understand what you're saying.'
'I say, -and he repeated it more carefully - 'how doo yew lack Mississippi?'
It dawned on me. 'Oh! I like it fine! I like it heaps!  I think its wonderful.  The people are so friendly and helpful.'  I wanted to add that I had been there for an hour and hadn't been shot at once, but the light changed and he was gone, and I sighed and thought, "Thank you, Jesus."

I used to talk like that. Living in Arizona for 11 years has mostly cured me of my Southern drawl.  People say they can hear my drawl when I am excited or mad.  Go figure.  They call that "getting redneck with you."

Posted by: David R. / 6/26/2004 03:38:00 PM

For me it was fun.  After waking up at 5:00 AM, ventured out to find a cup of coffee and breakfast.  The coffee shop I found was called Caribou Coffee. The coffee was great, my Danish was good and I was able to sit for an hour and read. 

I spent the rest of the morning golfing with the groom, his father, his soon to be father in law and a couple of grooms men.  We played "best ball" and had a competition for longest drive.  Considering it had been 5 years since I played golf whatever team drew my name was in trouble.  The worst part was the 3 guys who do not play golf often got picked to be on the same team.  We three had all rented our clubs while the others had their own sets.  Ugh!  It could be a long day.  After the first hole the "ringers" decided to have some pity on use "renters" and we switched team captains.  The grooms dad played with myself and Mitch's friend, Jason.  Mike is a very good golfer and by the end of the day Jason and I were not doing too bad.  Matter of fact, we had a competition for the longest put, the closest to the pin and longest drive.  Mitch won longest putt, his friend Tom won closest to the pin and I won longest drive.  208 yards :)

That evening we had rehearsal and then dinner at a great restaurant called Manny's.  We had great food and great service.  I had the Porterhouse steak.  Hmmm Hmmm good!  The groom's parents, Mike and Mary, sponsored the wonderful dinner.  It was a top notch event.

Posted by: David R. / 6/26/2004 03:32:00 PM

The "girls" went out to have manicures and pedicures today to prepare for the wedding. Gavin and I hung out with Ginger's dad. We went downtown to pick up Ron's tuxedo at the Men's Warehouse. They did not get the pants or shoes correct, so we have to go back tomorrow. After we got back from downtown, Gavin and I went "swimming" at the Depot's indoor waterpark. It is a great place for kids. Gavin loved it.

The terrible was.... let's just say I wish "fires" started before I left town!

Tonight, we made a quick trip to the grocery store and then the "guys" played pocker. I lost a little money, but not nearly as much as my future brother in law and his dad. Two of his groom's men were collecting our chips. I left before all the money was gone. Hopefully, they can afford golf tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the "guys" are golfing at the Saw Mill Golf Course (http://www.sawmillgc.com/). It has been about 5 years since I last golfed, so tomorrow should be interesting.

Also, tomorrow is rehearsal and the groom's dinner.

Posted by: David R. / 6/24/2004 09:12:00 PM

I get a quote or story each morning from My Daily Insight (http://www.mydailyinsights.com/) They are very good insights into life. Hope you enjoy!

Posted by: David R. / 6/24/2004 07:11:00 AM

My family has traveled to Minneapolis, Minneasota for my sister-in-laws wedding. After the wedding we will be staying in Minneapolis to see the sights.

Planned activites:

• Children's Musuem
• Twins baseball Game - Twins vs. White Sox
• Minneapolis Zoo
• Relaxing
• Reading (The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson)

The wedding is at The Depot in Minneapolis. We are staying at the Residence Inn and it is very nice. The Depot has an indoor waterpark. Tomorrow, my son and I will check out the water park while mom hangs out with the bride-to-be and family.

Posted by: David R. / 6/23/2004 08:55:00 PM