Garage Sale

Today my mom, Brooke and I had a garage sale at Brooke's house. We had coordinated our schedules a month ago to have the sale this weekend, but of course the weather turned out to be terrible. It didn't seem to matter to our shoppers that it rained all morning and on and off during the day, we still did great! We got rid of a lot of our junk, made over $400 combined and donated the rest to a second hand store, so it was a pretty good day.

A Visit to Alex Tech

Today I took a trip. I hadn't gotten a tour of Alexandria Tech yet,
so I came by for lunch and to check out where Adam learns all of his new moves. Courtney, Adam, Ashley and I had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then they showed me around their school. I saw the ladies locker room, the classrooms, the cafeteria, the murals on the stairwell walls,

and the computer room, where they type up all their reports.

Below Adam admires the LP badge he may wear one day.

Veterans Memorial Park

Right off of Main Street in Long Prairie, you will find an impressive memorial to our nation's veterans. I've borrowed the description below of Veterans Memorial Park from Long Prairie's website. The memorial park is located at the corner of Central Avenue and First Street South in downtown Long Prairie. Army Reservist Kimberly Lawler skillfully depicted several scenes that tower to a height of five stories. At the top of which is a one and a half story steel depiction of the first flag raising at Mt. Suribachi.

The mural details the battle of Iwo Jima, the battlefield cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France and also includes a tribute to women in the military. In the shadows of the towering mural, stationed straight and proud, are Himalayan Black granite walls with the names of those deceased and living in Todd County and elsewhere from around the nation who have given and dedicated their lives to the assurance of freedom around the world and here at home. The mural scenes were selected to personify the savagery and tremendous sacrifice that all war brings. 28,000 American lives were lost during the Battle of Iwo Jima alone.

Also at the park are the flags of all branches from the armed services, including one specially designed for women in the military, a replica of a band shell originally constructed in 1927 at Lee Park in Long Prairie that can hold a 30-piece band, a Sherman tank, the statue of liberty and park benches to take in the larger than life significance of all that was given in the name of freedom. The memorial was dedicated August 10, 2002 during a ceremony where the last surviving member of the group to first raise the flag on Iwo Jima, Charles Lindbergh, raised a 48 star flag for the first time all over again, this time with the names of the surviving soldiers who took part in the battle signed on it. It's a pretty awesome site and well worth the trip to Long Prairie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA!

Today is Melissa's (Adam's middle step-sister) 23rd birthday!
We made her a rhubarb cake to celebrate.
Melissa just graduated from St. Cloud State and
has accepted a teaching position this fall in Houston, Texas.
She is spending her birthday with friends at Valleyfair. Lucky!

My Last Week of Vacation

The View from the 5th Tee

This morning Melissa, Michelle and I went out golfing. Melissa was here to celebrate her birthday a day early with us. We hacked around on the front 9 together and had a great time.

Every year the flowerbox on hole 5 is planted to look like the American flag - so cute!

After we finished we went into the clubhouse and had a pizza for lunch. We ate in the sunshine on the patio and Marilyn stopped by on her lunch break from the Dental Clinic. It was such a beautiful day that we followed up golf with some suntanning on Grandma Hillman's dock.

It was the perfect way to spend my last Monday before I start work!

A Wedding

Neal and Rhonda got married today at a beautiful outdoor ceremony.
Here is their first dance. Beth got to wear a special hat for the Chicken Dance.

Adam gave a fantastic speech,

ran the Dollar Dance,

and still found time for a dance with the bride,and then his wife.

Groom's Dinner & Moonlight Golf

Finally, our last wedding of the summer has come. Adam is the Best Man tomorrow for his friend Neal's wedding, but tonight was the Groom's Dinner. We had ribs at the Linden Hills mansion

http://www.littlefallsmn.com/LindenHill.php where the outdoor wedding will take place tomorrow. Below is Adam and Neal's other groomsman, Nathan.

After dinner we played some darts at the Red Bull Bar in Little Falls.
Adam and I are both now out of the Guard,
but Red Bull was the name of our battalion
and this was the patch we wore on the shoulder of our uniforms. We headed back to LP because the golf course was having Moonlight Golf. We didn't get to play because we weren't sure we'd be back in time, but it was really fun to run around in the dark on a golf cart and watch our friends try to hit their red blinking balls.
It was so dark it was hard to get a good picture, but you get the idea!

Emma's Birthday Party

At the end of a busy weekend, we took some time on Sunday to celebrate Emma's 3rd Birthday.

Adam hung outside with Ahmara.

She loved getting pushed around in this big tree swing.

Watch out Chris and Ann, it looks like Emma has one boyfriend!

Prairie Fest Parade

Last week Adam's youngest step-sister, Michelle, was in the Miss Long Prairie Pageant. She came in second place and is therefore a Prairie Fest Princess. Woody got to escort Michelle and her Little Miss, Lexus,

in the Pairie Fest Parade on his golf cart.

Molly & Tony's Wedding

Today was Adam's step-sister Molly's wedding.
It was a busy time, but lots of fun and everyone looked so beautiful!

Here is Adam & Ahmara and below is her sister, Lexus.

Lexus was the flower girl and did a great job! This is Adam's oldest brother, Chris and his wife Ann.
Chris, Adam and their brother Eric were Molly's ushers. After the wedding, these fun-loving bridesmaids were off to the reception.

. . . and they lived happily ever after!