The Festival

Hi ladies! Here are the photos of the 3rd annual F'n Festival from William O'Brien State Park and Stillwater, MN. Good times were had by all! Friday night, the festival participants were Elizabeth, Micaela, Sarah, and me. We had a great time sitting by the fire, enjoying s'mores and good conversation. As you can see, Micaela enjoyed the s'mores quite a bit. :)

After a good nights sleep in our oh-so-comfy tent that was erected by the wonder-women Sarah and Elizabeth, we had delicious oatmeal for breakfast and then enjoyed a peaceful morning walk along the St. Croix. It was very fun and good exercise. Then we took a drive into cute Stillwater for some exploring and a picnic near the motorcycle epicenter of Minnesota (apparently). We had a great time looking around, enjoying the shops, and again having good conversation. We stopped in Marine-on-St.-Croix for some delicious ice cream on our way back to camp, and then we all (except Micaela) enjoyed a little nap in what was no longer a tent but a sauna. :)

Breanna arrived around 6:00 or so, and we all got to enjoy a meal together, which was GREAT. Elizabeth planned all of our scrumptious meals, and they were delicious. Micaela zonked out during our meal preparation as you can also see in the pictures. Wouldn't it be great to be small again and just sleep wherever you want? :) After our filling meal, we bid goodbye to Elizabeth and Micaela. The three compadres left decided to go on the same hike of the morning, but now with the evening sky. It was great.

Upon returning from our nice hike, we played some cards and then built an AWESOME fire. About 2 milliseconds after the fire was roaring, we heard sirens (as in weather sirens) going off. Hmmm... We figured out soon enough that a short trip to the park's interpretative center was in order as a severe thunderstorm was on its way. We had to kill our roaring fire, but we got to play cards for about 1/2 hour in the shelter, so all fun was not lost. Elizabeth managed to run into a storm on her way home, too, and ended up staying in a hotel in St. Cloud, but only until 3:00 in the morning. I'm sure that she can share her story sometime. :) Ahh, the things people sacrifice to make it to and from the festival. :)

After a rainy and a little bit wet night of sleeping, we awoke EARLY to a cranky kid in the site next to us. We enjoyed the fire that we missed the night before, as well as some very nutritious breakfast s'mores. mmmm.

We got to meet Lindsey and the adorable Addyson in Stillwater for breakfast. We enjoyed a throughly artery-clogging but delicious meal together before we all headed back to our homes in all crazy parts of the region.

If Sarah were writing this, I'm sure you would find it all much for interesting. :) The festival, although small this year, was indeed a wonderful success. We all agreed that it is so refreshing to have great friends with whom no weird "small talk" is necessary. We can just jump right in like we're still living in close proximity to one another. This is a true blessing in life, and something we all should hold dear to our hearts.

I wish you all a great summer! I will try to check in as often as possible. I am not sure how much I will be able to post when we're in Maine, but I'll try if I get a chance at the humble Oakland Public Library. :) If anyone wants to send snail mail, our addy there is: 8 Goldenrod Lane, Sidney, ME 04330.

I love you all!!

Manders

Yay June!

Hey ladies...

First: The Camping. I am going to call and cancel one of the sites since its not looking like we need 2 sites. According to my calculations Scanders, Mandy and I will be there Friday night. Lindsey will visit on Saturday and then S, M, myself and Breanna will camp Saturday night. Correct?

Second: Micaela and I just got back from a trip to St. Louis. We met up with 2 girlfriends in St. Louis and we all witnessed our friend Jess (from Tacoma) get married! We took the train ALL day Thursday...the journey lasted 25 hours...5 hours longer then supposed to. Micaela was great on the train, the only bummer was in order for her to sleep well she took up both our seats and I spent quality time on the floor. But it was well worth it to have a sleeping child. I had a minor melt down when the taxi dropped us off at the wrong hotel at 2am, so we had to get another taxi to a hotel 20 minutes away. Then our hotel key didn't work and when I called the front desk he said we'd have to change rooms, I said, in my best peaceful and Christ-like voice "I will switch to the room right across the hall, but that's it! You come and fix this, I'm not hauling my child and our luggage another step!!!" Classy, right (it was 2:30am by this point and my arms were SO SORE from hauling our crap all over)

We slept, found our friend and saw the St. Louis Zoo..Micaela was excited, but equally scared of every animal. I made the mistake of wearing a dress and she tried to hide under my skirt with every new animal we saw. We saw the arch and other fun city sites. And the trip home was smooth sailing, timing was better and Micaela slept A LOT. Good times!

Now, I've started packing b/c we move in 1 month! AAAHHHHH! Enjoy the crazy picture of my child and nephew from my Dad's retirement party last weekend. Love you all!