The Bullseye!

This past weekend I flew up nort’ to God’s Country to attend my first Twins game at Target Field with the free tickets I had won. As a double bonus, my baby brother Craigy drove down and we were able to spend the better part of a couple days together as well as the ballgame.

As Monday morning rolled around, we visited a card shop, then spent the next few hours roaming the downtown skyways and the blocks around Target Field.

statues of Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, and Harmon Killebrew

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“How I Spent My Summer Vacation”

Okay, it’s not one of those papers written for school, but I’m due to post a note about our family trip up to The Homeland and all our activities there — boring to some, even more boring to others.  Well, here goes…

The 14hr 2min drive up nort’ went about as smoothly as it could, and we arrived with most of the clan already there. The first couple days were spent visiting with family and friends, checking out the Polk County Fair, and getting over the “jet lag”. I swung a trade with a baseball card booth in one of the display buildings, and picked up grab bag goodies for the young nephews. Staying just ½ block from the fairgrounds is pretty darn convenient, and a nice location to watch the fireworks, too. And since we apparently brought our St. Louis weather north with us (we had a couple days of 90°F+/high humidity) the shorter walks were appreciated as well.

Friday night the four brothers and their wives had a nice supper at Joe Dimaggio’s Pizza & Grill. (My first car was a 1977 Honda Civic hatchback previously owned by Joe, and I got to tell him that it served me well. And yes, that is his name.)

We had a pleasant surprise when Max (our foreign exchange student from Germany back in the 80’s) dropped by in the middle of his business trip in the US. We were two Texans and a serviceman in Iraq away from the entire shebang.

Saturday morning started with a 5-K walk/run, and many of the clan were among the 140+ that participated.

^{Polk County Fair 5-K Walk/Run (K on the far right)}

Polk County Fair, and Family Reunion

The Runner family recently returned from spending a few days back in God’s Country — NW Minnesota. The Polk County Fair was the impetus for drawing the family back to the homestead from all over the country (and world!), and a person couldn’t have asked for better weather.  And amazingly, no mosquitos!

Almost the entire family was able to attend. While my sister and her husband couldn’t make it from TX, two of the kids could, which was great.  Having Max from Germany was the icing on the cake.

from left to right: the Runner family, the Double-S family, Grandpa & Grandma, the AZ family, Max, the MN family, and TX family representatives

I was able to drag K and Wm along to play with the alumni band in the July 4^th parade, and met several friends and former classmates as well.  Much rhubarb was consumed (in sauce, pie, ice cream, and cake form) and I was able to enjoy some licorice ice cream — my favorite!

Looking forward to the family getting back together the end of the year for P2’s wedding…