Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend started for us by deciding to go down to Des Moines to join the volunteer efforts of Meals From the Heartland which packages and sends meals mostly to third world countries where many people die from hunger related causes. Some food is also sent to Iowa and another state here in the US. We did this last year, and we thought it an excellent cause and something we could do to help. It is done assembly style. One person put in a vitamin tablet in a pouch attached to the bag in which the food was inserted. In the bag went one cup of a soy product, a tablespoon of dried veggies, and a cup of rice. The bag was weighed, and if there wasn't enough they added more rice, and if there was too much they took out some rice. Then the bag was hot sealed and put into a box. Each box held 36 bags of food. It was taped up and sent to the area for storage until it is taken to its destination. We packaged 15 boxes, and since each bag feeds 6 people, we helped feed 3,240 people. For the weekend, it was reported that the efforts of Meals From the Heartland will help to feed over 4 million people. They received extra monetary donations to buy more food so they were able to exceed their goal for this year. This is an annual event, and hopefully we can do even better next year. I think it's a great effort.




On Friday, Bob and I drove down to Boone to visit my good friend, Pat, who joined us to package meals on Sat. She hosted us while we were in the area. She was a very gracious host. It's always fun to visit friends.

On Sat., after doing the Meals from the Heartland, we met Bob's daughter, Cari, and her husband, Dave, at Famous Daves where we enjoyed excellent food, great company, and very interesting conversation. We always enjoy our visits with Cari and Dave.

Before returning to Pat's, we stopped in at Marilyn's to return some things she left when she visited in Aug. We also had a very nice visit with her.

Next day, on Sunday, Pat's son, Wayne, and his family invited us to go boating at Saylorville. We were very excited to go. Unfortunately the boat battery was not working. Wayne went to buy a new battery, but it was the wrong size and didn't fit the boat's area for it, so it ended up that we didn't really get to go boating. Instead we drove back to Boone and had a nice afternoon picnic and fun time at their house. It's not what you do, but being with friends and family that really counts.

Here we are waiting.

See the water?


Waiting.

No boating. OK. Then trampoline fun.

Picnic in the back yard.

Kiana playing a few pieces for us. She really likes jazz.

For Monday, we were planning to go back down to Des Moines and volunteer for Meals From the Heartland, but I got really sick Sunday night, and it lasted through all day Monday. So I pretty much slept all day, some at Pat's house, some in the car on the way home, and at home. I'm feeling better today. I hate being sick. Don't you?

While Bob was trying to entertain himself in Boone while I was sick, he went to eat at Hy Vee. While there, he ran into two former students who were there for the car races. They were Tyler Welander and a Mr. Carlson, from Georgia. They were there to watch Tyler's brother race. They had a nice visit. It is a small world.

Making Pillows. Am I Domesticated?

We have a futon downstairs, and I wanted some pillows for it, but I couldn't find any I liked so I decided to make some. Most of you know that's a major effort on my part. It's an easy job, but I know how to make it a difficult one, just to make something simple. Anyway here is a picture of my 4 satin pillows that I made all by myself.

Patsy's Visit From Hawaii

Something I don't really understand is why people in Hawaii come to Minneapolis? Aren't people from Minneapolis supposed to go to Hawaii? Well the reason is because of business.

Since Patsy had to come to St. Paul for a week's worth of meetings this week, she came early, last Fri., and we drove up to meet her and we had a great time in the Twin Cities. We haven't been there for a while so it was really fun, especially with my sister.

Bob and I drove up Thurs. and checked into the motel. I had to use the swimming pool and mostly did my water aerobics routine instead of swim laps, but that was good.

Fri. morning Patsy was supposed to arrive at 6:00 am, but she didn't get in until about 8:00 and didn't get to the motel till about 9:00. We ate a nice breakfast at the motel (Holiday Inn Express), Patsy freshened up and we were off to the Mall of America. When in Minneapolis you have to go to the MOA. And, yes, we shopped till we dropped. We both contributed to the economy. Here are some pictures:


A guy at a kiosk wanted to uncurl and unfrizz my hair so I said sure. Did I buy the staightener? Not for $90 - $120. But he was from Israel and had a girlfriend from Hawaii so we all had a very interesting conversation. Patsy even spoke Hawaiian to him.

Patsy and I tried the D -Box that moves your seat according to the action in the movie you're watching. Patsy said it would probably keep her awake during a movie.

Lucy and Bob using the sample D-Box.

You can even eat at a Qdobas in the food court.


And we shopped........
and shopped....

and shopped.....

and shopped........

and shopped..........

And we enjoyed the ambiance.

The next day we took a short drive to Stillwater, MN. It is a quaint town on the St. Croix River east of St. Paul. It has lots of antique stores, art galleries, and neat places to eat. We took the trolley ride to get an overview and historical view of the town with some pretty good views of neat houses, gardens, and just pretty views of the river. We shopped in some antique stores, looked at the art in the art galleries, climbed a lot of stairs from the bottom of the downtown area to the upper residential area, and we had a nice meal at a restaurant on the river. At an antique store we found some Kentucky Derby glasses that our parents had. One of them was priced at $225. It just so happens that my sister, Susie, has two of those glasses along with some others that might be valuable. Wow! Also we found a LIFE magazine, Dec. 1957, with a picture of my dad while he was in Korea. He was at a reception with some Koreans and other army personnel. We had looked for that magazine before and had found copies at a cost of $25 or so, but this one only cost $6. Yea.



Downtown
Neat house.

Carnegie Library

Another neat house.

Notice the rolled edges of the roof so snow can slide off easily.

View of city

View of St. Croix River and a lift bridge.

Going up steps. Why? Because they were there.

More steps. Patsy looks like she's having too much fun.

Almost to the bottom. After climbing all the way up to get the views above.

The antique store where we found the glasses and the magazine.

Here is the cover of the magazine.

Our dad, Col. Hopkins, is the man second from the left.

After enjoying the beautiful day at Stillwater, we drove to downtown Minneapolis to the Guthrie Theater. It is a rather well known theater in the midwest and we were lucky enough to get tickets for a very discounted price because we stood in line for about an hour to buy the tickets that hadn't been sold just before the performance. We had great seats and enjoyed When We ARe Married, a British comedy about 3 couples celebrating their 25th anniversary but discovering that the minister that married them was not authorized to marry them so were they married or not? The Guthrie Theater is a beautiful building with beautiful views of the Mississippi River. Patsy even visited there to see a lock and dam that we had seen from the theater viewing balcony.

On to the next day which was our day at the Renaissance Festival in Shakopee, MN just a short drive from our motel. It was a beautiful day, and we managed to see a lot of funny shows, some bellydancing, some death defying feats (no pictures of them) and just enjoyed the atmosphere of the Renaissance. And the food was good too.

Good-bye!!! We had a great time.

For our last day together, we drove into St. Paul to visit the magnificent Science Museum there. We always enjoy going to Science Museums, and Patsy was willing to go too.

Patsy and I are getting ready for our news broadcast.

In the middle of our broadcast.

Patsy and Bob doing a broadcast.

View of barge on the Mississippi River from window in Science Museum.

Then her hotel was just a couple or three blocks away from the museum so we just got her luggage, and we walked her to her hotel, got her settled in and took pictures of her beautiful view of the Mississippi, and then we said our good-byes.

Walking luggage to Patsy's hotel which is in the background. We did help her.

How does this Sleep Number bed work anyway?

View from her window.

Bob and I still had to finish our visit at the Science Museum and were there for another 4 hours or so. Did I mention we enjoy science museums? Anyway we had a great time in the Twin Cities with Patsy. Aloha.

This was at Patsy's hotel, and we couldn't resist this picture.