A Minnesota Summer

Back in mid July I (Scott) was able to take a quick trip back to Minnesota. Emily had just received a job offer to start working at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital so she was sadly unable to come. She definitely makes each day better, but I tried to carry on and have a good time nonetheless.

The trip got off to a rocky start as I spent most of the first day in the Cincinnati airport since I was delayed in security and missed my flight out. After watching 3 full flights bound for MSP take off I was finally able to board one. After landing I got right to work, literally. I stopped by the old US Bank office and caught with with some familiar faces and met a few new people that I work with in my new role, but hadn't had the chance to meet yet. I then headed back to the old house in Columbia Heights and had to do a fair amount of lawn maintenance since we were in between renters.

When I finally made it back to Fergus Falls to see family, we decided it would be fun to head out to a county fair. We had a great time at the bingo table and Anne even won a stuffed animal at one of the carnival games.

I was able to stop in to the Dalton Post Office to see my dad but forgot to bring a stack of pennies with me so I didn't bother buying any stamps. He showed me pretty much everything worth seeing in town and we stopped out at the local cafe for some excellent burgers.

One of the other events of the week was my 10-year high school reunion. It was great to see old friends and how much some of them have changed while others are exactly as I remembered. The old powerhouse of intramural basketball teamed up again but was left without a worthy opponent, so we just played a couple games of 21. We've definitely aged, but it was a great time and a downpour of rain only added to the fun. Later we heard that we played right through a tornado watch.

One of the great things about the Tungseth family is the annual Lake Week. It's a time for all of the cousins, aunts and uncles to get together and just spend some time relaxing at one of Minnesota's great lake shores. Anne was able to catch dinner with the coveted barbie fishing rod. There wasn't time this year, but look forward to the return of Jackie Chan movie night in the near future.

Another highlight was catching the Twins play the Indians in the new ballpark. It was an absolutely perfect night for baseball, and even though the Twins offense didn't show up it was great fun to enjoy a Killebrew rootbeer with fine company.

The trip was definitely too short, and lacking a certain wife that I would've liked have along, but it was still great to be back. Thanks to everyone who made it so fun, we'll see you at Christmas.