Monday, we got up at the ungodly hour of 9am and headed over to the Gloege place of residence. Gene and Lucy Gloege, my grandparents. It was totally chow mein day. :)

When we got there, Grandma made us omelets and Jerry drank coffee. We spent a lot of time talking with them and touring the house. Jerry got some great shots of the house, of Grandma and Grandpa. He even got a video! I can't wait to see it. :)

After a while of sitting on the porch, Grandma left to start the lunch. Lunch consisted of chicken chow mein, bread and butter, pickles, carrots, celery, rice, and the option of milk. I can't remember anything else being eaten. I just love how Minnesotan we are with the weird food combinations. We had a tasty dessert of chocolate mint ice cream and cookies. Grandpa has such a sweet tooth!

Grandma and Grandpa washed and dried the dishes together. I can't believe they are coming up [rather rapidly] on 55 years of marriage. It just blows my mind. In a good way.

We all retired to the porch again for some digestion time and more chats. I'm really glad that Jerry liked them. I'm really glad that they liked Jerry, too! Not that I thought they wouldn't, but Grandpa had said something to the effect of, "Well, so long as he's got a good job!" Of course, Mom had to mention that he recently lost his job, so I expected a little bit of picking from Grandpa about that one. :P

After goodbyes were said, we took a small tour of the property. Jerry got some great shots of the lake, the house, the yard. I really need a fancy camera like his some day!

We headed into town to get gas and to hit up the liquor store. We went to the one in Big Stone, South Dakota, mostly on the principle that we could then say that we went to SD over the weekend. :P Once Jynnan Tonnyx supplies were procured, we headed back to the cabin.

When we got back to the cabin, the front door was locked! Turns out, the neighbor had come over to reset the wireless (Doug has internet and lets the neighbors use it) and had locked it by habit. It doesn't help that Jerry drives a white car like Doug, so the neighbors thought that Doug stayed a day late and forgot to lock up when he left! :P We were able to get in through the sliding glass door, though, so crisis averted. There was no ice in the freezer, so we borrowed a bowl of ice from the neighbors. I know what Mom and Doug are getting for their five year anniversary!

The Pantsfam fishing boat was taken out for a spin. We got some great shots of the lake and ate many tasty pretzels. It was nice to [mostly] get away from the mayflies. When we headed back to shore, we docked the boat up and went to start a fire. No matches in the entire cabin. Srsly. Went and borrowed some from the neighbors. They are so sweet! I'm glad they put up with us bugging them for stuff all weekend.

S'mores were made, Jynnan Tonnyx were drank, a tasty fish dinner was made, DS was played...life didn't get much better than Monday, my friends. :)

Sunday, I got up at a ridiculous hour of the morning to go Downtown to see Tiff. For whatever reason, we decided it would be best to stay in the Arden B instead of Uptown. I still don't get that one. I got back on the road before 11 and made it back sooner than expected. I have no idea how both places seem to be equidistant from Arden B, yet I live five miles from Tiff. Hrm...

Jerry still had to pack, clean up around the house, and lord only knows what. I wanted to be ready to leave at noon, but I doubt we left before 1:30. Plus, we had to stop to get drinks and snacks for the road. All told, I think we were ON 94 around 2pm. We are really awesome at being on time to things. :P

The drive out was pretty uneventful. He played The Memory of Earth by OSC on his iPod. The reader's voice is so freakin' soothing that I kept falling asleep. Lulz.

Mom and Doug took us to the Pizza Ranch for dinner. I love that place so friggin' much! That was also nice, because then we didn't have to wait until Tuesday to take Grandma and Grandpa there. :P We went to the playground after dinner and burned off a few bites of mashed potatoes. Mom, Doug and Darin stayed through the end of Survivor and then bolted for home.

We stayed up for a bit, mostly bumming about the cabin. We didn't stay up too late, because we had to be up at 9 to get to the Gloege's by 10 for breakfast. Jacuzzi time was had, and I taught Jerry the ASL alphabet. He's really good!

Lucille Gloege, Terry [Gloege] Passe, Sara [Passe] Nardinger, Kyla Nardinger.

* Got to Tiff's and discovered her battery charger is not working. Bummer!
* Met up with family at Macy's for lunch at the Oak Grill. SO TASTY!
* Did Dayton's Display (it will ALWAYS be the Dayton's Display, don't care if it's in Macy's now) with Darin (pics to come)
* Learned that a cousin has been through rehab for alcohol and drugs, another one entered rehab while we ate lunch. Subsequently learned that no matter how much I may feel like I'm not doing that great, I actually am.
* Got a call from My Mike, asking if I would want to attend the afternoon's performance of The Nutcracker. WHY I did not just say YES is beyond me...maybe because I felt like I belonged with my family. Everyone even gave me a ton of shit when I got back to the table and said that I had passed up a ticket to The Nutcracker to hang out with them. Oh well. There will always be more Nutcrackers. It HAS been over ten years since I've seen The Moscow Ballet, but I think I'll live...maybe.
* On the way to the party, Doug said that I'm the "most normal" of us four kids. I had a good laugh about that. Mom agreed, saying that Chris is a little iffy, Nicky is "a little too anal retentive" [LULZ] and I'm right in the middle. I was amused and proud at the same time.
* Forgot to pick up awesome holiday cards at Walgreens, so I had to borrow Mom's car and go pick them up. The man at the counter didn't even ask what I was there for, just handed over the pictures. I felt like a pseudo-celebrity. I can't wait till I'm famous. :D
* Bought two bags of Brach's Christmas Nougats for Doug, and a box of White Zin for Grandma and Grandpa. I buy the best gifts ever, I swear. :D
* Had a lovely time at the party. Managed to sit with Grandma and Grandpa, which I liked. I know they won't be around forever, and they probably won't live to see me have kids. I like spending as much time with them as I can. I love it when Grandpa holds my hand and squeezes my shoulder. I love it when Grandma rubs my arm.
* Nearly got teary-eyed when Sue (Grandma's brother Tony's wife) asked how I was doing. I told her [quite honestly] that I'm great. She said "We're happy to hear that. You've had enough icky stuff happen to you." I love my aunt Sue. :)
* When we pulled up to the apartment building, there was a random man standing on the stoop. Mom asked if I knew who he was. I said no, but upon further inspection, decided it could be jck. I told her that if it wasn't, I had no qualms about getting right back in the car. I shouted to him from across the street, and it sure was him! YAY!
* Arrived home around 6pm, and have now been online for about an hour. It's time to step away from the internet machine and GO CLEAN MY ROOM. I need to so badly.

PS--duchess_of_pie sent me the CUTEST card EVAR. I shall show pictures later. :D

Thanksgiving was ok. On the whole, it was overshadowed by the fact that one of Grandma's brothers had a stroke.

We found out Thursday, pretty early on. Fortunately, Joe (her brother) was with family, and they noticed right away that he was acting strangely. They got him to the hospital within three hours of the first symptoms, and they were able to give him a shot of something to help restore the blood flow. They said it wasn't a bleeding stroke, so I guess that's good.

Grandma Gloege [Guenther] is the oldest of 12 children. She is 74, the brother who had the stroke is 70. Some of her siblings are my Mom's age! I'm sure to a lot of them, she's more like a mother figure than a sister, given the age gap.

We took Grandma and Grandpa from Wabasha, MN, up to United Hospital in Saint Paul to see Joe on Friday. The doctors said they weren't able to really tell much in the first 72 hours, but they seemed happy that Joe was waking up. Joe's first wife died of a stroke several years ago. She had the stroke and died less than 24 hours later. Joe made it through the first 48 hours, so things are looking ok. He still will never be the same person he was a week ago.

Last year, at our annual family Christmas party, Grandma's sister, Marcella, got a sudden and extremely severe headache. She left after a few minutes to throw up in the bathroom. They took her to Methodist Hospital, since we were in Hopkins. Shortly after taking her in, they determined that she had an/multiple aneurysm(s). She was only 59 at the time. In the past year, she's had lots of therapy and surgeries, and, I believe, has had a couple of strokes as a result of the aneurysm(s).

One of these holidays had better be pleasant. :(

I can't imagine how hard it is for Grandma to see her younger siblings falling apart like this. I'm not even that close to any of her siblings, but it's still sad to see family members not doing well.

*sigh*

Life goes on.

There is nothing better in the world than calling up Grandma or Grandpa Gloege (Mom's parents), who have 11 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, and having them recognise your voice. They have no caller ID, no cell phones. Just a house phone with an answering machine.

:)