I can't believe it's already the 6th of July. I have less than three weeks left in Minnesota! I've enjoyed my time here a lot, and I hope I get to come back here some day to visit. It's too far in the middle of the country for me to want to live here permanently, although I think I like it here better than anywhere else east of Colorado and west of Virginia. I should go take this quiz again and see if anywhere in Minnesota comes near the top...
The Meldsteds are finally back! The house isn't so quiet anymore and I'm not the dogs' only entertainment! Jakob is at scout camp and Chelsey's at EFY this week, however, so it's not quite back to normal. It's very nice having meals with people besides myself, however, and not having to do all the household chores is also a plus. You forget how nice family meals are while you're at college; they're a small thing, but a definite source of happiness in my life.
Well, what did I do for the holiday weekend? On Saturday we had an 8-stake YSA canoe trip down the St. Croix river, and it was some of the most fun I've had all summer! Shanna, Cordelia, and I left from the church at 10 am, and it took an hour to get to Interstate Park (so named because it's on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin). Thankfully, I corrected my GPS when it suggested we drive to the Interstate Park in Texas! That could have been bad. On the way we passed through Chisago, Minnesota, the signs for which played tricks with my eyes because all they wanted to see was Chicago. Shanna looked it up as we passed, and it turns out Chicago/Chisago means "stinky place" in Algonquin! Charming. We got to the park, had hamburgers and watermelon and amazing brownies, and then launched. We three adventurers ended up staying together on a canoe, so altogether we were buddies for six hours or so. The day was gorgeous - mid 80's, but probably cooler with the breeze off the river, and sunny with only a few clouds. I didn't wear a swimsuit for some reason, and neither did Cordelia, but Shanna jumped in the river the first chance she got. An hour later, after picking her back up and letting her out a few times, I finally gave in to my envy and jumped in as well. The water wasn't nearly as cold as I expected it to be; I had fun trying to catch up to the canoe, which moved deceptively fast (Cordelia and I had to turn around to go get Shanna more than once), and finally I hung monkey-style on the back for a little bit. Also fun was the tree that hung out 20 feet over the river; the water was shallow enough to stand, so I jumped up and clambered on top of it until my canoe was a hundred yards downstream. I could go on, but suffice to say it was a great day and I would love to do it again sometime.
Sunday and Monday here were rainy and stormy, but at least it held off for fireworks on Sunday evening. However, it was ridiculously humid, and I got introduced rather painfully to the state bird - the mosquito! They were out by the hundreds, and two days later I still itch all over from half an hour of watching fireworks. On a related note, bug sprays never seem to work. Possibly because the only time I ever use them are when there are too many bugs for it to make a difference. But I digress. We began with our wimpy fireworks of grocery store parking lot origin in the driveway, but soon discovered that the people down the cul de sac had illegal Wisconsin fireworks, so we abandoned ours in short order. I only lasted about 10 minutes there and retreated for the safety of the indoors after sustaining many wounds.
I'm suddenly swamped with work, which is funny because two months ago I wondered if I would ever have anything to do, and now I have way too much. Everyone seems to have projects they want my help on. I should be flattered, but I would prefer a happy medium instead of deadly doldrums and frenetic frenzy.
I leave here on the 24th of July, the anniversary of my return from Canada. My mission president and his wife came home last week, and I don't get to go to their homecoming! Oh well, I'll see them at their first reunion, I'm sure. I have a lot of thoughts about that, many of them random, but they will have to wait for another post. Until then, this is 龍年生子 signing off.
English title: Time flies!
No comments:
Post a Comment