North Star State

Kristen and I spent the past long weekend in Minnesota for my cousin Abby's wedding. It was a lovely affair, and only a few things happened that likely signify the end of the world:

1) Mosquitoes were abundant and hungry. On Sunday afternoon, a couple of hours before the "I do's" were about to begin, the mosquito swarm was out in full force. Kristen was bitten quite badly (they love the pregnant blood, I hear), and was constantly swatting at the disease-carrying insects. Someone from the Outing Lodge (where the wedding was held and where we stayed) came out and fogged the place. Thankfully, he did it without warning anyone and in total disregard for the health of those around him, and within 30 seconds the area looked like a Molly Hatchet concert, the dry ice in full affect, and everyone went running (except for the smokers, who instead breathed it in deeply, noting its charmingly sour taste).

2) There was hail the size of golf balls. I kid you not. The ceremony was supposed to start at 6:00 PM, and at around 4:45, tornado sirens were blaring in the distance. Ten minutes later, the heavens opened up and began pelting everyone with very large, very hard, and very frozen hail stones. There were several professors and scientists in the group, so they ignored the masses bleeding from their heads and instead made careful note of the precipitation. This is why the infantry isn't full of PhDs. "Ohhh... look at that lovely flesh wound. Why that reminds me of the species *guh*!"

3) I almost ran over a turkey. Driving from beautiful downtown Stillwater, MN, back to the lodge on Sunday, a large female turkey sprinted out in front of the car. I screamed a combination of Holy and a bad word that I won't type here (this is a family blog), but the turkey felt it didn't find it necessary to stop. It made it to the other side safely. My underpants, not so much.

4) At the wedding, Kristen and I sat at a table with two families (cousins of the groom) who lived in Barrie, Ontario. You're saying to yourselves, "This is Biblical how?" Well, I've been to Canada twice in my life, both times in an exchange program with the high school in Barrie. Our friend Amanda's family is from Barrie. Now these people. I mean, how many towns are there in Canada anyhow? Fourteen, fifteen, maybe? And to have it all Barrie-related seems strange. (The woman sitting right next to me -- whose name I regretfully already have forgotten -- told us all about how whenever she comes to the states, she regularly goes to grocery stores to buy all the different Campbell's soups that they don't sell in Canada. Screw those tourist traps! She needs to stock up on Won Ton Soup!)

End-of-the-world predictions aside, we had a good time. Thankfully, nobody touched Kristen's stomach (something she was fearing), and the flight wasn't too long to cause her greater discomfort than what was expected.

The room at the lodge was so-so. No curtains on the windows (only blinds), so the sun shone in quite brightly at around 5 AM. Just means we started the day early, I suppose. It was good seeing the entirety of my (very small) family and speaking with those members who are still willing to acknowledge my presence. It was also nice to hear from some people who read this, that even though we're a lot that isn't as close as some other families, they can keep up with Kristen's Barnabas journey here in my semi-regular posts.

The name poll was something of a dud (only 8 votes, people? I know there's more of you out there), so I'll be putting something up tomorrow, and I except a better turnout this time.