anniversary number eleven

i'm certain neither of us saw this coming, but we celebrated our eleventh anniversary up north in minnesota. 

last year my friend julie and i stumbled upon competitive puzzling and we were both excited about the idea of competing at the largest jigsaw puzzle competition in the county at the st. paul winter carnival. it happened to coincide with our anniversary weekend, so we decided to make it a family road trip adventure.

the highlight of the weekend was obviously puzzles. i enjoyed the many celebrity puzzler sightings, and with our two husbands and four boys in tow we had a great cheering section and came in 26th out of 160 teams in the pairs event. with the rest of our time we also found some delicious fried chicken, took a lovely drive along the river to minnehaha falls, strolled the mall of america, found our way through a mirror maze, watched ice scultptors in the park, navigated a snow maze, and enjoyed a chiefs afc championship win at diamond jo's casino on the drive home.

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memories of my dad

it's odd to consider how long it has been since my dad passed away. twenty years feels like a lifetime ago. my life is so different than it was then, and the place i now call home is not a place my dad ever knew. that feels strange. my kids won't get to meet him, but i hope that one day they want to know about him. my dad wasn't perfect, but despite his faults i never doubted that he loved me and was proud of me. he was convinced i had mounds of potential and could grow up to be anything i wanted to be. that's not the message everyone gets from their dad, so i am thankful for that. 

my dad spent his career as an aerospace engineer at mcdonnell douglas. he worked on lots of different planes, but the blue angels were always my favorite. whenever i see a fighter jet i always think of him. i remember the suits he wore every day to work and his 1980's plastic pocket protector of pens and such. i remember that he and my mom met for lunch every day of the the week. on sundays he sang bass in the salem choir from the back row of the balcony, and i often joined him there. during sunday school hour he went to dunkin' donuts and sometimes brought me back a bag of donut holes for the ride home. he played the trumpet during our sing-a-longs on christmas night. he had a blue riding lawn mower and loved owning a boat. i have many memories of our yearly trips to gulf shores, always towing the boat back and forth. we went to indian princesses together and he taught me kemo kimo, which i sing to my own kids now. their knowledge of their grandpa may come in bits and pieces, but they already share that song.

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