Our general readership may be excused here.  This is about an overnight in the Cities where we went for our Aunt Mary Kay’s (a/k/a, Mookie) mumble, mumble, mumbleth birthday in North Oaks.  That’s her on the left above, with her husband, Uncle Tom Obert (Dad’s bro), two of their daughters, Kim (who came up from Colorado) and Beth, and in the middle our Aunt Pearl (Tom’s sister, also from Colorado).  Mookie and Tom have lived in Scottsdale for many years now but wanted to come “home” for Mookie’s special birthday.  Needless to say, the weather was a real culture shock!  😉

We planned our trip down with great care, immediately forgetting Mookie’s present when we were a half mile down the road – “I didn’t bring it, didn’t you?”  Upon return to the house, I noticed my shoe horn still sitting on the boot bench.  As usual, I had gone to the car key box to get the shoe horn before we left, returned to the boot bench with the car key but not the shoe horn (I do it every time), went back for the shoe horn with the idea I would pop it in my coat pocket because I would need it in the city.  Then we were off again . . .

As usual, Cities trips involve questionable weather.  We were battling cold, another recent snow fall, and by the time we hit the north suburbs, we started noticing more and more cars in the ditch on both sides of road.  Little discussed axiom, though very true, Minnesotans don’t drive any better in this kind of weather than anybody else!

[First photo upon arriving at North Oaks CC.  The supervisor (well, half of her), Pearl, Karen Obert (sister-in-law) and Kayla (sp?), Cousin Beth’s granddaughter.]

[Mookie and Karen]

[Tom Obert and Tom Obert]

[Sister and brother]

[The party was crashed by an fat old guy with a white beard.  No, it wasn’t me.]

[Mookie on his knee, apparently expressing Christmas wishes.  I seem to recall something about a Tesla?]

[Or maybe this was the Tesla wish?]

[Four 1st cousins and Auntie Pearl.]

[The cousins]

[Cam and Karen with Auntie Pearl]

[All Christmasy outside!]

[The hosts . . . or the guests of honor?]

[To know ’em is to love ’em!]

[To my knowledge, not related to anyone in the building?]

[How’d your photo turn out, Karen?]

[Pearl and Karen, photo by Cam]

[The next day, family met at Beth’s where we were joined by more cousins . . .]

[Barb Arrell on the left and her mom Shirley on the right.  This was at Panino’s in North Oaks, where we went to lunch.  Great Italian club sandwich!  🙂  ]

And since we recently rediscovered this when the supervisor went through an old magazine rack – something for the hockey moms to show their kids about a Title IX pioneer:

[Yup, that’s me.  Caddying for Barb in the 1992 Resorters.  I did a great job!  😉  ]

Up next:  Better catch up on all the hockey games!