Little Guests at the Scandinavian Supper Table

Faithful Reader, you must recall that I teased yesterday that we had some baby-related fun scheduled for today.  Well, Susan's cousin Todd and his wife arranged for us to babysit their kids overnight.  Trae (three years old) and Tatum (nine months old) arrived this afternoon and will get picked up in the morning.  Trae has spent the night with us before (remember this and this?), the second time getting to join us for a Scandinavian Saturday supper--just like tonight!  However, I chose a menu this time around that seemed more kid-friendly (well, to non-Moberg kids, that is--you just never know how adventurous others' kids will be), and Trae ate it all up!

Click on any photo to enlarge it for more tantalizing viewing.

To find out what everything is--and to see dessert--read on:

Icy Roads and Mardi Gras

Last night we all retired early so that we could arise early and get on the road for the girls' swim meet in Minot.  Warmups started at 10:00 A.M. Central time, which is 9:00 for us.  It's usually a good three-hour drive to Minot, so leaving at 6:00 A.M. would have gotten us there under normal driving conditions.  However, after a few days of above-freezing temperatures, things turned very cold very quickly last night, and I knew we'd want extra time so that we could drive slowly as needed.  I figured a 5:00 A.M. departure would be good, so I got up at 4:00 to check the road report.  The state transportation department's Web site offered a travel map on which all the state's highways were marked with red: no travel advised.  Ugh!

Chaotic Household

Faithful Reader, do you recall that Abigail had plans for a birthday party with her friends last August?  Well, that party never came to pass because it turned out to be too difficult to track them down in the summer.  We decided to wait until the school year when everybody would be back in town and available to hand an invitation to directly while at school.  And Suzanna usually doesn't have a birthday party with friends on her actual birthday because it happens during Christmas break, when her friends (and/or we) are off traveling for the holidays.  We just wait until school is back in session and have a belated birthday party for her then.

Well, last night we had a combined birthday/slumber party for both Abigail (a very belated party!) and Suzanna, each of whom invited two friends to come over after school to eat supper and then spend the night.  And we all survived.

Anniversary Surprise

Okay, Faithful Reader, earlier today I forewarned you that I'd be writing later on about an evening event that we had to attend.  We're back now from that event, so I can let you know that it was . . . a surprise party for Susan's aunt and uncle Kathy and Pat, whose 40th anniversary is coming up in a few weeks!  Their kids planned it and got Pat and Kathy to the St. Anthony Hall just off Broadway with the "white lie" that they were attending a relative's 13th birthday party there.  Surprise!

Kathy and Pat share a dance.  Awww!

Zombies for Dessert

I realize that Halloween isn't a national holiday, but when it falls on a weekend day, shouldn't I have it off from work?  Nope, not today.  I was required to attend a meeting this evening from 6:00 to 7:30 P.M., and I went in ahead of time to do some grading and be "on call" in case I was needed to set up for the student presentations that were a part of the events.  While I was gone, Susan and the girls tended to the essential Halloween festivities.

Wanna know who these be-costumed beauties are?  Read on!

The Morey, the Merrier

Susan's uncle Frank and his son John are in town this weekend for hunting, so Susan's aunt and uncle Kathy and Pat invited all available members of the extended family to their house for supper and visiting.  Suzanna was out of town yesterday and today for a swim meet in Jamestown, but the rest of our family went over to Kathy and Pat's and enjoyed visiting and snacking (and our girls enjoyed playing with the little kids in the house: their third-cousins!) (and Suzanna got dropped off there when the swimmers returned to town, so she, too, got to see everyone).

Wanna see some photos?

Scandinavian Seafood Delights

For this Scandinavian Saturday, we had special guests: Susan's sister Cassie, her son Davis, and Susan and Cassie's dad Roger.  Because of the busy-ness with the funeral yesterday and the house guests this weekend, Susan wondered if I'd like to postpone today's Nordic meal.  Instead I took on the challenge of preparing an ethnic meal that would allow our family to try new Scandinavian recipes but that would not turn off our relatives with ingredients or flavor combinations that were too out-of-the ordinary.  Suzanna was my assistant this week, and here's what we came up with:

Back to School (and the Pool)

The school year has begun for everybody in our house.  I had start-of-the-year meetings to attend last week, and classes at the university started at the beginning of this week.  Susan had her teacher workshops Monday and Tuesday, and she started school today.  Our daughters got registered at their respective schools over the last couple weeks (remember?) and had open houses this past Monday and Tuesday in preparation for their own first day of school, which also was today.  We're getting back into our school-year routine . . . and I've got photos to prove it!

Dolphins and Donuts

This was an unusual Sunday for us in that we skipped church! Well, Susan didn't; as Sunday school director, she had to report for work as usual. But the girls had a swim meet in town today as part of the Dickinson Dolphin Swim Team (the last meet before the state swim meet in Bismarck March 19-21), so I took them there (to the West River Community Center), and Susan joined us when she was done at church. I brought school work to do while I waited during pre-meet warmups and between events, and I got quite a bit done. The girls had a fine day, but we think that none of them qualified for state in any of today's events--although Hillary had already qualified for state in the 25-yard backstroke back in January (remember?), so we know we'll be attending state for her.

We didn't stick around to see the final results posted because we had another event to get to: a birthday party for our family's friend Monica. She has an apartment in an assisted living complex, and she reserved the dining room for a party today to celebrate the March birthdays of her neighbors and herself. There were lots of people there! Susan brought her grandma Laura over from the nursing home where she resides (which is attached to Monica's apartment building). Susan's aunt Kathy helps Monica with errands and has become a good friend, too, so Kathy came with some of her family: husband Pat; daughter Tina and grandson Kylan; and son Todd and daughter-in-law Trista and grandson Trae.

Abigail, Suzanna, and Hillary surround their great-grandmother Laura

There were balloons and snack mix on each table, and Susan and the girls helped to pass out cookies and donuts and to pour coffee and punch. After Monica said a few words of welcome, the girls sang a Norwegian table prayer, and then I accompanied them as they sang the song "He Is Good." Monica asked me to play some more, so I provided background music on the piano while people visited and ate. After most of the guests had gone, we gave Monica her birthday present: a scarf that Susan knitted for her. It was a very pleasant afternoon event.

Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary sing the religious song "He Is Good" by memory as I play the piano behind them.

Susan had the girls find out from Monica her favorite color, and then she bought some pink yarn and knitted this scarf for Monica . . . over the course of four days! Yep, Susan's quite the knitter now (remember when/how she began this hobby?).

Abigail, Suzanna, and Hillary with their "foster grandma" Monica!

P.S. I met a most interesting woman, one of Monica's neighbors whose name I didn't get but with whom I visited at the end of the party. She complimented us on our musicianship and told me a bit about her career as a music teacher. We also talked about international travel and about Italian cuisine (she's full-blooded Italian and differentiates between "real" lasagne and "North Dakota" lasagne, which invariably includes cottage cheese instead of ricotta and no vegetables when it should include Swiss chard).

Suzanna's 12th Birthday!

Our oldest child is now 12 years old. Suzanna has been looking forward to this day for a long time, not only for the usual reasons (e.g., looking forward to the individual attention, to receiving gifts, to getting to choose the meals for the day, etc.) but for three others particularly tied to being 12 years of age:

1. A 12-year-old child, according to current vehicle safety regulations, may sit in the front passenger seat of a car. (Did you know that children younger than that ought to sit in the back seat? Susan and I have enforced that with our kids, so Suzanna has been eager for the "privilege" of sitting in the front.)
2. A 12-year-old child can be certified and hired as a babysitter, a job that Suzanna has been eager to hire herself out to do. (The American Red Cross provides babysitter training to children as young as 11. Susan and I thought it was 12 and have had Suzanna wait until now. Oops!) By the way, Suzanna got two phone calls today asking her to babysit tomorrow night . . . jobs she would have accepted happily had we not already planned to be out of town ourselves.
3. A 12-year-old child, in our household, can get her ears pierced.

Here are highlights from Suzanna's birthday:

One of Suzanna's gifts was a digital camera, with which she was thoroughly delighted. She quickly figured out many of its special features (e.g., taking photos in sepia or black-and-white modes) and snapped photos throughout the day no matter where we were or what we were doing. (Note in this photo the length of Suzanna's hair so that you may make a comparison to her hair in upcoming photos.)

These are our friends the Donners: Chad, Ethan, Audrey, and Sullivan. Audrey and Susan were great friends during their high school years. The Donners now live in TX but are in the area visiting family for Christmas, and they dropped Ethan off at our house for a play date in the morning and then met us for dinner at Taco John's (Suzanna's choice) around noon.

Our entire family had haircut appointments this afternoon: about 4.5 hours of hair cutting before we were all shorn! Before heading to the salon, we posed for this family pic in Taco John's.

Here is Suzanna with her new hairdo and her newly pierced ears! 12 years old?! Sheesh! What a beauty.

Here are Hillary and Abigail with their new hairdos. The stylist curled their hair for them, too--snazzy!

Here is Susan with her new hairdo. The stylist straightened Susan's hair for her.

Here I am with my new hairdo. Whatevs. Suzanna's ear piercing happened after our hair cuts, after which we went out for supper at Sanford's Grub and Pub, which serves a birthday celebrant a special treat for dessert: a gigantic chocolate chip cookie heaped with three enormous scoops of vanilla ice cream, one covered in strawberry sauce, another in caramel sauce, and the third in chocolate sauce, with the whole shebang topped with (canned) whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.

After supper, we went home and played games to give ourselves time to digest the sundae from Sanford's before . . . eating Suzanna's birthday cake! She requested a brownie cake, which Susan made on a round baking stone and frosted using my mom's wonderful chocolate frosting recipe. Sinfully irresistible.

Look how excited Suzanna is to be 12 years old! And to own her own digital camera! And to have pierced ears! And to have a family who loves her as much as we do!

Season's Eatings

Our nephew Davis makes a fine centerpiece for the dining room table.

House guests do not go hungry at our home, thanks to Susan. This week she has been preparing lovely meals to delight her dad Roger, her siblings, her brother-in-law, and her nephew (and her husband and children, as usual). Let's review, shall we?

Sunday

• lasagna
• green beans
• buttered corn
• garlic toast

Monday

• supper at Susan's aunt and uncle's

Tuesday

• meatballs in gravy
• mashed potatoes
• steamed broccoli

Wednesday

• 17-lb. ham! (courtesy of Roger)
• cheese buttons (a tradition in Susan's family: homemade noodles filled with cheese, onions, and dill, folded into dumplings, boiled, and served with melted butter)
• dill pickles

Thursday

• smoked salmon cheese ball and crackers
• shrimp cocktail
• lobster macaroni and cheese
• crab-stuffed mushrooms
• oyster "stew" (another tradition in Susan's family; it's a misnomer, though: instead of a stew, it's literally a kettle of warm milk and melted butter with oysters dropped into it)

There's a storm a-brewin' and headed toward this state, and it's expected to affect our area tomorrow and Saturday. Susan's sister Cassie and her husband Nick already changed their flight plans to leave ND from Bismarck on Saturday instead of from Fargo, but will they be able even to get to Bismarck without leaving our house early tomorrow (instead of Saturday, as they had planned)? Their getting home safely is our main concern . . . but here's what they could miss:

Friday
brunch:

• egg bake
• sausage
• banana/chocolate chip/oatmeal muffins
• fruit salad
• coffee and fruit juice

supper:

• homemade pepperoni and Canadian bacon pizza

In the meantime, it's Christmas Eve! Susan started the oyster "stew" early and sent some of it with Roger, Cassie, and Nick, who took the "stew" and the kiddos to Roger's mom Laura's nursing home so that she could enjoy the traditional oyster dish and see her granddaughter and great-grandchildren. Meanwhile, Susan and I stayed behind to prepare the seafood meal for their return.

Laura with her granddaughter Cassie, her son Roger, and her great-grandson Davis

Laura with her great-grandchildren Davis, Suzanna, Abigail, and Hillary

After they returned and we ate supper, we had Davis open the gifts from our family and our daughters open the gifts from Davis and his family . . . just in case they have to leave early tomorrow due to the weather. All the presents were well received, but the very best part of the holiday has been the presence of our extended family. Gotta get to bed now; the girls have written Santa a note, left him some cookies and an empty glass ("There is milk in the fridge; help yourself"), and hung their stockings by the fireplace, so I'd better get to sleep so that Santa can make a stop at our house tonight!

Davis Claus!

Morey Christmastime Get-Together

Susan's aunt and uncle Kathy and Pat are s' good to host the extended family at their lakeside home for special occasions, including holidays. They did so again tonight so that everyone could get together and see the out-of-state relatives who are here for Christmas visits: Susan's aunt Jake, her daughter Kelli, and Kelli's daughter Kynnedi; and Susan's sister Cassie, Cassie's husband Nick, and their son Davis.

There was a lot of terrific food (sausage and dumpling soup, cheese and broccoli dip with corn chips, crab dip with crackers, shrimp with cocktail sauce, crudités, and "holiday baking" galore) and conversation . . . and noise! There were LOTS of little kids running around--very fun! Here are some photographic highlights:

Morey great-grandchildren! Trae (sitting with his daddy Todd), Hillary holding Davis, Abigail holding Kynnedi, Kaden, Suzanna holding Kylan, and Jordan (sitting with his mommy Laura)

Kathy's daughter Tina's son Kylan (with his mommy)

Kathy's son Todd's son Trae (with his mommy Trista)

Susan's aunt Mary's daughter Laura's son Kaden

Laura's other son Jordan

Jake's daughter Kelli's daughter Kynnedi

Susan's mom Sue's daughter Cassie's son Davis (with me)

Nick and Cassie, the parents of Davis

Cassie and Kelli, cousins and best friends

Nick and his son Davis

Foster Grandmother with Nordic Generosity

We attended a Sons of Norway meeting this afternoon followed by our lodge's Christmas supper at the Elks Lodge. I've probably written before about how excited the lodge members were when we joined a year ago, bringing in not only three children but also two adults young enough to be the children ourselves of any of the other members there. They : us :: sharks : chum. New blood! New ideas! And if we joined, maybe other young families would join and keep the lodge going.

We have worked on recruitment of some of our friends-with-young-children, and they have expressed interest. Meanwhile, the lodge has worked on us, making me the vice president, Susan the newsletter editor and youth director, and Suzanna the musician (remember?). And we have enjoyed getting to know the lodge members and taking advantage of some of the benefits of Sons of Norway membership, including attending Norwegian camp last summer and receiving the terrific Viking magazine.

One of the members of our lodge is Monica, a woman in her late 60s/early 70s whom our daughters first met last year. Susan's aunt Kathy runs a business allowing people to hire her to help the elderly or infirm with their daily living tasks. Monica's mobility is reduced, so she hires Kathy to get her around town for various events. One time when Kathy was babysitting our daughters, she took them with her to run an errand for Monica, and that was the start of a great relationship between the girls and Monica, a "foster grandmother" of sorts to them. Monica even has Kathy take her to the girls' school music programs.

Well, Monica did something very generous at tonight's Sons of Norway lodge meeting. The current officers had been planning to buy a keyboard for the lodge musician to use at our meetings (there is no piano in our meeting room at the Elks Lodge). Monica knew that and knows, too, that Suzanna will be taking over as the musician starting next month or February (I can't remember which). She also remembers fondly when Kathy took the girls to visit Monica's dying husband in the hospital, and they got on so well with him, too. When a motion was made tonight to allocate a sum of money for the purchase of a new keyboard, Monica offered to pay for the keyboard herself and donate it to the lodge in memory of her husband. The president was so moved that he couldn't speak for a moment, and there were many tears all around, especially since long-time lodge members knew Monica's husband as a lodge member himself for years.

Isn't that a generous thing for Monica to have done? She's a terrific lady, so sincerely nice and perpetually pleasant. She'll be at Suzanna's school music concert tomorrow night and the girls' Sunday school Christmas program next Sunday evening, too. And she has offered to have the girls over any time that we need someone to watch them. She is even planning to host them for a night of pizza and homemade fudge! (Remember when the girls went Christmas caroling at Monica's apartment last year?) We're blessed to have her in our lives.

Spooky in Southwest ND

Whew! I'm exhausted. Our Halloween was chock-full of activity. This morning I got some work done for school, and Susan got some work done for church (as Sunday school director, she was in charge of setting up for one of this afternoon's events at church; more on that in a bit). Then we joined the university president and his wife for a brunch at the Student Center on campus: an indoor tailgating event before the football game in the afternoon. Mrs. McCallum has been arranging these events throughout the fall and inviting various groups of people to each one to mingle with one another, visit with her and her husband, and enjoy the goodwill, school spirit, and delicious food. Early in the week before each pre-football brunch, she invites various people to taste-test all the menu items that she's considering for that weekend, and I was invited to one of those brunches to sample and recommend (remember?). Now, a few weeks later, I got invited to the weekend event itself!

Some other university faculty and staff were there, too, as were selected members of the community. We enjoyed visiting, of course, and Susan found the president and his wife to be very hospitable; but mostly we were all about the food. We started with appetizers: smoked salmon on garlic toast rounds with all the fixin's for lox (cream cheese, capers, red onions); quesadillas and salsa; sweet-'n'-sour meatballs; and deep-fried chicken nuggets and ranch dressing. Then the buffet line: pasta salad; potato salad; a variety of cheeses with a variety of crackers; bread bowls to fill with our choice of beef stew, cream of broccoli soup, or hearty chicken noodle soup; two egg bakes, one with meat and one vegetarian; and sour-dough buns, mustard, and mayo to make sandwiches out of the garlic-crusted roast beef and roast pork that was being sliced at the end of the buffet line. Then dessert: frosted sugar cookies decorated like pumpkins; slices of dessert breads (banana bread, cranberry bread, etc.); a huge slices of cheese cake. It was just delicious.

Then we headed home so that Susan could help the girls with their costumes. Our church has a "fall festival" each Halloween to which children come in their costumes and eat snacks and play games that are more Bible-themed and less monster-themed. Arranging that is one of Susan's duties as Sunday school director, so in addition to getting games and supplies and food ready over the past few days and this morning, she also had to be at church before the festival began to set up and had to stay late to clean up. So I took the girls to church when it was time and snapped some pics of them in their costumes there:

Suzanna dressed up as a grandma. She borrowed the walker from a friend, donned sensible hose and an '80s dress (complete with shoulder pads), packed her purse with facial tissue and cough drops (I suggested that she toss in some Bengay and a plastic rain bonnet, too), attached an eyeglasses chain to her spectacles, and wore curlers to bed last night and sprayed her hair gray today. She shuffled around a lot and used a pinched voice to give the other children grandmotherly lectures about not eating so much candy, being careful with their costumes pieces (e.g., "You could put an eye out with that sword"), and so on. Yep, she was truly "in character."

Abigail dressed up as a professional dancer from Dancing with the Stars, which we enjoy watching as a family and on which Abigail enjoys daydreaming about appearing someday. The pink jazz dress is from a past dance recital; it has glittery beads all over it. She matched it with glittery silver shoes that she bought for a quarter at a rummage sale last summer. (The white tights and long white sleeves aren't realistic considering all the skin shown by the professional dancers on the TV show, but they're more sensible for trick-or-treating in ND.) She wore curlers to bed, too, last night and had Mommy fix her hair in a super-fancy 'do. Her glamorous makeup includes glitter on her face and in her hair. I suppose that she was "in character," too, striking a pose at the drop of a hat, spinning around in impromptu dance routines, etc.--but that's really just Abigail, Halloween costume or not.

Hillary dressed up as a queen bee. She, too, made use of an old dance recital dress, pairing it with outdoor-trick-or-treat-friendly black tights and a long-sleeved shirt for the black-and-yellow bumblebee look. The fairy wings suggest bee wings, and the tiara (pink feathers and all) suggests her royalty. Thus, people who guessed that she was a fairy were first corrected that she was a queen bee; and then when they nodded and said something like, "Oh, yes, I see it now: a bumblebee!" they were again corrected: not just "a bee" but "the queen bee." Yep, Hillary, too, was both "in character" and perfectly herself.

Susan got in the spirit, too, donning kitty-cat ears and a tail (which she's holding in her left hand) for her afternoon with the children at the fall festival.

At the end of the fall festival, I took the girls and one of their friends around town to trick-or-treat. We hit the houses of their school teachers. Then we went to "Malloween" at the Prairie Hills Mall. Almost every store had employees in Halloween costumes sitting out front with buckets of candy so that children in their own costumes could go from store to store trick-or-treating indoors. It's ideal if you have little kids whom it's a hassle to haul around town; if the weather is cold; or if you like seeing other kids' costumes because they're all on parade as the kids tromp from store to store throughout the mall.

Then we went to "Treat Street" held at Days Hotel Grand Dakota Lodge and Convention Center. Various businesses rent suites there and decorate them according to various themes, stocking them with in-costume people to hand out candy and hide in the dark corners of the rooms and leap out screaming to scare the trick-or-treaters! The line just to get in snaked out the lobby doors, down the parking lot, and around two sides of the building! Thanks goodness the weather was just beautiful--no coats necessary. Inside there were lots of awesomely spooky lights and lit-up monsters and eerie music, and there were cobwebs and black lights and scratchy streamers and mummies and all sorts of creepy stuff in the hallways and each room. Hillary held onto my hand pretty tightly; and people in some of the rooms, seeing a young child entering, called out to their cohorts not to scare our group. When one monster leaped out of the darkness to scare Suzanna, she turned to him and, in character, held out a finger and said, "Stop that!" And he did! Hilarious.

Then we dropped off the girls' friend at her home and went trick-or-treating at our relatives' homes. Susan's uncle Terry and aunt Audrey were at their son Robbie's high school football game, but their daughter Christy happened to be at the house with her kids to let us in and give the girls some candy. We stopped at Susan's other in-town cousins' homes, too, but they must have been out and about with their own kids. We found Susan's aunt Mary and uncle Dale at home and made that our last stop before parking at home and hitting the streets to canvas our own neighborhood. One neighbor across the street always has special treat packages ready for the girls, and we made sure to stop at the homes of all the other neighbors whose lights were still on--including Chuck and Reba's house with its fog machine on the front step going off intermittently and creating an eerie haze on the block!

We didn't get home and sit down to eat supper until about 8:00 P.M.! We were very hungry for the mummies (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls and baked), the bones in gore (French fries covered in chili and cheese), and the buttered bug eyes (green peas) that Susan had prepared. She had also roasted the pumpkin seeds from Thursday night's jack-o'-lantern carving spree. Once the traffic at our front door had stopped, we went for a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the beautiful weather and work off some of the calories from all the Halloween candy. Tonight: the girls and I are having a slumber party in the family room. (I have been spooking them with stories about all the goblins that are out tonight, so none of them wants to spend the night in her own room, wondering what this or that noise outdoors actually is.) After about six hours of trick-or-treating, they're ready to sleep . . . and so am I.

Susan's cousin Todd and his wife Trista stopped by with their son Trae in his cowboy gear, and Susan just had to snap a picture for us to see once we returned. Howdy, pardner!

Remember the girls' pumpkin carving the other night? Here's what the jack-o'-lanterns looked like tonight on our front step. Spooky, no?

Moreys: The Next Generation

Susan's aunt Jake and her kids are in town this weekend from CO, so Susan's aunt Kathy invited all the Moreys over for supper tonight. Susan, the girls, and I were there to eat up the sausage/dumplings/peas and to visit with the relatives:

• Kathy, her daughter Tina, and Tina's son Kylan
• Susan's aunt Mary and uncle Dale
• Susan's uncle Terry and aunt Audrey, their son Brian, and their son Mike and his wife Lindsey and their daughters Cadence and Madison
• Jake, her son Jon, and her daughter Kelli and her daughter Kynnedi

Family get-togethers are so awesome, and Kathy and Pat have a great house for accommodating everybody for such events. I got to hold the sweet little babies and play with Cadence, who took a little while to warm up, but who became my buddy over the course of 43 or 44 consecutive times putting together and then taking apart the same 12-piece wooden puzzle at the dining room table. The girls enjoyed playing with all their cute second-cousins, too. Wanna see the cuties?

Mike and Lindsey's older daugher Cadence concentrates on the puzzle.

Mike and Lindsey's younger daughter Madison models her adorable outer wear, perfect for an autumn evening.

Tina and Craig's son Kylan takes a break from playing with the girls.

Kelli and J.J.'s daughter Kynnedi smiles all the time! What a happy baby.

Davis Meets His Uncle Kevin (and Attends a Wedding)

Quick review:

1. In March Susan's sister Cassie and her husband Nick had a baby, whom they named Davis.
2. Susan and Cassie's cousin Traci invited us all to her wedding held just last weekend in Fargo.
3. Cassie and Nick planned to travel to Fargo from their home in SC so that they could attend the wedding and let the extended family meet Davis.
4. Because Nick's parents live not far from Fargo (Detroit Lakes, MN), Nick and Cassie arranged to arrive in Fargo a week early and spend that extra time at Nick's parents' lake home before the weekend of the wedding.
5. Cassie, Nick, and Nick's parents invited Cassie's family (Susan and Cassie's brother Jerrett, their dad Roger, and us) to the lake home for the week, too, for some extra time with Davis (and with Cassie and Nick, of course).

You probably knew that already from this, didn't you? You have figured out, then, that although Susan and our daughters spent the week at Detroit Lakes, I stayed behind in Dickinson. I had to work, attending workshops and meetings in preparation for the start of the fall semester at the university. However, as soon as I could leave work on Friday (August 21), I drove myself to Fargo and headed for the hotel where all the relatives were staying for Traci's wedding. So I missed out on time at the lake, but I knew that I would see Cassie, Nick, and Davis in Fargo instead--not to mention all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins' kids who gathered there for Traci's wedding.

It was very much past Davis' bedtime by the time I arrived in Fargo, so I didn't get to meet him until the next day. Our daughters were swimming Saturday (August 22) morning, and Susan and I were sitting poolside when Nick came in carrying Davis toward me. The moment I had been waiting for had arrived . . . and then Susan's aunt Audrey intercepted him! Dang it! I played with Davis' toes and talked to him as he sat on Audrey's lap, and Nick sat on Audrey's other side realizing that we had both been foiled. Then suddenly Nick got up and, without saying a word, picked Davis up out of Audrey's lap, walked around her, handed him to me, and then walked out of the pool area, leaving me to get to know my new nephew. Yay!

Davis is a great little guy--good-natured, not at all fussy, friendly, quick to smile, comfortable with strangers (or perhaps he could sense that I was his relative when he first came to me), cute as a button, cuddly . . . in short, he's so much like me that it was like looking in a mirror. (Ahem.)

Traci and Tori's wedding was at Gooseberry Mound Park in Moorhead, MN on Saturday afternoon. The weather was just perfect, and the park provided a beautiful setting for the ceremony. In this photo, the ring bearer is coming down the aisle. Nope, neither of the boys is the ring bearer; it's the dog! Not even kidding.

Traci's parents Pat and Kathy escorted her down the aisle. Kathy is Susan's mom Sue's sister.

After the ceremony, we all walked to another area of the park for supper: salads and barbecued meat sandwiches and cupcakes and sodas under a picnic shelter near a pretty fun play area for kids . . . something for everybody! Susan asked the girls and me to pose at one of the statues in the park.

The wedding dance was in the Fargo Civic Center just across the street from our hotel. Here are Tori and Traci having a first dance as a married couple. Awww! Suzanna had a neat opportunity after we returned to the hotel from the dance: she got to babysit Davis and another baby (Susan's cousin Kelli's new baby)! Cassie and Kelli got their babies to sleep and laid them down in Cassie and Nick's room, and Suzanna slept in there with the babes while Cassie and Kelli rejoined the festivities across the street. Suzanna was so honored to be asked to babysit!

The next day (Sunday, August 23) we helped get Cassie, Nick, and Davis to the airport for their return flight to SC. Before we were overcome with tears, we had to have some final photos. I love this one of Davis. We're going to miss you, Davis, until we get to see your cute little face again!

Little guy loves Aunt Susan! (Und ze feelink iz mutual, dahlink!)

Nick, Cassie, Davis, Susan, Hillary, Suzanna, me, and Abigail

At some point between my ladies' departure from Dickinson and my reunion with them in Fargo, they had acquired a large amount of extra cargo that wouldn't all fit in their vehicle (they had gone back-to-school shopping). Good thing I had the Explorer so that we could get all their purchases and their clothes back home! Susan and I both had to be at work the next morning (Monday, August 24), so we all crawled into bed at a pretty reasonable hour and left the unpacked Target bags and baskets full of dirty laundry to be dealt with in the next few days. It was great to see all the relatives at the wedding but most especially wonderful finally to meet Davis! Good job, Cassie and Nick. Keep up the excellent work.

P.S. The hotel where we all stayed for Traci and Tori's wedding just happens to be the same hotel at which Susan and I lived for a few months following The Flood of '97! The bank at which Susan worked back then relocated many of its Grand Forks staff to its Fargo office and housed them in that hotel until they were able to get back into their homes and return to some version of normalcy in Grand Forks. It was while we were living at that hotel, as a matter of fact, that we learned that Susan was pregnant with Suzanna!