Travel Day

My week sort of got away from me as I was exhausted after a big work day on Friday, so I left my packing for 2 weeks to, well of course, the day I am traveling.  Let me tell you that I was not in any rush at all as Dad had to go get a flat tire fixed and another part for his car in town.  We talked about leaving around 10:30 am - 11:00 am.  This would allow me time to pack and get all ready to go and still be able to meet Rachel for supper in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Wellllll, let's just say I took my sweet time this morning.  I did my normal routine.  Woke and rose with the birds and first light, into the office for some yoga and devotional with my tea, play with the kittens who just lost their mommy, trying to get them to take to Max (our house guest).

Note:  kittens lost mama, screaming so we had to figure out how to get food in their bellies.  They do not understand the concept of the bottle nor the plate.  Despite all the tips and tricks we tried -- dipping their faces/paws/whiskers into the milk on the plate, they would still just try to eat the side of the plate or just proceed to lay in the milk.  The bottle wasn't much better.  We found the baby dropper worked the best to get the  milk directly into their mouths and then bellies.  Once feeding time was over and then the hair dryer session to dry the milk they were wearing, they were still not ready for a nap.  I tried to latch them on to Max because he was taking interested in them last night, not my big dog, Briggs.  He wanted nothing and I mean nothing to do with them.  In his elderly days, he is not as patient as he used to be, I think this is a trend in people as well.

Pouting ole' man!?   ~Briggs

Just remember Max, "friends, not food!"
Thank you, concerned human mom

Max - loving on his new friends.

One - two - three - where's number four?  Yep, just peaking out
from under his chin.

Mr. Grumpy Pants decided to be nice....
at least for the picture.  Love this dog.
My best, handsome buddy for years!

Ok, so this process was super fun and a distractor of me packing.  Finally, got packed.  Heath came in and asked if I was ready.  After breaking down into tears, he said that he knew me better than I did!  He was right.  I didn't realize that I was stalling.  I have been looking forward to this visit to Mayo for months now, but just hard to leave my man and our place.  He has so much to do while I am gone as everything is in full bloom and growing super fast (and BEAUTIFUL).  He is 100% capable and willing, so after my meltdown, I went out and told Garry goodbye.  He was out helping us bale our hay with our new - old baler.  Off we went.  Dad followed me all of the way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Super blessed that he arranged his visit to see his Vietnam buddy in Minneapolis to coincide with my Mayo trip.

Our cars both got great gas mileage and we had beautiful weather all of the way to Sioux Falls where we would be staying for the night.  My friend, Rachel, just graduated college and we met her at the restaurant she works at called Ode to Food and Drinks.  Super yummy as I had what they called an appetizer, but it was the perfect amount of food.  Thai Chicken Lettuce Cups that included chicken, cashews, and zucchini in some sort of amazing sauce that you wrap in romaine lettuce.  Dad had the Maxx Burger that had onion rings and bacon ON the burger with awesome roasted sweet potatoes as his "sidekick."

After supper Rachel wanted to show us the "falls" part of Souix Falls.  The rest of the evening was spent enjoying this after dinner walk around the falls.  Absolutely gorgeous!

It's all lit up at night.

~Me & Daddy~

~Rachel and I~
Crazy that this picture was taken at 9:30 PM!!