July 18, 2013 Day nine

We had a great morning at Patti’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Len’s house. They are very special to us.  We spent a week with them a couple years back in New Orleans and totally enjoyed being together.  We had homemade Egg McMuffins, and had the chance to play with two of their grandchildren, Max and Anna.  Those two have amazing imaginations and were very fun to play with. 

Max is especially in love with dinosaurs and they both happily looked at our photos from Dinosaur National Monument and identified the fossils, after some hearty debate about which were which.  This included digging out models and books to support their claims. 

Patti also helped to make up some stories with them.  Wish we were closer to see these kiddos more often, but it was fun to see them for a morning.

Then on the road and an hour’s drive to Rochester MN, where Patti grew up.  Her parents were waiting to warmly welcome us.  And Patti’s mom moved into doing our dirty laundry.  Thanks Mom!  Dinner included Patti’s brother, Perry, his wife, Jodie, and two sons Matt and Josh.  It is so nice to be back with family. And Mom made a full turkey dinner!  Nobody is a cook like Patti’s mom.

We got to see some ping pong extravaganza, with both boys and Patti’s dad, Harold, being strong ping pong players.

We made the plans for the next few days of time in Rochester, then off to bed.

 “To get away from one’s working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one’s self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.” – Charles Horton Cooley