The original purpose of our trip to Minnesota was to attend Ben's sister's {Katie} college graduation on Sunday, May 30th from Gustavus Adolphus. It was cold and windy and on the verge of stormy at the graduation {the worst day weather-wise of our trip}. Luckily they reversed the order of the graduation and the graduates all walked at the beginning, then the ceremony continued, but could be canceled in the event of rain. Unfortunately that meant we only saw about 30 minutes of the whole graduation {just until they announced Katie's name and she crossed the stage}, then ducked for cover to get the kids out of the cold wind.
His sister lived in a house {that I could best describe as a frat house for girls} with the 7 other girls you see in the photos. They dubbed their house the Octo- House and an octopus was their mascot.
Katie left for a basketball tournament in Costa Rica {the senior's last hooray, and not a bad way to go out} the same day we left Minnesota. In August she will be moving to Steamboat, Colorado for a year to participate in the AmeriCorps program before returning to school for her Masters degree. Guess where Ben and I will be taking a ski trip to next spring?
Also, while we were in Minnesota we had the opportunity to visit with some of Ben's dad's side of the family. We attended a Memorial Day brunch at his step-sister's, Lisa, house.
{In case those of you who don't know are asking yourself right now, 'how many brothers and sisters does Ben have?' The answer is 8. Two half sisters on his mom's side, two half brothers, three step-brothers and one step-sister on his dad's side. It's truly a blended family, but it's nice having such a big family and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins.}
Everyone gathers around to chat before digging in to a delicious brunch feast.
Lisa with sweet little nephew, Otto
Papa and Paige
Lillian
Samantha and Otto
Mark and Otto skateboard together a lot. Otto will be a natural when he gets older.
Jack and Chase were fast friends via skype, so its great to see them play together. Chase has a really cool toys!
We had fun playing with cousins and look forward to the Grooters-Schurke reunion with everyone in San Francisco and at the Alexander Valley Lodge.
Monday afternoon, we returned and spent some time visiting with Great-Grandma Norma. She has experienced several health problems in the past few months since we visited her in Panama City, so it was great to see her again and we hope that she is able to regain her strength and get well soon.
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