Moving Day has arrived...

I have been a little neglectful recently and have not been updating the 2 or 3 people who read this blog...I apologize, but, things have been a bit hectic since the move in early August. I will attempt to catch up in the next several weeks.

The move was uneventful, at least from my perspective. If you ask my wife, you very well may get a different answer. After everything was packed up back in Franklin, my wife and son came up to Eden Prairie on a Thursday night and stayed in my apartment for the night.

Goodbye Wisconsin...

The next day, I went to work and they went off to meet the moving truck at the new house. The unloading was originally scheduled to take two days, however, the movers managed to unload everything by 4 pm on Friday. I came home from work to the new house and all our stuff  inside. See, uneventful. My oldest daughter drove up from Chicago on Friday morning, so there was 2/3 complement of help to start unpacking the house. There was really no food and the kitchen was in boxes, so, dinner consisted of Pizza, Pizza from Little Caesars...

First dinner in the new house...

The furniture and beds were all ready to go, however, where were all the sheets and towels? The packers did not do a very good job of labeling the contents of the boxes. By the end of the night on Friday, I still had not found our sheets, so the mattress and a large towel would have to suffice as bedding. It did not matter much to my wife, as she pulled an all niter and was still unpacking kitchen boxes when dawn came on Saturday! After a full day of unpacking on Saturday, we took the evening off and ventured to St. Paul to see Gaelic Storm at The Irish Fair of Minnesota (Irish Fair of Minnesota). Gaelic Storm did not disappoint and it was a great introduction to the available festivals and activities here in the Twin Cities.

Ready for the Irish Fair

Should have bought the caps..

Ready for Gaelic Storm!

Monday morning came sooner than expected, and with it my oldest daughter departed back to Chicago to begin her second year of Medical School. It will be a while before she gets up this way again, but, when she does, her bedroom will be ready and waiting. In the mean time, my other two children are planning a pool party for the following weekend. More on that later. Overall, a great beginning to our new life in Minnesota...

Farewell to an old friend...

Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) wrote...

"One’s home is like a delicious piece of pie you order in a restaurant on a country road one cozy evening. The best piece of pie you have ever eaten in your life and can never find again. After you leave home, you may find yourself feeling homesick, even if you have a new home that has nicer wallpaper and a more efficient dishwasher than the home in which you grew up..."

As we prepare to leave our home in Franklin for the last time, I can relate. Home is not where the heart is or where we hang our hats. It is a state of mind, a 4th dimension, that exists within the structures we refer to as home. These things take many shapes... Houses, apartments, trailers etc. As we prepare to pack and move our belongings to our new house in Minnesota, I realize that our "home" is coming with us, part of it anyways. That being said, this house, this place, will always be a part of our home no matter where we live. I look around for the last time and see years of memories stuffed into this house. Memories of my children growing up, birthday parties, backyard swing sets, broken bones, laceration repairs, family dinners, Christmas presents, Thanksgiving dinners, graduation parties, good times spent with good friends and too many more to mention. All these things are trapped within the confines of these four walls in Franklin, Wisconsin. I have taken a great many, too many, photos over the years and these will help trigger my memories of these events, as they exist now only in my mind and the minds of my family and friends. 

We will come back and visit, but it will never be the same. Time has a way of smoothing out the rough edges of our memories. In due time, we will have to use GPS to get around our old  town, or get caught asking for directions. You can always go back to where you used to live, but, things will be different. Restaurants and businesses will have come and gone. We will ask ourselves "When did that place open?" We will wish   
the Chik-Fil-A was open when we used to live there. We will see old friends and tell old stories. But, at the end of the day, we will go back to our new house and new life. They say you can always go home, but that is not true...You see, we never really left.

Farewell Franklin, WI...You will be missed!

Goodbye Yale Drive...

Final Family Photo...