Road Trip: Backtrack

Okay.  It's been a long couple of days but now I finally have a moment to recap the week:

Sunday:  The Weiland Family reunion picnic was the event of the day.  In nearby La Crescent we arrived at the park and it was already starting to be a hot and muggy day.  Earlier, after helping with making the salad we were to bring, Hans and his sister worked on the pinata.  I don't know why we called it a donkey all morning because eventually someone pointed out that it was in fact an elephant.  It took a long time to figure out that the poor mache creature did not have a candy-stuffing orifice and so one was improvised with a kitchen knife.  Elephant lobotomy.

Checking the pinata for polyps

The picnic began slowly until enough introductions had been made to generally piece together which of Hans' great aunts or uncles the many cousins belonged to.  Great-Aunt Rita had brought a clown costume and lederhosen for Hans' sister to wear (still not sure why except for general silliness).  It was a very hot day, so sis-in-law picked out the lighter clown costume and I donned the lederhosen so she didn't feel singled-out.  We wore these costumes as we tried to collect the confused and slightly scared young cousins (mostly under the age of five).  It probably didn't help that I was wearing Euro men's clothing and holding a long oak stick.

Anyway, the pinata proved to be exceptionally durable and so after many thwacks delivered by the tiny children Great-Uncle John delivered several fantastic blows that sent the legs spinning in all directions and finally finished it off with a croquet mallet.

Do these lederhosen make my butt look big?

Hans' mom had brought a wonderful lemon poppy-seed cake to share and also announce her 30-year wedding anniversary to Hans' dad's cousins, one of whom declared "I would marry him just so I could divorce him!".  There's a long history of torment among the Weiland cousins.  Did I mention that apparently the 30th-anniversary tradition is to exchange rings?  Nose rings, that is.

Reprieve or renew?

As the picnic came to a lull another cousin told a funny story about a biology class she took in college where she had to castrate a hamster.  Apparently the little critter woke up in the middle of the operation and had to be re-gassed unconscious and later it fell off the operating table.  This summer she's been teaching forestry to boy scouts and apparently when they step out of line she warns them that she is now practiced in the art of neutering.

Monday I wasn't feeling very well but in the afternoon Hans' dad took us all out on the Mississippi to go boating.  The outboard motors were running poorly, so we only went a short ways upstream.  That didn't stop us from having a good time swimming in the river even if I don't like water grasses.

The thrill of boating

In the evening we had a wonderful meal in town and later us kiddos surprised Hans' parents with a present packaged in a large shell that I made from wire and tissue paper during the previous evenings (the 30-year anniversary traditional gift is pearls).

On Tuesday after a prolonged goodbye Hans and I set off for Maryland in order to do some apartment-hunting.  We stopped outside of Indianapolis (where we did not stick around for Gen Con).  Hans was my hero for doing most of the driving since I was still feeling awful.

Wednesday was a very long day of driving, though not without interesting sights.  We were very amused by an unfortunate billboard for "Tom Raper's RVs".  The town of Wheeling, Ohio was very pretty.  Sadly, many of the trees we saw were burned by the summer heat and very brown.  Traffic on the DC beltway was a little intense but we made it to our hotel just fine.  All I can say is that we are especially thankful for our GPS.

Thursday was spent entirely on looking at apartments and condos.  We think we've picked one that will work for us but now we're waiting for our application to be approved.  

Tomorrow we're going to play tourists and visit the Mall for the first time!