Making tracks in STJ....

On Friday Jason, the girls and I set off on our annual pilgrimage to St. James Railroad Days. Railroad Days is the quintessential small town celebration complete with bounce houses and pony rides in the movie theater parking lot, an old car show, a kiddie tractor pull, a parade which by my estimation boasts more tootsie rolls tossed per capita than any other parade in the upper Midwest and to finish the festivities off with a bang, the beer gardens!

After celebrating Ella's birthday ONE MORE TIME (this soiree included Dad's birth as well) on Saturday with Jake's Pizza, we decided to head uptown and see what fun we could find.

A scenic tour of a four block radius of Main Street STJ seemed to be the best use of our time so tickets were purchased and our line formed.

All 12 of us boarded the trolley and were introduced to our pullers, ButterCup and ButterBiscuit.

With the ring of a bell, we were off. Our trolley driver hit play on his boombox and immediately launched into his rendition of 'I Cross My Heart'~a George Strait favorite. Now, I think it would be fair to call me a music enthusiast. I enjoy music as much as Lily enjoys monkeys but I prefer my music to presented to me in a more traditional venue~a stadium, my headphones on my Zune, church, the radio, you know, the usual. Imagine my discomfort when I was sitting front row for a solo serenade in a less than traditional and extremely intimate setting.

I'm not knocking Mr. Busey's vocal prowess. In fact, I think he has a lovely voice. I just wasn't prepared to be so up close and personal with it. Apparently Ella wasn't either because she not so subtly plugged her ears during the concert. Anyway, the ride was entertaining and luckily fairly short and we were on to the next stop before I could cross my heart. The kids quickly bounced through one bounce house and then, of course, it was time for the requisite Carter family snack session. Mini doughnuts, cheese curds, funnel cakes and sno-cones were rapidly consumed and smiles were bountiful. Meandering through the old cars parked along main street, we realized we had seen most of the offerings in the public square; including this little honey.......

and began the trek back to the Carter family homestead.

After some much deserved R&R and another meal, it was time for the parade. We settled in to our reserved seating and got ready to enjoy the show....

Marching bands, classic cars, horses, extremely loud motorcycles, clowns and even a guy on stilts. What more could a person ask for? Just when I began to wonder if the fun would ever end, it finally did and home again we headed. After some brief instructions to the grandparents (which we knew would be ignored) and some instructions in return for us (which they knew would be ignored), we were Beer Gardens bound. It's always fun to see people you don't see often and rock out to sweet 80's music at the same time. And if the city of STJ was going to pull the plug on our fun by shutting down sales of pitchers of beer, they were sorrily mistaken! We proved beer tastes just as good by the cup as it does by the pitcher! Boy, did we ever show them!!!! The evening came to an end too soon and after a nocturnal picnic of pork chop sandwiches, burgers and brats, it was time to take off the party hats and get some shut eye.

Jason was required back in the real world but the girls and I were in dire need of a few extra days of vacation. To help us out, my good friend Jes put on her chauffeur hat and very graciously provided Mr. Kolb with a ride back to Sioux Falls while the girls and I hunkered down at Mom and Dad's and looked forward to more good times! The weather wasn't picture perfect but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Monday we took a road trip over to New Ulm to meet my cousin's new twin baby boys, Mitchell and Levi. Just as I suspected, the boys were adorable and Grace and Ella were baby hogs!

The kids spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Long Lake with Papa, riding the four wheeler...

playing in the sandbox...

swinging...

and just your garden variety frolicking. As long as you are at Papa and Grandma's house, it really doesn't matter what you are doing~it's awesome!

The sun peeked out long enough to allow us a quick dip at the STJ Community pool and then the girls and I loaded up and hit the road. As usual, it was a bittersweet goodbye~hard to say goodbye to Papa and Grandma but anxious to see their daddy! With the promise of a visit from Grandma, Papa, Kimmie, Austin and Emma next week, it was a little easier to drive away with a smile.