60 Years!!!

Back at the end of June, we took a roadtrip to North Dakota to attend Dan's Aunt Kazia and Uncle Bob's 60th wedding anniversary! It was the first real roadtrip that Melanie could remember and I'm not sure it convinced her by any means to do this often!! It was fairly uneventful, hot, humid, but lots and lots of fun to visit with the family! Many of them we hadn't seen since our wedding, so it was fun to see how everyone has aged!

We arrived in Grand Forks on Thursday night around dinner, got situated, and had a good night sleep. On Friday we checked out town, got a pedicure and did a little shopping to keep us entertained! Then on Friday night we went to a gathering at Randy's house. Bob and Kazia were surprised when we walked through the garage into the backyard as they had no idea we were coming! Randy had an awesome yard for a party and the kids and dogs had fun running all around! Eventually Mom and Dad showed up, along with Susan, Bill and Betsy! Bob and Kazia were thrilled to see all of us!

I finally got to meet his cousin Ken, who lives in Oregon. Dan hasn't seen him since he was a kid, and of course I've never met him! Ken and his wife Nancy actually rode their bicycles from Oregon - it took 22 days and a whole lot of determination in my mind! What an achievement for them!

On Saturday we headed to Mayville for the actual party! Kazia treated all of her guests to her famous pancakes and Polish sausage! It was delicious!! I could have eaten them all day if she would have just kept cooking!! Kazia has always been known for putting on "big" meals - well she did have 6 kids, 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren! (And still counting!)

During the afternoon we wandered down to the picnic area by the lake and enjoyed watching the kids play and talking with all the cousins while trying to stay cool in the shade! We loved talking with Ray and Shirley, their daughter Sarah, cousin Randy and her son Jared, among all the others! There were a lot of "old" childhood stories as well as stores about what we're doing today! Then we headed back to the senior center where they catered in a great dinner for everyone!

All of Dan's Zurowski cousins also made the journey from Wisconsin and Minnesota! What fun it was to hang out and talk with them as well! This was the first time in well over 20 years since they had all been together! We made sure that we got a picture of that!

After a really long day, we headed back to Grand Forks, hung out in the pool with the girls and relaxed! On Sunday we hit the road and headed home! After 15 hours in the car, we finally pulled into our garage and sighed with relief that we were finally back home in our "heaven"! It was a fun weekend, but next time - let's FLY!