Thursday notes from Lesa

Greetings from the north! Today was awesome! The weather was beautiful at about 33 degrees and no wind...we've been here long enough to have a benchmark so comparatively, it was gorgeous! I'm thankful we've been able to experience the true spectrum of the Minnesota weather, and had it not been for the intense cold the last few days, today might not have felt so grand! I can say that now that the forecast the remainder of our stay is to be in the teens and above. :)

We began our day with a fantastic breakfast spread at Steffes Auctioneers, followed by a tour of Meeker Electric Cooperative (MEC). MEC sponsored our trip to Powder Ridge with lunch and a day of snow-tubing and skiing. We were joined by the ag teacher, Rob Cole, and four FFA students (we've had two FFA students with us each day), as well as MEC representatives and Janet Huhn, our chaffeur for the day.

We all began with tubing, including Mama Gwen and Jo Ann. Mickey told them they had seniority over the entire hill...they took that to mean that they were over the hill, and they were, literally! The view was fantastic with snow covered fields as far as the eye could see. We went down the hill a time or two individually, and then we all formed two rows (about 16 of us), held the feet of the person behind us, and were pushed over the edge; that was hysterical fun which required more than one trip! Groups of two to four also hooked together and went down occasionally, but Adam seemed to enjoy his individual trips the most. On the individual runs, we could return to the top and head back down a lot quicker when we weren't waiting on other slow-pokes!

After an hour or so, those who were interested in skiing departed to obtain their gear and receive instruction. Some of us stayed behind on the tubing hills for awhile. Some of the group started on the bunny slope with instructors, and all but Mickey graduated to the more difficult slopes. Jessi hit those quickly, and the others of the group soon followed, all except Mickey who decided he was safest remaining on the bunny slope! Hayden caught on quickly and was an instant speed demon, and she joined Jessi and the two of them spent the rest of the afternoon burning up the ski lift and slopes. Adam put on the skis and worked with an instructor briefly but soon decided it was just too much trouble, so most of us returned to the tubing until we were forced to leave. :) Several of us were honored with a snowmobile ride to the top and down one of the slopes! The day couldn't have been much better!

On the return drive to Litchfield, Greg had us stop at Knaus' meat market to buy the world's greatest BBQ sauce for Stacy. After we got back to meet our hosts, we had an opportunity to rest, pack, and get ready for the chili/soup feed this evening. Greg was treated to a sight-seeing venture of pheasants and deer (they saw 13 deer standing in one field) followed by a Litchfield High School wrestling meet.

The evening concluded with a delicious chili/soup feed at Darwin Rod & Gun Club where we had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. Many of the teens then went bowling, and although we adults were invited to go (a very pleasant surprise!), we were just too beat and decided we better rest for our early morning departure for Spectralytics, the capitol, and the mall.

We've been treated like royalty all week and have been well fed, so we are already spoiled and in for a rude awakening next week when we have to return to the real world! We have some of the most fantastic host families ever! We have thoroughly enjoyed our trip, and as Hayden is fond of saying, it has been everything we expected and more!!!! Once again, I have to tell you that I am so very proud of her, Jessi, and Adam in their behavior and speaking skills, not that I would have expected otherwise from any of them, but it sure has been a blessing watching and listening! And these Litchfield teens are great and have been very welcoming and fun for them all week. The week has flown by...guess we'll be seeing you soon!