... I would ended up living at "home" for a month to help out at home during his recovery. I used that time to work on a lot of personal projects too and spent some great quality time with family , so I thought it was a well time spent. I was able to attend my niece's musical concert..
During my month "break", I worked on an online class to build on to my "Fitness Coach" certificate. I took a class on Senior Fitness (see Fitness: Exercise tips for Seniors goodnewshealthandfitness.wordpress.com
I would apply what I learn with my aging mom to encourage her on exercising and get strong as she battled some health ailments due to aging..
I went back to Morris mid February after almost a month of "paid leave time" from my work, which was a blessing. My dad started to slowly get his strength after a month since his AAA surgery, which I was a little more comfortable leaving. I would go with him to drive for the first time in weeks , which I wanted to make sure he was able to do this before I went back to Morris.
It's been a long cold winter season, but we got some temporary heat when the Polynesian Dancers came in March 2nd...
I was inspired by the free workshop they gave prior to their performance to do some different type of drumming on my recent new drum set my co-worker gave me free..
I play in my garage so my renter(s) won't be bothered by me playing in the house. It's cold , but playing on the drums keeps me warm!
April
This month is a big month for family back in St. Paul as we celebrate my mom and older sister's birthday. My siblings and I went to this "once in a lifetime" event called the "NCAA Final Four" basketball tournament as Minneapolis hosted this year's big event..
We brought my nephew and his cousin to it, which we did various activities at the Minneapolis Convention Center..
The following day, we went to another event called Philippine Day...
I would see a buddy of mine from my high school days, who I keep in touch regularly. It's an annual event, which has been a great time to catch-up with friends I haven't seen for awhile along with spending time with family too.
I would go back home in St. Paul later in the month for "Resurrection Sunday" weekend..
I'm thankful to God everyday for what He did on the cross!
May
I had the opportunity to take some clients from my ft-job with another co-worker on the 15th to the annual Special Olympics: Track & Field Regional Competition in Moorhead, Minnesota...
This is just one of the perks of my job! :) I would end up coming back here later in the month after taking a renter (Shafiul from Bangladesh) to this area. We would visit Fargo first...
June
Went to my nephew's baseball tournament with family..
Later in the month, my parents and I went to Como Pavillion in St. Paul to this restaurant along the lake ...
Later in the week during my annual week of July 4th vacation, I went to the St. Paul Saints Baseball Game at their newest stadium for the first time since it opened years ago..
After July 4th, my mom and I would do some karaoke to some favorite "patriotic songs"...
Sal w/fam at Afton Alps Snowboarding (Hastings, Minnesota)
https://youtu.be/6VfZOqZ-SyU
I also went with my family to Mall of America to celebrate my younger brother's birthday. We went out to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant and walked a little around the mall.
For work, we did our 2nd annual BINGO game with the kids at St. Mary's Elementary School. It was nice to see folks I work with mingle with the local kids. Great exposure for both sides of our diverse community.
February
I wore shorts on February 10th of 2017 as it was an unusual "above average" warm winter day. We had our annual "Valentine Dance" at Clinton, MN with my workplace. Usually, it's single digits or below zero each year during the dance.
I went to the cities on my birthday weekend to attend my older sister's future brother in -law's "Bachelor's Party". We did geocaching in Bloomington and did various activities in downtown Minneapolis. We had a unique encounter with a guy begging for money as we were heading to our car in the parking ramp...
Went to the annual "Philippine Day" at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood, Minnesota. This event grew out of the St. Paul Landmark Center, so they started this in a bigger venue at it's current location 2 years ago...
I saw a former college friend, Andre and a high school friend, Sean (no picture).
The biggest highlight of the year was being part of my older sister's wedding with James in Chanhassen Dinner Thetre in Chanhassen, Minnesota..
Pictures are personal, so not posting it here. However, I'll post this selfie snapshot (click on pic for video) when I visited Prince's Paisley Park Studios in the same city.
I just wanted "thank God" for an awesome wedding and to see the whole family present, which was an answer to prayer!
I created a blog on installing a ceiling fan for the first time, which I hope viewers/readers can learn from some of my installing mistakes-> Home: Installing a Ceiling Fan Step by Step autohomeandgarden.wordpress.com
Praise the Lord, I won tickets to this annual family music concert festival. I never ever been to this annual event in Blaine, MN. I won a pair of tickets (via Minnesota Gospel Twin Cities that ministers and feeds the "poor"), so I even bought extra as a gift to some family members I took..
Here is another Praise God report: We were walking to the ball park to buy tickets when a couple in a motorcycle (I saw this as a "symbol" and reminder of this book a college friend wrote called-"About Face", which was my first book to read in it's entirety in one setting!) came by offering their tickets for FREE! They said they weren't able to watch the game and just wanted to give it away! What a blessing from the Lord!
I would later doing my annual visit to the North Shore by going to Duluth, Two Harbors, and the surrounding area with some college students that one was my renter at the time...
We visited this place called "Fitzgers Brewhouse, which we found via "google map" as my friend Wahid was looking particularly for "good root beer" (see foodsofallkinds.wordpress.com blog I wrote afterwards.
I had a week off during July 4th, so I took advantage of that time spending with family down in St. Paul. We rode bikes around Minneapolis. Afterwards, we went to see fireworks at Maplewood Light It Up Fireworks
I work part time for a company called Prairie Community Services, which I started full-time back in the summer of 1999 after graduating from the local university. I was asked to fill-in and work a weekend as they were short staff. It was probably my funnest time of my job as I got paid to supervise the "developmentally disabled clients" (young kids-teens-adults) at this annual camp they attend called Camp Confidence Learning Center in Brainerd, MN. Awesome place as a resort "escape away" for this particular population. Please consider donating your time and and money to see what this place is all about and how you can make a difference!
I went to the cities several times this month, which was the most of all year. I drove my renter a couple of different weekends to the UofM TC Campus looking for his new "home". I then went to the Minnesota State Fair with family, which we went to our favorite area-"Midway: Games"..
My parents rode the Sky Ride for the first time since we were "kids". I would also go to Red Lobster twice with the family to celebrate my dad's birthday and another time with just my parents...lots of seafood this month!
September
I started the month with my only softball game(s), which my friends from my former softball days decided to do a "last minute" weekend tournament. Unfortunately, we were double eliminated , which I felt very bad as I had a poor batting average (1-2 hits out of 10 or so???).
I then celebrated "Ramadan" with my renter and friends by going to Alexandria to a former ESL (English as a Second Language) student of mine.
I drove my work 15-passenger mini-bus to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to watch "Grease". It was great weather and the whole trip went well..thank God!
The Minnesota Twins baseball team were getting hot, so I wanted to watch as many games at Target Field..
First game was on 9.15.17
Second game was on 9.30.17 with a friend (Chris, who doesn't like pictures), which I left in the middle of UMM Coming Weekend (despite friends came all the way from Florida and St. Paul). This is how HUGE of Minnesota Twins fan I am.
Unfortunately, the Minnesota Twins didn't make it past the Wild Card (against the Yankees) :(, which I watched with some friends at the local bar in Morris, MN.
October
I went through a drawing streak during fall, which here is one of my favorites
I attended "Grandparents Day" with my parents at Capitol Hill in St. Paul, which my niece and nephew showed us around. It was nice to see the school where my younger brother went to when he was growing up.
November
For work (ft-job), I was asked to drive some clients to the annual regional Special Olympics Bowling tournament in Moorhead, MN. It was very windy driving back, which I'm thankful to God for getting us safely home!
I went home for Thanksgiving (every we should be thankful and grateful!) and did some "family time" (e.g. went out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, walking around Como Park/Lake, and "window shopping" at Rosedale Mall)..
During the weekend, my sister wanted to workout, so we decided to go to Maplewood Community Center..
*this is the launch of my youtube channel focusing on health, fitness, and lifer overall as my instagram account is named after-> #healthfitnesslifeguy
I continued the weekly soccer on Thursday (1st). It was Labor Day weekend, so I did the paper route with my workplace on Friday (3rd). I then went home (St. Paul) the next day for the weekend, which I spent family quality time-including my annual time with family (only my mom) at the Minnesota State Fair.
Above is a stuff animal I won after hitting a plate after three throws in this carnival like-game.
I decided to go back to the cities the weekend after as I wanted to check out the Minnesota Renaissance Festival
I never been to this annual festival as I really didn't have interest when I was growing up until I got older (e.g. culturally appreciative). I invited a couple of friends of mine, which was their first time too.
Fall was coming soon, so I did some house projects (e.g. exterior window boundaries screws got tighten). Also got an oil change.
...I ended the month by going to dance my friend (Mark) personally invited me, which I brought Luciano along. We watched a preview of this adoption documentary video (e.g. He Came to Me) he's currently working on. Learning more about my friend's adoption story make me more appreciative of my own blessings (e.g. family). Hope you can check the video out and pray fully consider supporting him with prayer and a financial donation.
I started the first week of the month by working on my car (headlight bulb cover has been lose). On Tuesday (2nd), I was personally invited by a "facebook" friend to the local Morris Police Appreciation Picnic after all the "negative" (see "Netural Perspective: Law Enforcement-Police “Protect and to Serve?” in the news. We then had our weekly "Morris Pick-up Soccer/Futbol at Green River Park Thursday, which we would not miss at all this whole month. We had different people almost every week as not everybody was able to come the same time. My renter and his friend (from Kazakistan) was even able to come, which my co-worker (Oray) enjoyed meeting. It's been a great social community connection.
The 1st weekend of the month, I would go to the cities to attend my niece's birthday. I used the weekend to spend quality time with my parents too and celebrate my dad's birthday early since I couldn't come down here the 2nd weekend. I treated him out for his b-day by paying lunch for both him and my mom at Denny's-great wheat pancakes by the way!
My renter for 3-4+ years finally was moving, which took a longer start than he hoped for as finding a place in Mankato was challenging. He ended up moving out the 18th (compared to early July) while 2 friends he referred to already moved in (Saturday the 13th). We managed to all live together for 3-4 days as this has happened before.
One of my ESL students (Caio from Brazil) did a presentation about his country on the 10th (Wednesday) as our tradition in our classes before students leave. This gives the opportunity for the community to come and learn; however, it didn't workout for many people's schedule. Fortunately I was able to video tape it and I'm able to share it.
It was Stevens County Fair time, which I would go there only once due to busyness of two new renters moving the same weekend. I ended up taking both of them for lunch to get to know them on Saturday (13th). It was great weather and the only threat of severe weather the whole time was Wednesday night, but nothing much came out of the dark scary looking clouds that evening.
On Wednesday (17th), my workplace took our annual trip to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, which I would drive the big bus again for 2 wheel chair clients to go the 2nd year in a row. It was great weather (foggy for awhile south of Willmar) , but there were a lot of road construction along the way that slowed us a bit, but not too bad.
We saw "Beauty & the Beast", which I had to comment on the great costume designs the characters wore. I wasn't able to watch it "fully" because I had my hands full with work.
The last weekend of the month, I would drive to the cities with a friend/ESL student from Brazil (Luciano) as he was willing to help my sister and her b/f move. It was kind of "last minute" (planned ahead) as my co-worker (John F.) volunteered to take my shift on Saturday (27th) the day prior. I called Luciano if it was ok to leave Friday (same day), so it worked out-Praise the Lord! It was an answer to prayer! We ended up going to the Minnesota State Fair that evening as a treat and some fun before moving the next day...
Luciano had so much fun that we ended up going back here on Sunday for 7-8 hours before driving back to Morris...
On Monday (29th), I had our quarterly Adult Basic Education Consortium Meeting in Alexandria, as part of my teaching English certificate qualification for the up-coming academic season. I then went to Menards to gather some landscaping supplies that I never had a chance to work on for the beginning of the summer because I just was slacking..hehe!
I watched the "National Day of Prayer" online "live" from my house after finishing up some yardwork. I was about to attend the special service locally, but wasn't able to finish mowing in time.
The first weekend of the month, I brought some of my ESL students (Caio & Luciano from Brazil) to the cities to stay with me at my parent's house. We first went to Hudson, Wisconsin just so they can say they've been to another state. We then drove a little north across back to Minnesota to the beautiful river town of Stillwater.
We were waiting for my co-workers/friends (Oray & Olga) to call us to meet us at the Festival of Nations late Saturday morning. However, due to family circumstance, they wouldn't meet us till 2:30ish. I would give them a tour of the riverfront in downtown St. Paul. To kill time, we walked around the big outdoor annual "Cinco de Mayo" in the beautiful sunny day. We still had some time, so checked out Como Zoo for awhile before they told me they were on their way from the west area of the Twin Cities. Ironically, they happened to get lost and saw us coming out of Como Park's parking lot..coincidence?..not! God divine baby..hehe!..Praise the Lord!
We ended up driving together to the River Centre in downtown St. Paul. Along the way, I accidentally led them to a Wrong Way street, which was my 2nd time doing this in the Twin Cities (1st time happened in Minneapolis..hehe!). When we finally got to the parking lot, we met my sister and my niece & nephew outside of the parking ramp...
We all hung out at the Festival of Nations, but it was hard to stuck together as a big group. We ended up going our separate ways to see the rest of the event.
After the event, we visited a mass service at the St. Paul Cathedral, where we met my parents at the end. We toured around the beautiful church building before heading back to my parents' house for the night.
The next day, Caio & Luciano wanted to go shopping at the Mall of America, which I would see "Sea life Minnesota Aquarium" for the first time. We would walk all floors of the mall from 11am-5pm or so. It was nice to see some new additions and the remodeled front area (north side)..
We then drove back to Morris and went through downtown Minneapolis along the way. However, the guys were too tired, so we didn't stop to take any pics around the city.
When I got back to Morris, I picked-up my new fixed lawn mower, so I'm ready for the new year. On Thursday (12th), I had a "challenging" day at work, but it worked out. I would spend 3 hours of yardwork after going home, which is somewhat relaxing to just be outside.
On Saturday (14th), I missed the local college graduation for the first time that I can remember. They started a new rule that you need tickets (invite from students) to attend. They've had some over-crowding issues indoors in the past, to it was probably a way to cut down on congestion. I ended up working out at the nearby gym and would see the guest speaker (former Minneapolis mayor) coming out.
I painted the garage in my backyard of my house, which was supposed to be my summer project. However, due to the early nice weather. I decided to start early.
We had no work on Friday starting the last week of the month, so we had had a 4-day Memorial Weekend. I spent it by catching-up on many of my on-going projects. I was supposed to do the paper route on Saturday (28th), but the door to the local paper place was lock. I decided to ride my bike around Pomme De Terre and caught a lot of great footage of various birds. I love the wildlife and nature!
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