FinnFest

The day after the wedding I drove down to Howard City to visit my friend and former sister-in-law, Diane, and her family. I left Robert in the care of Sue & Roger. It served them right since Sue was feeding him Bloody Marys and he was too annoying to take with me. When I got back Robert & Roger went bar-hopping on bicycles (don't ask.) We ended up eating the leftover wedding food and drinking leftover wedding wine and spent the night. The next morning we went back up to the cabin and Patti & Jeff Houslander came up for the night. It was really good to see them. They left Tuesday morning which turned out to be a good thing because we had a huge storm in the afternoon and our power went out. It didn't come back on until 1:30 in the morning.
The next few days seemed to drag on waiting for FinnFest. Bobbie & Michael arrived on Thursday with Sarah along as a stow-away. Then Friday evening the rest of the brothers & families showed up. Erin was supposed to drive up Friday night but couldn't leave work early so she came on Saturday.
FinnFest didn't seem as festive this year because the Old Finns from Traverse City didn't come. Uncle Jim and Aunt Max were under the weather and Cousin Roland refused to take a shower so Aunt Yaya stayed home with him. Poor Cousin Cindy had to drive by herself. After awhile we all started thinking, "That's all it takes? Refuse to take a shower?" We couldn't believe it was that simple! All these years people have been coming up with elaborate excuses to miss FinnFest. Divorce, "forgetting" to put in for the time off at work, I live in Colorado and can't make it, etc. The answer was right under our noses! Well, Roland will be sorry because he just broke the 3-way tie for Cousins with Perfect FinnFest Attendance. Now it's down to me and Cindy (if you've ever been to FinnFest you know how pathetic that is.)
This year I decided it was time for a FinnFest song. There hasn't been one since "Lilybird Lane" performed by Yaya, Mimi and Cindy way back when. It was a tough act to follow but I figured enough time had passed and no one would remember how good it was. My song was "Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of FinnFest." I know that sounds similar to a Nat King Cole song but I swear I wrote mine first. Meghan and I led the sing-a-long with Mimi on the kazoo (no one else plays a musical instrument except Sarah) and Erin played the slide whistle. We were a big hit! I've had requests for the words - well, one from a 4-year-old who wanted them so he can improve on them for next year. Hey, he can't even read!


FinnFest always seems to fall around John's birthday. Is that just a coincidence?





Meghan piloting the booze cruise.