It was a great weekend.  Although I missed the last few parades that my daughter marched in, we decided to go t o Alexandria for the Vikingland festival of the bands.   So it was me, and four  now former band menbers that drove to Alexandria yesterday.  What a great parade!  When we got there I asked a parade official  what street they were going down, and she told me how to get there, and where there was an empty parking lot right by the TV cameras.   The kids ditched me, leaving me with a cell phone.  I found my corner, and was feeling a little lonely, but struck up a conversation with a neat kid who was selling pop and water.  He showed me a billfold that he made out of duct tape,  and said that he was not artsy but he just liked doing stuff,  I told him he would make a good craftsman, and that was art too.  We chit chattted throughout the parade, inbetween his runs back for more pop and water.  When he finally sold out toward the end, he gave me a free sprite, and thanked me for keeping him company!  I was thankful too for not having to watch the parade alone.   When I got back with my crew, and told them about the cool kid,  one of them said, "didn't his mom tell him not to talk to strangers?"   Well I was grateful that he had made an exception,  that day.....

  The highlight of the parade itself was a visiting band from Oslo Norway.  Now, as one of the speakers at the awards ceremony put it,   3/4 of the people in Minnesota had Norwegian ancestry, so you can imagine they had quite a warm welcome. 

Pictured is Big Ole , the mascot of the town.   It was not too far from here that they found the Kensington Rune stone, the controversial relic that may or may not prove that the Vikings were here waaay before Columbus, hence "birthplace of America"

Now that band is over with for the summer,  the kid has a bunch of traveling lined up before she heads to college in the fall.  My life is changing,  and I can't help but get a little emotional over the fact that I'm sending my daughter off into the world.  I believe she's well prepared, and ready to take on new challenges, and I should be too.  I am sure going to miss her and her friends.   This was the perfect day though!  What a great memory it will make.