07.26.13 Brrrrrrrrrrrr, Bingo and VBS!

It is Friday, July 26th and the temperature here in Kabetogama, Minnesota at Noon is 54 degrees and windy.  When my laptop starts up it still shows me the current temperature in Hammond, Louisiana which was 90 degrees about an hour ago.  While it’s way too cold up here right now, I am glad we’re not in the 90 degree weather for sure.  I dressed in shorts and a short sleeve t shirt this morning and when I walked outside I had to turn around, come back in and put on a coat and long thick pants.  How crazy is this!!!  I feel like I’ve said that sentence a dozen times since coming up here and experiencing living in the North!  Even though we are not traveling as much as we will be in the future we are really experiencing a different way of life up here.   I planned to go wild blueberry picking this afternoon but I’m not too sure about doing that now.

We ventured out into the big night life of Kabetogama last evening and went to the local Bingo game at the community center.  There were over 100 people there including children down to the age of about 6.  Seems like it’s the family night out thing to do.  Roy and I took our co-worker Beth with us on this adventure.  It started at 8 and was over around 9:45.  It cost us $10 for four cards and we didn’t win one thing.  I’m not a gambler and now I know I’m not if it’s this easy to lose your money.  I’ve never been to a public bingo game and it was quite interesting to see all the locals in one place.  They are all mostly from Norwegian or Scandinavian ancestry which means a lot of real blonde boys, girls, men and women in one place.   A couple from the Methodist church we’re attending ran the Bingo so I don’t know if this is something the church sponsors or if this couple just does this.  Well that’s enough about our exciting Thursday night out.

The last day of Vacation Bible School at Kabetogama United Methodist Church was also today.  The children painted with colored markers these adorable wooden puppets that one of the church members, Mr. Eddie, made and primed for the children. He made a board that you slip under your leg and rest the puppet on.  A stick comes out the back of the puppet and all of its legs, arms and feet are movable so when you hold the stick up and the puppet stands on the board you can make it dance by bouncing the board.  The children all decorated theirs like farmers in keeping with the Hay Day theme and were able to take this craft home to keep, play with and enjoy.  Marcia and Allyssa made three adorable examples to give the children some ideas, and I was truly amazed at how well the children all did with their creations.  The group pictures is of all the children, some of the workers surrounding Mr. Eddie who made the puppets.

One of their outdoor activities was the famous “minnow races” that I thought weren’t real, but yet I saw them today.  They keep a bunch of minnows in a small ice chest with water.   The minnow racing box is a rectangular wooden box with 5 channels where the fish swim.  They put in a metal wall to hold back the minnows until the race starts.  Each child scoops up a minnow and puts it into one of the five channels.  Once that is done they lift the metal wall and off go the minnows.  Some need a little help with a flick of the water above them and the kids all seemed to be quite experienced at this.  Maybe I’ve lived a sheltered life and they do these in the South as well as up here but I’ve never heard of them before, yet it was a lot of fun to watch and the children really loved it.

They also played one of the games our youth use to play at “What It Is” at LSU each summer and our family played at family gatherings throughout the years.    We take 2 sheets or blankets and four people take one of each corner of each blanket.  You put a filled water balloon in one of the sheets and those four people lift the sheet up so that the balloon flies over to the other people’s sheet and they try to catch it.  It’s a lot of fun to see how far you can go back and forth with it before the balloon hits someone or the ground and bursts.   My family will recognize this one as they’ve all become pretty good at it over the years!  I miss you family folks!  We’ll be back around Thanksgiving so hopefully it won’t be too cold and we can fling some balloons together then!!   Cold wouldn’t stop these Northerners though!

I really enjoyed working with the children and the other VBS volunteers sharing the love of Jesus with these little ones.  No matter how small a group, if one little child comes to know the Lord or if the seed is planted it is so worth it.

Roy just barbequed some thick pork chops and sliced potatoes for our dinner (delicious!!!) and we are getting rested up this cold, windy Friday afternoon preparing for our grueling Saturday workday.  Only 5 more of those Saturdays left and then we start in September closing down the resort for the winter.  I’ve always liked countdowns and this one especially!  Ya’ll come back now ya’ hear!