On Friday, I submitted my last feature story to The Forum, and realized all the hard work I’d done these last couple weeks to meet my final obligations had made me hungry. Well, that and I hadn’t eaten lunch. So, off I went into beautiful Downtown Fargo midday.
One of the things I have loved about working downtown these past five months has been the yummy food places, all within a short jaunt from the newspaper. The people who hang out there that time of day also make for a nice diversion. But since starting my job in January, I had yet to walk the 20 extra steps needed to reach Spicy Pie. So I did so and treated myself to a “Not So Skinny Vinny” special. It was well worth the extra 20 steps.
It had been a busy week, and though the little guys were well taken care of, I kept feeling like I was pushing them aside to forge ahead. So Friday evening, I was all theirs. I’m not big on crowds, but Ribfest 2012 was on and they’d never been before. So we trudged through the Fargodome parking lot with bouncy games and ribs on our minds.
When we arrived, the sun was beating down. But the weather was about perfect that time of day; not too unbearable. Just a little bright for young eyes eager to get at the games.
Not to mention each other. Here they are with their giant Q-tips, going at it.
And velcro man gets stuck…
Just about the time I was feeling exasperated by the crowd and bouncy houses, the sun began to descend. The band had come out by then, too, and a crowd had gathered by the band stand. The whole atmosphere turned more casual and relaxed. Beautiful blessing, the North Dakota sunset.
As the crowd began to thicken, I lifted Nick up in the air so he could see the live musicians at work. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be up on a stage someday so I figured I’d give him a sneak peek at his future.
We had some ribs and the boys declared them “better than yours, Mom.” That hurt, but I got over it. We were able to scrape up just enough spare change to buy half a bag of kettle corn on our way out. “That was the best Ribfest ever,” Adam said. Well, like I said, it was his first, too, but I got the message. They’d enjoyed it.
One of my favorite part of the weekends, though, was the next morning. I was buzzing around doing errands, and went home to retrieve Olivia. She knew I hadn’t eaten lunch so brought it to me curbside. Sweet!
Oh, and here are her cool newspaper nails, created with real newspaper print.
Turning a corner takes a lot of energy and effort. I’ve had a lot to think about in these past weeks; a lot of little things to tend to to get ready for the big things. Ending the week with the kiddos did my heart good and set me aright.
Q4U: What about turning corners do you like? Dislike?
The unexpected blessings we couldn’t have dreamed of… I’ve begun noticing those so much more easily. But sometimes the unexpected is not as welcoming and then you can feel like you are just swimming in new and challenging which can be rough 🙂
We’ve never been to rib fest either for probably the same reasons- crowds, heat, etc. But the sunset surely would have colored me happy!
Awesome photos, once again. ND really comes through for you with the sunsets. We got a glimpse of some real beauty last night, too.