What a Weekend

Wow. What a weekend.
I have to say the fun of it all started at work on Friday.
I work in the cafeteria at my school, and I was scheduled to work in the dish room. I got there to find out that the dish machine was broken. Lovely. So we had to spray off the dishes and then wash them by hand. The students had to use paper plates and cups. So I begin spraying dishes when my boss comes in and says, “Oh, you’re not busy, why don’t you help in the salad bar area?” I head over there where I am told to create backups of the veggies, which means I had to cut cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower and wash cherry tomatoes. All of a sudden I smelled something sort of smoky. I figured it was just the grill where they were charbroiling hamburgers. I look over at the grill, and notice a blinking light, followed by the sound of an alarm. The fire alarm was going off, and we headed into the elevator(which we’re not supposed to take in a fire, but we did anyway) and walked outside to wait. We got to the sidewalk, and there was the Edy’s ice cream truck, ready to make a delivery. Except he can’t go in, because of the fire alarm. So he’s stuck waiting with us. Someone mentioned free samples, and he pulled out four boxes of Strawberry Fruit Bars. They were very good. Plus, it was something to do while we waited for 45 minutes. That’s the longest I’ve had to wait for a fire alarm. While it was a pain to stand and wait, I was being paid for those 45 minutes. When we finally got back inside, we learned that the smoky smell I had noticed, had been noticed by people on the other side of the building. So I worked while everyone ate lunch, because I had to get out of there so we could leave on vacation.
We picked my dad up at SSE at 6 that night, and started the drive to Burnsville, MN. For the most part, the roads weren’t too bad, just some road construction here and there. When we finally got to the hotel, we had to get some sleep since we had to be up bright and early the next morning. Lets just say, I did not get a lot of sleep that night. The beds were tiny, the room was too warm, and my mother was snoring loud enough that I’m sure the other rooms near us could hear her. When the alarm went off at 6:45, I wanted to just smash the clock. But we got up, perused the free breakfast, and got dressed for….
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival!!! (Trumpet Fanfare)

My dad was particularly happy, because this weekend’s theme was “The Highland Fling”, which to my family means my dad has to pick out his kilt from the stack he brought and my sister and I are tortured with the sounds of the bagpipes throughout the entire festival grounds. It also means you see a lot of guys trying to be macho with their kilts, which in reality they picked up in the women’s department of Wal-Mart. In this case, you can call what they’re wearing a skirt. Anyway, my dad’s push is to watch the entertainment, rather than walk through every shop. So when we got there, I noticed there was an Elizabethan singing group that would be performing. Perfect, something I would like, and entertainment. We headed to the pub where the group would be performing. The group enters, and I realize, the four of us make up about a third of the crowd waiting to watch the performance. So they begin singing, and they are quite good. Then they ask for a male volunteer. Let me say this about renaissance fairs; if you are shy, or don’t like weird people talking to you, this is not the place for you. You will be talked to, be the one picked to be a volunteer, people will try to sell you all sorts of things, such as pickles, that you don’t want. And they’re all dressed funny. And for the most part, I love it.
Except that after the male volunteer, they needed a female one. And guess who’s sitting towards the front? That’s right. Me. And I’m not a big fan of getting up in front of a group, especially when you have no clue what’s going to happen. In the end, all I had to do was stand there holding a picture frame, while they sang. And when I was done, I got a button.
Yay me. So the rest of the day went pretty well, my sister and I got to go through most of the shops on our own, we watched my sister’s glass dragon being made, we saw the snakes from the herpetological society, we watched the Scottish dance society, and my sister consumed a lot of pickles. We met up with my parents again, and looked in some more shops. We stopped to watch the one jester, whom my sister calls Mr. Squeaker, because he only talks through squeaks. It was quite amusing watching him throw clubs at the guy hanging in a cage in a tree. Then the sky got really dark, and we made our way to the front gates. Being there for around 8 hours was enough anyways.
After we got changed into “normal” clothes, we headed to the Olive Garden for the Never-ending Pasta Bowl. Yum. Then we came back to the hotel and crashed. It was a much better nights sleep then the one before. The alarm went off at 6:45 again, which was not supposed to happen. But we were checked out of the hotel by 10:30. From there, we headed to the Mall of America. We were going for the “As Seen on TV” store, because my sister needed/wanted the Walk Fit orthotics. While we were there, we hit the Disney store, American Girl(because I wanted to see the doll that’s creating controversy), Lane Bryant, and Build-a-Bear. But of course, we had to find some place to eat there, so we went to The Rainforest Café. We celebrated my birthday as a family, since on my real birthday, things did not go smoothly. Then, my sister and I each got a t-shirt, and with a coupon got a free gift. It was a glittery clip for on the refrigerator. Woo-hoo. After all the shopping, and stopping at a Cub Foods, we headed back home to our own beds. :)
It was a long, but very fun weekend. And now, I’m stuck in school for around 16 weeks. I can’t wait until next summer.