Home in MN

October 16, 2009
I made it to MN today. I got up at 4:50am (gotta love the early flights) and returned my rental car at the airport around 6:30am. Oh, my car is finally getting the hail damage fixed and should be ready for me to pick up when I get back to Denver (I can't wait)!!! The flight went well and I slept most of way. Abbi (my sister's 8 year old daughter) and my mom met me at the airport and we headed over to the MN history center. We then decided to go up the road to tour the James J. Hill house. I have toured the house a couple of times before but this time they let us go on an upper floor, which was interesting to see. That floor had the "private" family bedrooms. I also learned that James J. Hill is about #37 on the list of America's most richest people in history! He built the northern railroad line from MN to Seattle and his line never went bankrupt like most others did. After the tour we headed back to Rochester and I wanted to stop by my sister's house to see her other 3 kids. Here is the funny part....I haven't seen the twins (who are now 2 years old) for quite some time. I learned that they really only know me from being in a family photo that my sister has hanging on the living room wall. Abbi walked in the house first and said to the kids something like "someone is here to surprise you" and the twins walked over so they could see the door and they both say "Abbi" then "Grandma" then they look at me and pause (like they wanted to say something but didn't know what) and then finally said "mommy"! Oh, my sister was at work at the time. We all just started cracking up. I said "No, I'm Aunt Jamie" and they looked at me and said "mommy". I guess they were convinced. I kept saying "Aunt Jamie" and Lele would point at the family photo on the wall. I said "No, I'm really Aunt Jamie". I think it was a lost battle from the beginning. Lele kept coming up to me with her arms up saying "mommy" and Anthony said "No Lele, that is a stranger" (thanks for adding that twist in there bro...I am in the family photo, remember!) Anyway, we'll see how tomorrow goes when the twins can see both my sister (the real mommy) and I together at the same time.

One of several James J. Hill web links...
http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/jjhh/