It is true, you need a vacation after taking a vacation; Wildcats girls win

So after saving our pennies for the last two years, our family had amassed enough to pay for a trip to Florida last week. We have been there once before, and vowed this time would be different. Different in that we would avoid the theme parks all together with the exception of Universal Studios. It seems I have a large contingency of Harry Potter fans in my house. We, like many of you, booked through one of those "bundles" website that vows to save you tons of money on your traveling expenses.

We did find a trip that was well below what we were expecting, and hey, with the money saved, we could purchase Harry Potter wands for the whole family. Once the trip was booked, and we knew we were going, that's when the uncertainty set in. When friends would ask who we were flying with, upon telling them, they would cringe. Yes, we had chosen the number one worst rated airline in the country. We decided to not let that deter our trip and set out at 3:30 a.m. for our 6 a.m. flight. As we drove through the north side of Minneapolis the phone rings - "Your flight has been delayed two hours". You could feel the animosity trying to work its way into our vehicle. Instead of turning around and fighting traffic in the rush hour we decided to head to the airport. We parked off site and took a shuttle to the main terminal. After dragging our bags around for a while we asked where our airline was stationed. "Oh that is in the other terminal" a worker told us.

Another level of anxiety crept in. So after purchasing tickets to the light rail to go from one airport to the other, we realized the train was free - strike three. We finally got situated after not getting out of the train in time and heading back and forth to the terminal twice. Our bags were checked, we had tickets in our hands and three and a half hours to kill. My wife and I had a little meeting and vowed to not let this be a distraction and to have a good trip. Thank God for my wife, because I was teetering on losing it. We boarded the plane and left our troubles and anxiety behind. We did just as we said we were going to do. Relax. We sat by the pool for hours on end. It was completely boring. It was completely awesome. I used to look at those people doing nothing at the beach or pool and think how can they just sit there? I now know. I love it. I spent the entire time with the family, not watching television, just watching each other. It was heaven. It was easily the best vacation we have ever taken, even if my back is in traction from the airline seats, which didn't recline, which you had to pay extra to reserve a seat, and pay for carry-ons...

The Chisago Lakes Lions Club is currently selling tickets to their annual Cadillac Dinner. The dinner is the largest fundraising event for the Lions and also one of the most fun. The dinner will be held at WineHaven in Chisago City on April 26. Your ticket will get you a wonderful roast beef or chicken dinner. Every ticket is eligible to win one of the 15 cash prizes that range from $140 to the grand prize of $2000. If you are one of those “I never win anything” people, rest assured, I was one of you also. I won the grand prize about three years ago, so yes you can win. There are other raffle prizes available and other cash games throughout the night. If you would like to attend, please call Pete at 257-2624 or Linda at 257-6878. Good luck and we will see you there.

Every week it seems like I am writing about a local sports team making it to the state tournament. This week is no exception. The Chisago Lakes Wildcat girls basketball team has made it to state. They beat, no scratch that, they destroyed Grand Rapids in the section finals game to earn a trip to state on Wednesday.  I know some of you get the paper on Thursday, so the girls will have already played their first game and will hopefully be playing at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Congratulations to coach Walker on yet another wonderful year. Congratulations to the girls for their terriffic season which will hopefully continue for three more games.