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. . . enjoying the view from my cube

Why yes! An entire museum. And one that I will visit again and learn more and enjoy even more. SPAM, and Hormel,  has an amazing history that will change my purchasing choices and encouraged me to make a stronger effort to learn more of the history of US-based products.

We visited the museum as a way to do something new and different on our arrival date for a basketball tournament for J. Austin, MN, while being known in the region for hosting basketball tournaments, is also the home of Hormel food products. I contacted a friend from a previous job who grew up here and asked what was fun to do during the day. The answer: SPAM Museum. Here we are at the entrance:

Then we took a picture with the farmer and his two hogs:

But T wanted a solo picture with Farmer Jones (actually, our Jones relatives did not raise hogs):

The employees at the SPAM Museum are some of the most helpful and knowledgeable I’ve ever met. Elenore showed us the wall of 3, 390 cans of SPAM, and then explained that approximately 44,000 cans are produced every HOUR between the MN and NE Hormel plants. Henry and I were flabbergasted by that number…and still are!

Elenore then introduced us to Spammy, the SPAM mascot. So here’s our Fammy with Spammy (couldn’t resist that one):

SPAM was developed in 1937, just in time to make a huge impact on our war effort and American culture. You will be amazed (yes, I’m assuming you will make a way to visit this free, family-friendly museum). We learned through exhibits, films, puppet shows, and more, and made our way to the SPAM canning section:

They had a great time, and so did I, especially when I creamed them all and locked in a 10-second production time for one can. I explained that a mom of 4 who can prep three daily meals and snacks with interruptions of “Mom, can I–?” would have no trouble loading, heating, and packaging a little can. They didn’t get it.

As we exited this fabulous piece of Americana, housed in an old K-Mart building, Henry purchased a can of Black Pepper SPAM, newest flavor to the market. If you’d like to try it, you’ll have to come to Austin or head to Australia. Those are the only venues that sell that flavor.

What is not included here is an exhausted list of fascinating facts we learned, a picture of the 17.5-foot spatula, or the boys playing the game show SPAM Exam. Seriously, make a trip up here. And while you’re at it, drive another two hours to visit with us and the boys. Be sure to pack some SPAM for snacks along the road!

We’re at a basketball tournament. Well, the tourney is over (thank goodness…it wasn’t pretty…’nuff said).

I was going to share pictures of our fun mini-vacation, including pictures taken at the Spam Museum yesterday. Unfortunately, the camera card (yes, this blue one, right here…see it?) will not be recognized by my PC. Just doesn’t like it today.

Fine, be like that. I’ll just go hang out in the pool with the other families.

Life is just too intense in the summer to blog. I’m not sure life with four boys gets any less intense in the school year, so we’ll see how well I keep up with things this year. I’ve tried to recategorize things and am going to keep posts shorter (for the most part).

Through the summer, most of our cyber-journaling has taken place on a caring bridge site for one of the boys. We are confident that we are through the worst of that, so will plug through here.

There is plenty to blog about this season: two of the boys are in bible quizzing, Mr. S has started gymnastics, Mr. G is more verbal (and is prepping his 09 holiday dance), Mr. J has made the basketball team, I have more speaking engagements (my venue for sharing the nitty gritty of what I learn from parenting these troops). Oh yes, there will be plenty to analyze this year.

I’ve also opened up a Norwex shop for those looking for a greener way to stay clean.

My family is more dear to me (extended and immediate). My friends are more precious, as we all experience the challenges of 30- and 40-something life. And my God is more real and more powerful, as I need Him to be as I see so much pain and suffering around.

Truly, there is more than enough to blog about. Forget the mug, you might as well get a carafe!

It’s gonna be a great season!

As much as we can document of our lives, we can’t blog life. Reading someone else’s blog doesn’t make you want to blog. It makes you want to go out and create the experience for yourself. It makes you want to live.

I haven’t blogged in forever, but I’ve been living. I’ve been laughing and cleaning and working and visiting and sharing and praying and holding and bandaging and calling and answering and dancing and being. So many times I’ve thought, “I need to blog this later…,” but I didn’t have time because some other moment needed to be lived.

So eventually, I’ll catch up with pics, but for now, I can’t blog my life. I’m too busy living it!