A Perfect Day for a Picnic

This weekend Chris and I rode our bikes to Wabun Picnic Area near Minnehaha Park. Kelly, my friend from work, and her husband Cale were having a barbecue. Lots of good food, about a dozen little kids, and a great location to keep all the kiddos happy.

Minneapolis has dozens of free wading pools in the park system. This has to be one of the best. Penelope had a great time.



Penelope and her best friend Libbi (Okay, Jackie Lee and I say they are best friends but they don't even pay attention to each other)

After lunch when we were getting ready to leave, Penelope and Libbi started to warm up to each other. Silly girls!
Penelope being a little daredevil. (Isn't her little outfit cute? Chris picked it out the day before along with a whole bag of other toddler clothes from Target. He said "I couldn't help myself. The tank tops were only $2 and the dresses were $4. They were too cute to pass up. There were some ugly shorts I didn't get" So I guess he got everything Target had in toddler clearance except for one pair of shorts! I love the image of him pushing Penny in the cart through Target and picking out clothes)
Jackie Lee, Kelly and me. These two keep me sane. I talk Kelly's ear off every day. She's the lucky one to share a cube wall with me. It's sort of like confession every day. Our other coworkers still get confused when they walk by and we are talking through the wall.

Meet Julie and Wyatt (Julie--hope you don't mind that you are now part of Strand Family Adventures. I don't request waivers. If I take your picture there's a good chance you'll be on the blog). I met Julie at book club. She has a great old house in St Paul. I'm in love with her new kitchen and may just copycat her tile backsplash. The little guy Wyatt is amazing! He had spine surgery a week before and was running all over the place. So are you wondering about the smudge of chocolate on his face? He had his first oreo. Who knew one oreo could do so much? It was really sort of a mud wrestling bout with the oreo.
Time to go home. Penelope wearing her pink cupcake helmet.
The three of us. Penelope fell asleep on the way home. I love the burley except for one thing. We are tired and worn out by the time we get home and Penny jumps out well rested and ready to play. Hmmmm....

Meeting a bunny

Who needs to go to the zoo? We have these sorts of conversations with every squirrel, bird, cat and now bunny that we see in the neighborhood.

Libros libros libros!

Today I picked Penelope up from day care and headed to the library. The moment I turned into the parking lot she started clapping and yelled "Yay LIBROS!!" And Mommy's heart grew 3 sizes that day. It probably helps that I've been ordering every Elmo book that can be found in the Hennepin County interlibrary loan system. Every time we've visited in the past few weeks, we head to the special shelf where there's an Elmo book ready and waiting. Then we walk to the children's section to sit and read and watch other kids.

Penelope started saying libro a few weeks ago. I'll say "Do you want a book?" and she says "Yes, I read libro" (We seem to be in a spanglish phase right now. She also says "I get el pato" when she is playing with her rubber ducky). In the mornings the first thing she says is "Mama, libro!" She throws a fit if I pick her up out of the crib without allowing at least 10 minutes of reading time. And it has to be the right book. I pick a dozen books from her shelf and she says "NO, No, no, no" throws them out of her crib and keeps 2 or 3 to read. I never can tell if she woke up in a Lift the flap peek a boo mood or a Dr. Seuss The Foot Book mood.

We are sort of book obsessed people in our house. You can always see what I've just read on my Library Thing sidebar. I try to review every book I read so I can remember it. It's amazing how I'll put a book down and say "oh, I loved that one" and couldn't tell you a thing about it in a month. Then there are books that I disliked but certain scenes or characters stay with me for years.

Chris probably reads as much as I do now. He didn't used to be this way. In fact on our way to Scotland he stopped in the airport bookstore and picked out a sci fi book. In my journal I wrote "Oh my gosh! Chris is reading a book and he doesn't have to. I can't believe this!" Remember we had been dating for 6 years by this time so I did know his hobbies pretty well. The thing is he reads the same books over and over and over again. I rarely re-read and that's why I'm a library fanatic. I'd say about 99% of the books I read are from the library. Even in Scotland when I worked in a bookstore, I had a library card. A few years ago we toured Arizona and spent a day in my hometown. I hadn't been there in 9 years. After the trip I looked at my pictures, and I realized the only picture I took on that part of the trip was of the new library! It is a beautiful building, and I'm jealous I never got to use it.

I'm trying to work time in my schedule to be a library volunteer. They have a Communications Partner program where I'd help non-english speakers practice their English. I did this in NY years ago, and it would be fun to start again. The library I go to has a large population of Hispanic, Somali, Sudanese and Hmong immigrants. (Did you know Minneapolis had more Somali and Hmong immigrants than anywhere in the country? I like to throw in my "See the midwest is just as metropolitan as all you coast people" any time I can). Well, anyways, I'll fill everyone in if I start volunteering. It seems the right place to be a part of my community.

And one last Penny story...I'm realizing how much she observes us. I often have a book while I eat. One of those bad table manners that I can blame on my dad. I remember my mom came to the table once and my sister, dad and I were all engrossed in books while eating dinner. So Chris and I do try to put the books away at dinner time if we are eating together. But this morning as I was eating breakfast and reading "The Mystery of Capitalism" I looked over at Penny. She was eating her cheerios and flipping through "Goodnight Moon."

(Sorry this is such a long rambly no-picture blog post)

A family dinner

Since we've moved Penelope's bedtime to 7:30, we are trying to eat dinner together a few nights a week. It's like Leave it to Beaver...except with 2 adults, 1 toddler and a dog all ravenously hungry trying to cook something up before we throw tantrums. Well, Penelope and I are the ones known to throw a tantrum from hunger. Tonight I made a yummy polenta dish with a mushroom cheese sauce and a side of green beans (Yay, Meatless Mondays!). Penelope had a rice cake and applesauce...she had half of a cheese sandwich and strawberries an hour before. Remember it's all about keeping that hunger tantrum in check. Plus, she's more of an all day grazer than a 3 large meals a day person. I'm sort of an all day grazer and a 3 large meals a day person. hmmmm....

So I thought I'd show you a video of dinner at our house. I had wanted to show you my genius child who figured out how to blow bubbles in her glass all by herself. This is what she did for the camera:

Chris is very good about making Penelope help clean, especially when she has dumped her milk, water, bucket of crayons etc. This is an attempt at getting her to help:

(Please don't call SuperNanny yet...I'll start teaching manners, I promise!)

Father's Day Weekend

My blog is becoming "Things to do in Minneapolis with your kids" I'm always looking for places to check out on the weekends. Coloring, puzzles and the backyard swing can only fill up so much time.

Saturday morning we got the bikes out and rode to the Midtown Minneapolis farmer's market. This market has improved so much in the last couple of years. There are many more stalls. We bought some veggies, pepper jelly, and lamb stew meat. (Chris made an amazing lamb chili for dinner)

Here's our little girl waiting patiently for the puppet show to start.
The Open Eye Puppet Theater. They pull this puppet show around on their bikes and do public shows in parks, farmers' markets and even people's yards. They were pretty talented with the marionettes.
The show was 7 minutes. A perfect length for a toddler's attention span!

Father's Day started with a 5:30 am wake up call followed by a tantrum. Nothing like reminding Daddy that this is a job through thick and thin. Once we got through breakfast the day improved. Of course by 10 am when we went to the Stone Arch art fair, it seemed like the day was half over. Yet it became obvious that the rest of Minneapolis practices normal Sunday hours and was sleeping in. Penelope had the whole kids area to herself.
She loves Duplos! She didn't want daddy's help.

No playground at the art fair? That's okay. Penelope will create her own. Penelope is proud to be a minnesotan. She picked the Walleye Wagon sign to play with for 10 minutes.

As we walked over the Stone Arch Bridge I commented that I'd love to see the locks in action. Lo and behold, the doors opened and the Mississippi Queen came through the doors.

Such a serious face! She is unsure about walking barefoot...maybe she shouldn't kick her shoes off the moment we put her in the stroller.
She decided sand doesn't taste very good.

As a whole Father's Day was a good day. Penelope and I took long naps, while Chris watched a sci fi movie. I mowed the lawn and tended to his monster tomato plants. And Chris was completely off diaper duty. Penelope must have been sensing this gift because she hasn't pooped in 2 days and went 4 times today! I'll remember this next year for Mother's Day!

Swimming lessons

We started swim lessons again. Penelope hasn't been to the pool for a year. It is an indoor pool, but for some reason we haven't done any lessons since last July. Last year we were in a later class so both Chris and I could attend. I think it was a little odd to the teacher that Penelope had both parents in the pool, but we had a lot of fun. This year I'm leaving work a little earlier than usual so I can take her to the beginner class. I had no idea there were levels in parent/tot. We hope to make it to advanced by the end of the summer.

So I was a little nervous today. Penelope has not really enjoyed baths for a few months. Plus, this time I had to maneuver the locker room and pool area with a walking toddler. I decided it would be a success if she didn't run to the edge, I run after her, slip, we both go over and have to be rescued by the lifeguard. Sigh...how do I come up with all of these "What ifs?"

Well, fortunately no lifeguards were called to our aid. I had a little trouble prying teddy bear (or beddy bear as Penelope says) from her hands before we headed into the pool. She had the best half hour ever. Chris is going to have to come to a lesson to video tape. Her smile is priceless. She loved every minute, especially standing on the edge and "one two three jump". I pretty much lift her back into the water, but I think in a few weeks she'll be jumping right to me. At the end of class I was so excited to be the mom who had to wrap a screaming flailing toddler in a towel and walk by all the next classes lining up saying "she wants to keep swimming. Sorry...penny, stop you're kicking people.... She had a lot of fun and doesn't want class to be over. sorry, excuse me, sorry, sorry, excuse me." Probably would have made it to the locker room faster without all the apologies. Ugh. I don't like being that parent with the screaming out of control toddler. Although, I'm really happy it was screaming about getting out of the pool and not getting into the pool. We'll see what the next class has in store for us.

Ordway's Flint Hills International Children's Festival

I'm a huge fan of this children's festival in St Paul. It was so well put together. It was at Rice Park and the Ordway Performing Arts Center. The whole park was filled with all sorts of activities for kids...crafts, science experiments, butterfly tent and lots of local performers. There are also professional performers inside the Ordway, but I think Penny is probably too little to sit through a one hour show. Plus, as someone who spent many childhood weekends tap dancing and singing at park bandshells and parades, I love cheering on the local theater and dance groups.

The Irish girls were amazing! It was like Riverdance.
These little dancers doing traditional India dances were adorable. They had bells on their wrists and ankles. Penelope loved it.

These guys were playing very intricate songs with spoons. The sheet music looked really complicated. Who knew you could do so much with spoons?
This is the north side of Rice Park. Beautiful, huh?

Penny, me, and F. Scott Fitzgerald (he was from St. Paul)
Penelope looking at a butterfly in the butterfly tent. There were so many types of butterflies I had never seen. They were huge and all different colors.
I don't think we'll be going to Disney anytime soon. Penelope was terrified by the huge dog.
We only did one craft. Next year I'm sure we'll spend a whole day doing all the crafts.

Next we headed to the Friendship Forest. Perfect for pictures. Too bad it was gray and drizzly by this time.

Charles Schultz also lived in St Paul. There are Peanuts characters everywhere.

Striking a pose. Tyra said "Penelope, you are being so fierce!"

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

During our first year in Minneapolis I commuted almost entirely by bus. We only had one car, and our offices were about 20 miles apart. I loved it, even those below 0 days when I had to wait for my transfer. Yes, it took me 50 minutes and 1 transfer, but I got to read a lot and chat with the same people every day. Although, Minneapolis has a pretty nice public transportation system, I'd say for the most part it serves workday commuters taking rush hour buses from the suburbs, and people who can't afford cars. There are also quite a few green people who use it, especially when it gets too cold to bike. (Weird fact...Minneapolis is now the top bike commuting city, even with the winter. Seattle is second). Unfortunately due to our move and a change in the bus schedule, I'd have to ride the light rail, 2 bus transfers and a .5 mile walk to get to my office. That's an hour and a half commute on a good day to go 15 miles. Once we knew Penelope was on the way, we bought a second car.

Personally I love taking public transportation. Many times it takes longer than driving, but you see so much more of a city. I learned about so many south Minneapolis neighborhoods during my one year commute and would often jump off the bus for a quick dinner or shopping before heading home....my life isn't quite that spontaneous anymore.

Today we introduced Penelope to the bus. We went to the International Children's Festival in downtown St Paul (another post on the festival later). On the website they offered free bus passes so we wouldn't have the hassle or cost of parking. Penelope loved the bus! I quietly sang The Wheels on the Bus every time something happened--door open and shut, wipers swish, horn beep beep due to almost being hit by a car (she liked the horn a lot!), change go clink clink, man without any teeth play peek a boo...oh, well, that's not in the song, but she had fun playing peek a boo.

I saw so many St Paul neighborhoods I haven't explored. We've driven by on the freeway, but I had no idea they were there. One was Cathedral Hill. It was like being in Brooklyn Heights. I fell in love. 1870 brownstones, adorable restaurants, little grocery store. And there are tons of restaurants that have been recommend in that area and I had no idea where they were. We will definitely be going back to explore that area.

Don't worry

This blog will never give out decorating advice. Chris brought home flowers the other day. I couldn't find my box of vases in the basement. Note: this blog will not ever give organization advice either.

So we have a very pretty arrangement of flowers in a plastic pitcher. I'll convince myself it is babyproofing. This way if Penelope stands on the chair and knocks it down the vase won't break.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: A Bottle Wall

I think our neighbors drink quite a bit during the winter...

They are finishing up the wall this year. This is truly reuse recycle and a little art I guess.