An SAT question for ya'll

January:Minneapolis MN:: August: ?

Answer: Charleston, SC

Last Wednesday Chris and I took a drive to Charleston. We couldn't persuade anyone else for a day away from the beach to see some southern history. They were probably the smart ones. I'm still glad we went and had the opportunity to leave buckets of sweat on the cobblestone streets. Gave me a good excuse to rehydrate with southern sweet tea! The drive was beautiful. A half hour outside of Myrtle Beach there are quaint small towns and then miles of a national forest. It was wonderful since we were inside an air conditioned vehicle.

We walked around the historic area of Charleston for a little over 2 hours.
Here's Chris outside of the old exchange building
I loved the buildings. They reminded me of New Orleans.

About an hour outside of Charleston we began passing small roadside stalls where women were making and selling baskets. They were also being sold on every other corner in Charleston. I guess they are famous for the sweetgrass baskets.
Wouldn't this be a lovely entrance to walk home to every day?
The other side of the exchange building.
Now you could really advertise this as a charming duplex! I'd love to see the inside.

Chris and I on the waterfront. There were kids and adults in their swimsuits running through the fountain.
Isn't it beautiful? If it wasn't 95 degrees and the most humid place ever I would have wanted to stay in a bed and breakfast and explore for a few days. We did get a few rain showers while we were walking and driving. We saw steam coming off the roofs!! My camera couldn't pick it up, but it was amazing. It truly was steamy.

Pool Videos

A big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Strand for renting a house with a pool. Penelope got to practice everything she learned from swimming classes this past summer. The YWCA parent and tot group lessons are to help get kids used to the water so it is a lot of singing songs and bouncing up and down with a few dunks underwater. Dylan has had completely different classes through a program called Infant Swimming Resource. It is really intense, but definitely pays off. Check out the video below:

Pretty amazing, huh? His teacher said he was a natural, and he graduated early. I checked around for ISR classes in our area, but none to be found. Ah well...we'll continue the Y classes for now since they are fun. Once she gets bored with blowing bubbles and singing motorboat I'll look at some of the indoor swim schools for preschool classes.

Enjoy the rest of the videos!!!

The Beach

Ahh...a week at the beach. Chris, Penelope and I met Chris's family at Myrtle Beach. They rented a great house, and we all had so much fun watching Penelope and 2 year old cousin Dylan enjoy the beach. I'm going to break the vacation into multiple posts because it is just too much to do at once. I uploaded all 180 photos today and realized I really have a problem. If you aren't 2 or under you will rarely appear in any of my pictures unless of course you are holding the 2 year old or in some way playing a supportive role to their activity. Oops! Dylan and Penelope could look at a bunch of pictures and think they were at the beach by themselves.

We landed in the afternoon last Saturday and took Penelope and Dylan to see the ocean. Here's a video as she sees it for the first time. WARNING: Turn your sound down...the ocean wind is really loud as well as my voice.

Penelope all ready for her first day at the beach. That's pretty much the only picture I have with Chris in it. Geez, I'm such a good wife.
Mommy and Penelope
Penelope and Dylan trying out their shovels and buckets. They were more destroyers of sandcastles than creators.
A candid of Aunt Pam and Aunt Laura
"I love the beach!"
"Yay! Sand!"
Grandma attending to Penelope's sensitive eyes.

Penelope was a little daredevil in the ocean...until the saltwater hit her eyes. Then she did bloodcurdling screams, and we had to get out and flush her eyes. A few minutes would pass and she'd point and say "Waler!" and we'd go back out to jump waves.

Funny moment

Before we moved to MN I don't think I realized how north it really is. The latitude is 44. NYC is at 40 so there was a noticeable difference. During the summer it stays light forever. On the 4th of July they don't start the fireworks until 10 pm because it isn't dark until then! Penelope's bedtime has been 7:30 for a few months now and before that it was 7:00. Her window shades are pretty dark so she doesn't realize it is light out. Well last night when we returned from the hospital at 8:45, she started ooohing, ahhing and pointing. She hadn't seen night in months and had obviously forgotten about its existence! We read Goodnight Moon every night, and yet I've never pointed out the real moon to her. Soon enough she'll know night. The flip side of the long summer days are the long winter days when I'll pick her up at 4:30 and it will be almost pitch dark.

Nursemaid Elbow?

It is true that I learn something every day. However, I'd rather not learn about anything in the children's hospital ER. This evening we were walking home from a lovely dinner with friends. We were having a great time. Penelope was holding each of our hands. Ever time she counted to ten we'd swing her up in the air. Sometimes she did it completely in english, sometimes in spanish and sometimes...

"uno, dos, tres, four, five, six, siete, ocho, nueve, ten!" Laughter and swing in the air!

We were one house away from ours when she started to head to the street. Chris grabbed her arm to stop her. She turned and went limp legged as he pulled up and did a gut wrenching scream. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and said "see, you are too rough. You never listen to me." Then we realized she was really hurt, I saw Chris's face and felt horrible for scolding him. She tried to straighten her arm and screamed again. I'm happy to say I didn't freeze, but called our pediatrician, got instructions to head to the Children's Hospital, checked I had her insurance card and we were out the door.

The Children's ER was amazing. It was obviously a very quiet night as there were 3 nurses standing at the front desk. We were barely in the door when one nurse took us to a desk to check Penelope's vitals. I thought Chris was about to lose it. The nurse saw this too and said "Don't worry. It's just a nursemaid. We aren't calling social services on you." I guess we should have known the term nursemaid? Turns out that some kids bones will easily separate at the elbow and a ligament will sneak in and get stuck. The doctor quickly twists it and it snaps back. We got in within 10 minutes and the doc had no problem fixing her right up. She asked Penelope to run to the door and open the handle. Not a problem. It was like she hadn't had screaming horrible pain a few minutes before. Those nursemaids must have pulled kids around quite a bit to get a type of dislocation names after them!

So we were warned that if a kid has one nursemaid they are prone to more. No more 1-10 Swing! I'm so glad it was such an easy fix. On the way there I was imagining our upcoming beach vacation with a 2 year old in a cast. Thank goodness that didn't happen!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: mmmm

The first group of tomatoes from our heirloom plants....mmmmm

Penelope sings the ABCs

Penelope asks us to sing the ABCs about 572 times a day. Well, today I said "You do it Penelope. You sing the ABCs by yourself" She whispered one round slowly all the way through. The crowd (mama and daddy) roared! She then sang 2 more rounds before it sunk into our dense heads that maybe this would be a good time to turn on the camera. So here's round 4 when she got kind of silly:

A weekend to Oz

It seems sacrilegious to head indoors on a nice Minnesota day, but that's exactly what Penelope and I did Sunday morning when we headed to the Children's Museum. I didn't want to miss the Wizard of Oz exhibit that ends in September. Plus, I wanted to see what the Children's Museum was like without the madness of the rainy day or -10 degree day crowd. It was great fun! (Well, except for the part where I locked my keys and phone in the car and had to call Chris to rescue us)

Penelope is a little unaware that she is only 2 years old. She was very excited to play Dorothy and take Toto for a ride.
She said "see, the lion doesn't like to have his hair brushed either!"
We then went to rooftop exhibit. It is really cool, but meant for kids a few years older. Penelope tried out every bench and snacked on her cheerios. An museum volunteer came by to say that she shouldn't eat her snack because it might attract bees. I almost pointed out that we were sitting in an exhibit about pollinating plants that was full of flowers and grapes, but I bit my tongue. Maybe honey nut cheerios would attract more bees.
We headed to the HabiTot room. She made a beeline for the book nook. I guess she forgot that we have hundreds of books at home, but no balance beams or jungle gym equipment.

And the best part of the trip...the bus! Usually there are so many kids waiting to be the bus driver that she never gets a chance, but she got a full 5 mins beeping and turning.