On the next episode of Dance Mom....

So three is the age when all of a sudden there are lots of classes and activities available. To be honest there are tons of mom and tot classes, 10:00 on a tuesday doesn't work out so well for working moms. Growing up I was in every activity under the sun, but I don't think I'll do that with Penny. Not for the usual reason of being afraid of being overscheduled though. After having her in day care full time during the week, the idea of having her in classes during the time we can spend time with her makes me sad. I think this semester it will just be this Saturday morning dance class and an evening swim lesson.

I had been unorganized as usual and didn't google "minneapolis kids dance classes" until last Wednesday. Lo and behold, the first dance school that came up not only had classes at a studio, but also has teachers at the local community centers on different days. Saturday's 3-4 year old "Creative Movement" class was at the park 2 blocks from our house. Perfect! Here was our mode of transportation to get to class:

After the first class I think I would have been better off signing Penelope up for track! In the beginning she was interested, but then one little boy kept running to the other side of the gym and off Penelope went with him. I felt bad for the teacher. Here's some photos I caught when she was actually participating:

The worst part is the kid who didn't pay attention had the mom who didn't read. When we arrived the teacher gave me a "Tips for a Successful Dance Class". I glanced at it, but had to help Penelope unzip her jacket and get her shoes on so I stuffed the paper in my bag. You'd think after I wondered about being the only parent watching the class that I would have checked the flyer, but no, I totally missed the part that "Parents are asked to only watch the last 10-15 minutes of class. They are a distraction to children" Yup, I was the dance mom that broke the rules. Now I know for next time. And hopefully Penelope will be a better listener!

3 and 30!

Here's what's been happening:

I turned 30 and my favorite cousin came to visit. I took off Friday and Monday...luxurious days of walking around Minneapolis, shopping and dining...oh, and I chopped off 9 inches of my hair and love it!

This little one turned 3! Here she is showing off some of the loot from the grandparents. She has been sleeping in that castle every night since we set it up. The Dora princess dress is a hit too!

We decided to share a birthday party. The invite was designed by my sister-in-law Jenn. By the way I got 3 emails from guests saying "Did your sister in law design this?" What? You knew it wasn't me?!

 So we spent a rainy day celebrating with friends.

 Libbi was a great birthday supporter, just like Penny was at her party. And gasp! We got a picture of both of them looking at us!

It was a great 3 and 30! More photos will be on FB...

An odd feeling

Tonight I felt something I rarely feel....shyness. Who knew a knitting group could be so intimidating?

I found a local knitting group who meet at a local coffee shop every Tuesday. I've known about it for 6 months, but never made the time to go. I decided this morning that tonight was the night. Of course, there were so many knitters there when I arrived that I had to awkwardly carry a chair and sit in the circle. One person asked what I was working on and then no one spoke to me for 10 mins. I was tongue tied. I didn't even know how to interrupt the conversation to introduce myself. That never happens! Heck, today in the locker room I talked to a woman for 10 mins who I had never met before and ended up giving her advice for her college aged daughter who wants to work for non-profits. Anyways, back to the knitting group,  I was trying to follow along on the intense conversation about pet cats and rabbits, but felt I had nothing to add despite my experience with both. Finally two women who looked about my age invited me to move my chair and chat with them. One is a post-doctoral chemist and the other is in seminary to be a unitarian minister. I'm not sure when my tongue got more twisted....maybe when the chemist started talking about the data model where she figured out a different way to control for the function of the derivative to the multiplier (okay, I'm really just stringing together math words because I have no idea what she said)...or maybe when about 6 of the women started discussing the merits of the current Dr. Who season compared to past seasons and if Torchwood can really be considered at the same level as Dr. Who (hmmm....so maybe I shouldn't bring up the Kardashian wedding? May not be a big discussion topic as it was at my book club).

Oh yeah, the knitting....I've never seen so many intricate patterns. They've been knitting for umpteen years so that didn't really intimidate me. I worked away on my basic pattern. When I explained it was my first time I was doing socks 2 women offered me help if I needed it.

After about an hour I got into a conversation with a woman who works at the camera store (different location) where I bought my camera. She was very helpful. I also found out that two of the women have 3 year olds so there's something in common.

You might think I'm crazy, but I think I'll go again. Perhaps I'll learn how to be quieter. Usually in social situations when I get nervous I talk a lot. And when I mean a lot, I tend to get high pitch, talk fast and interrupt often. I feel myself doing it and can't stop. But that is hard to do when I'm concentrating on my  knitting.

So on Tuesday nights I'll listen to some more conversations about cats and sci-fi and hopefully improve my knitting.

The Great Minnesota Get Together

We decided it was time to take Penelope to the state fair. So many of my friends love it I decided I'd give it another chance. This time I was very prepared....studied the map, looked at the list of new foods (and heard many discussions of them--food equates to about 75% of state fair conversations in Minneapolis work places) and read reviews on the best activities for kids.

The other highlight is for my anniversary/birthday present, Chris got me a DSLR camera. The guy at the camera store shot holes in all my internet research on the camera I thought I wanted, but I left yesterday with the right camera for me....more than I wanted to spend, but oh well. That meant I got to play with all the cool features at the fair....what a great place to try it out! There are a lot of pictures!

 The high today was 68 degrees so absolutely perfect for mid-day fair going, but a little chilly and windy at 8 am. Did that stop me from getting a Minneapple pie (deep fried apple pie) with cinammon ice cream for breakfast? No way!

It didn't taste fried at all. Not greasy one bit. It was shaped like a McDonalds apple pie, but a million times better. Then we went to the coliseum for the horse show.

We saw a really boring show where they walked around in a circle. I guess the fun barrel racing and jumps happen later in the day.

We then headed into the barns to meet up with our friends Kelly and Cale and their adorable guy Adam.

Checking out the goats

Kelly, Cale and Adam

He was all smiles....until I took out the camera. We went through this a couple of times before I gave up on catching a smile.

While we were in the barn Penelope got hungry. Forget that she had a bowl of oatmeal and fruit an hour before, it was time for "second breakfast" as we call it. She didn't seem to care that it was raining sideways, she wanted to eat. (I'm afraid this is one my traits I've passed down...low blood sugar or something). We put up with the whining for it to stop raining, say goodbye to Kelly and Cale, and headed out with our angry toddler. She was very upset when Chis bought doughnuts and wouldn't even have a bite. Instead she had milk and scrambled eggs....who eats scrambled eggs at the fair? Apparently my kid.

The injustice of it all! I don't want doughnuts!! 

State fair all you can drink whole milk calmed her down. That stuff was good!

After scrambled eggs and milk, we started walking to the rides. I made a quick stop for a pretzel covered hot dog. I know, it was only 10 am, but I don't like corn dogs or pronto pups and this was a new must try food.

mmmm....pretzel dog

Penelope loved the big slide. Unfortunately a new camera doesn't fix my height issue even if I lift it way over my head. Got this man's head in all of my photos.

Next up: The carousel, "just like Dora." Dora Goes to the Fair has been a popular book in our house.

On my last camera this photo would have been a blurry mess. I love the sports continuous shooing mode!

Next up: The butterfly house

A little girl had about a dozen butterflies on her and shared some with Penelope.

You can't really see it, but there's a butterfly near Chris's neck. He wasn't so keen on the butterflies and wasn't proactive on getting them to be his friend. This one had other ideas and sat on his shoulder for over 5 minutes.

 Next up The Kidway. This is where you empty your wallet in a half hour. How many rides can a little girl ride that just go around in circles? Apparently a lot! We had to cap her at 4.

Penelope would not look at me the entire ride. She was too focused on the Dora mural. 

Thankfully there are some fun free kid's activities at the fair, like Alphabet Park.

Chris found the "fun settings" on the camera so that's the next group of photos.

Vintage

Blue highlight

Red highlight

Just to put a twist on the food choices, I got one of the new best rated foods of this year's fair. Salad on a stick!

cherry tomatoes, mozarella, vinagarette on a bed of wild rice and minnesota grown greens. Scrumptious!

And the other highly talked about new food of the fair....sweet corn ice cream.

I got it with wild blueberry topping. Tough decision between that and the honey carmelized bacon topping, but I decided that might be going overboard.

Verdict? "Delicious!" She said that about a dozen times and ate most of the sweet corn ice cream.

Chris's last treat of the day: fried green pepper rings.. These were amazing!!

We quickly stopped at the Miracle of Birth Center. Wall to wall of people so I only got a photo of this little lamb. He was adorable.

So all in all a great visit to the fair and a wonderful way to spend our 7 year anniversary. It became clear to us how we've put our roots down here. With the thousands of people there we ran into my friend Jenny and her family and then our next door neighbors. So it seemed aptly named "The Great Minnesota Get Together" or maybe "The Great Minnesota Eat Together"! 

Next year I'd like to go to some of the 4-H buildings or market places...we may have to go multiple days. Eeek! That would be the sign of a die hard fair goer!