At the movies

Fly to the Moon in 3D; everyone is waiting patiently for the movie to
start.

At kindergarten

Meet the teacher night.

Getting Ready

Emma, sitting at my front demo table where I teach. She and Mary came with me to "help" put up posters at my school. Their favorite thing to do was argue over who got to sit in the high stool Emma is in....

At the annual Corn Roast

Yummy cotton candy!

A Spinning Wheel Experience

With a scowling Emma

The Logical Pairing of a Snake and Cin

Some Marys have Little Lambs. Ours has a snake. Well, it's not a real snake, Internet, that would be another post entirely. She has a blanket and a vivid imagination. At the moment, this blanket has morphed into her 'pet snake', where she holds the corner a few inches down, making a fairly recognizable 'head'. I have humored this, mostly because it gives me a good excuse to sing, "Rattlesnake Bit the Baby" and "I'm Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor" on a daily basis. I mean really, who could resist that??? And the question begs asking, why do I know so many snake songs? Anyhow, I digress: Mary has a snake. And an imagination.

Today, Mary decided to dress up to play. She put on her Cinderella dress and became a veternarian (which explains her fabulous pets). She also informed me that she could not have a full name until she had two jobs (I have no idea what this means, I am merely the messenger here), so until then I had to call her Cin (pronounced "sin"). And, she prodded, this is my snake. Well, I had to ask, you know, what the snake's name was. "Snake" she told me. "I'm Cin and this is Snake." Cin and Snake were as tight as old buddies all afternoon, wandering around the house arm in arm, even eating together (although there were no apples at dinner).

All in all, I just thought that it was odd that a 4 year old (who doesn't see the inside of a Church, I'm afraid to admit) can come up with such a pairing. It gives sudden creadance to unlikely probabilities like the Infinite Monkey Theorem. There's just no telling what else could surface here along the Journey!

Visiting School

Emma, in full first day of school regalia, visiting her school. The
excitement can be tasted.

School Shopping

Little Helper

Mary helping in the garden.

10 Things to Do While in Minneapolis

A list of things one could (hypothetically) enjoy:

1. See a movie
2. Eat at Enjoy!
3. See Chihuly glass chandeliers at Palomino's restaurant
4. Shop for new running shoes
5. Shop for a fancy dress
6. Run a half marathon
7. Take a 3 hour segway tour
8. Go to a wine tasting/barbecue
9. Eat at Hell's Kitchen (except the wait was prohibitive in our case)
10. Visit Yoda and friends at the science museum

Oh, and spend time with your BFF from grade school while wonderful husbands take care of all of the household and children paraphernalia. Hurray for husbands!

PS- YES I RAN A HALF MARATHON!!!!!

Science and Star Wars Exhibit

Minneapolis Science Museum

Women on a "stick"

On a tour!

Learning to ride a Segway

Headed out for a tour of Minneapolis on a Segway.

Well Heeled

Emma handling Charlie like a pro as Mary runs ahead (see, always
running) on a family walk.

At the Farmer's Market

Fresh corn!

Caught her!

At Target, dressed to match

Almost done!

Pond, looking good!

Emma the Incredible and her sister, Mary the Amazing

You may have noticed, Internet, that there are quite a few pictures of Mary and maye a serious lacking in the Emma Grace photo department. You would be right, you amazingly observant frequent Journiers! (Wait - did I just coin a phrase? I did! You fabulous friends that visit are hereby known as Journiers! And I am in love with my exclamation points tonight! Aren't you glad you stopped by?) Anyhow, back to the subject, which is the elusive 5 year old living here. Two things to note: 1) she does not like her picture taken. She now hides when the camera (or camera phone!) comes out. She is a victim of a scrapbooking, web blogging mother and she fears being captured on digital film. Also, and almost more importantly, 2) she does not sit still or stop moving long enough for me to get a picture. Usually her fleetness requires me to run after her, stopping her from imminent injury (or worse) and leaves me little time to grab a camera and take a flash photo. I am sure that in a short period of time Mary will accomplish the same degree of camera shyness and pictures will continue on, consisting only of things the girls have done in the minute before I grabbed a camera to record the moment and not actually any little people. There will be evidence of them, but probably fewer actual instances of smiling, shining little faces. Until then, Journiers, you will get to see lots of sweet Mary (mostly from behind, I am noticing, but occasionally from the front). I hope you can live with this, this small piece of the children growing up, because that is what I see, increasingly - the back of their heads as they push forward and continue to explore the world Out There, always in front.

Early Morning Melody

Mary, composing a "pretty song about Nemo's Mama and Daddy getting
married" for my morning enjoyment.

Summer Ride

Mary flies along on a beautiful summer evening during a family bike
ride.