Bapa

My dad, who is Bapa, has missed these little girls.  He loves them so much, and I was so excited to come and see him with them.  Here they were tonight, listening to Leiden read a book.

Utah, We're Here!



It all started with a 4:50 AM wake up call for the girls, (and an even earlier one for me!) and then the trip to the airport. 

It's always stressful to travel with all three on an airplane, but it's the fastest way to get there.  I had high (naive) hopes that they would fall asleep or at least be a little subdued.  And actually, Mimi, while super squirmy as per the usual, did okay.  She was not about to sleep, but I was able to contain her without going crazy.  Leiden, of course, is old enough to do fine regardless.  Mac?  She was tired from late to bed and early to rise, and she cried for literally an hour on the plane.  An hour.  I was holding Mimi and she was actually getting a little tired so she was resting on me.  And Mac is crying and making a ruckus.  Mac tired is just as difficult as Mac sick.  But, here we are, taxi-ing to our gate in Salt Lake City!!



It's darn hot here, in the high nineties, so out came the pool this afternoon.  Miriam LOVES the water.  She loves to get splashed, dribbled on, poured on, and she loves to stick her face in the water.  Does she hold her breath while she does it?  Nope. 

There is much craziness in the pool.  Mimi has bad balance to begin with, and everyone is trying to do their own thing.  

Mac falls in the middle of the spectrum.  She loves the water, and only complains a little when she gets splashed.  Grandmere is a master splasher.

And then Leiden.  She is still the most water shy of them all, and she squeals in half real protest, half pretend whenever she gets a splash.

The girls finally got the picture and started splashing Grandmere back, even though she was not in the pool at the time.  She hates being hot, so she was fine with that!

Mimi after a bucket of water over her head...just a little temporary confusion, and then she was fine.  She even started to pour water on her own head.  Awesome.

We're so excited to be here.  Today was fun, but while we were playing, Grandpa was having open heart surgery to repair some problems with his heart.  We participated in a family fast last Sunday, Leiden included (for one meal), and he came through the surgery with no problems.  We will continue to pray and hope for a swift recovery on his part.

Mischief

I can't remember if I've remarked on the removal of our chair 'gate' at the bottom of our giant flight of stairs, but we took it away a couple weeks ago.  This resulted in a couple days of intense worry on my part, trying to make sure Mimi didn't fall down.  Because she goes up.  All the time.  We keep all the doors closed--when we remember--and I hope that she will not get up to too much mischief.  She is doing so much better now, remembering to get on her hands and knees to come down. 

She disappears for quite a while, and it's always very quiet when she does.  Every person who's ever taken care of small children know that quiet=mischief.  So I quickly race up the stairs to find her.  Today she had gotten the lotions off my bedside table and taken them to Mac's room, where she likes to hang out on the bed.  Evidently we had forgotten to keep the doors closed. 

Today Mad and Joni went home!  :(  Mimi hung out with Mad on the couch for a little while before we took off for lunch and the airport. 



She warmed right up to him in no time, and by today, she was happy to play with him.

Brad came home for lunch and we all headed to Dairy Queen for lunch before taking them to the airport.  Here we all are.

We had such a great time with Mad and Joni.  We have been so priveleged to have them visit us and spend some time here in Minnesota.  We love visitors! 

Minnesota Sculpture Garden

Our little strawberry patch is producing like crazy. We simply cannot eat enough to keep up with production. So, Leiden and I set to making strawberry bread. We sliced up 12 cups of strawberries and still had some pickings from today left over. And more that will be ready in 2 days! We are all going to turn pink from all the strawberries!

Today we went with Mad and Joni to the Minnesota Sculpture Garden, which is always fun. Perhaps known best for its giant spoon and cherry, the girls were thrilled to be able to run and be crazy.

Especially this one. It's hard to tell in the first picture, but the whole area around the spoon and cherry is a little pond. Mimi instinctively knew this, and made several beelines for the water.

We tried to keep her close to other sculptures, and away from water, but...

she found some anyway. The bottom of a sculpture was a fine little mud puddle about 4 inches deep.

She was not happy when I pulled her away from that puddle.

Leiden and the giant glass fish:

Leiden thought for sure she could reach this beam.

Mac tried a different approach.

And we're happy again with flowers to touch.

The girlies. Milliseconds before Mimi climbed off the bench. Attention span=zero.

Mall of America and our Anniversary!

Mimi was in high spirits as we got to the mall. Poor girl has been a little sad and I think it's her teeth. Ugh.



The girls were allowed to pick two rides they wanted to go on. Mac picked the log ride, which gives her a 'tummy drop'. She wanted me to go with her. It really is a fun ride.

Mac's second ride and Leiden's first was the swings. Mac can't go on the swings at the mall without a chaperone, and she chose Mad for the job.

I'm kind of surprised that Leiden likes the swings as she gets a bit motion sick, but she sure does.

All three girls got to go on the merry-go-round, where I went on with Mimi and Joni went on with Mac. Mimi spent much of the ride 'nnaaaaaaay-ing' as she was riding on a horse. What a funny girl. I've got to get some video of that animal noise. It's intense.

As we were leaving, the girls spotted Blue, and even though I think they've watched that show maybe once, they wanted to say hi. He came over and put his big hand out to Mimi and she reared back in fright.

Today is also Brad's and my anniversary. We've been married for 11 years, now. Brad's gift was the rental of two different wide angle lenses, which he's been thinking about for a time. They are really amazing, although there is quite a bit of distortion on the 10-22mm in close quarters. See how far away we look? We were about 6 feet or so away from him in reality.

This shot makes our sun room look like it's much longer than it is.

But this shot is awesome. He could fit our entire picture wall in a shot that has virtually no distortion. We'll be watching for a deal on the 10-22mm on Amazon or something.

This evening, Brad and I went to a restaurant called the Oceanaire, which is a high end seafood place in Minneapolis. Brad says his taking me to a seafood place is indicative of how much he loves me. My halibut was superb and Brad's filet was as well. And we both tried, me for the first time, oysters on the half shell. I have to say I don't see the allure. I like to chew and enjoy my food, not swallow it as fast as I can.

Here's to 11 years, Brad. I love you, and hope we have many more to come.

Como Zoo

We ventured out to Como Zoo this morning, as the weather was going to be less rainy than tomorrow. Madison was quite at home.



And anything Mad does, the girls have to do, too.

After lunch, Leiden was very excited to use some of her spending money to buy a treat. She chose those giant rainbow suckers, and I sprung for Mac's. Consequently, virtually every picture of Mac has her with her mouth wide to lick the sucker.

Mimi was cooped up a fair bit there. We'd let her get out, and she would just run away and not listen to come back. We'll keep trying.

Mimi got to see the tigers, too. (He's in the background, really blurry.)

Mommy, Mimi, and the giraffes. Mimi pretty much barked the whole time we were there. Ruff ruff is a catch all for her!

Then, of course, we went on some rides. It was a lovely day, and it's cheaper than the mall. We should have planned on spending more time here. Mac went on the swings entirely by herself, and was thrilled. Every time she passed us she'd wave.

Mommy and Mimi on the train. She was kind of long-faced about the whole thing. I guess if you sit in a stroller all day, you're not too excited to sit in a train.

She's doing this funny thing where she closes her eyes and turns her head to the side when you look at her. Not sure what it's about, but it makes me smile.

Leiden wanted to go on the Screaming Dragon again this year. We went last year, and she ended up raising her hand in the middle to stop, but this year, she made it through the whole ride! I still think it's a bit much for her, though. She doesn't like getting slammed around in a hard little car.

We had a fun day, and even after rides there, the kids are excited to go to the Mall of America tomorrow.