road trip

This morning after wavering between totally doing nothing, cleaning & organizing, letting Lucy swim in our back yard pool, and again doing nothing, I very spontaneously decided to do a road trip to Duluth.  I called Mel and she was in so off we went.  Thankfully she had his bike in her trunk and we were able to fit both bikes in my new (to me) swagger wagon.  Yup, I am a minivan mom and totally loving it!!!   So we popped a DVD in the built in player and off we went.  

First stop was the Munger bike trail, accessed through Jay Cooke State Park.   This fun easy bike ride on a designated bike trail turned out to be more complicated then letting her ride on the sidewalks of s. Minneapolis.  HOLY CRAP, the spills these two took, it was amazing there wasn't a broken limb or three. 

They did amazing (spirits wise).  Turns out Lucy wasn't too good at brake application.  Her training wheels weren't overly stable and well, the combination of the two issues had her at one point flying into the foliage on the side of the path so fast and hard that she almost completely disappeared.  She came out angry, and i was mad too (mostly scared) that she refused to let me show her how to use the brakes again, and instead took off peddling down a pretty big hill.  The spill did serve a purpose, she used a lot more caution after this spill.

They (mostly Lucy) were so dang competitive.  The focus on the other also caused a few spills.

But it was mostly fun and good exercise for everyone.  Before they could fall their way down all those hills they had to peddle hard UP all those hills.

a well deserved drink after a long, hard, scary bike ride.

we stopped at Leif Erickson park to throw rocks at the water.

perspective

Looking back on this photo from two years ago, it's hard to believe that she was giving me such a DAMN HARD TIME!  She looks so little, barely capable of anything but causing love and joy.  Yet, I very clearly and with vivid pain remember her at three years old.  No wonder people thought I was nutz, all they could see is what I see in this photo, a sweet, adorable, can't do nothing wrong beautiful baby girl.  

I want to remember as often as possible, that two short years from now, I will think that the current Lucy is still so young and little.  Though, I could hold on to the 5 year old stage for a long time. 

Today Lucy asked me what color my arm was.  Interesting question given that I know she was asking in the most literal sense.  Uhhh, ummm, sort of pink and yellow??? Uh it's hard to say.   Lucy laughs, "you have YELLOW skin???  ha ha ha"     A few weeks ago she had her face painted and she went up to (a total stranger) someone and said, "look at my face, it used to be brown but now I am a puppy".    Then later when I told her it was time to do hair she started throwing a fit and when I said, "Lucy, it's no big deal, we all need to keep our hair neat and clean"  she counters with "it IS a big deal mom, you are NOT like me, look at our skin! Mom, who IS like me?"  I was sooo thankful that we have many children and adults in our lives that I could quickly name off who are "like her".    

Week-end End

Sadly we bid faretheewell to yet another weekend.  Lucy's love of the animals continues.  I need one more weekend, attached to this one.

Auntie Jen got Lucy some ear protection to prep her for rocking with out hearing loss! 

YIKES!!!

After a "heads-up" phone call from a friend I decided to double check the Minneapolis Public School calendar and much to my dismay I found out that kindergarten starts BEFORE labor day.  What???  My baby has to grow up like several days faster then I am ready for, also our little "last hoorah" camping trip before the big-bad world of public education actually turns into our "we both survived the first couple days of public education" camping trip. 

she's just a tiny baby.  how will we ever survive this?

Mehaber

We got back from our vacation in Door Cty and 20 minutes later our Mehaber guests walk in the door.  My Mommy Brain forgot that we were expecting overnight guests.  At first I didn't think I could handle it but as it turns out it was a perfect perfect way to end our vacation!

after eating dinner Lucy and the boys hopped in the pool to get out some energy seeing as every one of us were in the car a good portion of the day.

Og hangs on for his life.

later Og and Zep hang out.

Og and his mommy made some delicious cupcakes for dessert.

the next day we were off to the Mehaber.  The best Mehaber yet!

had a nice little picnic in a shady area

we met the Peep - Eye crew!!!!!

Dinkeneh was a little out of it, or mabe he was so overwhelmed in the company of Lucy that his eyes couldn't fully open.

Morgan tired to take off with Dinkeneh, he actually wanted the soccer ball but since D would not release the ball Morgan had to take both of them.

Lucy and Mo enjoy some dessert.

I was far too tired to take very many Mehaber photos. 

Door County

This summer instead of camping/cabining, the boys, their mom, Lucy and I decided to kick it up a notch and head to Door Cty Wisconsin.  Above is a photo of the view from our hotel balcony.

After a long drive, a nice evening swimming off energy at the pool the kids slept well and we were all in good moods as we headed to our first destination.  Washington Island.  In the above photo the kids are on the ferry. Isaac and Nathan were a little weary of potential fog horn blows so they kept themselves protected.

When we left the peninsula it was fairly cloudy, but we could still see the island from the pier.  Very quickly a thick fog rolled in. 

Here we are on the island. The fog disappeared and the sun came out. We had crazy good luck with weather considering that every day called for rain.  Above is a photo of Lucy and Jacob on the Cherry Train tour.  Folks, it wasn't a train at all, it was a trailer being pulled very fast through the streets of Washington Island by a SUV.  I loved the tour, it was just a little anxiety producing considering there were no carseats, no seat belts and we were pretty much in the open air.   Not to worry, Lucy made sure Jacob stayed safe.

One of the Cherry Train stops was a historic farm.  Lucy loved the animals.

Another stop was Schoolhouse Beach, famous for its smooth rocks. Lucy spent our time here collecting and hiding rocks in the forest for other people to discover.

The train stopped at another farm.  Lucy just loved the chickens. 

On Thursday we headed to another farm on the peninsula. The kids really seemed to love all the open space and freedom to run that this farm offered. 

For lunch we discovered PC Junction a train themed kid friendly restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was fun to let the kids play and explore the play area while waiting to be seated.

they had a play house, lucy immediately got to work cooking soup for all the kids.

After lunch we headed to a state park to swim at their sand dune beach. Water was cold.

Friday morning before heading out the kids got their last swim in the hotel pool.  They loved jumping into the pool doing tricks. 

Lucy was able to swim all the way across the pool with no help.

Chao

We are heading to Door County WI for a few days.  We'll be vacationing with the three boys we babysit and their mom (and a few bottles of wine).  See some of you at the Mehaber on Saturday!

standing so still trying to get a butterfly to land on her

come on butterfly land on my not-so-patient finger

so very close

if you wont land on me, maybe I'll just land on you

A Girl and Her Dog

these two love each other so much

seriously they can't leave each other alone

Zep is her protector

aren't they too dang cute!

The New (to her) Bike!

many thanks to grandma and grandpa for the handle bar ribbons, the horn and the training wheels!

hi

Lucy and I are thrilled to share that we are on vacation!!!  Thursday at 1:15 pm this mama walked out the work door not to return for over a week!  Lucy doesn't have school next week and we are heading over to Door County WI.  Capping off our week at Door will be the 2010 Mehaber.  We are going to need a post-vacation vacation.  I am looking forward to concentrating on just one job (mothering) this week, having a little mental break from the daily grind of doing it all and having some energy to focus on Lucy and myself.

We started the week off by buying Lucy a bigger girl bike.  By the end of summer I predict we'll have those training wheels off.  We bought the bike from our neighborhood bike shop.  Anyone in the Twin Cities looking for a good quality inexpensive used bike?  I highly recommend this shop.  Full Cycle is an amazing social service agency in my neighborhood. Here's a little blurb about what they do: 

 "Full Cycle, a Minneapolis-based outreach program that offers free bikes to homeless and at-risk youth as a way to engage them with vitally needed social services. Founded in 2002 by Matt Tennant, a social worker, Full Cycle uses the promise of a renovated bike to connect homeless youth ages 23 and under with food shelves, places to stay, basic medical care and other social services available through Pillsbury House, a

PUC neighborhood center in South Minneapolis. “Kids love bicycles,” Tennant observed. “Their interest in bikes brings them to our door. We simply offer them the chance to earn a bike by learning how to refurbish it. For some, that's as much as they want. For others, we're able to connect them to a wide range of community resources.” Beyond learning a trade, participants will gain valuable business skills like conducting
sales and customer service, running a cash register and helping with the day-to-day management of the shop. Graduates of the program will have an opportunity for paid internships in local bike shops that could lead to employment."

If you don't need a bike, feel free to donate a bike.  It's an amazign program.  Lucy loves her new bike, I love that she has a good quality bike, in great condition, for an amazing price that supports a good cause.

Mothering

Being responsible for the living and well-being of someone besides yourself can be beautiful, tiring, rewarding and at times horribly frightening.

I don't mean to sound dramatic but sitting in a tent on Saturday night in a nasty storm second guessing my every decision had me facing the extreme seriousness of being completely responsible for someone else's life.

As we headed into Saturday evening I knew that there were storms coming. I knew they could be pretty bad. After talking to Mel (in the other tent) we decided to stick it out because we were too dang tired from the storms followed by an early wake up the previous night.  I thought if I drove home to avoid another storm, we'd probably get injured when I fell asleep at the wheel.  No, get some sleep and drive home in the morning, who cares if the tent gets wet again.

I laid my head down Saturday night, and it was calm outside and SO HOT and muggy.  The next thing I knew I was startled awake by a loud clap of thunder. BOOOOOOM.  I sat up and zipped up the tent windows.  Then suddenly the tent kinda collapsed on itself, pushing into my back and there was this strange quiet.  I pushed the tent back up.  A deluge of rain started.  Lightening was all around us, I couldn't even distinguish space between the lightening and the following thunder.  I propped myself over Lucy (who slept through this) and turned on my cell phone.   Got a text from Diane.  

I had the sickest feeling in my stomach.  Here was Lucy, sleeping, trusting in a tent with lightening crashing all around.  I debated. I texted.  Finally I prepped the tent and faster then I ever could have imagined I could do I scooped her up, and jumped in our car.  Mel did the same from her tent to her car.  Cradling a now awake Lucy and avoiding touching the sides of the car I told her that we were seeking shelter from the lightening.   I rubbed her arm, she rubbed my cheek.  We talked about shadows.  I breathed a sigh of relief. 

When the lightening died down I buckled Lucy in her carseat and Mel and I in the middle of the night packed up our tents and sleeping bags, threw them in the cars and caravaned home.

I stayed awake the whole time. 
I think next time I am hiring a decision maker, to make the big decisions for me.  Take some of the pressure off.