Thanks Bro

This year we opted for the "Staycation"...a vacation at home for the weekend. Good choice for sure! We "futzed" around the house for Saturday and Sunday, and enjoyed an American tradition of traveling to one of Minnesota's beautiful State Parks on Monday.

But, first the title....

I couldn't resist calling this post "Thanks Bro"... (are you laughing yet Dane?)

On Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, we ventured down to Lake Harriet (a gorgeous city lake here in Minneapolis). At the playground, trying to be fine upstanding citizens, we asked our girls to get up from their swings when another father and his daughters were patiently waiting for their turn. Upon giving up the swings, the nice father said to Dane "Thanks Bro". This man was certainly trying to be "nice". But, I spent a lot of time thinking about this man...and, his motivations for calling Dane a "Bro".

Obviously, You can come to your own conclusions. Honestly, he was trying to be nice--and to "relate" to Dane. But, I couldn't help but think---this WHITE man has never left Edina, Minnesota. Poor thing. Big world out there, Bro. You don't have to call every black guy you meet a "bro". "Thanks man" would've sufficed.

ANYWAY....here's a few photos from our glorious trip to Interstate State Park on the St. Croix river. Thank you for the Mkaouri family for being such fun people. We had a great day we will always remember---rock throwing, kids getting dirty and no one caring, hiking, campfire building--and, of course, the grand finale--smores and popcorn! And, the fact it was cloudy and cold all day...who cares. What a blast.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy Birthday last Friday, actually. My idea of fun was a mini-family vacation to the Kalahari Indoor Water Park in the Wisconsin Dells. We all had a fantastic time--but, mostly Anya had a fantastic time. This orange slide to the right--well, I would guess she went down this slide at least 75 times over the weekend! And, Sasha, well as you can see we pushed her little 20 month old body to the LIMIT!!! All in all, the weekend was a major success. Uncle Jeremy even made it! And, also our good friends the Cains. How to top this? Well, maybe we'll do some outdoor fun for Memorial Day weekend.

Flip Flops, Swim Goggles, Mother's Day ER Visits

Happy Mother's Day! If only we would see 70 degrees. This spring is definitely one of the worst of recent memory. It has been cold, snowy and rainy so far. So, what's with the title of this post?

Well for starters, afer complaining wildly about having to work in the church daycare today, Mother's Day (we volunteer the 2nd Sunday of every month). I was really hoping to do something else than watch other people's children. Well, I got my wish.

We went to church and abrubtly left when Anya decided to run in her new sandals--which were purchased slightly too big in case of "growing feet" this summer. That running led to tripping, which led to Anya flying through the air and landing face first into the edge of a table. Blood, blood, blood and screaming. Off to the ER.

She was 10+ on the upset scale for at least an hour. Good news, no stitches. We were left with instructions to "watch" her and the fairly minor lacerations for the next few days. Whewwwww. Considering we were just in Children's one month ago for chin stitches with Anya, I was waiting for the social worker to arrive to interview us about our parenting skills.

To switch to Sasha for a moment...there isn't really much to report. Other than she has officially entered the "terrible twos". She is opinionated to the max--not talking much--prefers hitting, screaming and grunting to get her way. And is 100% addicted to getting her "Nuk" fix when needed. Let's hope for some more words coming soon...her vocabulary includes the following favorites: Anya, Mommee, Dadeeee, Ju (juice), Eeee (eat), and "Doah Boo" (Dora & Boots).

Anya delighted us this week, coming down one morning wearing her new swim goggles, her PJs, her new hot pink sparkly flip flops ("her airplane shoes"), her lovey, and Little Mermaid. Oh the joys of being almost four. "Fancy" is how she described herself. Thanks to a little inspiration help from a favorite book character, "Fancy Nancy".

On to the rest of the day....