On our way back to the cities, we stopped at the Minneapolis sculpture gardens to walk around, and so Gracie could see the spoon bridge - she did a report on Minnesota and featured the bridge. 




We hit the Scandinavian bakery for some delicious treats on our way to have dinner with my Uncle and Aunt in North Oaks.  They fed us Pizza and drinks in the muggy out of doors and it was great to see them.

We then hit the mall on Friday, that's right, the MALL OF AMERICA!  We shopped at H&M.  Then the kids conned Phil into rides, including the really scary ones.  We went to the Lego store, and then..... la piece de resistance.

The American Girl Store.






It makes me glad I have girls.  We had lunch at the bistro, and had the doll's hair done.  Then we spent more on doll clothes and accessories than I spent on my wedding dress.  I rationalized it by enjoying the fact that it was a girl thing, and I will hold on to the girl thing over the teenager thing any day. 

We topped it all off with an afternoon of swimming with my cousin Lynn and her triplets, and then went to pay respects at Fort Snelling.

Grace played Ode to Joy, and When the Saints Go Marching In on her recorder and I had a real good cry. 



We went to Buca di Beppo, drank wine and ate food while visiting some more with Lynn - I was so glad she was able to come up and see us.

Thanks Minnesota.  We had a great time.

We drove a little south to experience Hutchinson, with my cousin Jennie.  We started the drive on a country road, and stopped along the way at a strawberry farm and bought fresh picked strawberries.  They are so juicy straight out of the field, we ate a huge amount right away, and continued to eat them until they were gone that day.  The proprietor offered the girls something out of a box in the corner - kittens!  We didn't take any, though.  And Sophie couldn't pet them because they make her blotchy.

When we got to Hutchinson, we hung out a little, we ate some fantastic foods, we went to a T-ball game and watched Martin swing away.  We cruised over to see the biggest ball of twine ever rolled by one man.


Across the street there was a merry go round, and a teeter totter.  I think in Arizona these are outlawed, so we ran right over and played.
 



We hit the jackpot when Jennie got her awesome friend Tami to show us around her dairy farm.  That's right, her DAIRY farm.  We aren't in Tucson anymore, Toto!  First, I must say that Tami is awesome.  She is cute, and funny, and was awesome with the kids.  (I think Phil thinks she was pretty awesome too.) She let them milk the cows.


She let them feed the baby calves, and let them name a couple. 

She let them help where wash their show cow, and  it was awesome, kind of like a huge cow blackboard, with finger painting kids of all ages.
 



She showed us a brand new kitten.  A huge city girl thanks to Tami - it was awesome!
 
Even if it was only for a couple days, I love Hutchinson.  Thanks Jennie.

We spent a few days on this vacation with my Aunt and Uncle at their lovely home on the lake.  We haven't been lake people much, seeing as there aren't really any lakes too close to us at home. 

We now love the lake.  I told anyone who was listening that if I lived in that house I would have to quit my job and just sit in the back yard playing beanbags, swinging on the swing, and oh yea, going out on the lake.  I like it that much.

We heard loons, and watched loons.  We saw eagles and eagle's nests.  There were fish in the water, and some of us fished a couple times.  But the biggest fun of all was the boat, and more specifically, the dragging of kids on various things behind the boat.  Inner tubes, sleds, knee boards - all good!  The girls were adventurous, and got out and skidded around back there.  We all swam in the lake.  (Check off that life line!).

 



We learned a new dominoes game - chicken foot - which is fun for all of us.  I have now procured some dominoes so we can play at home. 

Jane fed us well, and followed our fairly theme song of Meat for Breakfast Meat for Lunch.  Meat IS the food we love to munch.

Thanks Jane.  Thanks Pat.  Thanks for letting us invite ourselves, sleep in your loft, eat your meat, and whiz around behind your boat.  Maybe you shouldn't have been so nice to us, because we will probably come back.

The original purpose for our vacation trip was to attend the wedding of Lars and Amy.  The wedding was in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, and it was lovely.

We ate dinner Friday night at a lovely little local restaurant, Shady Grove, or Chez D'Grove.  The food was wonderful, and the company sublime. Jack brought a huge bottle of the Prisoner wine for sharing. 

Ellsworth is the cheese curd capital of the world, and we bought and ate a whole bunch of cheese curds.  ** Hindsight note, we also regretted all those cheese curds.

There was a baby.  Andrew.  Tony and Rebecca's most adorable offspring.  We pretended he was part of our family.



Their wedding made me think of a lot of things.  I don't know if I was just wide awake, or why I was paying such close attention, but, here were a few key things I noted at their wedding.

It is a good thing we mostly get married quite young.  It is good to get married before we really know what the heck we are doing, or we might just be so terrified we would run scared. 

When they exchanged rings, the priest noted that the rings were a sign of the giver's fidelity, not the receiver's.  I have always thought of a ring as a binding thing for the wearer - my ring reminds me of my promise.  But interestingly enough, his emphasis was that the ring was on the giver.  So my ring is a sign of Phil's faithfulness.  It changes things, I think.

Johnny Cash?  Totally stealing from church in his "When the Man Comes Around"  Almost verbatim.  Of course the problem was that as the priest was saying the words, I just heard Johnny Cash wailing them, and it was a little distracting.

And finally, I was very aware of the concept of community.  There is a closeness in a small town, where everyone knows you, where you grew up, where you can't hide from your youth and past.  It turns out, it is a good feeling.  We wish Lars and Amy all the best for their new life together, and are so glad they invited us.

We skipped over the last week, and launched ourselves on vacation this week.  It has been fantastic.  And it is too much to put in one single post, so I will have to spread it over the next couple posts. Brace yourself.  Minnesota?  It is a pretty cool place.  Just today, Grace told me "Mom,. I love living in Minnesota." 

Look up....

This week was week 3 of summer. The week part? pretty weak.  Just more super fun summer camp, hanging out at home and library time.  The week end part? AWESOME.

The girls spent last night at the Zoo.  Not in an exhibit, but in tents, in the middle of it all.  They got to cruise the zoo with flashlights, have an after dark scavenger hunt, and associate with the animals (at least that is what Grace the Gorilla told me).  The had a snack, and went to bed close to midnight.  Then they got up before 6 AM, fed some animals, learned all the crazy ways the zookeepers feed the animals, got to check out the tigers and had breakfast.  It was so cool, it made it seem less hot.

Look out week four....

Today, after way too many months of staring at dusty boxes of slides from Phil's father's life's work, unexpectedly, Phil and I dug in.  In total, I think it is safe to say that between previous days and to day, we have reviewed around 5000 slides.  That is a lot of slides.

Every time we thought we were done, we found more.

It brought a few things to light for Phil and I, and we learned some things we think can teach us all.

Before I start my list, we noted that above all, Tom's front yard was his Opus.  I would estimate no less than 500 slides were of the front yard.  He took a dirt lot, and over years of care and planning, made a desert oasis that if the most beautiful thing on the block.  Maybe even in the neighborhood.  Lesson one would be that if you want something more, be tireless, and track your progress.  It will inspire others.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

Nature Photos. Unless your name starts with an A and rhymes with Hansel, give it up on the nature photography.  We know there is a landscape setting on your point and shoot but really, don't take twenty or thirty rolls of film of far away nature.

People.  The best part of our lives.  People.  Put one in every picture.  People.  In pictures.

Bad shots.  When the film comes back, and the picture is blank, or underexposed, or blurry because your hand was shaking or was the exact same shot as the one right before it or the picture is underexposed or there's no people in it, throw it away RIGHT NOW.  Don't save it for your kids to do.

Good shots.  DO Something WITH THEM.  There are some of the most beautiful shots of the desert we've seen.  On slides.  In boxes.  Where they have been for years.

Good Shots with People in Them.  These are the money shots.  They show time, and illustrate fashion trends.  They show interesting pieces of our lives, like what we wanted for Christmas when we were ten, or twenty.  They show who we were, and mostly, how much better we are now.  Best of all? BLACKMAIL.  Look out, Phil's family.  Whether it is Valla's perm, or Greg, golfing without his shirt on, or Eddie in neon looking like the New Kids on the Block, game on.  Similar to the Good shots note, DO SOMETHING WITH THEM.  It could be a nice little source of income. 

All in all, here's the scoop.  We have taken a long, long walk down memory lane and thank goodness for that.  Thank goodness, above all, that we got back to the house, put our feet up and had a drink to celebrate.   

This week, the girls started off their first summer camp.  It is like college, with four one hour classes, but way more fun. 

Grace has computers, Wii play, Candy making and Tea Party.

Andra had Candle and soap making, ceramics, photography and Twilight.

In the afternoons, they hung out, made cookies, swam and went to the library.

Sounds good, right?  I had a good people week, between having lunch with my friend Peggy and a lovely dinner with my friend Cathy.  I forget how great it is to see people, and laugh and enjoy their company.  I know that sounds stupid, but I get so busy I don't make plans, and then I don't see anyone because they did make plans.  And I remembered this week how delightful people are.  I ended the people fun by having a hug fest with the mail man today - it's Phil's cousin, and it was great to see him, making the rounds, cruising the neighborhood.

It's a good world we have here.

Some shots from our trip last weekend:

A FISH:



A FALLEN ANGEL:



THE WHOLE GANG:

We have completed week one of summer.  CHECK!

While the girls are on summer break, of course Phil and I are all growed up and must continue, despite our dearest desires to the contrary, to work days.  This year, more than ever, I really want to lie around, playing cards and drinking cold lemonade and eating cucumber sandwiches for the lazy days of summer.  Even though I have to break it up with long stretches of serious computing, I am going to try and keep it "cool" around here by doing summer type things.  Some big.  Some small.  All summer, all the time.  The girls only have 9 weeks off this summer, for various reasons, so I figure we need to get going.  I think perhaps if I report in to you, tender readers, we will feel more accountable to do good works, and will have a nice little review of where our summer went when we are crying about it being over next fall.

That, and, let's be honest, I haven't exactly been burning up the pages with clever and witty posts lately, so maybe a little quantity over quality, eh?

We started off with four days at one of the best places on earth, the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch.  My sisters both came to town with their offspring, we rode a horse or two, ate our collective body weight in buffet food, laid down a "deep" base tan at the pool and relaxed.  It was quiet, and peaceful, and since we have been there three times now as a group, it was interesting to mark the progress of the kids over the years - they are all bigger, to be sure, and since they all seem to still like us, we enjoyed their company.

The girls then kicked off Summer Plan 2009.  It involves reading, collecting coins, swimming, and, obviously doing a lot of nothing.  They are well on their way to meeting their week one plan.

I have read 4 books since their summer break started.  It just feels like a summer kind of thing to do.

We made a jar (thanks Mom!) of lime ice water to drink by the pool yesterday - cold, and refreshing.  Summer!

Laundry.  Lots of laundry.  We had a good moment when Grace realized that Andra (also known as Labelmaker Abuser) had put a label on the side of her hamper that stated "No laundry above this line".  Since she wasn't specific who was responsible to insure the line was not crossed, we all pitched in and did a little laundry to keep it in compliance.

We washed the car, and saw a movie, and made wedge salads, and played some board games. 

Sneak peek into this week?  Summer camp starts, and more nothing!