Weather

If there is one thing Minnesota leads in it is analyzing/planning/discussing the weather. And so it was that all the forecasts for Sunday were for extreme weather - tornado watch, hail storms, and heavy rain. Having had our garden shredded by hail about five years ago this same weekend, and having just planted dozens of new plants in our new garden bed, this family was preparing for the worst.  Julie woke up early and decided to move all potted plants and window boxes into the garage, then used empty containers to cover the new plants like little hail bunkers. We then planned for a day inside, cleaning out the old toys for the upcoming garage sale, craft projects and some tv shows.  So naturally, nothing ever came of this storm except for some light rain at about 4pm. 

The upside is our plants got to wear hats all day, and Ted could walk the kids to the park for the city wide ice cream social. The organizers also saw the forecasts so had moved the festivities inside, but we still got our free ice cream cone and an assortment of giveaways. The highlight was getting to go in the police car and fire truck afterwards. And then playing at the park and going to the fishing pier, where the kids talked up a guy catching a fish on literally every cast (a well stocked lake!). Joe even got to hold a fish which quickly flopped on to the pier. Stay tuned for an upcoming fishing trip if Joe stays interested.  

Turned out to be a beautiful day!  

Imagination

Last week was our second go at the annual Imagination and Inventors Fair.  If you recall, last year Joe made a bird hotel made of milk cartons.  This year Joe was apparently of the mind that a milk carton should be used for his project, but he had a spark when he saw his apple sauce pouch top which is in the shape of a helicopter spinner.  So Ted had Joe sketch out his idea and create a materials list.  He also suggested making a diorama from a shoebox, which is something Joe does on his own occasionally. 

On assembly day, the boys had to change up the design a bit, incorporating a clothespin for the landing gear and to hold the rear spinner, and some balsa wood for the main spinner.  Joe colored it based on a picture found on Google. And the diorama was a city scene with a helipad.  

At the fair Joe got interviewed and was able to describe the project well. Meanwhile Julie was off interviewing other kids having been roped in to volunteer again.  Clara did her best not to get overwhelmed, but she will have her own project next year!

Joe with helicopter and missing front tooth lost that very day.

First Twins game of 2015

On Friday evening Ted took Joe to his first Twins game of 2015. It being April in Minnesota you are risking cold weather, but the boys got lucky with 70 degrees at game time.  So they enjoyed their hot dogs and ice cream as well as the mascot race (Babe won) and a visit to see Sue play the organ and lasted a full 9 innings and headed home after 10pm.  However the game ended up taking 11 innings with a Twins HR to win it but the boys couldn't make it that late!

Nighttime Antics

 Fans, your reporters, editors, and photographers all bring you this post from their room where they are reading while listening to one Clara Jane Birdie blow away--at 9:39pm mind you--on the noisemaker she got at her friend Josie's My Little Pony-themed party yesterday. Moments ago, Julie was called in there whereupon Clara blew out the noisemaker and then said, "I'm not tired," before blowing it out again. Julie managed to keep a straight face and say, "Well, I am," and make it out of there before her face crumpled in laughter.

In other news, about an hour prior, while your reporters were watching the always-uplifting Mad Men, Our Hero appeared downstairs to announce that he had finished Gooseberry Park. Gooseberry Park is a long-ish chapter book so this was rather a big deal. It wasn't long before Joe spotted the pile of pastel foil squares next to Julie and broke his stream-of-conscious style narration to say, "And I see you've been eating Easter* candy!" He asked if he might have one, quickly adding that he'd not tell Clara. Stinker. It takes on to know one, Fans, and all of us here at the Casa Blanca know one. (Our Hero has been promised two pieces of candy tomorrow.) 

*Report forthcoming.

Good Friday

Last week was spring break week for Joe, so his days were spent at Kids Place. One day they saw the movie Home, which was a little nerve wracking for our hero when it was uncertain if the child would find its mother. Another day they walked up the street for Chipotle lunch, where Joe had to swap meals with a friend because he didn't want the chicken in his quesadilla. But on Good Friday there was no Kids Place option so Ted took the day off and brought Joe to the Science Museum for the first time. It was a particularly crowded day with all kids off school, but they had bought tickets online and walked right in. We scoped the place out and not surprisingly realized it was a never ending series of hands on exhibits. They started in the dinosaurs which was relatively calm and where Joe learned the word coephelopod, which we thought would be a good "C" word for the letter game at dinner.  From there Joe tried to navigate the various exhibits, but didn't want to wait so ended up at many of the broken or less interesting ones.  Lunch was taken early before the rush which turned out to be very smart, and is where they overheard a live demonstration. So after lunch the boys grabbed a seat and watched a demo of rockets and another owith liquid nitrogen. These were better for Joe to focus on and learn.  Joe got to climb around the Tape Tunnel, which was exactly that and required some expert maintenance crew armed with a roll of packing tape and scissors. Lastly we did the ticketed Space exhibit which showed what it will take for humans to get to Mars. Joe said he would volunteer to go to Mars-Ted declined.  So it was a long fun day which we wrapped up by picking up Clara and getting ice cream at the DQ.