Some time ago.

Legos

Uh, yeah I think they actually were.

Here.

Some of us at least.

Zoe had her day at the Barbie Dreamhouse, Roman (and Zoe) had their day at the Lego Discovery Center. (Wait, how does that work?)

For some reason Zoe saw it fit to pose with a flattened souvenir penny over her right eye.

What I can say: Glad we had a coupon. 

Schaumburg

A recent family visit to Chicago (Baby girl cousin on the way in August!) brought us to Schaumburg, IL. Volkening Heritage Farm.

Where we enjoyed a nice sunny (finally!) day outside.

We needed this.

Up the silo. 

Dad at least.

And one of your Dad's favorite past-times.

Peering from the bridge.

Looking for critters.

There's one - on the fence!

Cockle doodle doo!

It was almost not too long of a walk. Almost. Zoe was ready to be done before the rest of us, but I think that had a lot to do with the bee she saw about 5 minutes after I took this picture.

Bugs and Zoe, no match.

Entomology in her future? Probably not. Although if they are dead....maybe there's a chance.

OR etymology, with her love of books.

Hmmm. that teacher who tied those two words together a good 30 years ago (which one is bugs and which one is words?) made it stick with me. Wait. 30 years? Yes, probably.

Oy.

Marble

Basking in his new, larger tank.

Gordon

I wish you could hear Roman's "he's so cute"

The Love Book

Love, exciting and new 

....

Let it flow, it floats back to you. 

Love, life's sweetest reward. 

And without further ado, we bring you Zoe's book of the week:

The Love Book 

by Zoe

title page. must have title page.

Once Upon a time there was a girl

(trust me)

Zoe was a Good Girl

She was Zoe!!!!

A splurge at the Rainforest cafe.

Not a splurge.

Not at the Rainforest Cafe.

1 of maybe 10 things Roman eats.

We finally made it to the Space Aliens restaurant [and bar] in Albertville. Zoe was totally terrified for the first 20 minutes we were there ("I want to go home.....I want to go home...."), but she came around. The Aliens decorations and figures hanging around the place weren't friendly. Actually she doesn't like it when I say "Elllliooooot" in the E.T. voice, and she's never even seen E.T. Heard about it, and that's about as far as she wants to take it.

The smoothies above did the trick. 

No more tears.

Zoe's telling me to write "Zoe was a little scared. But when I got my smoothie, I felt better."

She makes her own computer

On paper.

Complete with:

Fasbook

Goo[gle]

N[etflix]

pbs kids

R[esearch]

music

FW [Funniest Home Videos]

And, I am told the cat is Wicket (our cat).

She made another one with a black case and told me it was her work computer (like mine).

Spring!......?

Last weekend we had spring-like weather.

Sun. 

Warmth.

Get outside weather.

Chalk on the sidewalk weather.

Yoda (with a little help from Dad)

So nice we made a trip to Kramarczuks in Nordeast in anticipation of the official Grill Opener 2014. I thought Grandma Candy might like to join us (andouille!) and she said yes. So we prepared her parking spot. I took charge.

Grandma Parking Only!

Roman was trying to tell me what it should say, but I wasn't really listening (and I wonder why they don't listen to me!%$#). After I was done he quietly went and got a piece of chalk and fixed my sign.

Grandma's Parking Spot Only! 

Ok then.

And Zoe embellished this with a rectangular spot filled with hearts. Gotta let her know she's loved.

Less than a week later we had a 8 inches of snow on the ground.

C'mon!

Show some mercy, mother earth!

Bell Museum of Natural History _inaugural visit

"Eagles are my favorite"

Meet Gordon

Our Kitty from another City.

(Humane Society).

So far....pretty good.

Living La Vida Rosa

Barbie Dreamhouse Experience @ Mall of America.

It's appeals to a very specific niche, and someone in our house fits that niche perfectly.

Pink VW.

Pink leather seating in the cafe area.

Pink giant shoe fountain outside the exhibit entrance.

Sensing a theme?!

At the ticket counter it said "no cameras...no cellphones...no video...."

 but then I saw all these people whipping out their phones and taking pictures. 

And plenty of staff to stop them if they cared.

Ok then.

They don't care.

(I asked).

Out came the camera, but while we were in the 2nd 'room' of the house. 

Barbie's bedroom, bathroom, closet...

Onward to room 3, which had a make up station.

Have I told you lately that Zoe told her class she wants to be a make up artist when she gets big?

Admiration.

So pretty!

The beads started as an adornment for her headband.

When I told her "no, I don't think people wear it like that" Ms. Zoe told me that it was about FASHION and doing things your own way.

Point taken.

The beads came with us (and migrated to being a necklace by the time we took these).

Spotlight. Pink. 

Ooi, oui.

Working the runway.

With a 2 song rotation, over and over and over again.

No matter.

Wrapping up with a moped ride.

And a good bye from Barbie.

This is based on the Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse animated series which Zoe has been watching on Netflix. A lot. They play on the outrageous-ness that is Barbie (i.e. she puts all cake ingredients in the oven and 2 seconds later she opens the door and bam! there's a fully decorated multi tier cake). I have laughed out loud (which is more than I can say for a lot of things coming out of the television).

Rating: 4 stars for this 5 year old.

All others: meh, probably not worth the money.