The saga continues...

Day one of balloon creation at Aurelio's with Grandpa!

By day 4 it has morphed into this bean. Roman carried it with him all day. Well, it was in his jacket pocket, but STILL.

We decided to walk back from the Field Museum.

Which seemed like a grand idea.(Empty Buckingham Fountain....C'mon, sing it with me "love and marriage, love and marriage...")

...considering what we found

playground!

Maggie Daley park - whoah!

Oodles of energy is found...

...and released...

Too bad it wasn't a little warmer (but than again it might be a little more crowded if it was)

Onward.

Another "Bean" (officially Cloudgate)

Continuing on our way back.

There we are!

September

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. 

Teach your kids to act like a fish and you feed them for a lifetime

Refurbished Japanese Gardens, at Como.

Kind strangers who offer to take a picture with Mom in it: priceless. Although I really don't want to be in the picture.

We have discovered the joy of water in the summer (not at our house)

And we're going back soon!

This is a great place to have some fun and I think will continue to be a great place to have some fun as you become more comfortable in the water. I think I jumped the gun on the swimming lessons last fall. You needed this first.

Pool time can get expensive, except when they offer a special kid time (7 and under) on Saturday mornings.  When I was a kid we used to go to the Richfield municipal pool.  But I was older. And for some reason my most distinct memory is the day they changed the cost of a phone call on the pay phone from 25 cents to 35 cents. I always brought a quarter (and only a quarter) to call home and get picked up. 

Pay phone? What's that?

Your mom left you there?

Well, yeah. With my brothers. 

We had summer passes a couple times.

She dropped us off an a North Star hockey game once too and my oldest brother, the eldest, couldn't have been in more than 9th grade (and probably not that).

Different times, kiddos.

Crystal Cove.

Nearby.

I'm discovering things I didn't know were here.

Roots are taking hold.

Not the intention, but it is what it is.

A slide even Zoe could love.

She is not fond of heights (or tall ceilings for that matter).

But she was having fun on this slide.

A good place to get her feet wet.

Bad pun, good fun.

Later that day we hit a splash pad too in another close-ish part of town. Turns out it was too cold to do much though. Hard to believe because we'd just gotten through some oppressive heat. 

SOAK IT UP, BABY.

Summer Fun

A little biking

(in the driveway)

A little History Cruising in North St Paul.

Some swimming at the local wading pool.

Admiring flowers on the front step(with Merida from Brave)

Swinging in our friend Kitty's backyard.

Riding a real-life pony!

(at Canterbury Park on the 4th of July)

Petting a bunny

Hanging with Dad

Cuddling with Mom

:)

Miss Katrina & the overnight camping trip

We took a 'let's test the waters' camping trip a few weekends ago. You guys were so excited. That morning Zoe asked Dad if 'this night' was the night for camping. He said yes. There was conversation about 'if the weather is nice enough" and Zo asked to put on the channel that tells you about the weather. So apparently you watched that for awhile. And just a bit later Dad noticed Zo had put her beloved 'pink polka dot' (blankie) and pillow by the back door. READY TO GO, DAD! Excitement all around.

Among the activities: lugging firewood back to camp.

With Katrina. It was so cute to watch you guys together. To watch how Zoe looks up to Katrina. And to think when we started Katrina wasn't yet in kindergarten.

And you got to play in Shawn & Mike's camper.

I didn't take a lot of pictures, but maybe next time.

Once I get my camping bearings again.

Like a fish out of water, I'm not sure how to act :)

Bumper cars at MOA

I quick snapped this one before we got going. Both of you really liked it, which surprised me somewhat. No fear.