First Canoe Trip on the St. Croix River

In early September, we enjoyed a beautiful Saturday morning testing out our new canoe. Pedro paddled us up river to a little park where we had a picnic. We passed lots of fancy speed boats and yachts (or rather they passed us) whose passengers seemed to enjoy the sight of a little canoe on the big St. Croix (which becomes the Mississppi down river).

Happy 3rd Birthday - Moose Party

On a family vacation to the Tetons National Park, Rody saw a moose antlers kids hat. His mother, not willing to pay exorbitant visitors center prices for something that might be forgotten the next day promised her son they could make him some moose antlers when they got back to grandma's house on his birthday.

 

He did not forget that promise, and for the next three days he reminded Mom, Grandma and everyone else that we were going to make moose antlers on his birthday.  

 

 

Rody thought that everyone should have the good fortune of moose antlers, and decided he wanted to have a moose party in which everyone would make moose antlers and then go outside and pretend to be moose. His uncles and aunts were very good moose. As a family, we played a variation of the game "Duck, Duck, Goose":  "Elk, Elk, Moose", making one little three-year-old moose very giggly and very happy. 

 

 

 

Happy 3rd Birthday - baseball pinata carne asada party

Our little man turned three in August while we were visiting family in Utah.  His California grandparents met us in Utah for a big family birthday party. Though I don't know how they fit it in their car, they brought the biggest pinata I'd ever seen, purchased in Mexico.  They also brought our favorite carne asada meat for an amazing dinner that made me so glad my kid didn't request cheesy noodles.

 

We were happy a few friends could come to the party with their cute kids. We miss you!

 

I was a little nervous that the kids would be scared of a giant smiling baseball bigger than any of them, but they loved it - especially when the Mexican candy spilled out. Chili-watermelon sucker anyone?
 

 

 

 

Measure your feet

My son wanted to measure things with the tape measure. He asked if he could measure my feet. Afterward he said, “Good job, Mommy! I'm proud of you for being so brave."

Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee

One of Rody's favorite library books is Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen. We've read it 10 - 15 times the past month. Finally, after reading it yet again, I told Rody, "Okay, now you read it to me." - And, he did.

I had no idea he had memorized the WHOLE book.

When Pedro got home from work, Rody "read" it to him. I caught part of it on video. This kid can't keep his hands out of his mouth, so I don't know how much of it is understandable. It's a bit long, so mostly for grandparents and aunts with patience, but super cute. I love their papa-son conversation at the end.

Urban Dare Adventure Race

This was our family outing Saturday afternoon. We ran (ok, walked) all over downtown St. Paul to take pictures of the answers to clues with Rody relaxing in his stroller. More to come. 

Pedro's brother served as our "phone a friend" - Jordan, you're the best!

Indexing

I am not a consistent indexer. I need a refresher course in cursive, and I often have to give back a batch if I just can't decider the handwriting. But, I made a goal to get at least one batch complete on Monday, and I did. Yay!

Sharks in the barn

This is the quick-response dialogue that passed between father and son this morning:

Rody: be careful, papa, that's my barn. (as Pedro sat on the couch to put on his shoes)

Pedro: oh, okay. What kinds of animals do you have in your barn? Chickens?

Rody: yes

Pedro: and horses, pigs and ducks?

Rody: yeah

Pedro: and cows and buffalo?

Rody: NO! of course not! the buffalo are in that field (said without skipping a beat)

Pedro: oh okay, and cats and dogs?

Rody: yup

Pedro: and sharks?

Rody: No Way!

Pedro: oh, no sharks in the barn?

Rody: of course not, the sharks are in the water over there.