Casting for what?

Today is primary election day. As we were getting ready to head out the door this morning, Jeff asked when I was planning to go to vote. AJ overheard – sort of – and enthusiastically announced, "I want to go with on the boat!"

Who's the child here?

A mighty battle was waged in our backyard this evening. Not quite a battle to save the earth, or a battle of good versus evil. But an intense battle nonetheless.

And the weapon of choice? Silly String.

AJ's fingers weren't quite strong enough for him to consistently fire on his own, so Daddy stepped in to help - resulting in some hits at point-blank range.

Did I mention this was all Daddy's idea? And that they were playing in the rain? Boys!

Where does he get this stuff?

AJ is a sponge. This kid picks up phrases from who knows where, and remembers them. And repeats them. Thankfully, so far it's all been innocent - and humorous.

While running errands a few days ago, I had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting the car in front of me, which also had braked suddenly. From his car seat in back, AJ exclaimed, "What in the name is going on?" I admit to uttering derogatory comments on occasion about the IQ of certain drivers, but I've never said anything like that, and neither has Jeff. Hmmm....

Today, while finally sorting through our bag of State Fair treasures, I found two unsharpened pencils and handed them to AJ. He immediately started banging them on the wall, announcing, "Drum roll, please."

I just can't wait to hear what he comes up with next.

Why is it....

... that in a house with about 2,000 square feet on the main floor, if either Jeff or I are in the bathroom, then everyone wants to be in the bathroom. AJ, Sydney and, of course, Maggie all feel the need to follow us into the same space.

Our bathroom is pretty big. It had to be to fit in all the features we wanted. Having built the house before we had kids, we had no idea how nice it would be to have enough space for a play area in the most important room in the house.

The baby girls' club

Sydney loves Maggie. It doesn't matter if Maggie is inside or out, awake or asleep. If Sydney sees her, she wants to be near her.
"Uh-GEE! Uh-GEE!" Sydney squeals as she follows Maggie around the house.

It's actually kind of funny to watch Maggie - who can be an incredible pest - get a taste of her own medicine. Thankfully, our first "baby girl" is showing incredible patience and tolerance of our real baby girl's affections.

Maggie, meanwhile, is doing her best to train Sydney to share treats. I recently caught Sydney handing Maggie a handful of goldfish crackers. Maggie still has a little ways to go to coach Sydney on which foods to drop over the edge of her high chair. But I think she's figured out that Sydney is a very willing pupil.

Here fishy, fishy...

While in the Cities this weekend, the General, accompanied by the Red Knight, decided to accept PNC Larson's offer to borrow some fishing gear. (Warning: unless you're familiar with a certain e-mail exchange between Jeff and my Dad, don't bother trying to decipher that first sentence.)

Unfortunately, the fish were asleep. At least, that's what AJ told me. I'm not sure if he came up with that on his own, or if Jeff provided the excuse. The slumbering fish, I must note, sure tossed and turned a lot. I saw a couple of them jump out of the water.

It must have been the bait's fault. "It's wiggling!" AJ exclaimed as he displayed the lucky worm that hadn't yet been used to try and coax the fish awake.

There's a certain symmetry in this story. On Memorial Weekend, the unofficial start of summer, my two brave anglers tried unsuccessfully to hook a keeper, or any size fish for that matter, on our river. Fast forward three months to Labor Day Weekend, summer's unofficial end, and the intrepid fishermen landed similar results (or lack thereof) on my parents' lake. Better luck next year, boys.

Fun at the Fair

Alas, the Great Minnesota Get-together is again just a memory until next year. But what fun we had! Proving that the joy is in the journey, not just the destination, AJ was quite excited to ride the bus to the Fair.
This year he managed to stay awake on the return trip. He thanked the driver as he got off and asked if he would drive him again some time.

Once at the Fair, we met up with the Bianchi's and the Radecki's.

Luckily the Bianchi's had already been to the fair four times this year, and the Radecki's are very patient, so we were able to focus on the things AJ wanted to see and do: visit the animal barns and climb on tractors. I have to say that Machinery Hill was a bit of a disappointment. We found more boats than tractors to climb on this year.

Of course, no visit to the Fair would be complete without a ride down the giant slide.

At the end of the day, AJ said his favorite part was seeing the baby ducks; and ice cream was his favorite thing to eat.

He then asked if we could go back to the Fair the next day. I told him no, he'd have to wait until next year. Little did I know how much AJ had been thinking ahead. Remember his conversation with the bus driver? AJ told me, "But the bus driver said he could take me back."