Peace and love

They've gotten quite good at pushing each other's buttons, and I'm sure, sooner or later, I'll hear an "I hate you" yelled from one to another.

When that happens, I hope I'll remember to look back at this post and remind them of this moment of harmony - when they were the best of friends - when the spirit of cooperation inspired a five-and-a-half-year-old wanna-be pirate to push his sister on the swing, needing to hear only her giggles as his encouragement to continue pushing higher and higher.

It was such a welcome treat for Jeff and me to sit in the shade on the sidelines and watch them play together. Until AJ tried to lift Sydney out of the swing. I think AJ recognized his limitations, but Sydney continued urging him to help her.

Mommy to the rescue. All is well. Cherish the moment.

Lofty dreams

For more than a month, ever since Sydney's birthday party, our dining room decor has included three Mylar balloons. The helium seemed destined to keep those things afloat forever. While the cat was thrilled by it (she couldn't walk by the dangling ribbons without taking a nibble), and Sydney loved seeing Dora at dinner time, I was getting sick of the added clutter.

So last week, I finally cut the balloons loose. Not completely loose. I tied them to a refrigerator magnet to keep them floating up to the very top of our vaulted ceilings. Alas, the magnet was no match for a 5-year-old football player who simply could not walk past the balloons without attempting to tackle them.

Actually, the magnet did just fine. It was the other end, where the ribbon wrapped around the balloon, that couldn't hang on. Up, up, up went the balloon.

Sydney's first solution was to drag a dining room chair over to the scene of the crime. Surely that would give her enough of a boost to reach the balloon.

Or maybe not.

Next she called me over to climb up on the chair. I tried to explain that wouldn't work, that Mommy still wouldn't be tall enough.

Not to be discouraged, Sydney next announced she would get Daddy to help.

"Sorry honey," I said. "Even Daddy's not going to be able to reach."

"But Daddy's strong," Sydney insisted. "He can get it."

Did I mention that was a week ago? Perhaps we could start a betting pool on when that balloon will finally come down. My guess is Halloween.

Wild things

What's that creature peering through the glass at AJ?

Here's another look at it as it passed by a different panel of very-thick glass, a panel that hadn't been scratched and gnawed at quite as much:

Jeff had to work late on Friday night, so, to give him a quiet house Saturday morning, I took my wild things to look at the animals at the Lake Superior Zoo. I called it "Operation: Give Daddy a quiet house to sleep in."

At the petting zoo, AJ got really close to the llama, until the llama suddenly decided to stare right back at him. I snapped this shot just as AJ jumped away.

Sydney had no desire to see the animals close up. She prefers just about any animal that Diego has saved in one of his cartoons. I again can't recall the name of these adorable little monkeys. But Sydney insisted I take their picture.

Perhaps she didn't trust my photography skills, because she seemed to want a back up source. As I turned around after snapping the picture, I discovered she'd swiped my phone from my purse and was snapping a shot of her own. (Mine turned out better.)

And of course, no trip to the zoo is complete without climbing on the big frogs and turtle. This was a first for Sydney - she made it to the top of the big frog all by herself.

The difference between princesses and knights

Now that AJ feels he's established a few ground rules, I think he's ready to play.

Sydney woke up this morning wanting to be a princess. I helped her into a dress, and she then ran to her brother and asked, "AJ, do you want to play dress up, too?"

"Sydney, boys don't play dress up," was AJ's rather grumpy response.

Really? This from the child with superhero, knight and pirate outfits cluttering his bedroom floor?

"Boys just wear costumes," he further explained.

AJ ran into his room to get his knight costume. Just as Sydney muttered, "He's playing dress up."

Who's game?

And they're off! It's soccer time again. AJ had his first game Monday night. Of course I'm a biased Mom, but I have to say he did a great job.

The big shock of the evening, and perhaps a sign that the end of the world is near, is that my husband, Mr. Baseball, is... (drum roll please)... now an assistant soccer coach.

Does anyone else hear hoofbeats in the distance? Could the four horsemen of the apocolypse be far behind?

Here's the other big shocker. AJ is whistling in most of the photos I took. Oh wait. That's not surprising at all.

I did manage to capture a shot of AJ's first goal. Yes, he was that far out ahead of all the other kids. He really was hustling.

Alas, it was all for naught. The game once again ended in a tie. (This is the age group that doesn't keep score.) AJ was in tears as his team lined up to smack hands and say "good game" to the other players. He really thought if he tried hard, that his team would win. Hopefully this won't affect his effort level in next week's game.

In his mind, AJ had taken the proverbial one for the team, coming back to play after being injured. I didn't see him go down, but suddenly I saw Jeff lifting a sobbing AJ off the ground. It happened in a mob of kids by the goal. By the time I got to them (no, I'm not that Mom who runs out onto the field.) Jeff had pulled AJ's sock down and was trying to remove his shin guard. AJ was crying "my knee." There was no blood, so Jeff asked AJ if he'd twisted his knee.

"No," AJ wailed. "I got scratched!"

Did I mention there was no blood? This kid needs to toughen up.

Attempting to pull himself together, AJ resolutely announced, still in tears, "I have to go back and help my team."

I counted four goals he scored that evening. Twice he came running across the field to give me a hug. As much as I wanted to tell him that he needed to stay with his team, I'm never going to turn down a hug. I figure there won't be too many years left that he'll be willing to do that.

What a treasure!

Aaarrrgghhh! Such fierce and scary young pirate mates! Give a kid an eye patch and the possibilities are endless.

From the Tall Ships Festival, we headed next door to Treasure Adventure, a temporary exhibit down on the Bayfront. (L-R that's Ethan, AJ, Sydney and Carver.)

Big surprise, the kids favorite part was when they got to dig for treasure. I have to say, equipped with state-of-the-art metal detectors, these are some hi-tech pirates.

Once they located an area that beeped, they switched to a smaller tool. Each child was allowed to search and find three "treasures" (primarily pennies and nickels.) They then got to pick one of the three to keep.

Smaller pirates skipped the big metal detector and went straight to playing in the sand. Sydney loved shaking the dirt through the sifter.

Have you ever seen a cuter pirate?

Sydney had the option of using the smaller, hand-held detector. She quickly figured out it doubled nicely as a digging tool.

Sydney was having so much fun that of course the bigger pirates had to come over and check out her loot. (As an added bonus, we discovered our friends Addie and Lily were running around the pirate island while their mom volunteered at the event.)

And then... bonus... AJ got to meet up with the biggest pirate of all, which was great because we hadn't seen Captain Jack Sparrow in months - not since our trip in Disney World.

Of course no pirate adventure would be complete without some swash-buckling (what does that word mean?) fun. AJ had come prepared with a sword of sorts - a wooden "knife" from his sister's play kitchen. The other kids quickly found sticks that served them just as well.

Did I mention there was also an entire building full of treasures found by real explorers? We just might have to go back to check it out. The kids were having so much fun outside, it wasn't until it was time to go that AJ remembered he wanted to tour inside.

Ah... the life of a pirate.

Ships ahoy!

What do you do when you've promised your children a trip see pirates and ships and a chance to dig for treasure, and then you find out that traffic is so bad it'll take two hours to drive into Duluth (a trip that normally takes less than 25 minutes)?

Well, when the friends you were planning to meet at the Tall Ships Festival happen to have a boat and a charter fishing license, the solution ends up to be far better than the original plan.

We turned the journey into part of the adventure, traveling by boat down the St. Louis River into the harbor.

Traveling by boat gave us an awesome view of the Tall Ships, including the star of the show: the Bounty. This was the same ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

The ships were impressive in detail and size. What struck me the most was the thought that so many early explorers and settlers, ranging from Columbus to the Pilgrims, once crossed the ocean in vessels smaller than these.

Looking at the ships lined up behind the DECC, I also couldn't help but think of Pearl Harbor and the mighty ships that turned out to be sitting ducks on what became known as Battleship Row.

But enough about my weird thought patterns. Who has time to think when full concentration is needed to keep up with four busy kids, three of whom were wanting to be pirates? Any ship would do for these young mates. (That's AJ, Ethan and Carver hanging on one of the anchor lines for the permanently docked William Irvin, a retired ore carrier we had to walk by to get to the tall ships.)

As it turned out, our view from the water was much better than the view from land, and it didn't require waiting in any lines. The kids barely glanced at the ships as we walked. They were too busy looking for pirates and begging for cotton candy.

Besides the ships, there was plenty of other pirate-themed fun. Someone needs to explain to AJ that the point of walking the plank is to try to NOT fall in the water. AJ was at least two-thirds of the way across this balance beam, and doing just fine, when he purposely jumped into the pool. In his shoes. Such a brilliant child.

There was also free, live music, which, if you're Sydney, translates into a free opportunity to dance.

We attempted to also take in a performance of Pirates of Penzance, however the kids' attention spans just couldn't last. We walked over instead to Treasure Adventure, which I will write about tomorrow.

The return up the river was just as fun as the trip down. As I watched the sun setting over the hill, I was reminded of something a friend told me the year I moved to Duluth. If you can survive the winters, the summers make it all worthwhile. This was an amazing day to be in Duluth.