10 Questions About…

On December 5 we took a tiny trip to the Grand Meander – specifically we went to see the penguin. I love that Grand Ave has events like that – and it’s so close we can walk.

We were kind of the rerun family this month; we also went to the History Center twice this month. We hadn’t been there is years. Aine was still in God’s pocket last time we were there. But I have to say, the History Center was fun – a ton cooler than I remembered or maybe the kids are just at better ages to enjoy it now. (In other words, maybe we’re cooler now.) I’ll just tell you about our favorite parts…

The tornado room
There’s an exhibit on weather – big shock for Minnesota. But there’s a cool reenactment of the 1965 tornado in Fridley. None of us were around for the 1965 tornado, but we’re all experienced tornado watches so we knew a little bit. But this exhibit gives you a much better sense of having been there. It’s in a space that looks like a basement. You turn on the radio and you start to hear the radio report from the day of the tornado,. You can see the sky changing color out the basement window. You here that it’s coming. The hear and see the hail and then the yellowish quiet before you hear the loud noise like a train going overhead – then you see a tree fall down out the window. It’s pretty scary – in a good way.

Fighter Plane
The next exhibit is cool in a sad way. You climb into an old fighter plane as if you’re a new recruit on the way to Normandy or someplace like that. The exhibit doesn’t have a super high tech feel but you do get the sense that you’re taking off and flying through a little vibrating, the noise and the change in the clouds out the window. They talk through the history of the time by talking to you as If you were a soldier. Talking about how so many of the soldier would have been sick on the plane – too many to all reach the sick bucket. They give some context for why you’re going over in the plane – and then you’re hit and the plane starts to spiral down. Only 3 make it out alive. As I said – it’s sad. Even poor Aine left saying – so we died then, huh? But I feel like if you’re country is in a war that maybe you ought to get what that means no matter how old you are.

It’s part of the Greatest Generation exhibit. We were with Grandma, but she isn’t from the Greater Generation but the others who were there at the same time were a little older. It was kind of interesting to be there with folks who might have remembered some of it. Grandma did remember other parts of the exhibit – in fact I remembered some of the plates and other items because my Grandma Murphy would have had all of it still when I was a kid.

The House
Finally there’s a house replica and the historians have tracked the owners of the home since it was built. It’s from the East Side, which is an areas that we don’t really know – but it’s fun to walk through the rooms and learn about the inhabitants. You see how it went from what seemed like a pretty fancy place to becoming a duplex and what that meant for the new inhabitants. You get a sense as you read the info from the families that the neighborhood was super friendly at one point but that it became less so – maybe because everywhere just became less friendly, maybe as new immigrants moved in from new areas, maybe as the house got older and older and probably fell into needing more repairs.

They have a class at the History Center where you can research the history of your own house. Maybe I’ll do that with the kids when we get back this summer.

Well, we got our use out of our costumes this year. Lily was a flapper, Kate was Dorothy and Aine was Super Girl. We did well by checking out Good Will early – like 6 weeks early. The Good Will is still the best place to find costumes.

We started the festivities by going to the Zoo Boo at Como Zoo. We had never been. It’s a fundraiser for the zoo. You walk around and collect candy. It was fun. I was surprised that they didn’t incorporate the animals more. Not that I thought they should dress up the elephant as a globe or anything but I was hoping to see the animals at rest. Maybe they decided they wouldn’t pay them the overtime. Aine was a good age for the zoo; the other girls were a little old. But we had fun. I nearly forgot the best part – the girls rode the carousel too. That is fun at night.

Collecting candy in Edina. The Saturday before Halloween was beautiful – too beautiful to sit and work all day. I checked out the various outdoor events and we decided to go to the trick or treating at 50th and France. No we’re not from the area. Yes we were interlopers but it was fun. The kids ate free at Tejas, which is a restaurant I like and rarely visit. Kate won a banana bread, because she is the luckiest little thing in the world. We got tons of candy.

Boo Bash on Grand. This one was close to home. We walked from our house to Dixie’s on Grand Avenue and back collecting candy, face painting, tattoos and more. (I’m going to say that’s at least a 3 mile walk.) The girls were able to get a pair of sunglasses or bracelet from Lillian’s. It was a fun but tiring day!

Highland trick or treat – Halloween day we trekked around Highland for more treats. Mostly we had to do some shopping but we figured we were getting so good at it we might as well join the trick or treaters here too. The kids got to eat at the Highland Grill for free – that’s always fun.

Halloween was last night. We are finally and officially finished with trick or treating. Aine got 54 pieces of candy. Kate got 124. Lily spent the night at Chloe’s so she’ll have to check in with her haul later.

Last weekend was the very big fundraiser for the girls’ school. It’s a very big to do. On Monday I realized that we probably spent 18 hours up at the Fair. There were a ton of fun rides. Kate went on the Zipper!! Aine loved the obstacle course and the bouncy castle.

Lily had a slumber party after the Fair on Friday night. The good news is that we can’t hear a slumber party in the basement when we are upstairs. The other good news was that Lily let Kate hang with her friends too.

By the time Sunday rolled around we were happy to hover around the bingo and Twinkie walk events, which was good since our money had really run out the night before.

Aine and I made it to the Concrete and Grass concert – at least for a short time this weekend. We met Uncle Billy at Barrio for lunch. We liked that restaurant! We especially liked the wrestler masks and the overflowing candelabra.

After lunch Billy had to run to work – but Aine and I hung out and saw Idle Hands. I liked them. Aine liked the stream she could climb on in Mears Park.

Everyone is back to school. The big girls seem pretty happy with their teachers and classmates.

Kate is excited because they will be doing the autobiography right away. It’s a favorite fourth grade assignment that was after Christmas. Since we’ll probably be in Ireland after Christmas she thought she’d miss it.

Lily is excited because fifth grade is the year you move from class to class. So she gets to see a wider variety of her friends, which she will like much more than last year’s setup where all of her friends were in different homerooms.

Aine is the big kindergartener. She has been so excited for school. Unfortunately (for both of us) it was half-days this week – but it will be full days starting on Monday! Her big news is that she made a friend. That and her teacher is OK with either a hat or bandana every day.

I love the Minnesota State Fair! On Wednesday night the girls and I went with Anita and Darla. It was fun to go with Darla because we went to places we never go – like Heritage Square. Turns out Darla buys stuff at the Fair. We never buy anything we can’t consume on the fairgrounds.

On Friday, we went with Anita, Rick, Will and Mary. Our timing was perfect and we got to build things with the Home Depot folks. That was fun. We checked out the Eco Environment building. We saw the parade from our super comfortable seats at the Children’s Hospital area. The kids painted, we ate – all in the comfort of our shaded table.

On Saturday, we did our second annual scavenger hunt with the Lynches.

Here’s the food we ate:

• Sweet Martha’s Cookies
• Tom Thumb Donuts
• French Fries
• Pronto Pups
• Gyros
• Deep Fried Mashed Chick Peas
• Cheese Curds
• Malts
• Hot Dogs
• Chicken Gyro

Rides:

• Ferris Wheel
• Swing-Merry-Go-Round Thing
• Ride Around a Ring
• Giant Slide (even Grandma!)
• River Ride (Patrick got soaked!)

Fun Things We Did:

• Got black eyes from the Roller Girls
• Saw the biggest pig
• Learned who was the best hand-washer at the Ag building (Very cool exhibit!)
• Played in the Arcade
• Went to the International Bazaar (our one activity too much)
• Hung out at the Leinie Lodge
• Got our picture-calendar done in the Education Building
• Picked up school supplies in the Education Building

Can’t wait for next year!!

We celebrated the summer and fall birthdays with the Lynches this weekend.

Better late than never. We had a semi-impromptu tailgate party at the Saints game. We only had about 20 people. We only had brats and stuff – but it was fun.

The advantage of going to the game at the end of the season – it wasn’t a billion degrees. SO that was nice. The advantage of going to the last game was the super amazing fireworks at the end of the game. We have never been so close to fireworks.

Next year I’m hoping to have the regular game closer to my birthday – but I think we might also get a group to go to the final game too.

We had a great day with grandma at Como Zoo. The good news is that it was a beautiful day. The bad news is that it was a weekend and everyone and their brother was there. Usually we go to Como on the fakey Catholic holidays when only the girls’ school is out or at least summer weekdays.

The Japanese Garden was open, which was a treat. We hadn’t been in the garden before and there aren’t a ton of places in Como where we haven’t been!