September 2, 2010

Tiny Dancer

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Adelaide was critical of last year's dance class for the 3-4 year-old set at our local community center. The teacher, trying to strike a balance between organized chaos and meltdown, would lead the group in a series of wacky jumps and twirls that I would call "Creative Movement," but Adelaide called, "Not Ballet." Adelaide would ask, "When I am going to learn real Ballet?"

We'd checked out enough books at the library starring Angelina Ballerina and the charming "Time for Ballet" by Adele Geras for Adelaide to know what was true and false, so we decided to sign her up for a weekly dance class at a local studio ... Ooo. Real Ballet.

Our first class met this morning. I watched through the one-way mirrored windows and said to another parent, "I wish I was four."

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"You can be," she said. "They have classes for adults, too."

September 1, 2010

Rest Stop

As I've mentioned before, our trip north to Marmee & D's is about a seven hour trip one-way with Adelaide and Henry and all the requisite stops along the way: dipe changes, gas stops, lunch layover, and lately, impromptu vomit breaks. Adelaide has developed a nasty case of Car Sickness, seeming to lose her cookies at least once every trip this summer. It's gross, it's messy, and it makes the trip just that much longer.

So when we drove up this past weekend to draft our fantasy football teams, cheer Erin off to college, and generally share our lovely summertime colds with our loving family, we decided to try a new tactic: Driving on Through! For Adelaide, we also banned too many books and laptop movies; we encouraged lots of "I Spy" out the window; we made her chew lots of minty gum; and we did not stop for a huge calorie-bomb lunch, choosing instead to nibble and snack on veggies and crackers the whole way. With brief pauses for restrooms and gas-ups, we made it to our destination, St. Paul, in about five hours! And hooray, no yucky projectile incidents!

We stopped in St. Paul, an hour shy of Marmee & D's, to reward our efforts with an hour and a half of play at the children's museum. We stretched our legs and ran around the Wizard of Oz exhibit and played in the Habitot (a nature-themed play area for kids four and under). We had a blast, and made it to Marmee & D's before rush hour hit!

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Joel constructs Dorothy's rainbow over the Yellow Brick Road.

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"Howdy, Miss Gulch!" Do you think that it was Elmira Adelaide Gulch?

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Henry plays the Wizard by pushing all kinds of colorful, blinking buttons.

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A hug in the Habitot's snowy window overlooking downtown St. Paul.

August 7, 2010

Early Orchard Expedition, or We'll Be Back For You, Paula Reds!

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We just couldn't help ourselves when I checked my Wilson's Orchard bookmark and found that the orchard was open for business this weekend, and piled into two cars under stormy skies to pluck the first of autumn's bounty from apple trees laden with heavy green-pink varietals. Marmee, D, and Erin, visiting for the weekend, braved the downpour to gather a basket full of Zestar eating apples and a handful of tart Paula Red baking apples.

As always with Wilson's, our hunt begins in the cozy barn, warm on the rainy Saturday morning with the aroma of baking turnovers and apple cider. We mill around the sample table, tasting the ripe varieties like St. Edmund's Pippin and the Duchess of Oldenburg, before making our decision to fill our basket with Zestar on a recommendation from a volunteer. But, Joel has promised his delicious apple tart, so we opt to find a few Paula Reds, too.

We then go to the map, an outdated, but detailed aerial photo of the entire orchard, and made a plan with the owner and proprietor of Wilson's for some tips on finding our intended treasures. "The Zestar," she says, "will be easy. They're just over the bank, behind the parking lot." But, "the Paula Reds," she warns, "those will be a challenge. They're beyond the pond, way to the southwest, past the farm road, in the middle of a row of another variety. And there are only about four trees."

We promise that we're up for the challenge, and march off toward the Zestar in the drizzle. We quickly and easily gathered up a bunch of beautiful, crunchy apples, and were making our way around the pond toward the Paula Reds when it really begans to pour. We split up, in order to find the Paulas more quickly, hunting up and down about three acres worth of orchard: Song of September, Macoun, Snow, Wolf River 1888, Autumn Red, Honeycrisp, Surprise, Victory, Arlet, Liberty, Novaspy, Cortland, Prairie Spy, Red Baron, State Fair, York, and on and on and on.

But, no Paulas. Never any Paulas.

After an hour of hunting, chilly and drenched, we made our way back into the barn without the prize Paulas. Luckily, the volunteers had harvested a few baskets of the Paulas that morning, and we were able to snag a few to add to our basket. But, I feel a little defeated that we didn't find the trees ourselves.

Joel, Henry, Adelaide and I will be back in the 3rd week of September when the Honeycrisps are ready to be picked, and if it's a sunny day, we'll take a little more time and go looking for those elusive Paula Red trees again.