A Night Out Ballroom Dancing

One of the longest standing classes at the kids' homeschool co-op has been ballroom dancing.  It outdates everyone at the co-op, save the teacher, Dorothy Rose.  Fifteen years (at least), she has taught there.

The kids don't just dance on Friday afternoons during class.  Some of them, and even some friends who've never taken ballroom, make a habit of attending the twice monthly live music dances at a local ballroom studio.

Big band sounds, live and in person, tempt them onto the dance floor. The group grows and shrinks given the whims and schedules of any given month.  At the end of May, it was a particularly large group, somewhere around 18 in all.  The rest of the clientele tends to be geriatric, though I've seen an increase in 30 and 40 somethings in the two years we've been going.

I admit, that when our 12 year old wanted to get dropped off at a public dance, I was a little trepidatious.  But as it has turned out, I can hardly think of a more wholesome (or fun) way for teenagers to go to a dance.  Is there running around and gossiping?  Do the 'ship' each other?  Date on occasion?  Sure they do.  But everyone dances, and dancing with someone is not a be-all-end-all statement on a relationship.  As Nova pointed out, it is actually good exercise (more than once, I've picked her up with flushed cheeks and a little sheen of perseperiation).  The high drama, tears, and standing around waiting for someone to ask you to dance are generally absent.  I figure this is because it as much about actually dancing as socializing, and because it happens a couple times a month, the stakes aren't so high.  And there are always 2-3 parents who camp out in the balcony to chaperon.



PS, While it looks like the couples don't change, they actually do.  I only had my camera out for one dance.

We're Moving! (And St Lucia Day 2016)

A year ago, we decided not to move.  Our 1100 square foot house would do just fine for us--yes it was cramped at times, but if we were to use our space wisely, it would be fine, right?  Americans are gluttons for space are they not?  We put in a play structure, made plans to clear out the basement storage room for a makeshift office, and figured we would add a second bathroom someday.  That should do it.

And then...well, it wasn't any one factor that changed our minds, it was about half a dozen at once.  Our kids grew.  With the older two each within an inch of their same gendered parent, tight spaces became even tighter.  Forget about having anyone over.  Our house was at max capacity with the six of us.  Once everyone was seated at the dining room table, no one could get anywhere in the else in the house without playing musical chairs (the dining room is in the center of the house).  Then there was the week when we all got sick at once and our six year old asked for a second bathroom for Christmas.  We knew our bedroom situation, with our youngest in a nursery attached directly to our room, would be less and less ideal as she aged.  At 4 it was still working great.  But how many 8 year olds want to walk through their parents room on the way to theirs? (And how many parents want their 8 year old traipsing through their bedroom at any moment)?  As we looked at high schools for our oldest, we found we wanted to live in the community where he went to school.  We looked at our local high school, and we liked it better than we thought we would, but it was not as good a fit as the one across town that we ultimately chose.   Lastly, being closer to our parents was a big plus.  Right now they help us out a lot with babysitting and the like.  In 10 or 20 years the relationship may be reversed, and they may need some help from us.  Even if we are just getting together for fun, it is nice being twice as close geographically.  So...we are moving.


It took a while to find a house.  We originally thought we'd try to move between June and August.  So did everyone else.  Interest rates were low, the economy was picking up.  After the great recession there was pent up demand.  There was a run on houses like you wouldn't believe, and the square mile of walkable downtown we had our eye on was particularly hot.

Eventually we found a great house, a little further out that we thought we wanted, but right on the bike trail, in view of a lake, nice and quiet with a lot of nature around.  While getting to that walkable area with grocery, library, bank, theater, etc will take a little longer, there are up sides we hadn't previously considered.  There is no traffic noise. In fact, our neighborhood is so out of the way it is almost hidden.  We have a little patch of woods and access to a pond in our backyard.  Beyond that is the trail and the lake.  A lake was never even on our dream list.  We did not think it was possible.

The house itself has a very straightforward layout, and covered everything we wanted--4 bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, living room and family room, eat in kitchen and formal dining room.  Most things in the house are circa 1962, but it has been well maintained.  Everything is fully functional--perfect!

When we asked our future next door neighbor about the neighborhood, he mentioned that there is a lot of wildlife.  No kidding!  These prints and scat are from our yard.  

That said, we will miss our old neighborhood.  We will miss all the friends we have there, the brand new park and splash pad down the street, nearby museums, the view of the state capitol and cathedral and the picturesque bridges we drive over daily.  I will miss the charm of a pre-WWII house, our strawberry patch and herb garden, and our honey crisp apple tree that just started bearing fruit.  I will miss everyone knowing us in the grocery store, the coffee shop, the library and bakery.  I will miss being a short bike ride away from the nature center where our youngest two have gone to preschool (we will be driving back twice a week for the rest of the school year so Aria can finish the year).

Our move ended up falling right over Christmas break--just like the last time we moved.  Back in 2008, Solomon and Nova's first night in the new house was Christmas Eve.  This time it was just a few days earlier.  We celebrated St Lucia Day the next morning.  As always, we managed to surprise Charles.   

My phone was doing a particularly awful job at taking photos, so we just have to go with what we've got in.  I'm not sure which group picture is better, so I included both.

Given all the difficulties of moving, we improvised a bit and used ready to bake cinnamon rolls, shaping them like we would saffron buns.  The red ribbons were nowhere to be found and there was no greenery for the crowns, but no one seemed to miss them.

A year at the bridge

For the year and a half we lived in Hopkins, most mornings and some evenings I took the same walk.  To the bridge and back.  And I usually snapped the same picture.  A record, a year in place.  While I noticed that either my walks or my photography got a little thin January through March (sometimes the cold kept my camera from working) I was, more or less, consistent.

Seeing all the changes that took place, as well as discovering the mood of the day, made that selfsame walk interesting year round. Leaves and sky changed colors remarkably quickly.  Mist rendered it a virtually unknown landscape, like the first time I went on this walk in December 2016, and could not see the end of the long railroad spur leading into the lake to the bridge.  I truly did not know where I was going or where the trail would end.  The entire city, so close around me, was entirely absent.  All there was was mist and bare branches.  April, with its three tenacious blizzards, gave way to a spring entirely compressed in to the 31 days of May.  Swallows nested under the bridge, and fish guarded nests in the water just to the right of it.Giant snapping turtles laid their eggs on shore.  Loons called at sunset.  A bald eagle sat regally on an oak branch in January.  Foxes dodged and deer stood brazen along the path.  A coyote trotted on the sidewalk boldly on a sunny morning.  Baltimore orioles, sparrows, robins and chickadees enjoyed the birches and cottonwood along the path.  Geese and ducks were regulars, treading the open water by the swimming dock all winter long.  Once, I spotted seven swans a swimming.  Dog walkers, fishermen, teens in hammocks, bikers large and small, all used the bridge.  One morning I came out to giant orange inflatable pyramids.  I was just in time to cheer on the triathletes swimming beneath.  In winter I could walk underneath, examining swallows nests frozen to the snow.  In summer, a little kayaking trip let me see them at home.  Not bad for a suburban neighborhood. 

June 2017

July 2017

August 2017

Early September 2017

Late September 2017

October 2017

November 2017

Early December 2017

Late December 2017

Mid December 2017

February 2018

Mid April 2018

May 1st,  2018

Early May 2018

Mid May 2018

Mid May 2018

Late May 2018

June 2018

Late June 2018

Since we have moved to our new neighborhood (2,000 miles away), I have been looking for new walks.  I recently found a bridge.

Halloween 2016

 

Halloween 2016 has come and gone.  I always find it interesting how there are some holidays that linger and linger (like Christmas) and others that, while heartily celebrated, are thoroughly over once the day has passed (like Halloween).  I am sure this has something to do with All Saints Day banishing any unsavory spirits.  Nonetheless, it is an odd phenomenon.

This year my costume-making focus turned entirely to the younger two kiddos.  Solomon may be officially done dressing up (at least until Halloween parties kick in).  He was a good sport and posed with the other kids, claiming his costume was a homicidal maniac--they look just like everyone else.



 Nova is quite capable of designing and making her own costume, and she managed her pikachu costume quite nicely.  Right around the same age, Solomon sewed a cape for his fire-demon costume all by himself. Nova used leftover yellow polar fleece from last year's Ikki and Jenora costumes, old black socks, and a spare headband to make the ears.  She got a yellow sweatshirt at Goodwill and added brown felt stripes and ear holes in the hood.  Her tail was more polar fleece and felt with a stiff piece of foam board to help it keep its shape.


Ariadne wanted to be Officer Judy Hopps, the bunny cop from Zootopia. I thought surely Disney must have learned their lesson from Frozen, and there would be ready made costumes available.  I was wrong.  So--time to get creative. Target basics provided the base--navy leggings, dusty blue sweatshirt and navy sweatshirt.



I got the navy sweatshirt a size big so it would layer well with the lighter one after I'd turned it into a police vest.  The arms made the gauntlets and we used some scrap fabric for the silver wristbands.  A set of bunny ears and tail plus a police accessory set (badge, handcuffs etc) from Party City meant we were almost done.
 

Aria was adamant she have fox repellent, so we got a little pink spray bottle from the travel section at Target and I made a label for it.  For the belt, we got a black boys belt with holes down the length and strung an actual ammo pouch on it for the fox repellent and a flashlight.  We tucked the handcuffs into the belt, skipped the toy gun, and clipped the badge to her collar.  Done.

Charlotte decided on being a Hogwarts student--not a character from Harry Potter mind you--just a regular student (maybe even herself).  She took the sorting hat quiz twice, accepted its repeated declaration that she was in Hufflepuff and we went to work.  (In the end, I think Charlotte is just too nice to land in any other house).

Luckily, we already had a black cape and a cauldron from previous Halloweens.  A wand modeled on Hermione's was one of her birthday presents last year, so all we had left were the clothes underneath.  My first thought was to get a US school uniform when they were all on sale at the start of school, but it turned out that they were the wrong colors (mostly tan and navy, almost no black or grey).  Next we hit up Goodwill, which was very successful once we ventured into the women's department.  It turns out a size 2 in women's is just about the same as a girl's 8/10.  We snatched up a pleated wool skirt, a black wool cardigan and a white button down for $11.  We also found a cheap pair of black and yellow knit gloves that were a perfect Hufflepuff accessory.

 

Thinking it might be cold (what? Halloween cold in Minnesota?  Global warming is real folks!) I offered to knit a black and gold Hufflepuff scarf.  Knowing time was short, I went for the thickest yarn and biggest needles I could find.  A 1x1 rib pattern made an attractive reversible scarf with minimal effort that was a close match with scarves from the early Harry Potter movies.

Our biggest splurge for the costume was the Hufflepuff patch, which came in a set along with Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor, ordered via Amazon. I tacked the patch down on the front of the sweater instead of ironing it on, in case in case Aria wants to be a Gryffindor student in a few years. (Solomon tested into Slytherin and Nova came out a Ravenclaw, so we have a full set).



Dodge, our preschool, has a clever approach to Halloween.  They throw an evening party for preschoolers and their families the weekend before Halloween and make no mention of it during preschool itself.  Anyone who wants to come celebrate gets the full experience.  Anyone who doesn't need not worry about Halloween at all.  We've usually met up with our good friend and Dodge alum, Ivy.  The party is pot luck style with a bonfire afterward.  It finishes just as the sun sets and those who are interested can go over to the trick-or-treat trail and (very scary) haunted trail at the main area of Dodge Nature Center (there is an admission fee for this part).   Or you can call it a night and the kids never know what they're missing.

The kids split up for trick-or-treating this year.  Nova went trick-or-treating with her friend Ella in Ella's neighborhood, and the younger kids and parents went to our friends' Halloween party three blocks from our house.  The party was a bunch of our friends from college and their young kids--so, fun for parents too.  Charles and I were going to dress up as Mr and Mrs Weasley, but didn't quite pull it off (orange hair was essential and also out of stock at all the stores I checked).





We picked our pumpkins from a neighbor who runs a small one-family farmers market from their extra-large yard.  One pumpkin per kid.  We do this no earlier than the week of Halloween to be sure to have fresh pumpkins.  Thriller, the Monster Mash, and similar scary music accompanied our pumpkin carving.  This year we had a couple ghost pumpkins!

Eclipse!

The 2017 Solar Eclipse is over.  And we went.  We weren't going to.  Perhaps it was not the responsible thing to do.  But I don't regret it one bit.

On Wednesday I texted my cousin that I was having serious eclipse fomo (fear of missing out).  Side note--I may in fact suffer from datt (doing all the things).  Thursday afternoon we decided to go for it.

Lincoln Nebraska was our original destination.  With hotel rooms at $900 apiece, we found rooms in Omaha instead (and were even able to use hotel points).  Two moms and five kids made for a full minivan, and thankfully, two drivers.  Dads were both out of town for work.

Beatrice, Nebraska (pronounced Bee-AT-ris) was as our goal, Homestead national monument more specifically.

We had smooth sailing from Minnesota more or less through Iowa, stopping at a particularly welcoming wayside rest just over the Iowa border.  Summer sausage sandwiches assembled at a picnic table made a good lunch.  I had to do my best to keep Nova from swinging from the rafters of the picnic shelter, but that was hardly surprising.  She's always liked to explore her environment in a physical way.

In Omaha we checked into a hotel with a swim-thru pool, which was a hit with the kids.  Aria (age 5) swam by herself for the first time.  She was thrilled!  Needless to say, she did it again and again and again until it was too dark to swim.

The trip to Beatrice started with every sign of disaster.  There were six weather warnings out when we left, thundering, lightning, pouring rain.  The time was 6:45.  The kids slept in the car on the way.

The kids playing pickle in the middle with our picnic blanket while we waited for the shuttle to Homestead Nat'l Monument

It cleared up, and we went on to Beatrice.  Surprisingly, there was not much traffic.   We got breakfast at a gas station along the way.  The event was very well organized.  Ample parking at the county fairgrounds and shuttle service allowed an unbelievable number of people at Homestead National Monument.  I need not have worried about eclipse glasses--there were more than enough free pairs waiting for us when we got off the bus.



We staked out a patch of grass near the pond at the far end of the parking lot and waited.  Around us was a fair-like atmosphere with food stands and entertainment.  Bill Nye The Science Guy was giving talks and (occasionally) appearing in the crowd.  Sprinkles came and went.  Clouds came and went.  The older kids made an epic trek to the gift visitors center & gift shop to stamp my cousin's National Parks Passport Book.  The younger two girls and I followed later to find the store almost entirely emptied of merchandise.  Baseball caps would have to do for souvenirs.  Most T-shirts were gone.





Before the eclipse even got going, a bunch of people left because of the rain.  They missed out.  At the critical moment, the sky cleared!  The crowd was pleased.  The eclipse was a spectacle, as promised.  But it was more that you could see.  This total eclipse of the sun was about what you could feel.  The temperature dropped, noticeably.  Solomon (my keen-eared child) heard the birds and crickets chirping, just like at dusk.  I hear that flowers close too, but I was too busy looking up to notice.  Next time, because there will be a next time!  April 8th, 2024, to be exact.





Below is a 2:01 minute video of totality.  Be forewarned, it is really just audio after the first couple seconds.  We were too busy looking to bother with the camera. 



Because I've had trouble with blogger videos failing in the past,  I also included a link to the same video stored on YouTube.