Goldie - A Zoo - County Fair

Last weekend Elliott took Emma to get some new goldfish (her Dorothy dies MANY months ago and we just never replaced her). Emma new she wanted to go to Walmart, because that was where she and Grandma Loerch had seen them! So off we went... A 10 gallon tank, three small gold-fish, and one giant $20 gold-fish later.... we have one giant gold fish:) So Goldie has survived, and Emma was not sad at all to get the net out, fish out the dead gold fish day by day, hold them, and then flush them down the toilet (after tyring to feed them to Cooper!). Tomorrow apparently we are off to replenish the small variety.

My Dad came in to town for a dance concert I have had the past two weeks, and we took Emma to the zoo one morning... here she is posing for the camera. I have had two people in two days ask me if she was six!!!! On a side note.... We had decided on the name Lily, if we are to have a girl... suddenly I hear the name everywhere!!! When did it become so popular? So, we think we are back to the drawing board on that one:(

Tommy - checking his Facebook!

My mom and I took Emma to the Dakota County Fair on Wednesday - it sure does get expensive once kids learn about rides!!! But we had a great time, and Emma loved just about every minute, even when we let Grandma go do some things she wanted to do! Here she is on the pony rise (poor buddies!). We are looking into maybe getting Emma in to some riding lessons...

This one started gnawing on her forehead just after I took the picture!!!

Did you know that cows and goats do not have upper teeth? We learned that at the Fair... Here is a baby calf suckling on my mom's finger! Emma was very interested - as ever always!

This was her treat at the end of our day... the GIANT water slide! I cannot believe the little kids climb up those steps - I was working so hard to keep my fear inside!

A very happy, soaking wet girl!

Love to all...

Lumberjack Days

We went to Lumberjack Days in Stillwater a few weeks ago - we had such a blast last year we knew we wanted to take Emma again. Basically, it is a little carnival/festival on the St. Croix river. Above, Emma and her best buddy Daddy walking to the festival.

We knew to bring extra money for this trampoline ride/experience - Emma went (we allowed her!) on it 4 times maybe? She just loves it, but was not ready to try a flip just yet.

Here she is trying to know some kid over - she kept saying, I can;t hold it up! - the "knocker" was too heavy for her! This was after the little boy told us he was NOT going to take it easy on her...

This is how high she went on her last go around. The same handler had her each time, and he was actually the same guy who had been working it last year. Looks rough, but was just so sweet and great with her! And not in a spooky way!

Here she is almost attempting a flip - and at the last he twirled the elastics so she would flip around!!!! She loved it, but still was unsure about trying it on her own.

Not a whole lot else to share I guess, just life as "normal"... I had been teaching in Red Wind the last tow weeks, all day, and that was a blast. In addition I am performing in the Fringe Festival and it has felt SOO good to be dancing full and passionately, and I feel empowered to say I am doing it w/ 10 weeks left in the pregnancy! Check out Christopher Watson Dance Company on the Fringe Site if you get a chance....

My dad came out to see the show this past weekend, so we have enjoyed some time visiting with him and of course Emma was super excited to see him. My mom watched Emma the two weeks I was teaching, and I certainly could not have done that without her! Emma is looking forward to going back to Carol's a bit, and is super excited about our trip to FL in Sept, especially because she knows she gets to have breakfast with the princesses! And then after that we will count down the days to her surgery - Sept. 23, then the days to baby number two!!!

A cute side story:

I was upstairs getting ready for something or other, the other morning, and Emma was downstairs watching cartoons. Cartoons are quite interactive these days, and many of them ask the watcher questions; this particular cartoon was "Super Why?" on public TV. I heard the character ask "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Then I heard Emma respond, " A big sister...." HOW SWEET IS THAT? And thank God she is so excited, because her world is going to be tilted on its side in about 10 weeks:)

Love to all...

Washington II - and out and about

I had a performance in Duluth last weekend, and my Mom came up with me and Emma. The men were going to join us Saturday, but it was pouring rain and cold, so we thought the performance would be rained out, and told them they could bail if they wanted:) Alas we did get to have the show (it was outside overlooking Lake Superior), and we got to have a girls weekend! Below you can see our lovely room overlooking the lake (really right on the back side of the boardwalk along the lake!), the Jacuzzi that Emma and I took full advantage of, and finally, Grandma and Emma enjoying our late night popcorn and soda snack! As I said, it was pouring rain on Saturday, but we certainly didn't drive three hours to stay in our hotel room all day!

Below - sweet Emma helping me stretch - what can't see is that my 6 month belly is fully touching the ground:)

This past Friday we had dark rain and storms ALL day. Emma thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go out on the deck in our rain boots and full gear!

Washington!!!!

Elliott, Emma and I flew out to Washington EARLY Wednesday morning, and we'll be here until the 5th. We have not all been back since we moved three years ago - but coming back to Holly and Jason's (Elliott's brother's) always feels cozy and like coming back home! Emma has enjoyed every moment with her newest cousin Skylar and her two year old cousin Brooke. Below you see her adoring 3 month old Skylar.

Emma and Brooke the first night we were here, snuggling watching Beauty and the Beast on the couch! I joke that poor Brooke is soon going to be asking her mom when Emma was going to go home (because Emma is in such adoration with her that she won't let her go and literally would love to pick her up EVERY moment!)

Above: Skylar, Emma, Great Grams and Skylar

Emma and Kolby on the couch... Emma cried when we took Cooper to the kennel, and then later that evening she burst out crying again in the store because she missed him!!! She may have been a little bit tired too:)

Yesterday we took a Duck Boat tour of Seattle. You can see we were all bundled up! I forget how gray and cool it can be here - sweatshirts and long pants for all. As a matter of fact Holly had a skirt made for Emma that matches skirts that Brooke and Skylar have as well! So the girls all wore adorable matching skirts yesterday! Anyway, the Duck Boat drives like a big open air truck all around Seattle, telling us the history, etc. And then it also goes in to the water. We had a great time, totally worth it!

Emma, Ella and Aliyah - the little girl furthest on the right, Emma spent her first year with! These are the girls of Jessica, the amazingly wonderful woman who watched Emma while I worked, the first year Emma was born. Aliyah is 2 1/2 months older than Emma. It was so wonderful to see the girls and Jessica, as we haven't seen them since we moved. It is also amazing to see how kids/people are SO much who they are from the time they are born!!!!!

Emma and Uncle Jason out on the back patio shootin' the breeze while Emma plays with Kolby. He is wonderful and will let Emma do just about anything with him! Just like Cooper:)

We have had a lovely time so far and are so glad we were able to come out. Today we are heading to Great Wolf Lodge, a water park hotel about two hours from here, and well stay for the night.

Happy 4th Weekend and Love to all!

Father's Day and June Stuff!

We went to my Mom and Denny's for Father's Day Brunch - super tasty - and Emma enjoyed playing in the backyard as always! Emma had been saying she wanted to give Elliott a mug for Father's Day! So we got him one from Hallmark that said "BIG DADDY", it was pretty cute:)

Emma and I got Elliott a chartered fishing trip for the first day we are in Sarasota! I am excited for him to have the opportunity to do some ocean fishing, and fly fishing in beautiful Florida!

We then had Mom and Denny over for steak dinner that evening, and the picture above is of the three of them intently watching "Mulan" !!!! I missed the one where they were all staring at the TV in the same exact manner - oh well!

You can see that in the second picture Denny was leaning up against Cooper's bed - I guess Cooper really wanted his bed, because he decided he'd have to sit on Denny in order to get closer to his bed!!!!!
Emma loves her puppy Cooper! I was trying to get something accomplished the other day, and she showed up in the kitchen with poor sweet Cooper hauling all of her stuff around his neck! How cute??? I just love her being 4 - she is becoming such an independent little girl, wanting so badly to be a big girl, so loving of people in general, feisty as can be, and able to reason and utilize her new found conscience!!!

Yesterday Emma and I met my dear old friend Cindy and her two children, Ben 3 and Grace 1, and the Como Zoo. We had such a lovely time and finally it was such a beautiful day!!! We spent a good portion of thee morning going on little rides, and Cindy was kind enough to go on the roller coaster with Emma since I couldn't! Here is a picture of Emma and Ben having Bomb-Pops after lunch...

and Emma's red face from the Popsicle!

Emma and I stayed after Ben, Cindy and Grace went home (they had to get a nap in!) - as we have cut out Emma's naps and while she is exhausted it has made her bed-time so much better (she is actually tired and doesn't fight it, and Elliott or I have a little time in the evening - miracle!!!). Em and I stayed and saw all of the animals, had ANOTHER frozen treat, and went on a couple of more rides before we left. You can see in this picture that she is quite tired - she doesn't really walk anywhere! Once we got back to the truck she was asleep in literally 5 minutes. She slept about an hour and then mean mom woke her up!

I guess that's about it for now... Elliott and I got tickets to go see Louis CK tonight, I can;t even remember the last time we went on a "date"! Emma's favorite big girl, Nina, one of my students is coming to watch her so she just can barely contain herself!!! I think we'll go to the little framer's market here in town this morning.... can't wait for fresh raspberries!

Sunday at Oliver Kelley Farm

Sunday Emma, my Mom and I drove and hour north to Elk River, where there is a working 1860's farm, that is part of the Minnesota Historical Society. We had such a wonderful day! It was warm for certain, but not humid or unbearable. Plus, it was just off the Mississippi, so I am certain that helped. We had a picnic by the river and we had our first mosquito bites of the season - and poor Emma reacts SO strongly to them!!! I MUST remember bug spray every where we go - she almost gets welts from them!

Here she is with her inch worm, "Wormy", that she carried for a good 15 minutes on the stick!
The farm has people around working as they would in the 1860's, wearing typical clothing as well. They are were all so nice and knowledgeable and always asking for you to help them! Here she is with the cow tied up in the yard


Tony the Ox, who was yoked for plowing in the field (the other one was NOT friendly!)

Emma's favorite part was the Mama farm cat and her 7 babies we found in the sheep shearing barn! SOOOOO cute, about 6 weeks old. Emma is quite the little mother in training, telling where to go and what they had to do, sharing them with other people near us, telling me who and how I had to hold them!

These silly pigs were DIRTY - and they enjoyed eating dandelions from Emma's hand!

There were sheep running all around the yard..

We were excited to find there was a little "trolley" available... Notice Emma holding onto my mom's shorts as she pets them. I was kicked by horse, in the chest when I was about 5, so I have some major issues standing too close to the back of any large animal!!!!!

Tuckered out.... :) Love to all

Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a lovely long weekend!!! Daddy has been traveling a lot, so we all took advantage of him being home! Sunday we went on a wild goose chase that WAS successful, to find a lake to take Emma fishing. We ended up, as planned, at Spring Lake near Prior Lake. They have a long new dock, with no railings so I was a nervous wreck with no life jacket on Emma! We lasted about an hour and a half, as it was Emma's nap time when we arrived there.

Yesterday evening we went to my Mom and Denny's for dinner, and Emma enjoyed every second she had playing in the back yard. As the weather was cold enough that I wore a scarf, sweatshirt and jeans on the deck for dinner, we stayed in doors for our key lime pie. Elliott and Emma got to drawing, and Emma wrote "To Grandma From Emma" all by herself, while Elliott told her what letter came next!!! So, proud Mama had to put a picture of it up here:)

We might be successful if we started a Patterson family circus:)

Today, since the weather had shifted 180 degrees and the weather was muggy and 84 (!!!!) we took Emma for a picnic and fishing. We found a great little group of parks and lakes about 10 minutes from our house that we will take full advantage of this summer. The fish were no more than 5 inches long, but Emma didn't care!

Happy Memorial Day to all.... in honor of all who serve our country!