I Love a Parade, and So Does Emma!

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Emma and the Vulcan Krewe"][/caption]

Emma, Max, and I went to the Woodbury Days parade today. When I mentioned yesterday to Emma that we would be going to the parade today, she insisted that I check the weather first. The last time we went to a parade, the Cottage Grove Strawberry Fest parade earlier this summer, we got caught in a downpour. We left that parade early and all the way home Emma cried that she never wanted to go to a parade again. Checking the weather, I told Emma that there was a very small chance it would rain, but she was fine with that, so we went.

[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Max enjoyed the parade."][/caption]

I was very impressed with Emma at this parade. With every other parade we have taken her to, she had been terrified by the sirens from the police cars and firetrucks that invariably begin the parade. So when I heard the sirens off in the distance this afternoon, I braced myself to deal with her asking to go home. I was pleasantly surprised though when Emma didn't react to the sound at all. She watched the emergency vehicles drive by with their lights on and sirens blaring. I am so happy that she seems to be done with that phase. Max has never had problems with the noise, and today was no different.

[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Emma and Petey P. Cup"][/caption]

Emma also seems to have gotten over her fear of dogs as several dogs went by within inches of us in the padare. Emma liked the dogs this time. Both kids had a good time. I let Max have a few pieces of candy, mainly a package of Smarties and a Tootsie Roll or two. And he didn't get at all cranky sitting in his stroller for the parade which lasted at least two hours.

Of course the highlight of the parade for Emma was when she saw her favorite mascot, Petey P. Cup. She was super excited when she saw him coming in the distance. She gave him a nice big hug. I do not think it will be difficult getting her to go to any parades in the future.

[caption id="attachment_234" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Emma ended up collecting a little candy at the parade."][/caption]

Emma's Blankie

[caption id="attachment_193" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Emma holds her blankie in this photo from June 2008."][/caption]

Emma has been taking her blankie with her to daycare ever since she started going to daycare three months after she was born. She is now in pre-kindergarten and I have occasionally suggested that she leave her blankie at home, but she has largely dismissed that idea. I have told her than when she starts kindergarten next year, she will not be able to take her blankie with her. She has seemed confused by that, asking me if they take naps in kindergarten.

Anyway, Monday morning she said to me that she might leave her blankie at home. They have not been taking naps recently in her class as many of her classmates will be starting kindergarten next month and, from what I was told, they do not take naps in the half-day kindergarten classes, although the kindergarteners who go all day do have rest time. She ended up taking her blankie. I mentioned to Mel that Emma had thought about leaving it at home Monday, even though she ended up taking it. The two of them had a chat about Emma's blankie, because this morning Emma left it at home so I could wash it. Things seemed to go fine without it today.

At dinner tonight I asked her if she was going to leave her blankie at home again tomorrow. She did not seem certain that she would. After all, I washed it today, so why would she need to leave it at home? We will see in the morning. It would be nice if she decides to leave it at home, but it will be fine if she ultimately decides to take it with her.

Visiting the Zoo

[caption id="attachment_175" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Emma checks out the Penguins of the African Coast at the Minnesota Zoo."][/caption]

Today we all went to the Minnesota Zoo which, last month, opened a new exhibit of penguins of the African coast. Not only does the zoo have a new exhibit, but the main entrance to the zoo has been completely remodeled. Naturally, our first stop once we got inside was to look at the penguins. They were really cool, no pun intended. We saw some swimming and some on the rocks. At first Emma seemed reluctant to get up close to the glass to get a good view of the penguins. But with some reassurance from one of the people working at the zoo, she climbed up the rocks and looked right at the penguins. I think she enjoyed seeing them.

[caption id="attachment_176" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Emma "drives" one of the John Deere tractors at the zoo's farm."][/caption]

Next we had some lunch before continuing on to the rest of the zoo. After our lunch we went through the outdoor part of the zoo in the opposite direction of what we usually do. Instead of first going to the sea otters and bears, we went in the direction toward the moose and caribou. We ended up making our way to the Wells Fargo Family Farm at the zoo. They were having a festival up there today. In addition to the usual farm animals, there were numerous John Deere tractors to look at. Emma sat on several of them. I think she wanted to do that even more than she wanted to look at the animals. Maximus also got to sit on a couple of tractors. He really liked the lawn tractor that he got to sit on by himself. After we looked at the cows in the barn, he wanted to back to that tractor.

[caption id="attachment_178" align="aligncenter" width="383" caption="Maximus loved sitting on the lawn tractor."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Max enjoyed the slides at the playground."][/caption]

We also spent some time playing on the playground near the wolf gazebo. We even let Max out of his stroller so he could play. He went on the small slide a few times, but then he discovered the largest slide on the playground. He kept wanting to go down that. That kid shows no fear.

We eventually left the playground and finished up looking at the animals outside. Max, Emma, and I looked at the dolphins and sharks before meeting back up with Mel and leaving for the day. We did not go to the Tropics Trail or the Minnesota Trail on this visit. That is one benefit of being zoo members. We do not feel as compelled to see everything on each visit. We can always go back to see what we missed the next time we are at the zoo. And we will definitely be back.

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignright" width="584" caption="The camels were keeping cool in their pond."][/caption]

Final Thoughts About RABGRAI XXXIX

[caption id="attachment_164" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Not everyone on RAGBRAI rides a bike. I saw this skateboarder, a registered participant, multiple days along the route."][/caption]

About ten miles into riding on Sunday, I was wondering to myself why the hell I was riding my bike across Iowa. Don't get me wrong, as this was my eleventh RAGBRAI in twelve years, I knew what I was getting myself into, but it was already really hot and humid out, the day's route was fairly hilly, and to top it off, I was not feeling well. To answer my question, the reason I do RAGBRAI is because, in spite of some of its downsides, it is a lot of fun and I get a great sense of accomplishment out of it. Although that sense of accomplishment is admittedly lessened when deciding to sag in after the first eighteen miles of the first day of riding.

And I still managed to have a lot of fun this particular year on RAGBRAI despite not feeling well for the majority of the week. I am really looking forward to riding RAGBRAI again. I do not know if I will be back for next year's ride, RAGBRAI XL, but I think I will ride again if possible. I may start using each year's route to help me decide if I will ride. Of the eleven RAGBRAIs I have been on, I much prefer the ones across northern part of the state. I do not know if I would choose to ride if the route was a southern one. I think I have had enough of the hills of southern Iowa to last a while. Time will tell as to whether I ride again. Perhaps in ten years or so Emma or Maximus will want to come along for the ride as well. That would be a lot of fun.

Traveling to Iowa

[caption id="attachment_84" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Maximus plays at the Boondocks truck stop while we wait for his aunt."][/caption]

Yesterday the family made the trip from the Twin Cities to Iowa in preparation for RAGBRAI. We met Mel's sister and one of our nephews at the Boondocks Truck Stop along I-35 to drop the kids off with them. Emma was excited about visiting her cousins yesterday morning before we left, but while we were waiting for her aunt, she got a bit apprehensive telling us that she would miss us. By the time my sister-in-law arrived though, she seemed better. And from what we heard last night, she is having a fun time.

And my fears the other night about forgetting to pack something were proved to be valid last night. As I was getting ready to go to bed, I discovered that I had left my bag with all my toiletries at home. I know exactly where it is. It is on the shelf in the bathroom. Fortunately I discovered this last night. I was able to make a quick trip to Target to get most of the things I need. I did have to go to Walmart as well to pick up a contact lens case though. The only one that Target had in stock was one with a feminine design, and while the design didn't really matter, I didn't want to pay a premium price for a contact lens case that wasn't really me.

There were thunderstorms all night. It seems like they have ended for now. I was worried that we would have to be loading the team bus in the rain before departing for Glenwood in a couple of hours. Hopefully any more rain holds off until we are on our way.

Preparing for RAGBRAI XXXIX

[caption id="attachment_77" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This is a photo of cyclists riding on a gravel road on RAGBRAI XXXII in 2004."][/caption]

This evening, after the kids went to bed, Mel and I packed for RAGBRAI. Well actually, Mel had already done most of her packing and just had a few things to finish up with for herself. I had to start, and finish, packing my things tonight. And as much as I check things over, I still feel that I am missing something. Fortunately it's not like we will be in the middle of nowhere. If I forgot to pack something, I am sure we can find it wherever we are. I also had to take care of a few last minute work things tonight, such as submitting my time cards for this week and next week. Now that I am done with that, I will not have to think about work at all for the rest of the month. That will be a nice break.

Since the kids are staying with Mel's sister and brother-in-law in Ankeny, Iowa, we had to pack their things as well. And with both my bike and Mel's recumbent bike in the back of her truck, there was not enough room for the things we need to take for the kids, so we are going to end up taking both of our vehicles on our trip to Iowa. I just hope my sister-in-law's minivan has room for the things we are bringing for the kids, especially since we are bringing Emma's bike along for her to ride next week.

While I am on RAGBRAI, I do intend to keep up with my blog, writing about each day's ride. I will probably do most of this from the Windstream Communications trailers if I find the time. If I appear to miss a day's blogging, do not be too concerned. It is probably just a sign that I did not have time to stop to blog that day.

Emma Goes to a Birthday Party

Today Emma went to her first birthday party that wasn't for family. The party celebrated the third birthday of one of her classmates from daycare. The funny thing is that this girl isn't even in Emma's class anymore. A few days after receiving the invitation, Emma moved from the preschool class to the prekindergarten class.

In preparation for the party, we went shopping earlier this week for a birthday present. It was a little difficult getting Emma to understand that we had a limit on how much we would spend on the present. We eventually settled on a Play-Doh set with Cookie Monster and the tools to make all the letters of the alphabet as well as different food items.

The party today was at the Giggle Factory in Hudson, Wisconsin. The Giggle Factory is kind of like the play rooms that some McDonald's restaurants have, only much larger, and with sufficient space for hosting as party. I was a little worried about how Emma would do there as the last time she played at the McDonald's play area she said she didn't want to go back as it was too loud. I had no reason to worry though. Emma had a great time running through the play area and repeatedly going down the numerous slides. She also enjoyed watching her friend open her presents even though some of the other kids didn't stop playing to watch. Considering how much she ran around at the party, I was surprised that she didn't fall asleep in the car on the half-hour drive home. She did go to sleep fairly quickly after going to bed tonight though.

Afternoon at the Mall

Yesterday Emma requested that we go to Mall of America. As usual, she wanted to ride some of the rides at Nickelodeon Universe. I have been trying to get her to try more rides than just the Rugrats Reptarmobiles bumper cars and the carousel. She contemplated going on Blue's Skidoo, but would only do so if I rode with her. As Maximus was also with us, I couldn't leave him so she could go on the ride. Therefore, Emma opted not to try the ride. She did go in the Pineapple Poppers bounce house, which she had not done before. She enjoyed that and wanted to do it again. Unfortunately, our ticket was out of points. I still have not broken down to buy an unlimited daily wristband for her. I just don't think she will get our money's worth out of one yet.

After playing at the theme park, Max, Emma, and I met back up with Mel who had been doing some clothes shopping. We then had dinner at Cadillac Ranch, a bar and grill restaurant on the third floor of the mall. Dinner was very good—I had the A-1 Mushroom Burger—and reasonably priced.

Fun at the Mall of America

With Mel out of town all weekend visiting a friend in Iowa, I was alone today with the kids. Maximus never seems to be happy when he's home with me, so he, Emma, and I all went to the Mall of America today. Emma always seems to want to go to the mall, mainly because she likes going to Nickelodeon Universe. When we got there around 10:15 this morning, she wanted to go on the carousel. Normally when I go there with Emma and Max, I put Emma on the carousel and then Max and I wait for her ride to be done. This morning however, I decided that Max might want to ride the carousel. So I strapped him on a horse next to Emma's. While waiting for the ride to begin, Maximus appeared to be pretty happy on the horse, but when it began moving up and down and going around, he got a worried look on his face which quickly turned to a scared look. Fortunately he didn't cry, but I thought we shouldn't go on the carousel again right away.

After our carousel ride we went into one of the Nickelodeon Universe stores where Emma looked at almost every item they had. She found a SpongeBob SquarePants dog tag with her name on it that she wanted, but we didn't get one. I was disappointed that they didn't have one with Max's name on it. After Emma had investigated every square inch of that store, the three of us set out in search for the Fossil store so I could get the battery in my watch replaced. As it is located on the second floor, we took the elevator up one level and began walking around the mall. We didn't make it to Fossil right away though. As we approached Macy's, Emma told me that she needed to go to the potty. We entered Macy's to find one. We ended up going to the third floor to find a restroom, after which Emma said she wanted lunch. So we ended up eating lunch before making it to the Fossil store.

After lunch we resumed out quest for the Fossil store. I however took us in the wrong direction. Before getting to Fossil, we stopped at the Disney Store where Emma looked around quite a bit, although we did not buy anything. Eventually we left the Disney Store and located Fossil where I had the battery in my watch replaced. Even though I knew the battery was dead, I had still been looking at it and kept wondering why time didn't seem to have passed. Now I will once again know the time.

By this time, Emma wanted to go on a few more rides. Before we got to any of the rides though, we saw that SpongeBob SquarePants and Squidward Tentacles were making an appearance, so we got in line so Emma and Max could see them. I was worried that Max might be scared of the large costumed characters, but he did fine. He even tried to grab SpongeBob's nose.

After getting their photo taken with SpongeBob and Squidward, we made our way to the Rugrats bumper cars. The last time Emma rode in the bumper cars, she ended up getting stuck in a corner. This time she did much better. She ended up riding the ride three consecutive times. She would have gone again if I would have let her, but I thought that three times was enough. I was amused the first time she rode the bumper cars today listening to all the parents along the side of the ride shouting to their kids to turn the wheel one way or the other and to press the peddle. I was among those parents doing this.

Before leaving, Emma wanted to ride on the carousel one more time. She wanted me to ride with her. I wasn't too sure about that since that would require Maximus to ride on the carousel again, and he really did not like his first experience on the ride. I relented though, and the three of us all rode on the carousel once more. This time though, I put Max on a horse that did not go up and down. He did much better this second time on a horse which was more limited in its motion.

Finally we were about ready to leave the mall. On our way out we walked by the LEGO store. Unfortunately Emma wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and the ran right into the corner of one of the support columns outside the side of the LEGO store. She was in a lot of pain and cried as we walked through the mall toward the exit. As we were close to the exit, we walked by Häagen-Dazs, where two employees were giving out small sample spoons of ice cream. The tiny spoon of ice cream had the effect of making Emma feel much better. Just to be sure though, they gave her another sample. She was doing much better for a moment until she ran into Max's stroller. She was once again whining as we made out way to the car. Finally leaving the mall a little after 2:00.

Both Emma and Maximus ended up falling asleep on our way home from the Mall of America. Maximus even stayed asleep when we got home, so I was able to put him down for a nap where he continued to sleep until I woke him at about 4:45 for dinner. Both kids had such a busy day that they each went to sleep fairly easily tonight. I am actually surprised that I am still awake considering all the work I did wrangling the kids today. I even walked over 14,000 steps today. More than 10,000 of those were at the Mall of America. I think I will go to sleep once I finish writing this.

Buying Tangled

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Tangled at our local Target store. It is going to be a present for Emma for Easter. There were several options available to choose from. There was the DVD-only, the two-disc combo pack with the Blu-ray and the DVD, and finally there was the four-disc combo pack which included the Blu-ray 3D and the digital copy as well as the 2D Blu-ray and the DVD. While we do not have a Blu-ray player, I decided to go with the four-disc combo. We did buy an HDTV earlier this year, so it's probably just a matter of time before we get a Blu-ray player. We will not be buying a 3D TV in the foreseeable future, but the digital copy will be nice. It would be nice if Disney sold a combo pack that had all three formats of the movie with the exception of the 3D disc, but I guess that would just complicate things. Besides, with the five-dollar coupon I got online, the four-disc combo pack cost the same as the two-disc pack.

Four!

This past Sunday was Emma's fourth birthday. Time really goes by quickly. I can not believe she's already four years old! She seemed to have a pretty good birthday. We went to Don Pablo's for dinner Saturday night with Aunt Rebecca. Because we were there to celebrate her birthday, Emma got to wear the birthday sombrero, and we got a free order of sopaipillas.


We asked Emma Saturday what she wanted to do for her birthday. The only thing she indicated the wanted to do was to go to Sunday School, so since Maximus was sick, he has thrown up in the car on the way home from the restaurant Saturday night, I took Emma to church while Mel stayed home with Max.


After we got back home from church and ate lunch, Emma opened the presents we got her -- two Zhu Zhu Pets and the Zhu Zhu Burgers Overpass. She had a good time with her new toys, but later in the afternoon she didn't seem to be feeling well and she fell asleep on the couch. Emma ended up going to bed early because she wasn't feeling well, and by the afternoon, she also was not behaving very well. She still thought she had a good birthday though.

Emma's Legos

One thing Emma enjoys playing with is Legos. Last week, she left the Lego creations shown here on my desk before she left for preschool. She really loves putting the tree on people's heads. But yesterday she did something with her Duplo Legos that really impressed me. Without any prompting or assistance, she built one of the things shown on the label of the box the Legos came in. I was very impressed that she was able to make the connection between the picture and the actual construction of the item.

Winter Gala

Last night we went to the Winter Gala at Emma's preschool. I think they did a much better job of organizing it this year than they did last year. Last year, each class performed in its own part of the building, but this year they all performed on the same "stage." Emma's class sang four songs, "The Seven Days of the Week," "If It's Winter and You Know It," "The Three Little Snowmen," and "The Bear Hunt." Last year Emma didn't sing much, but this year she did better at singing along.

A Sick Day

We kept Emma home from daycare yesterday. She had gotten sick during the night and we decided that even though she was feeling better in the morning, we would be better off keeping her home. I was able to finish the tasks I needed to complete yesterday, and was able to call in for a regularly scheduled Monday morning meeting, but after that I wasn't able to get any work done. Being not quite four years old, Emma is not yet able to keep herself entertained for hours on end. That was all right though. We had a good day day.

Sleeping?

As I finally succeeded in getting Maximus to sleep tonight at 10:00, I can't help but wonder when he will finally begin sleeping through the night without waking to be fed. I know we were spoiled by his sister's sleeping through the night at six weeks of age. But three weeks from today Maximus will be one year old, and he does not seem to be anywhere near sleeping through the night. In fact, I don't think he is ready to give up his middle-of-the-night feeding. I would like for Mel and me to be able to consistently sleep through the night once again.

Picture Day

Today is picture day at Emma's preschool. They just had pictures taken about a month ago, but this time it's "Holiday Pictures." As Maximus teared to shreds the form informing us of the impending picture day, I forgot all about it until I got Emma out of the carr and saw another parent carrying the picture sheet. Had I remembered that it was picture day, I would not have dressed Emma in her John Deere "I Love Dirt" T-shirt this morning. Oh it is a fine shirt, but I thought something a little nicer would be better for her pictures, even though we don't intend on buying any. However, just in case we decided we wanted some copies of her photo, I returned to preschool with a different shirt for Emma to wear, a solid red shirt. That should look nicer for her picture.

Trick-or-Treat

We had a busy Halloween weekend, beginning with the Cottage Grove Halloween parade on Saturday, and ending with trick-or-treating with HealthPartners' very own Petey P. Cup. To begin, a little before 10:00 Saturday morning, the four of us walked to the route of the Monster Bash Halloween Parade. Once we got there, we had a little wait before the parade began. We discovered that we really need to work on Emma's tolerance of loud noises. She was deathly afraid of the police cars and fire trucks at the beginning of the parade. I had to hold her until they had passed because the sirens really frighten her. Despite that, we had a great time at the parade, Emma ended up collecting a lot of candy. She filled her candy bucket at least two-thirds full.

Then yesterday was the highlight of Halloween -- trick-or treating. A few weeks ago Petey P. Cup announced on his Facebook page that he would go trick-or-treating on Halloween with one of his fans. To get a chance of having him join you, you just had to post a message on his Facebook wall indicating why you wanted to trick-or-treat with Petey P. Cup. Emma really likes Petey, so I decided I would enter us in this contest. I made a short video of Emma asking Petey P. Cup to please come trick-or-treat with her. That did the trick, because last Monday he posted on his Facebook page that we were the winners! Emma was very excited when she found out Petey P. Cup would be trick-or-treating with her. All day yesterday Emma asked when Petey would arrive.

Shortly before 6:00, I got a call from Petey's handler that they were in Cottage Grove and would be at our house shortly. They wanted to know if Emma knew that Petey was coming and if Petey needed to be in costume when they arrived. I let them know that they could change here. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to ride in a car in that costume. Not long after that, two young women showed up with the Petey P. Cup costume. They also brought a couple of Halloween baskets, one for Emma and the other for Maximus. In one of the baskets was four Petey P. Cup plush dolls, one for each of us. The other basket contained a stuffed vampire and scarecrow for the kids. We all chatted a bit, asking questions about how they got to be Petey P. Cup, and what it is like, before one of them put on the Petey P. Cup costume and then heading out down the street.

We took a few photos outside and then started out trick-or-treating. We spent about an hour and a half walking through the neighborhood begging for candy from our neighbors. Emma had a great time, holding Petey P. Cup's hand as they walked down the street. The people handing out the candy were also quite entertained by Petey. Some other kids we saw while we were out were not sure what Petey P. Cup was. Some of them thought he was a jar of mustard, while others thought he was a container of ice cream. While we were out, Emma filled both the trick-or-treat basket that she had prior to Petey's arrival and one of the baskets Petey brought for her. It helped that a lot of people were giving candy to Petey P. Cup as well as to Emma. When we returned home, we took a few more photos with Petey P. Cup before they headed on their way. Emma went to bed not long after they left and quickly went to sleep. She had quite an eventful Halloween, one she won't likely forget anytime soon.

Zoo Boo 2010

This afternoon the family and I went to Como Zoo for their annual Zoo Boo fundraiser. Emma had a good time walking through the zoo trick-or-treating. In past two years we attended Zoo Boo, none of the animals were out, but this year was different. We were able to see an ostrich, a bison, and the polar bears. Emma enjoyed seeing the animals.

While we roamed through the zoo, I kept trying to get Emma to pose for a photo with some of the costumed characters around the zoo, but she refused to do so. She seemed to be afraid of many of them. She wouldn't even pose with the Star Wars characters toward the end of the route through the zoo. The only character Emma posed with for a photo was Petey P Cup. After taking her picture, we got one of the whole family with Petey.

The Kids and Me at the Zoo

Yesterday afternoon Mel was getting a tattoo, so I decided to take the kids to the zoo. Emma originally wanted to go to the Mall of America so she could ride the merry-go-round, but she changed her mind and told me that she wanted to go to the zoo, specifically Como Zoo since they have giraffes. Maximus, Emma, and I had a good time walking around the zoo, looking at all the animals. Emma was quite inquisitive, asking me what the various signs said about the animals. She even asked me where the bison and the lions go potty.

Early Childhood Screening

On Tuesday, we took Emma in for the early childhood screening that the state of Minnesota requires of all three- and four-year-olds before they can begin kindergarten. Naturally, I felt that Emma would do really well even before we got there. I was impressed though that she actually answered when the person who greeted us upon our arrival when asked how she was. Emma is often very quiet when people she doesn't know talk to her initially.

Emma had her hearing, vision, height, and weight checked. All were fine. She then went off to administered an early childhood screening assessment. Coincidentally, the company I work for publishes the assessment that they used. Anyway, afterwards, the teacher who assessed Emma spoke with Mel and me, going over each of the tasks Emma was asked to complete. Emma got the maximum number of points on most of the tasks, earning a score of 24, which was higher than the 16 points that would be the minimum they would want to see from a child of her age. Her score was even higher than the minimum they would want from the next age group as well.

We still have a bit of a wait until Emma can start kindergarten; she won't be able to start until Fall 2012. I do worry though that Emma may not be challenged sufficiently when she does start school. We mentioned this concern to the teacher administering the assessment, and were told that Emma's kindergarten teacher should differentiate instruction to take each students' needs into account. This sounds good, but I know that in practice, it can be difficult to actually accomplish.