Some things we miss

A few of the things we miss because
the babies went home...

Riding the horse, or as Hannah prefers, riding the 'ballo, pronounced "BUY-oh", and short for the Spanish word "caballo". This particular caballo is the wooden rocking horse Don and Janet made for Annie when she was a toddler.

 

Jumping on the couch while watching out the window for nothing in particular.

 

Putting tiny plush candles into little plush menorah. Taking tiny plush candles out of little plush menorah. Repeating procedure multiple times.

 




Waving bye-bye and blow kisses to whomever is on the way out the door.

Neatly folding the schmatte-- known as mattie, pronounced "MAH tee"--so it is easier to carry around.

Practicing walking using the plastic shopping cart or the noisy popper
for confidence rather than for stability.

 

Giving Ira lots of love.


Reading I Love You Through and Through.

Saying "WOW!" and "Uh-oh!"

Worshipping Charlie as if he is your long-lost best friend.

 

 

Practicing putting shapes into the shape ball until your fingers bleed.

Making Grandma and Grandpa melt when you give them kisses.

Dancing to the music.

Christmas 2008

The video clip of the monkeys jumping on the couch is only a small taste of what the week was like. My camera didn't get used much; only about 25 pictures. Here is a selection from my limited collection. I've got one more I'd like to add, but I'll need permission from C/A. I'm also waiting, hoping, wanting pictures from E/E and A/T. Hint.

If the captions aren't showing, click on the speech bubble below the pictures.

No more monkeys

Annie, I waited a few hours after the final Miles visit to make comments about how quiet it is around here. Hannah is back home in NC, asleep in her own bed. Charlie, Angie, and the Ziggies are undoubtedly ready to go to sleep, too. Yes, it's too quiet around here.

Not much new once again

Based on the strong opinions regarding cold and snow re: my previous blog entry, I should've conducted an official poll on the topic to send to Sven. This morning I'm hoping our good neighbor in the Econ Dept. will once again come by with his snow blower so I can remain idealistic about the beauty of the latest snowfall.

Speaking of polls, the big news in the area newspaper today is that the results of the Reader's Choice 2008 polls are in, and artfully published in a special supplement to the Free Press. Naturally I dug right in to find out the best "Place for that power business lunch" and which movie theater won in the "Seeing the latest cinema" category (Honorable mention went to Cinemagic in St. Peter. Huh? The place where the movie is in focus about half the time, and the sound level rivals a jet engine?).

Here's why I love the Mankato area. The results of "Where to take out-of-towners to show off area" are:

1. Minneopa Falls [Not a bad choice. Nature is nice.]
2. Maverick Hockey Game [Can you hear me screaming?]
3. Downtown Bar District, Mankato [Lord, hear my prayer.]

I can't decide which I appreciate more in this one, the spelling or the #2 choice: for best "Coffee/ Cappaccino"

1. Caribou Coffee
2. Kwik Trip [voted in by the sophisticates who haven't tried McDonald's "cappaccino" yet, I would imagine]
3. Dunn Brothers

At least the 7200 readers who voted (that's right--over 7000 people in the area can read) had the good sense to choose Chipotle as their first choice for fast food. On second thought, maybe a guy shouldn't trust a a crowd that generates enough votes for HyVee to take Honorable Mention for "Best Asian food". I hope they mean the buffet, and not the grocery aisle.

Disclaimer: It is not 2004 and we don't live in South Bend.

Dang it, a city plow the size of an International Harvester combine just went by and shoved a heap-o-snow at the end of the driveway. Time to close the blinds and hope it goes away.

Family...any news to share? It's pretty dull reading about the Reader's Choice Awards and snow plows going by...

Why do we live in Minnesota?

The weather outside is frightful, and it seems it's the only thing to talk about lately. I sure wish there was something interesting to share in our family, but gees, this seems to be a down-time for anything exciting to be reported. Anyone? Any news?

Okay, back to the weather. It's cold. Here's some interchange between Annie and Dad/Paco/Grandpappy/Larry/Paco:

Annie wrote:
Dad told me that it was 70 degrees in Raleigh yesterday... That was 103 degrees warmer than Owatonna. Not kidding. We were shivering in 33 below zero temps!

Larry/Dad/Paco responded:
Anus, don't scare them [meaning La familia Dellon] away! Your -33 was with a wind chill, their 70 deg was not. The difference was only about 80 or 85 degrees. That's nothing.
--The Chilly Pacster

Annie:
D-ad, don't be silly. Yes, -33 was with a wind chill - and that happens to be the "real feel" temp. It's not like -33 feels like 20 degrees or something more tolerable like that. 33 degress below zero = 33 degrees below zero, no matter how you want to look at it. It's f'n cold!
------------------
Our boy Mark Tarello on KEYC is talking about Dangerous Digits, Negative Numbers, and Tricky Travel even as I write. Gees, he's hard to listen to! Can't he just say it's COLD???

One foot and then another

Somebody is trying to walk...

News highlight for today

Angie and Larry got haircuts today! Angie got her hairs cut at Liv Aveda and Larry had his ears lowered at Y Barbers. Other than that, it's co-o-o-o-o-ld and windy.