Beauty and the Beast

Naomi, Zada and I were girls on the town last night and attended the national tour of Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the Duluth Auditorium. In spite of the Beast's "roaring" (Zada's word) and Gaston's nastiness, we all heartily enjoyed the show. Zada was not the only little girl dressed up like a princess, but maybe the only one who when asked about her princess outfit could reply, "My grandma made it for me." 

Good puzzle weather

After a nice Sunday brunch the whole family headed up the north shore of Lake Superior to Two Harbors, where we met the foul weather head-on. Although our plans to walk the breakwater were quickly reworked, Todd and Zada were brave enough to throw in five minutes' worth of rocks. The huddled spectating over, we all hopped back in the cars and continued far enough north to enjoy pie and coffee at the Rustic Inn.

A little cozy regrouping at home was next, culminating with Grandpa Buzz and Darby finishing off a 100-piece solar system puzzle. With Sammy's pizza and salads on the way for dinner, this could be one relaxing evening. (My money is on everyone's being asleep by 9 p.m., whether in bed, on the couch or sacked out in the Lazyboy.)

Go 'Dogs!

If Minnesota can be called the state of hockey then Duluth might be its unofficial capital city. This year residents of this northern city have been blessed to cheer for the Duluth East Greyhounds in their runner-up performance at the boys high school hockey state tournament and now the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs are Division I NCAA men's hockey champions.

All by myself I listened to the Greyhounds game online in March and tonight I joined my family in cheering to the 'Dogs to their first ever national championship!

A timeless occupation

At the zoo?

Really?! Yes, my mom, the kids and I went to the Lake Superior Zoo yesterday, shocking because I cannot remember the last time I was there, and my mother had sworn off the zoo ever since a scarring childhood incident involving monkeys and what they've been known to throw. Everyone looks like they're having a good time here, a fine reward for our efforts, and we saw more animals than we expected to, though many, including the big cats, were cuddling together and napping. Not a bad plan, my furry feline friends. As for us, we were glad to have grabbed our hats and gloves and soup was definitely on the menu for lunch.

Boats and birthdays

Darby at the Great Lakes Aquarium playing with the boats again reminded me of those developmental checklists:
• Engages in imaginary play (check)
• Shows interest in how things work (check)
• Stays "dry" for hours at a time (hmm)

At least it can be said I am developing at a normal rate as this time I brought a wholesale change of clothes, socks and shoes for Darby, if this keeps up I might even be ready for kindergarten in the fall.

Hopefully Zada will be ready for kindergarten in the fall as she is now officially five years old! It may seem like we've doing up her birthday for a while now, but really, why not?

Showing Grandma Ginny just how to wear the birthday tiara

Grandma wonders if she will get her turn with the tiara for her 90th birthday in July

See, that's how they make crayons!

On our way west from New Jersey, we stopped in Easton, Pa., home of the Crayola Factory. It turns out this "Factory" is more like a Crayola-themed children's museum instead of the actual factory I was imagining, but we still felt we got our money's worth out of the visit. There was a live show within the museum demonstrating the crayon-making process, which I found fascinating and Troy and the kids did not. For my interest in this whole business, I blame Mr. Rogers and the film he showed about how crayons are made, and apparently so does Crayola since they had his sweater framed on the wall next to a blurb about his 1996 visit. Take that! Boom!