We kicked off our long weekend on Friday with a breakfast of english muffins (jelly on the side), a visit to the post office, and lunch at McDonalds. We have recently (thankfully) discovered that Mae is a big fan of "hangubbers." At first she insisted they have "no stuck-on cheese," but is slowly learning to love cheeseburgers as well.
After lunch, we accomplished the most important item on our list: the bird show. We saw all our favorite birds, and we even got to see Sam the eagle up close after the show.
We finished up the zoo trip with a ride on the carousel (Note the selected animal. Good continuity... and patriotism).
Friday evening, Mae and I walked to the square for ice cream (gelato, if we're being specific). They'll let you sample a bunch of the options if you're having trouble selecting one, but Mae knew right away that she wanted birthday cake flavor, covered in rainbow sprinkles. I opted for a mix of tiramisu and chocolate. Yum!
We had a quieter Saturday morning with a leisurely breakfast followed by some sidewalk chalk time in our jammies. The early morning dog walkers are probably getting quite used to being greeted by a busy, chatty toddler and her disheveled mom watching from the stoop while sipping tea. Morning chalk is becoming a regular activity for us.
We visited the library late Saturday morning. We picked out some new books, and I tried to teach Mae how to use a mouse on the library computers. This child of the touch-screen generation has a ways to go. Should we consider getting a "family computer" so she can grow up with Reader Rabbit? Or will mouse technology be obsolete by the time she's old enough to need it?
On Sunday, we took advantage of the cool, clear weather and finished up our last checklist item: adventure walk. We followed the park trails for a while and then spent time splashing around in the creek. We tried to hike back up the creek to the trailhead, but were thwarted by a huge spiderweb (and its unpleasant-looking maker). Mae spent a long time throwing rocks and sticks into the water and climbing over the little waterfalls and rocks. She was thoroughly soaked by the time we headed for home.
Mae has definitely inherited my affinity for box-checking. While she was very excited for all our fun activites, I think she was equally excited to color in the associated square on our checklist afterwards. (I should definitely harness this energy with chore charts soon.)
Fortunately, Mae napped well all weekend, so I was able to FINALLY paint our downstairs hallway. In a rare bout of decisiveness, I put up only one paint swatch on the wall and immediately knew it was the right color. That was almost a year ago. I let the project lag while the bathroom renovation was on-going but finally ran out of excuses not to paint. It feels so good to have it done now!
We had a fun weekend, although we missed Dan. Mae talked a lot about weddings and Daddy all weekend. When she accidentally bit her tongue at dinner, the first words out of her mouth (besides "waaaahhhh") were "I want Daaaaddddddyyyyy." Life's just better with Dan around, but we're glad he had lots of fun at the wedding and at the Minnesota State Fair on Sunday!
