We're sick!

The girls are sick, at least, all three of them in some way or fashion.

The boys are doing just fine, somehow. But Colleen has thrown up somewhere approaching a half-dozen times today. Cate is fatigued and aching and has been asleep (more or less) since 5 p.m., but hasn't thrown up, while Elizabeth seems to be treading the middle ground. She ate dinner, at least a little, kept it all down, and was tired but not aching.

Colleen is the biggest puzzler. She is cheery as can be. At this writing it's been almost two hours since she threw up dinner, thankfully, and while she's not sleeping she's perfectly content to be lying in the bed next to Cate while Cate rests. I turned the radio on low so she has something else going on in the room. She has been down to meet us several times during the evening, including two trips to the basement to sneak herself some ginger ale. She got the can but couldn't open it. (I'm feeling adventuresome and opened a can for her since she's held the water down for 90 minutes.)

Cate is due for more Tylenol soon. All three are varying levels of feverish.

Now, Robert has been a trooper. He was basically ignored all evening and got his pajamas on and into bed by himself. He didn't even come looking for a bedtime story, though I did stop by and read one with him while I was up checking on the hospital ward.

After the football

This was the first Saturday not consumed by Division III football since we moved here and it was kind of nice to be somewhat normal for once. Defining normal:

I got out of bed first (a rarity) and made breakfast (slightly less rare, but still pretty infrequent these days). Made sure Robert and Colleen got dressed. Since Mom offered us a trip to the movies (subtle request to get out of the house?!), we were pushing to get the rest of the day in order. I wanted to get the Christmas cards that had been completed in the mail so they could be in people's hands in a few days, and that meant a trip to the post office in St. Louis Park (Edina's is consistently one day slower.)

I asked Cate if she needed anything for her baking today and she did, so I added Byerly's to my to-do list. I got Robert ready to go and Colleen started putting her shoes and coat on, too. I figured, what the heck, and finished getting her ready to go and took her with me, too.

Got home with the orange juice and such and it was pretty close to time to go to the movies. While Cate and Elizabeth got ready I salted and sanded the sidewalks, because they're pretty icy to say the least.

Went to the movie. (Tales of Desperau. Elizabeth liked it because it was very faithful to Kate DiCamillo's book, but ehh, kind of a bland storyline.) We noticed they do a free refill on large soda and popcorn.

The stove is still out from Christmas Day -- one of the burners refused to turn off so we had to have the gas to the unit turned off. They won't be out to look at it until Monday. So Cate was luckily able to borrow a stove (and a kitchen) from friends and get her baking done for tomorrow's Christmas party.

She kept Elizabeth and I brought Robert and Colleen home for the rest of the afternoon. Among some other mundane stuff, we set up the Wii and Robert showed me he remembered a fair amount from when we played with the Wii at the Krugers back in August.

Unfortunately, when bedtime, I had to play the bad guy and told the older two it was time to turn off the Wii. Made sure Colleen was in her pajamas.

And then bedtime. Well, except I'm still up. Can't sleep. Too much stuff running through my head, I think.

Merry Christmas from the Colemans

All in all, it was a pretty good Christmas round these parts. We're all here, all doing well.

Last night we had dinner at my cousin Chris' house, with many, many people we'd never met and a handful of people we had. The kids had fun playing with their Miller cousins, and everyone marveled at the cookies that Cate made. She's been baking up a storm the past few weeks, first for a choir bake sale and secondly for, well, this. I've had trouble keeping away from them, to be honest. Stupid cookies!

Elizabeth was up late with Cate finishing up a project -- a gift for Amelia, their favorite cousin -- even after I got home from Midnight Mass. Of course, Midnight Mass was at 10 p.m. We didn't have anything that required assembly this year, but a lot of gifts to wrap, and I had a lot of those on my plate this year. So for those of you who got inexpertly wrapped presents ... uhh, sorry.

This morning nobody came into the bedroom before 7 a.m. and we actually didn't unwrap a thing before 9. (Thanks, Cate, for the extra hour or so of sleep.) Presents were opened in shifts today: the ones we exchanged with the kids and from Cate's mom and our friends were opened before we all went to church this morning, and the ones with the rest of the family weren't opened until after dinner.

Oh, dinner. Wow. Dinner was a Neil creation, primarily, with the rest of us contributing items or hands. But he roasted the beef tenderloin with a nice dijon mustard sauce and also grilled scallops for the non-beef set. I'll have you know Cate tried a scallop and liked it enough that she ate another as well (remember seafood is still new to her), though we were not able to convince Elizabeth to expand her palate as well.

Elizabeth reports, not surprisingly, that opening presents was her favorite part of the day. (She's just woken up and can't get back to sleep, so I solicited her input.) She likes the new fleece blanket that Nonna made. Each of the kids got one, and in fact, the other two are sleeping underneath them as I write.

Surprised Elizabeth didn't mention the Wii, but then again, she's a down-to-earth kind of girl. And the Wii was the last thing they opened. We can thank Cate's mom and sister for that one. I actually am interested to see what one of these darned contraptions is all about, but have barely used one. We'll get it set up.

One night stand

I’m working in my old Northern Virginia Verizon office for a day, en route to southwestern Virginia to cover the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for D3football.com, and instead of making Verizon or D3sports.com pick up a hotel room for the night, I decided to spend the night at 406.

And it feels pretty weird.

I have been fairly worried lately about the house. We took it off the market in mid-October because nobody was buying houses anywhere. Thanks, economy. Well, since then, there hasn’t been nearly as much traffic around it, from either our realtor or our friends who might check in on it on occasion. So I was trying to prepare myself for the worst.

And it turns out the worst was unnecessary. The house is actually in fine shape. Looks like we left it. Or like I picture we left it. I’m amazed, after walking through it now, how much we actually got done, and a lot of it in the final weeks.

Plus, for some reason, there's this extra detail work done on the stairs we didn't know about.

Not much to nitpick right now, either. The fridge was plugged in, which seems like a waste if nobody’s looking at the house. At least one of us will be back in the D.C. area in January before we put the house back up for sale, so it can be plugged back in then. And the thermostat was set 10 degrees higher than we asked. No wonder the electric bill last month was so high. And the grass needs to be cut and the leaves raked. I will try to take care of the leaves on Sunday, if the weather cooperates … and if we still have a rake here, come to think of it.

There’s a box of canned food that was supposed to go to a food bank. Nothing I can eat tonight or really for lunch tomorrow, though there’s a can of soup I would be interested in -- if I could only open it.

Of course, the telephone was disconnected months ago. There’s no Internet and nobody to steal from. Our next-door neighbors appear to have abandoned their house. Not sure if they’re in foreclosure or what, but a month or so before we left, they bought a massive Yukon Denali. (I prefer the anagram Denial.) Remember what gas cost this summer? Then the week we left I was talking to one of the people who lived in the house and they said they were going to have to move because they couldn’t afford the mortgage.

But hey, they had a nice new vehicle.

We have little to nothing here in the way of furniture. I brought a towel so I could shower in the morning. The washer and dryer are still here, of course.

And, thankfully, so is the couch. Night, everyone.

Oh the Blessed Competition

Shall I set the scene? Three kids in the back seat. One worn-out driver/mom. All slightly irritated. Colleen sings and nearly starts a riot...

"Oh the Blessed Gospel,
Oh the Blessed Gospel,
It shall be mine.
I will labor for it.
I will labor for it.
It shall be mine"

Robert picks up the tune and when he gets to "it shall be mine" Colleen shouts "No, Robert! It shall be MINE." Elizabeth can't let that go, of course, and starts to sing "it shall be mine." Robert: "No! Mine." Colleen: "No! It shall be mine!" And so on and so forth.

Mom: "Urgh!"

Yikes. Good thing they were all strapped down and couldn't do damage to each other.

On the plus side, the kids are really getting settled into the St. Thomas the Apostle community. Robert will be in the Christmas pageant and is waiting patiently until he can join the Children's Choir (has to be in second grade).

Home, sweet home

Ahh, this is nice!

The masters

Elizabeth and Robert both came home from Chess Club on Friday afternoon a little deflated. Neither of them won a game and Robert didn't even want to talk about it. (Of course, he's playing against second and third graders.)

Elizabeth and I have played a couple games of chess in the evenings since they started playing at school, but it's been a while. Da took up the challenge and has given Elizabeth a couple of practice games this weekend.

It's a learning experience for Elizabeth, who is having trouble keeping her pieces on the board. I came in to help her out late in a game on Friday night and I stressed with her the importance of playing it out a move or two ahead. I wasn't around on Saturday night but Da reports that Elizabeth made him work for his checkmate. So hopefully this Friday will go a little better for her.

It was a happy holiday

I had planned about waxing much more poetic about Thanksgiving but time never really developed for me to do that. So I'll just scale it back and say we had a wonderful time at our first Thanksgiving in Minneapolis since 2003. I had grown to accept turkey day with Cate's family in Pennsylvania, and at times possibly even enjoyed it, but it just wasn't the same.

Mom entertained 33 people, Neil made great gravy, the kids had a great time with their cousins and kids of family friends and the like. I don't remember specifics of getting the food on the table from previous years but it seemed like with three grown sons things got a lot easier.

Mom may disagree, who knows.

Plus, we survived a mix of family that could well have been fraught with disaster.

Turkey, mashed potatoes, two types of gravy, stuffing, Mama Stamberg's cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, wild rice, more pies than you could shake a fork at ... and a professional, or at least experienced meat carver. (Bob, at right, who is not related. Nor is mom's friend Nancy.)

There were two kids' tables, delineated by age, with the littlest ones by themselves. Somehow that didn't turn out to be a disaster. Elizabeth got to sit with cousin Matt's two younger kids, who are in the 10 and 12 range, and a neighbor who is her age as well. I'm sure that was an interesting conversation. The photo above shows only the grown-up table.

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Now we are ... 11.

Elizabeth hasn't exactly asked to borrow the car yet, but it surely seems like that is just around the corner. She took charge of her birthday cake, designing it and requesting the frosting style. (And supervising the application of it.) Then she took over the final decoration stage. Click on the photo for a larger version.

This was apparently inspired by the children's book, The Rainbow Fish, at least as far as Cate and I can tell.

Cate and Elizabeth were treated by mom and dad last night to a trip to the Children's Theater Company here in Minneapolis, where they saw a production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Aside from the whole Harry Potter series, this is one of Elizabeth's favorite books, and she was surprised and pleased that they stayed so true to the book.

This stands in stark contrast to whichever Harry Potter movie she watched most recently in which she recorded, meticulously, 253 "mistakes." Plot deviations and the like, you know, movie stuff. Wait until she reads The Natural.

Speaking of Harry Potter, Elizabeth got a genuine magic wand. Just add magic. She hasn't taken her OWL test or anything, but I'm sure she'll be putting it to good use. She was reading The Sorcerer's Stone to review her spells.

We refuse to help her acquire the necessary toads' eyes required to turn little brothers into small woodland creatures.

And don't you go helping her either.

Elizabeth also got a surprise phone call from Caitlin and talked to Nanny as well.

She also received a couple pairs of knee socks, which seem to be her favorite way to layer for the weather, as well as a pre-teen favorite Kooky Clicker. She has a new, fleece-lined hat from Nonna that covers the ears oh, so fashionably, and can accessorize with a trip to Limited Too, which made Uncle Ryan (again) very popular with his niece.

We'll spare you the memories of 11 years ago today. But Da played the voice mail message I left for him at work the day she was born, in which I apparently reported that she had two eyes and a little bit of brown hair but had not been weighed yet.

Da has saved this voice mail every two weeks for 11 years. Almost makes me wish I still worked at ... nah.

Colleen's rules of cooking, No. 1

For everything that must be stirred, there is a spoon that must be licked.

Even if that spoon was stirring cranberry relish that includes onions and horseradish. Apparently, not a problem. We'll see if she eats it on Thursday.

It's nothing like the chocolate chip cookies she "helped" make a couple weeks ago.

Fun facts about the cold

It turns out Sprite Zero freezes at a higher temperature than Diet Coke or Caffeine Free Diet Coke does.

I have some of each in the trunk of the car. Weather chills it too well now.

Caitlin was here!

Elizabeth's best friend from Virginia paid Minneapolis an unexpected visit last week, as Caitlin's mom had a business meeting here in the area and she got to tag along.

One of Elizabeth's regular laments had been that she likes her new school but misses her old classmates. So it was fun to see the two of them interact a little bit, though most of that happened outside of my view. (And I have a little 10-year-old source who's not talking.)

So we let Elizabeth miss a day and a half of school. I know they went to the Science Museum of Minnesota, and that Caitlin and her mom had dinner with all of us and Caitlin slept over here one night. Elizabeth spent a night with them at their hotel.

For a short while, Robert had two older sisters telling him what to do. And to be honest, if you had your back to them, it was hard to tell who was talking. Elizabeth and Caitlin have very similar speech patterns and use a lot of the same phrases. If Caitlin had dark hair, whew, you'd never know.

We're talking about driving out to D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration, so she would see Caitlin then. And Elizabeth wants to go to summer camp with her this summer ... though that is still up for discussion.

Gas me up

Gas at the BP near my office was $1.99 when I drove past this morning. The same gas station was $3.59 when we got here. And even that was 30 cents cheaper than what we left in Virginia.

Have fun while it lasts!

Robert's take on Barack Obama

One never really knows what a little kid absorbs of the adults' world going on around them. So much of it is over their heads, not just figuratively but literally. But Robert was really into the whole election process, especially last night.

There was a map around the house with the number of electoral votes for each state, which was a great teaching tool both for math and geography. When I asked this 6-year-old if he would rather win Texas or Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, he did the math without a problem.

He was distraught when South Carolina was called for John McCain early in the night and Vermont for Barack Obama, putting Obama in an 8-3 hole in the electoral college count. Later things started looking brighter, and when he was in bed he asked Cate to check, saying, "I bet he's at a hundred now!"

Indeed, Obama had 102 electoral votes by CNN's count.

Cate asked Robert what he thought would happen if Obama was elected, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "the war would end." He also thought Obama would take better care of poor people and sick people.

Here's hoping.

Mama, she's comin' home

Colleen has not been great at listening to Nonna today, and I'm seeing more of it first-hand since I'm working from home. The kids don't have school today so I offered to be here as a backup goalie, so to speak.

I was talking to Colleen about listening and reminded her that especially when Mom's not here, she needs to listen to Nonna. And I also made sure she knew that Mom is coming back from Pennsylvania tomorrow. I work a late shift to cover the elections, so ...

"That means you and I can go to the airport to pick her up!"

She gives a strange look. "That would be weird."

It was my turn to be puzzled. Then the light bulb went on.

"Oh, Colleen, we don't actually go and lift Mommy. We just drive the car to the airport and she comes home with us."

That seemed to be the explanation she was looking for.

OK, so we lied

Turns out that the Sunday before last was not the last great day of the summer. That or today was the last great day of the fall, or the first great day of winter.

Elizabeth and I got the bikes back out of the garage and headed for Minnehaha Falls. She and Robert and Colleen and I had just been there yesterday but we had designs on getting back there. I wasn't sure Elizabeth was going to make it -- the route is 15 miles round trip, nearly twice as long as our trip two weeks ago. So we took a nice break when we got there, thankful that the Dairy Queen stayed open a couple days later than it seems they were expecting.

Meanwhile, Nonna took Robert and Colleen down to the park, where they ran into their friends from down the street, August, Jacob and Eloise.

Also, Elizabeth got played this time. She doesn't like to shift gears on her bike at all, and would do the entire ride in fifth gear if she could. But I told her that I didn't think we'd make it to the falls if she didn't shift up into a higher gear. Voila -- 12th all the way.

"It feels weird," she said. But she did just fine, no surprise.

Getting played

After getting the little ones to bed the other night, Colleen asleep and Robert resting, close to sleep, I poked my head in and checked on Elizabeth.

It's been a pretty good few days, and on days where Elizabeth is helpful and I'm in charge, she gets extra privileges out of me, like staying up late, watching a few innings of the World Series, a game of chess.

But it's already a pretty late night. I sat down on the bed next to her and we were talking about Halloween, how I don't usually go out with the kids and what a good time it was. Then I saw she had dirt on her hands and I told her she better not let Nonna see hands that dirty -- she'll think I'm not a good daddy.

"You're a good daddy," she said. (It's remnants from art class, she says.)

I said thanks and smiled. And she continued: "Now you're a daddy who will leave me alone and let me finish my book."

I stopped and looked at her, saying, "I think I just got played!"

She said, "played?"

"Yes," I responded. "Don't you know what that phrase means?"

She said, "Yes, of course, Dad. I was just playing you."

Hmm, yes, at least once.

A Coleman Halloween

This is a notable Halloween for many reasons. It's our first in Minnesota, our first without Cate (unfortunately) and the first one where Colleen truly gets it.

I have two good friends who each have kids who got invited to last-minute parties. Neither is a big fan of Halloween this year, and I can't say I particularly was either. I much prefer staying home and handing out candy, letting Cate and the kids come back with all the stories and maybe taking whichever children are old enough back out for a second round after the youngest are too tired to continue.

So I was dreading it, a little bit. I'm not a big fan of chaos and this is a day rife with it. But for those who know me, I'll have you know, I kept my cool all the way through.

Cate did a great job of laying the groundwork before she went out of town, and mom has a great archive of costumes to choose from. Colleen's pumpkin and Robert's devil are Coleman classics. Elizabeth is a vampire witch. (The cape is apparently the vampire part.) She didn't want to wear the hat, but I asked her if she would wear it for the group photo and she ended up keeping it on most of the night.

And in addition, it was incredible weather for trick or treating. There were a ton, just a ton of kids out there tonight. We went to a party at the local park, where they had a few activities for the kids that kept them occupied for perhaps a half-hour. One of the rooms had been converted into a space ship having landed on a foreign planet, and upon learning it didn't have a name, Elizabeth dubbed it Xzandorf. (Google this word later. Currently it's not in the database at all.)

So the plan (and it was Cate's, and it was a good one) was to trick-or-treat on the way home. Robert picked out a particularly interesting-looking house on 43rd Street and walked up. This is Colleen's first full-understanding experience of the event, and the porch was a little scary. (Flash lit it all up here, so not even nearly the same atmosphere.) Red lighting, a skeleton, and a spider that crawled down from the ceiling. But she stuck it out, got her candy and even said thank you most times. Though sometimes she was off message, with you're welcome. Or pumpkin. Or trick or treat.

There were a lot of really interesting houses, but only one which Colleen wouldn't go near. Neighbors up the hill had a whole setup, with people sitting on the lawn next to the stairs ready to scare you, a horror movie-masked person on the sidewalk, someone with a microphone hiding in the trees describing who was walking by, a fire pit, etc.

The strangest thing we got? Probably the Cool Ranch Doritos. Lots of mini Snickers, Baby Ruths, and the like. Missing from our youth, the red hots, the candy corn and other loose items. There wasn't a single apple, no popcorn, no Now & Laters, very few Smarties.

And we had another meeting of the generations. The old Coleman rule was you could eat whatever you wanted on Oct. 31, to the point of getting sick, and that was it. Cate and I favor the kids being able to get to bed, so we limit them to three things tonight ... and we'll figure out how to parcel out the rest as the days go by.

I thought Colleen was going to give me trouble with the three pieces rule. She couldn't decide which three she wanted, or more accurately she would decide and then change her mind. So she would start to grab something else, and I would ask her if she wanted to trade one of her three pieces for it. She was always willing, though, and didn't complain too much when the contents of the bag went away for the night.

They will get help disposing of it, no doubt. Even Elizabeth, who went to the trouble of taking an inventory of her haul. I told her that was only going to make for trouble later.

I can only hope our friends had nights that were as good as this was.

More pictures, on my Facebook page (public).

Congrats to the champs

We have lots of friends and relatives who are fans of a certain National League team that won the World Series a couple of days ago. Robert has a special message of congratulations for them.

Robert wore this Phillies shirt to school today, and I reminded him that if anyone asked, we are not Phillies fans, but he has cousins who are and that his mom is from Philadelphia.

She's there right now, in fact, though she did not hit the parade.

I don't think Robert said anything nearly as interesting as Chase Utley did or as clueless as Sarah Palin.

Bedtime for bozos

I've been dusting off my repertoire of late. With Cate out of town I'm in charge of the bedtimes again, which is something that usually only happens when Cate works nights.

If Cate's in the house, Colleen and Robert (Colleen, mostly) just aren't willing to be put to bed by me. We'll give it another try when Cate comes home. But so far, somehow, the three nights Cate has been gone have all been nice and peaceful.

It reminds me of how the whole children bedtime routine got started, of course, with Elizabeth. We had a devil of a time getting her to sleep when she was little. (Actually, up until about the age of seven, but who's counting?) It always involved singing, some swaying, turning around in a circle, anything to calm her down and get her to sleep.

Since it was Christmastime, of course, Christmas carols were top of the mind, and one of them has stayed in the rotation for a decade: Silent Night. (If you have kid sleeping troubles, give it a try. Great song!) Elizabeth's other two songs were Up on the Roof and You Are My Sunshine.

When Robert came along, he was content to listen to Elizabeth's songs for a while, but eventually expressed a desire for his own. So he got I've Been Working on the Railroad.

And of course, Cate has her own set of songs. She tends to sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and An Irish Lullaby. Neither of us knows the other's songs. And the kids seem to understand that just fine.

In Obama nation

Musings of Elizabeth while watching the World Series:

"If Obama loses, can we move to Holland? It sounds appealing!

"Can we move to Europe?

"Can we move to Canada?"

Hey, she said it. I didn't!

Of course, Elizabeth is accustomed to election uncertainty. In 2000, when the networks originally called Florida for Al Gore, we told her that he was going to be the next president. At not quite age 3, she was already disillusioned.

It's snowing!

The day has finally arrived -- the first snow flurries of winter. And the kids are excited, at least a little bit.

As Elizabeth said: "It was cold, and it was wet, and there wasn't really a lot of it."

Obviously, the flurries aren't accumulating anywhere and there won't be any sledding or snowball fights today, but at least it's something. The kids were all standing at the kitchen windows staring, then had a sudden interest in playing outside, for some reason.

As I write this, Elizabeth has gone back outside to document it. You may have to click on the photo to get the larger version to actually see the snow coming down.

A moving experience

Cate and I had an interesting evening last night, taking in an evening of Handel music performed by a soprano, a harpsichord and a viola da gamba. The soprano, Carrie Henneman Shaw, is a friend Robert and I met at the Twins game last month.

In a word: impressive.

First of all, Cate and I both played string instruments growing up but neither of us had ever seen a viola da gamba being performed. It's about the size of a cello, played upright, with seven strings and tuned somewhat like a guitar. It's bowed underhanded and it doesn't have a stand -- it's held between the legs. Fascinating.

And of course, our friend the soprano was brilliant as well. All in all, a nice evening in St. Paul -- bookended by dinner at Cafe Latte and drinks with Carrie and some of her friends afterward.

But the highlight of the evening was probably the up-close-and-personal encounter with the harpsichord. I helped carry and move the instrument after the performance. Barely, I basically helped load it onto a dolly. But moving a harpsichord was something new to me.

The little things

I opened up Google Maps this afternoon to plot out a potentially crazy trip for a D3football/D3hoops weekend in November and had to smile -- the default location on that service seems to be a little hit or miss but it remembered who I was today and displayed the satellite image of our neighborhood here in Minneapolis.

It reminded me, also, that I have this list of adjustments that I've had to make (or try to make) over the past few months now that we're not in Northern Virginia anymore.

Such as one that's pretty basic: remembering to dial 1 in front of 703. Definitely not a local call anymore. I think I finally have this down.

Going up and down the creaky stairs from the main level of my parents house to the upstairs. They creaked back then and creak even more now. Only now I'm worried about waking up the kids rather than waking up mom and dad.

Driving at what's considered a normal pace out here. And keeping my hands off the car horn.

Remembering that shows start an hour earlier. Or that 4 is CBS and 9 is Fox rather than NBC and CBS.

Remembering to call the Interstate around here I-94, not I-95. This also took a long time to adjust in the other direction, when on the east coast.

There's a whole new round of remembering what's east of me and what's west of me. In Connecticut I had the same problem, since New York City had been east and north of me for so long that it was ingrained in my head that way. Except getting on 95 ... err, 94 ... err, 95 in Connecticut, NYC was always west and south. Here it's getting away from the thought that Minneapolis is west of me, or north of me, 100 percent of the time. I've confused Cate probably a dozen times already.

But I'm not going back on one thing. I'm going to keep calling it soda. It seems like everyone knows what I mean.

In limbo

I keep having dreams about boxes.

In these dreams, I'm still packing. We have a house full of stuff that needs to go into boxes so we can move.

In real life, all that is done. It's the unpacking that hasn't started, because we don't have anywhere to put it.

I thought we were packed appropriately -- that things we needed were in the right spots in storage so that we could access them. But we shuffled things to make them fit, and we're nowhere near getting into a house with winter fast approaching.

I had to go out and buy clothes today because I don't have nearly enough winter clothes to get me through the winter. We were able to get to the winter coats, not that I could find any other coat of mine, and the kids will all be wearing new clothes instead of hand-me-downs for a while.

We would love to be home buyers in this market. The problem is we can't seem to sell anything. We are probably going to take 406 off the market for a while, because, let's face it, why have the listing out there getting dusty in such bad economic times?

I do know full well that we could be in a much worse position. For that I am indeed thankful. But that doesn't mean limbo is any fun.

A net loss, but a clarinet gained

Minneapolis public schools don't offer Spanish, for whatever reason, but they do offer band. So while Elizabeth hasn't been getting twice-weekly instruction in the language anymore, she is getting clarinet instruction once a week.

There was much debate among us as to which instrument Elizabeth should take. Clarinet won out over the saxophone -- she wanted to play the sax but there were already too many playing it in her class.

The good news is that Elizabeth is very enthusiastic about taking an instrument. The bad news is that neither Cate nor I can help her with the clarinet. Both of us have string and brass experience to draw on but neither of us played a woodwind.

So far, though, it hasn't been a problem. Her tone has improved vastly in the week she's been practicing. (Her playing tone, not her speaking tone.)

At this point she can play any song that contains C, D, E, F and G.

Mom even pulled my old music stand out of a drawer in the linen closet for her to use!

So far, so good.

E's ticket to ride

As we've written before, Elizabeth has gotten a lot more confident with her new bike. I've been dying to get out and ride with her, but the number of daylight hours where we're both home and I'm not busy with my fall endeavors is really limited.

So this afternoon, with a temperature in the mid-60s, Cate and Robert off to the children's theatre, Colleen playing quietly and mom and dad home, I looked at the clock at 1:30 and said, "Elizabeth, let's go for a ride!"

I have not been on a bicycle since we got here. (No worries, still maintaining my goal weight, going on more than six months now.) And I know Elizabeth has been out biking with her PE class. They've gone around both Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun in one trip. So she's maybe even in better shape to ride than I was.

We went all the way around Lake Harriet, then up the west side of Lake Calhoun to Lake of the Isles, back down the other side of Calhoun to the house. Grand total of 8 miles. And Elizabeth kept up with me the whole way, though I took her smaller wheels and the fact that she is riding in fifth gear most of the way into account.

I can't wait for next spring, when we have good weather again and a lot more time.

I took this photo with my camera phone, hoping she was in the frame and trying to keep the phone steady. I showed the picture to Elizabeth at home and her response was, "Oh. That's what you were doing!"

The dread pirate Robert

Overheard:

Robert: Nonna, I had orange juice with lunch today.
Nonna: Oh yeah?
Robert: Yeah, so now I won't get scurvy!

On a related note, Robert is really looking forward to the next Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Last great day of the year?

We had a great time today on what may well be the last great day of the fall. Just anticipating the worst as winter approaches in a few weeks. Took a quick trip to the library to exchange read books for unread ones, then headed over to a D-III football game at Macalester, where we stopped for lunch at the St. Clair Broiler beforehand.

The kids and I sat in the bleachers for the first half, then went down to the field so I could take some pictures of the game and they played around in the grass. (Not here, on the artificial turf.) Robert was insanely curious about everything on the sidelines, even talking to the Macalester kicker about his practice tee and net during overtime, while the guy was preparing for what could be a game-winning kick. (He said he wasn't bothered but I hustled Robert along anyway.)

All in all, a good mix of patience, running around and goofing around on a beautiful, 70-degree day.

Try it, you'll like it!

Our oldest daughter is adventuresome in some areas, hesitant in others. And that's OK. She's done some things in the past couple years that I wouldn't have anticipated, trying new foods, for example, and she's enjoyed them more often than not, of course.

This week we nearly had a throwdown over Elizabeth's participation in chess club at school. Robert has been enthusiastic throughout (I mean, come on, it's a club!), but Elizabeth wanted no part of it. And with Cate out of town this weekend, I was jumping into an already-existing conversation without much of the background. But I had my orders: on my to-do list was writing a check for their enrollment, and the prescribed amount covered two.

So that was it. She was going. Even though she got all dramatic and scratched her own name out on the enrollment form.

This was Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I sent the form in -- with Robert, not with Elizabeth -- and asked Mom to check Robert's bag right before they went to the bus stop to make sure Elizabeth hadn't sabotaged it. Wednesday and Thursday night I heard nothing about it. And today she sneaked into the room behind me after I dropped off Robert. So I gave her her space and didn't embarrass her.

My theory? She found out exactly how many kids actually take part in chess club (there were about 40 today) and who some of them were and she realized that it indeed was going to be pretty cool.

After I said good-bye to Robert, I hung around upstairs and watched. She had a great time.

To nobody's surprise.

Daddy's little helper

Was kind of a tough day. Got home and had to finish making and serve dinner. Colleen was asleep on the couch and needed to be woken up so she wouldn't be awake all night.

Robert needed a shower. Elizabeth's homework needed to be checked. She also announced she needed something from the store for school tomorrow. (I haven't told her that I am not going out tonight and we'll make do.)

Empty the dishwasher. Fill the dishwasher. Move the laundry over. Put the kids to bed. And since Colleen was not so tired, that took a while.

But Colleen was my savior tonight. She helped me empty the dishwasher, including drying the dishes that needed extra drying. Then she got the plates and silverware from the table and helped me refill it. It actually was helpful, unlike sometimes when a kid helps and it actually slows the process down.

That was a nice pick-me-up.

The clinger

I would say it's been so far, so good but since I've been at work most of the time, it's hard to tell. Cate left Tuesday morning to go visit her mom in Pennsylvania and we weren't sure how that was going to impact Colleen.

Over the past month or so, Colleen has been very clingy, often literally. There are times Cate hasn't been even able to sit in a chair at the kitchen table without Colleen on her back, trying to share the chair, etc. So I was worried that bedtime was going to be painful for the three of us (Robert and Colleen share a room). But so far, it's been pretty painless in the evenings.

Mom has the days while I go to work. Yesterday appeared to be fine. Said mom:

Just a quick note. Colleen and Amelia are sitting on C's bed and she is showing the Lego book to A and singing, "Are You Sleeping." Hope things are going well for you and your mom and Jeanne.
Donna
PS Now Colleen has her arms around Amelia and they are sitting in the sun filtering through the blinds.

Here's hoping. I'll be working from home tomorrow and Cate comes home Sunday morning. Wish we could have given her more time in Philly.

Being a godfather

Neil and Alicia's daughter Amelia was baptized today in a nice ceremony after Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle. It was nice because she was the only one being baptized and while Elizabeth was one of a group of six when it was her turn, apparently St. Thomas has baptized as many as 12 at a time.

So Amelia got all the attention from Fr. Steve, just like Colleen did when he baptized her three years ago.

I don't wax poetic about my beliefs and Neil even less so. But everyone had a good time. Robert really enjoyed being put "in charge" of Da's camera and delivered some great pictures.

So in the end, I don't have much to tell you that actually goes with the title of this blog post. I guess I'll figure that out in the years to come.

Something winter this way comes

Temperature in the low 40s this morning. Hard to get out of bed, plus haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately because I'm doubling as the news editor at work for two weeks.

Pulled the winter coat out. It definitely kept me warm but I wonder how many layers I'll need a month from now.

Our old car, the one we were worried wouldn't get all the way to Minneapolis, is doing great with the colder mornings since I replaced the battery. I'm fairly proud of the original battery getting 109,000 miles but it had two bad mornings earlier this week and it had to go.

Meanwhile, in this weather, Elizabeth is still biking to school. We got her on a new bike this weekend and she loves it. It's a 21-speed that she only uses as a 1-speed at the moment, but it's a good size for her and hopefully she and I can get out and ride together before the end of the biking season.

Let's cook, and eat shrimp!

MINNEAPOLIS -- Coleman family insiders were stunned Sunday night when Cate Coleman ate shrimp, for reportedly the first time in her life.

Coleman, 35, partook of the seafood dish as part of a Coleman family outing to Let's Cook, a store near downtown Minneapolis that offers cooking classes and events for groups. Mom volunteers there for other people's classes and brought the group of family adults down for a private class, focused on handmade pasta.

The shrimp was an hors d'oeuvre.

"Once I got past what it looked like, I tried it and it actually tasted good," she explained later in the evening.

Cate has actually cooked shrimp before, for me, as I was the only one in the family who would eat it. But she has often expressed a desire to not be able to recognize her food when it's on her plate, if you know what I mean, and a cooked shrimp is shaped a lot like the thing it used to be.

During the evening, she also tried the spinach filling for tortellini. And there were other things but I don't remember what she tasted at the table.

It was a fun evening, kneading dough, cutting it into strips and forming it into shapes, or tortellini, or ravioli ... man, getting hungry just thinking about it again. The chef had some incredible sauces to serve with the various pasta. Cate did draw the plain pasta, while other Colemans made tomato-flavored pasta and spinach pasta, but it was neat to knead the dough and roll it out, etc.

Plus, it was just nice to get out without the kids.

More photos on my Facebook page.

Took him out to the ballgame

Very soon after we got here, Elizabeth and I went to a Twins game. Well, Robert has been dying to go to one ever since, and last night we finally had the chance.

It was a great night to take a 6-year-old boy to the game. The fan activities outside the Metrodome were right up his alley -- he got to get his blood pumping on the moon bounce and throw baseballs at a catcher's mitt target. We'd got too late of a start to ride the train to the game but he still got to watch some go by.

He had gotten a brand-new Justin Morneau shirt for the occasion, with the birthday money his aunt and uncle sent him back in June.

The stadium was packed, boisterous and excited and the game matched it. The Twins fell behind 6-1 but rallied to tie it in the eighth and win it in the 10th, sweeping a three-game series from the White Sox.

As we filed out of the stadium, fans were chanting Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!

Robert didn't understand most of it but he knew we were having a good time. And even though his cough nearly overtook him around the eighth inning, he made it through the whole game. And he never once asked when we were going home. He didn't ask for every food item that came down the aisle. And we took care of each other just fine.

It was the kind of game I'd hope a 6-year-old could remember deep into adulthood. I remember my first game as an extra-inning game between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium in 1979, at the same age. This isn't Robert's first game -- not even his first this year -- but it's clearly the most memorable. Heck, I think it may be the most memorable baseball game I've ever been to. And I've been to a few, including playoff games.

Plus we met an interesting couple next to us -- they both used to work for Gannett (USA Today's parent company) and attended a D-III school. He's still a journalist and she is a singer.

There aren't that many degrees of separation around here! Minneapolis has a real small-town character every so often.

Reading together

Sometimes siblings can do things together...

a) quietly, like reading a book they both like

and

2) without poking each other in the eye or complaining about what the other one is doing (or not doing, as the case may be).

Refreshing. And worth documenting here.

More house hunting

We're beginning to get this real estate thing down to a pattern. (I'll avoid the term science.) We did a handful of open houses this morning and afternoon and here's how it goes.

Cate has been researching real estate in the Twin Cities for about two years, so she has the sites down. She had a list of open houses with times. All five of us descend on the house (when we're all available) with instructions to not talk about anything we see out loud in front of anyone else. Then we meet in the backyard and discuss what we liked.

We save three today and only one even remains on the list.

Elizabeth takes copious notes. Here's her notes on one house we saw this afternoon.

tree shutters - dark green
birches
playground
small forest
mudroom window
playhouse
ferns pines
white fence
slanted wall, small living room
lots of windows
window seat
dark color
brick white
fireplace
striped dining room
kitchen tile
lots of cabinets
porch into eat-in kitchen
electric stove
closets
light green
red stairs down
carving stairs
up porch
green bathroom - tiles - down
screen door
different type wood floors
nice downstairs
horrid laundry room wallpapers
cool exercise room/bath
closet
side yards
window boxes

It's an odd little house, a cottage that had an attached garage which was turned into living space. There is indeed a porch off what could be the biggest bedroom, upstairs, but the chimney sticks up through the middle of it and there's no place to actually fit a bed.

Another house got marked down for the following: creaky stairs, not in good shape floors, old metal awning, metal fence, loud neighbors. Oh, and no dining room.

This could take a while.

Bed check

It's 7:45 p.m. (Central) Do you know where your kids are?

Elizabeth is sewing a Civil war cap so she can better put herself in the role of Confederate spy for a creative writing assignment. Unfortunately the hat was put away by the time I got the camera out.

Robert is obviously not ready to settle down yet. He was coming down the stairs because he saw two stars that were "awesome" and wanted to share.

Colleen is asleep. She had a long day playing with Amelia, shopping/walking with Nonna, making pie crust, and sliding down hills. There's not enough stain remover in the world for that particular hobby.

I thought we had a few years yet

Robert has been missing his piggy bank, which is one of 14.5 gazillion things still in storage. So when Cate saw apple juice in a glass bottle at the bagel place where we met for lunch today, she snapped it up. Colleen drank the juice and Cate washed it out and presented it to him.

She also gave him all of her change. Robert didn't think it was enough, however.

He asked Cate, "Do you have any more coins for my bank?"

Cate responded: "What you see in there is all my money. I don't have any more."

Robert asked if she thought I had any money, and Cate said she would check.

"How will you ask him?" Robert queried, and Cate responded that she would ask if I had any change for Robert's piggy bank.

"Mom, don't ask him like that." As in Mom, you must be the stupidest person in the world.

"Say, 'Dad, can I have your wallet?' "

Being social

Sunday was a banner day for us being out and about. Neil, Alicia and Amelia came over for brunch, which Cate and Elizabeth assembled this morning. (Some yummy leftovers for me to take to work.) Neil and I watched the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Vikings game with Robert while the female set went for a walk/bike ride.

In the evening, we met neighbors. A woman around the corner who has kids at our bus stop took note of the fact that there are a lot of new families in the neighborhood with young kids and invited us and three other couples over for dinner. There were eight kids playing in the house (and upstairs, and outside on the trampoline) as well as two newborns who mostly slept. It was nice to actually meet some other people, all of whom are going through or have recently gone through some of the same things we are: moving into a new neighborhood, picking houses, scouting out schools, etc.

We may emerge from our shell yet.

Elizabeth goes green

Elizabeth has taken the fate of the earth into her own hands... er, feet. She will be joining her friends on Monday as they bike 8 blocks to her school. As long as the weather stays cool instead of frigid, she'll get plenty of exercise and fresh air.

Local climate change

Clearly, we were aware that it would be cooler here than in the Washington area, and that it would get cold sooner, etc. As we pull out the long-sleeved shirts for the kids ... and the rest of us ... it seems to be turning cooler even sooner than one would expect.

Case in point -- this week I am beginning to get my fall allergies. (Or my fall cold, perhaps.)

Usually I get them in mid-October.

So for this week, I'm a bass. Or a baritone. Cate isn't feeling well either. In fact, she fell asleep early and since I was at choir practice, Elizabeth (bless her) put Colleen to sleep.

Don't ask about No. 3

Robert, of course, has been adjusting not only to a new home and a new school but also going to school for the full day for the first time, going from half-day kindergarten to first grade.

When you ask what his favorite part of school is, the answer is what you'd expect: recess. But his second-favorite?

"Nothing."

Oh well.

Take that!

I realized this afternoon that I still have the weather button on my Google toolbar set to pull the current temperature for the 20164 zip code.

I chuckled when I saw the temperature in the 20164 was 91 degrees. Here in the 55410 it was a cool 62!

First Day, Part 2

As Robert was taking off his shoes following his first full day of school, he said "I missed you, Colleen. But Mommy, I missed you most of all." What a heartbreaker.

Then came time to bounce off the walls. Poor Robert was so excited he just couldn't sit still. He was running in circles and twirling in the kitchen. Elizabeth was slightly more subdued, talking about what she needed to bring in the next day (including a permission slip for a field trip to The River in a couple of weeks).

Although they didn't do much on their first day, they had a good time, made some friends and there were no complaints when Day 2 rolled around. Success.

What happened?

Earlier this afternoon, Colleen had her first experience with an Oreo cookie in quite some time. After eating two of them, she took a look at her hands and said, "I'm dirty, I have to wash my hands!"

Cate explained to her that it was cookie dust (and therefore, quite edible).

Colleen reiterated that a hand-washing would be required, thank you very much, so they went downstairs to wash. As Cate was helping her dry her hands, she said, "Colleen, do you want to see something really cool?"

Colleen: "Yes!"

Cate lifted Colleen up so she could see her face in the mirror, and she caught sight of her face -- covered in Oreo crumbs, from eyebrows to chin, covering both cheeks. She said: "What. Happened?"

That, my friends, is the result of a 3-year-old and two Oreo cookies.

First Day, Part 1

The weather report mentioned "tropical humidity" this morning and the kids wanted to know what that meant. I told them it was going to rain today. Sooner rather than later, it turns out.

We were all gathered, introducing ourselves (two other girls at the stop are in Elizabeth's class - one recognized her from the Open House), and then the clouds let loose, soaking us to the skin. At least this gives them plenty of conversation starters on their way to school. Also, the bus arrived empty so they will be spared that sick feeling of asking a stranger if this seat is taken.

The best intentions

Robert was all intent on sleeping in a tent in the backyard for the first time. He didn't make it, however. He spent about 30 minutes out there and then got bored with staying in the tent.

Oh well.

Going to school

One of the first things we (read: Cate) did after we got here was get the kids enrolled in school. I think we knew that coming into a new school system in August was going to leave us behind the 8-ball; we just didn't realize how far behind.

But we got a piece of good news yesterday, and parlayed that into a second piece today: The kids got into our No. 2 school choice here in Minneapolis.

First choice was a magnet school, and we knew that was a long shot. But there's a perfectly good school about nine blocks from us, that we thought we would get into. Instead, that school had a waiting list in both fifth grade and first grade and we were assigned to a school three times as far away, with a bus pickup time of 6:47 a.m.!

Chew on that, InsideOut!

But Tuesday afternoon, Cate got called by the placement office and offered us a spot for Elizabeth in our No. 2 choice. After a phone call to mom's friend who works in the school system and some researching online, we felt pretty confident. Cate toured the facilities and deemed them acceptable. And we got them to take Robert as well. Spanish classes, computers in the classrooms, etc.

And classes there start at a more reasonable hour.

I never saw the school that so turned us off, but let's put it this way: On their tour of the other school, Robert rattled off three things that he liked about Forest Grove Elementary in Sterling and asked the principal if this school had them. They were 0-for-3.

If the 6-year-old knows that the school isn't as good, what else is there to say?

Happy anniversary, mom and dad

Mom and Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary Sunday afternoon by inviting the whole parish over to hear a local folk duo. So Neal and Leandra played and the children drunk lemonade and about a hundred people came out to listen, on a beautiful day, inside. (The adults had champagne.)

In all, a great idea. We were asked to save the date back when they sent out their Christmas cards in February. And it turns out we were here a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Mom and Dad spoke briefly before the concert. Somehow Dad kept his prepared remarks below 20 minutes, Cate was very impressed. Mom related a story: she was talking to her mom one day about a year after they were married and she said she couldn't imagine being together for 35 or 40 years. And Nanny said, "the first five years take forever. And then the next 35 just fly by."

I could manage to agree with that assessment. Cate, sitting at the laptop next to me, says she is still waiting for the flying. "I was promised flying by!"

Below, Dad is wearing The Wedding Coat, which he wore to many summer weddings in the ... '70s, I would assume from the looks of it ... and became part of the family lore. He's recently been able to wear it again. (I added this later, ran out of juice last night, both in the brain and the laptop.)

Many people that I hadn't seen in years, obviously. The Schroeders (John and Dana) from a few blocks down the street jokingly took some credit for my career in journalism, but I told them they were definitely entitled to some of it. They ran a newspaper in rural Minnesota in the '80s and came to our neighborhood when I was in grade school. They helped St. Thomas put together a student newspaper and I was the photographer. (That was the only way I wanted to be involved in journalism, yet I ended up on the word side in college.)

Ann Marie Kotre, who was my parents' realtor in Michigan, was in town. Didn't recognize her, of course, but remembered seeing one of her sons play Tony in West Side Story. Always wanted to play that part, but couldn't dance well enough or sing low enough.

Our cousin Kelly was in from out of town, as well as friend of the family/godmother to Colleen Jennifer. And the family repaired to the family domicile afterward for dinner.

Great time had by all.

I just wrapped up a big D3football.com project, so this is my first chance on the blog in a while. Thanks for your patience. More photos on my Facebook page.

Happy Birthday, Cate!

We were all disappointed when the text message from Barack Obama came in at 2:30 this morning informing us that Cate had not been selected as his running mate for the 2008 election.

This is unfortunate, because I feel Cate could help carry several important constituencies.

• Women
• Catholic women
• Virginia

I was just sure the timing of Obama's announcement and rally on Saturday could not be a coincidence. After all, not only was it Cate's birthday, but it was Cate's 35th birthday, which for those who remember high school civics class, means Cate is now eligible to be elected president.

Plus Cate was curiously non-committal as to what she wanted to do today. I'm sure she wanted to be in Springfield, Ill.

Instead, we celebrated Cate's first birthday in Minneapolis in a not-particularly Minnesota fashion. We didn't go to the lake or to the State Fair, which seems destined to be a future birthday destination since it will frequently be running on Aug. 23. Cate and the kids walked down to the shops in Linden Hills, where the kids did some advance scouting for a later birthday run, and we had the great wood-fired pizza at Punch Pizza. At right is dessert, which I term a good cake spoiled. The kids ... well, they had their own ideas as to what the cake should be ... encrusted with. I'm not interested in leftovers, let's just say that. Cate got to get some downtime and talked with her mom on the phone from Ireland. In all it was a beautiful day as summer in the Upper Midwest winds down.

And no, if you're wondering from the top photo, Elizabeth is not that tall, yet. She's standing on a rock. But she is approaching five feet tall, my goodness. She is that cute, though. And so is Colleen.

Colleen's take on Michael Phelps

"Wow."

Her other Olympic comments were rather random. She also claims that she will get her own Olympic gold medal in "nothing" and she'll get it "on Valentine's Day."

Happy birthday to bro

It's Neil's birthday today, as he turns 30 again. I was just thinking the other day, the last time I saw Neil on his birthday I believe puzzles and Star Wars figures may still have been involved. Or maybe a new glove.

That would've been 1991, when Neil ... uhh, turned 13 again?

So happy birthday. We'll spare the singing. Maybe. And we won't celebrate it in multiple small towns across the upper Midwest. Definitely.

The glasses are found!

Mom called me this morning to report that she found Elizabeth's glasses. In the car, where I suggested :) but buried deep in a seat. Sounds familiar.

In the process, she related to me a story from her childhood where a friend of hers named Elizabeth lost a pair of glasses in their car in Chicago. Years later, when Nanny and Pa were selling the car, they pulled the seats out to clean it and found the glasses.

Thankfully this only took a couple of weeks and didn't last all the way to sale. The car is brand-new.

House hunting

Quoth Cate: Only in Edina would there be a million dollar rambler near a highway. One block off 62.

Wish us luck. Someone go buy our house, too.

Robert's take on Michael Phelps

In contrast to Elizabeth, whose view of the gold medal machine named Michael Phelps is fueled by watching the races at night, Robert has been in bed when the races are going on.

Robert was playing with Cate in bed this morning and kicked his feet off the headboard to flip over, and I asked him, "Who do you think you are, Michael Phelps?"

He gave me a puzzled look, so we asked him if he knew who Phelps was, then explained that he was a swimmer who has won a bunch of gold medals during the Olympics.

Robert's response: "Did he cheat?"

Guess we won't be introducing Robert to the Tour de France or any other doping sports anytime soon.

Elizabeth's take on Michael Phelps

Cate and Elizabeth and I are watching the Olympics tonight, with Michael Phelps mania in full force. Elizabeth has enjoyed fencing (the highlights, nothing on TV here) and others but really got a kick out of the description of Michael Phelps prior to the 200 butterfly semifinals.

Phelps was described as double-jointed at the knee, a 6-foot-7 wingspan, and other things. They referenced his warmup move on the blocks as being condorlike. That set Elizabeth's 10-year-old creativity in motion.

And I quote:

Be the condor!

BE the condor!

Be the morph of a condor and a fish. And a human

It's condor man!

(singing) Super condor man! Super condor man!

Then, as Phelps took the lead on the final turn, and Cate and I marveled, Elizabeth responded, "It's because I am super condor man!"

Later she modified it to super condo man, because it was easier to say. But I wouldn't mess with success.

Generation next

The cousin crew got together last night, for the most part, with my cousin Rachel in town with her four boys. (Soon to be five!)

The Lahr cousins were absent, but almost all of the second cousins were there. We only lacked Amelia, who apparently has a more important social calendar. Grand times were had, not necessarily including this group portrait. This is one of the images that didn't include Connor doing the rabbit ears on one of his cousins, Daniel crying, and has Grace actually in the photo. (Alexander facing the camera never quite happened.)

Elizabeth is the oldest of this group, and always will be, of course, as she is a month older than Grant. Grant at 10-1/2 is five feet tall (a few inches short of his mom!) and Elizabeth is about 4-9. Robert and Parker are about a year apart.

Mary Catherine Coleman's great-grandchildren, from left to right, if I remember correctly: Connor Reed, Daniel Reed, Parker Linder, Colleen Coleman, Elizabeth Coleman, Michael Reed, Alexander John, Robert Coleman, Augustine Linder, Grant Linder, Matthias Linder, Grace John.

As I commented to Rachel, now I have to put some effort into remembering which Reed kid is which. Before, seeing them every couple of years, they would change so much in between visits that it wasn't worth trying to retain. The Reeds are 9, 7, and 5. Rachel and the boys are heading up to Duluth for the Hon family reunion and eventually have a 25-hour drive back to New Hampshire next week.

Mom said something to Elizabeth and a couple of the others about winning the prize for attentiveness. Predictably, Elizabeth asked what the prize was, and I told her that when she and others look at these photos in 2047 she can gloat about how attentive she was. Colleen and Grant were good photo subjects as well. And I can bet that Amelia's absence will cause some head-scratching years from now. (Was she born yet? Wasn't that after we moved to Minnesota? Did we still have the blue car? Robert, we never had a BLUE car!)