Trick or Treating

Tonight we were all excited to go trick or treating, so we ate dinner early then put on our costumes. After all that effort to get Emily's robot costume just right (it had to be Charlie the robot from the Scooby Doo "Foul Play in Funland" episode), she refused to wear her blinking helmet and goggles. Luckily, Mom was willing to wear the helmet instead. Kate was quite happy with her Pixie Princess outfit.

First we stopped by Grandma and Pop Pop's house in Waterville. This is where we realized that somehow Kate had got into the car and all buckled in without her shoes on, so we had to make a quick trip back home to get her sneakers.On the way home we let the kids eat one piece of candy each. Kate's expression in the photo below is NOT because she doesn't like her chocolate bar, it's because we just informed her that she would not get to eat all her candy tonight, but instead would get one piece a day until it ran out. She was not very pleased with that plan.Next we headed over to our friend Amy's neighborhood in Winslow, where there are a bunch of houses within a small walking distance. A lot of folks seemed to have the same idea, so it was pretty crowded. Notice that Mama got into the spirit of the holiday by wearing a "Bowl of Fruit" hat on her head.

It was a perfect night for trick or treating--warm, but windy enough to blow the leaves around and make the ghostly decorations everywhere look really scary. The girls carried their glow sticks, filled up their pumpkins with candy, and said "Thank you" as often as they could remember.We didn't trick or treat very long, but they enjoyed every minute of it.This was the first Halloween that they have both understood what was going on, and it was a lot of fun for all of us.

So Glad to Be Home!

Mom is so glad to be home from her business trip and back playing with the kids again! Tonight the kids were excited too, so it was hard to decide what to do. First we practiced skating on the carpet, which Emily loves.

We tried out Kate's skates for the first time. They are "Bob" style, which means that they have straps that attach right to her sneakers (or snow boots). They also have double runners to make them more stable.At first she was disappointed that they weren't just like Emily's.......but then she decided that she kind of likes them!Probably because her pink sneakers show through.She did pretty well walking around on the carpet, but she's not really ready for the ice yet.When we got tired of skating we went up to the playroom and got into the tent with our flashlights.The kids wanted to hear ghost stories, so Mom told a few.It was too scary!Mom had to tell a bunch of funny and happy stories to make up for the scary ones.She won't make that mistake again!Finally, just before bed we tried on our Halloween costumes. The girls get to wear them to school tomorrow, so we wanted to be sure we had all the parts. Emily's robot costume looks great!She really likes to make robot sounds and chase her sister around. The preschool has requested that the kids' costumes be "non-violent", so we're hoping that she doesn't get too much in character for the school party tomorrow.Kate looked great too in her Pixie Princess outfit, which she adores. If she could wear it to school every day, she would.Mom says it's great to be home!

Minneapolis

Our faithful readers have probably been wondering why we haven't updated the blog in the last few days.....the answer is because Brenda (the primary blog updater) has been on a business trip to Minneapolis.

Brenda attended the annual convention for the American Segmental Bridge Institute, which, even though it was very interesting, did not include a lot of good photo opportunities (unless you want to see a roomful of guys in suits).
On Tuesday afternoon the convention attendees were given some time to tour Minneapolis and sightsee a little. The weather was beautiful, and Brenda found lots of interesting things to look at. There was this neat looking clock tower....

....the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (home of the Twins!)....

....and this really cool park that was created to preserve the ruins of some local flour mills.

Part of the park was this stone arch bridge, which was built in 1883 to allow the Great Northern Railway to cross the Mississippi River. It is now a pedestrian and bike path.

But the main thing that Brenda wanted to see was the I35W bridge. Many of you probably remember that this bridge collapsed without warning in August of 2007, killing 13 people and injuring many more.

At the time of its collapse, this bridge was the 6th-busiest bridge for vehicle traffic volume in the entire state. The Minnesota Department of Transportation wanted it rebuilt fast, so they issued an emergency design-build contract for a replacement within 60 days. The new bridge was designed, built, and opened to traffic within 11 months, which is pretty amazing.

Unlike the original steel truss, the new bridge is a concrete segmental design, and it is a beautiful structure.

Besides the new I35W bridge, one of the highlights of the Convention for Brenda was getting to have dinner and drinks with Chris's mom, who happened to be in town visiting friends.

It was a fun trip, but like always, Brenda is sure glad to be back home.

A Crowd at Gymnastics

Once or twice a session Emily's gymnastics teachers allow spectators to come and observe the class. Today was the day, so Grandma, Pop Pop, Mama, and Kate joined Mom and Emily at class.

Kate was a little bit under the weather, and was also feeling pretty jealous that Emily gets to take such a fun class and she is too young. She made herself feel better by checking out all the pretty leotards and tights for sale.Emily was thrilled to have such a big audience. She tried not to look up at us and wave but couldn't really help herself a few times.She showed off a lot of things she has learned so far, including listening carefully.......climbing the "spiderweb"........standing on her head........staying in line.......walking the swinging beam.......and taking big jumps!When the class was over she wanted to know what we all thought.......and we all think she is doing fantastic in gymnastics!

Ice Skating

Tonight was the big night of the first public skating session at Sukee Arena. We have been waiting a long time for this!

The rink was pretty crowded, but not as bad as Mom thought it might be.Emily was ready for her very first time on the ice. She had walked around in her skates at home, and watched Mom play hockey a lot, so she was pretty confident.Grandma and Pop Pop joined us at the rink--Pop Pop also plans to learn to skate this winter!When we got out on the ice, Emily was quite surprised to find out how slippery, cold, and wet it actually is. Her visions of skating "really fast" evaporated as she just tried to stand upright.She did get the hang of pushing a chair, which is a big step.She had lots of protective gear on just in case, but thankfully there were no hard falls.Emily's favorite part of learning to skate was sitting on the chair while Mom pushed her around the rink real fast (it was a good workout for Mom's legs too).

We ran into Pop Pop a couple times, who was making his way around the boards and having a good time too.
The post-skating cookie is always a hit.The best part of our first skating session is that Emily wants to keep going back!