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happy memorial day (tomorrow). our big plan for the weekend was to camp for three nights up at mille lacs kathio state park. we had visited the park before, but had never camped there. plus, they had JUST opened up four new backpacking sites. hurrah. we reserved the ‘glacial ridge’ site which was about a mile in and next to a beaver pond. sounded perfect.

we had planned to leave around 1pm on friday. however, fiona had been feeling sick, and didn’t seem to be getting better. whether we were going to camp or not, it was a long weekend, so we decided to play it safe and visit her pediatrician. she was very lethargic and tired and wanted to be in arms non-stop. not like our out-going little fi. anyway, they checked her for strep - negative, and checked her blood count - looked perfect. so, it was probably a virus. by the time we left the doctor, she was starting to act like herself again. we stopped at izzy’s ice cream and she ate her whole cone and wanted tastes of ours. she was obviously feeling better.

one side story - as we were leaving izzy’s, she said ‘i want to go to choo-choo bob’s!’, which is the train store just down the street from izzy’s. she had only been there once before. i asked bill ‘did you say anything to her about choo-choo bob’s?’ ‘nope’. wow! she remembered it. she is our train girl, that’s for sure.

we decided to go home and finish packing, and see how she was feeling. she seemed to be back to normal, so we decided to head out. luckily, traffic wasn’t too bad. still, after a stop for a snack (after not eating well for a couple days, fi was finally hungry and ready to eat!). once we were at the state park, we took a picture of a painted turtle at her nest. the mosquito that we caught on camera should have been a warning to us.

it was dusk, so we were hiking in in the near dark, w/ kids and full packs. the trail was, well, minimal considering its a state park trail. we almost lost it a couple times in the post-dusk light. finally got to camp though, hurrah. once we picked off 4 dozen ticks and killed all the mosquitos in the tent, we were able to lay back and look at the stars…and all the lightening bugs. it was great. the girls slept pretty well. at 1am, bill and both woke with a start. there were heavy footfalls in the woods (versus scampering of a small mammal) and then a strange noise. bill joked that it was a sasquatch. i was thinking it might be a pine martin, since they can get pretty big (small-medium sized dog). we asked the ranger about it, but she wasn’t sure what it would have been. a fellow visiting the park overheard my question and said it might have been a doe. i am searching online for sound files of north american animals, but so far, no luck.

after a restless night of sleep, we awoke to a beautiful day. the mosquitos were not as thick, but there were ticks all over the tent. we hung around camp trying to decide of we should stay or not. the pond was pretty and the girls had fun catching fireflies and playing with inch worms. we even saw a caterpillar shedding its skin. pros: pleasant weather, happy kids, interesting wildlife. cons: warm weather in a marshy, wet area meant the mosquitos would only be getting worse, LOTS of ticks (my god, THE TICKS!), no good place to pitch the tent, no pit toilet and no trowel with which to cat hole, and a dog who was limping. it was a tough call, but we decided to head out. we made up for it by getting to go to the outdoor rec days at the park center where ella learned how to cast, tested her ‘leave no trace’ knowledge, and got to go kayaking. fiona impressed us by saying the word ‘fossil’ when one of the presenters was talking about dinosaurs. we thought maybe it just sounded like ‘fossil’, but then she clearly said ‘fossils have bones’. wow. after that, we then headed west to charles lindburgh state park where we had a picnic and explored a bit. after a stop at DQ, we headed home.

we now had the whole weekend free. today, we headed to como zoo on the bikes. we went on some rides and como town, had some cotton candy, watched the animals, and rode the carousel. tonight - grilling and swimming in the backyard…and maybe flying a kite at the park. tomorrow, we’re going to bike downtown to go to the day by day cafe for breakfast, and then on to the science museum to see body worlds. so, while i’m sad we aren’t camping, the weekend has turned out just fine none the less.

We had a dinner guest tonight who’s visiting through here from London, cycling his way down the Mississippi river on a fixed-gear bike (1 gear, no coasting, fun!). His name is Kieron Yates, and is a correspondent on The Bike Show, a radio show on an experimental art radio station in London. I’ve been listening to the show by podcast for about a year now, and he mentioned on one of the shows that he was heading to America for a bike tour along the Mississippi, so i emailed that I was a listener, live on his tour route, and would be happy to meet up. The arrangements were loosely made by email, and once he was in town, he called and we set up a meeting.

I rode to meet him in Minneapolis after work (through slight rain showers) to ride along with him to home, and he was there early, getting his recording gear set up. We stuck mostly to bike paths and quieter streets, and we did a casual interview while riding talking a bit about the history of the area, the city sprawl (moreso than most of England), the terrain (longer, less steep hills than around London), and driver interaction (more polite here). We rode side-by-side, his microphone in one hand, me trying to stay close enough to talk while navigating.
It was dry when we got to our house, and chatted over dinner about cycling, music, food (he once owned a restaurant) and bike touring. After visiting some and helping him get some audio copied to CD to send back home, he rode off, assuring me that he could get back to the hostel with my starting directions and his local map. Hope he made it back! Very nice guy, hope he has a great tour.

Ella is 5! We had a very fun, very busy birthday weekend the past few days, with grandparents in town, a dinosaur birthday at the Science Museum, and a lovely picnic in the back yard. We were all a little worn out when it was done, but it was great to see everyone, and the birthday girl had a great time. We’re still working on the pictures, but they’re coming soon.

For the kid’s party, Ella had a few school friends, a few neighborhood friends, and her cousin Laurel attending. They did lots of cool activities like digging out things from rocks, making dino footprint casts, and designing their own fossil bed. The cake was good too! The cake at the picnic later that day was even better (homemade chocolate cake with chocolate satin frosting!), and we had enough food to feed 3 picnics.

For presents, she got lots of art supplies including face paints, a card-making kit and project beads, lots of books, some toys, and her first pair of roller skates. We got her a week of ballet camp and new leotard and dancing shoes, and a week of drama camp with some King Arthur books to match the theme of the camp, along with a new lunchbox to take along.

this weekend was supposed to be our big spring cleaning weekend. we did clean up a bit on the front porch and in the living room (even cleaning out under the sofa, which was NOT pretty, let me tell you). other than that, we completely ignored our household chores and went outside to PLAY!

on saturday, we actually had a big family ride planned for the morning. after the ride, on to a weekend full of cleaning, reorganizing, and purging. however, ella wasn’t really in the mood for biking. then i called our babysitter, mackenzie, to see if she could come over and play with the girls while bill and i went for a ride. she couldn’t come over until 5pm. so, we stayed around home for a little while and cleaned (porch, living room). then i got a message from peter saying he was going for a long run. ah ha! i biked over to his place, we ran almost 11 miles, then i biked home. we did a few more chores around the house, but then it was time to get mackenzie. once she was over, bill and i headed out for a ride. we were hoping to ride about 20 miles, but ended up doing 30 (what’s an extra 10 miles?). by the time we got home, it was time for bed. so much for cleaning!

today we got up early and went out for the family ride. we rode down to fort snelling state park - about a 10 mile ride away. ella rode her trail-a-bike the whole way there, but we thought she might end up riding in the burley on the way home. we had a picnic lunch, the girls played in the sand and at the playground.

the main goal was to be outside, but i had also made plans to meet some other crazy people in neoprene and go for a swim! i bought a wetsuit on clearance last fall and still hadn’t tested it out in the water. since i have my first outdoor tri in a month (yikes!) i thought i should get used to it and to swimming in cold water! my high school friend emily was testing out a scuba wetsuit, and a fellow tri-geek, roger, also came along. roger and i swam almost a mile. the water was not that cold, really, which was surprising. the amount of weeds, algae, and other strange green matter was. i’m not too squimish about weeds, but some of it was like swimming through thick goobers and the rest was like trying to swim through a soggy green afgan blanket. at one point i had to stop and stand and lift up the weeds so i could get through. no, i’m not exaggerating. roger can back me up on this (he came out of the water with green slime stuck to his beard…so yes, it really was that bad). i saw a few big fish, which i thought was pretty cool. anyway, it was still nice to swim outside instead of in a pool, even with all the nasty weeds. and - ta da! - the wetsuit worked great. it felt a bit snug at first, especially around my neck (i hate anything against my neck), but it loosened up once i was in the water.

we had a very nice ride back home. 20 miles round trip, and ella rode the trail-a-bike the whole time! this the farthest she’s biked in one day, EVER! very very very proud of her. the kids played at the beach and at the playground while we swam, and bill and kirk (emily’s fiance and my brother andrew’s good good friend) talked about bikes (kirk being another rivendell bike person). we had a nice picnic and also stopped at izzy’s ice cream with kirk and emily on the ride home (they also biked to the park). overall, it was a great way to spend our day!

it is predicted that this week will be a rainy one, so no doubt we will be stuck indoors cleaning out closets, puttig away winter clothes, mopping floors, washing windows, and all that other fun stuff. glad we were outside when it was beautiful out.

“ginkawah” = drink of water

“wa” = yes
“chahtlick” = chocolate
Fiona has been getting increasingly articulate, and last night she said ‘water’, clear as can be. Some of these Very Cute sayings of hers are disappearing fast, so i thought i’d better write some of them down before we forgot them entirely.