This was the unprecedented silent before-dinner scene in my house tonight. I truly couldn’t believe it.

We had planned another jaunt to the cabin for the long weekend, but wind chill is -25° here in Saint Paul at nearly noon and quite a bit lower than that in Duluth. With the road to the cabin potentially blocked with snow (requiring some significant hiking with heavy gear and children) we decided to stay put. Had a fabulous breakfast at the Birchwood (pork belly steamed bun with egg and kimchi was outstanding) and then came home to make some Valentine’s Day cookies. Coming up this afternoon, Griffin has circus school, and then we’re going to the East Side Freedom Library to hear Claire O’Connor, one of the six Minnesota freedom riders, tell her story. Pretty good day!
On the way to the cabin, we stop at Mount Royal Market in Duluth. Sarah runs in to pick up a few jugs of water.
Maggie: “I don’t like it when Mama goes. I like it when Daddy goes.”
Griffin: “I think Maggie likes Mama better than she likes you, Daddy.”
Maggie: “Yeah!!!”
We had plans today to head downtown to see museums and monuments on the national mall, but it was a poor sleep night and a bunch of us were fighting colds, so we decided to stay closer to home. We walked down to Brookeway Drive, the street Dave and I lived on as kids in the ’70s. At the end of the cul-de-sac is a path up to the old railway tracks, now repaved as part of the Capital Crescent Trail. (I remember trains going by, and often put coins on the tracks for flattening.) The kids had a blast in and around the creek for a couple of hours, though I didn’t get the camera out for the epic meltdowns they had after one too many daring maneuvers led to cold, wet feet (and a butt, in Griffin’s case).
We spent Christmas in Bethesda with Grummy and Grandpa Stape, and all the Roy cousins. Fourteen people under one roof! Wonderful mayhem.
Griffin, at dinner last night:
“How do people actually get made?
Like how did the first people get made?”
This was not a question about reproduction—we’ve had a few conversations about that—but more of an ontological question about how humanity came into being in the first place.
Sarah gave a masterful overview of evolution and we looked at pictures on Wikipedia of various stages of human evolution. Before losing interest in the details, Griffin got far enough to state, “So, we’re related to fish.”
Sarah giving Griffin some cough syrup tonight:
“Come on honey. It’s not a fine scotch. Just drink it.”
Going on in our house right now:
<Maggie, pointing a stick-like object at Andrew>: “SHOOT YOU!!”
Me: “Honey, please don’t shoot your daddy.”
Griffin: “But Mom, she’s shooting love!”
Maggie: “No I’m not.”
Just told Griffin that friends are coming this weekend to play D&D and he got REALLY excited. Then he tried to “get” me as a goblin, so I cast a spell on him. Then he said, “well, I have 100 hit points and you have only 5, so I won.”
— Text message from Sarah this morningÂ