Sarah rocked her first triathlon! She’s been training up for the past few months for the Minneapolis YWCA Women’s Triathlon. The event took place this morning — a blazing hot one — by Lake Nokomis. The whole family (including Jeff and Pam) was there cheering her on from start to finish. As Sarah posted on Facebook earlier:
It still hasn’t totally sunk in that I just completed my first triathlon, but I did! 500 yard swim, 15.5 mile bike, 3.1 mile run, finished in 1 hour, 41 mins and 31 secs. I am super happy with my time, and so thankful for this body of mine. Also thankful for my friend, Keely @keschallock who I got to finish with unexpectedly, and @noquitfitoutdoorfitness who have sparked a love for outdoor fitness and have been immensely supportive and positive through all my training! What an amazing event!
I can’t remember if we’ve ever posted about this idea before, but “Yes Day” is a special day where we let one of the children come up with the agenda. Our response to any proposal, within reasonable logistical and budgetary parameters, will be an enthusiastic “Yes!” It’s one way that we try to mix things up a bit, give the kids more agency, and avoid surrounding a fun event with adult-oriented errands (“Yes! Like I said, we’re going to the zoo after we get the groceries, mail grandpa’s package, and water Penelope’s plants!”). Griffin has enjoyed a couple of these over the past few years. Now that Maggie is a big six, she is entitled to her first one. She’s been looking forward to for months (since her birthday… or maybe since her prior birthday).
This summer, it was my turn with Maggie while Sarah will be taking Griffin on his special day next week. Maggie considered many possibilities over the past weeks: going to the pool, going out to eat, seeing a movie, playing games, etc. She finally settled on two activities: shopping and a water park.
The shopping trip was all about finding an emoji pillow that she worships. Not just any emoji: a poop emoji.
Why is this Maggie’s top desire in the world? Who can say?
In preparation for our quest, I did some research. It looked like Walmart was going to be our best bet. I have never actually shopped at a Walmart in the Twin Cities before, so we located one near our next destination and headed out after a delicious waffle breakfast.
Alas, Walmart failed us! There were no poop emoji pillows. Indeed, they didn’t have any emoji pillows at all. A sales rep said that they used to have them, but plush disney pillows have replaced them. Our inquiry, however, produced my favorite response from a retailer in a long time. After I indicated that we were specifically searching for a poop emoji, the young rep turned to Maggie and said, deadpan, “What d’ya want a crappy pillow for?”
Maggie and I consulted. We could either scour the Twin Cities for the pillow, possibly missing out on the water park, or we could try to order it online later. Maggie decided that the water park was the top priority. Phew!
Not far from the Walmart in Eagan is Cascade Bay, a modest sized waterpark with a large shallow pool, a smaller deep pool, a bunch of slides, a lazy river, and a miniature golf course. One advantage: Maggie was over the height limit so she could try any of the slides. The last time we came, in 2014, Maggie was only allowed on the mini-slide in the zero entry pool (see our post from that visit).
Cascade Bayrest breaknutritious meal
We were there pretty much from when it opened until dinnertime. I was exhausted by the end of it, but glad to have had so much focused fun with Maggie. As for Maggie, she didn’t seem tired at all, but once we got in the car, she fell promptly to sleep.
After returning home, Sarah helped Maggie order her pillow. It has gotten much love, already.
Earlier this week, Griffin and Maggie created a four-level dungeon on my dry erase hex tiles. They were so excited about it that they wanted me to play in it, so Griffin volunteered to be the game master. It was his first time running a game and his first original adventure. When I asked what it was called, he replied, “The Dungeon of Doom.”
It was remarkably fun playing this game with the kids. Griffin was creative and clever, and I found myself not just playing with my children, but getting into the game. See below for a few pictures of the wild map. Beneath the pictures are some highlights from the session, written mostly for other tabletop gamers.
The Dungeon Master
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level Four
Gaming Highlights
In one of our first encounters, we needed to use serious tactics just to survive. Ten enemy soldiers nearly surrounded us, but we were able to retreat into a narrow passageway where we could defend ourselves more easily. The passage was filled with water, though, which slowed everybody down and made for treacherous footing. As we continued retreating, we eventually discovered a trap behind us (some sort of “laser-like” forcefield) which made us hold our ground, duking it out in the muck.
There were numerous traps, illusions, and original magic items. A favorite item of mine was the “rock of heating” that becomes hot enough to start fires if it is in contact with organic matter. If it touches metal, however, it instantly cools into an inert, black rock. We’re currently using a helmet from one of our foes to keep it safely cool.
The dungeon included some “realistic” touches, like beds for the soldiers and barrels of preserved food (the soldiers lived on a balanced diet of “grain, meat, and vegetables.”
Griffin responded creatively to our ideas and questions. For example, we used the barrel of meat to lure a flesh-dissolving-slime monster closer to the lava pit for immolation.
Griffin was on top of the logistics, too, making sure that Maggie (playing an archer/scout named “Moon”) marked off her arrows every time she fired one.
We were playing theDungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (powered by GURPS) which is more mathematically complex than straight Dungeons and Dragons. Griffin is completely on top of the math, easily managing damage resistance, injury types, armor divisors on bodkin point arrows, damage thresholds, negative hit points, and other fiddly bits. He also has a good grasp of the odds on a 3d6 bell curve.
Big transitions are afoot. Today is the last day of school for Griffin and Maggie at Cornerstone, and it is Andrew’s last work day at SPA. Not only are we all transitioning into summer mode, but Griffin and Maggie will be moving into new classrooms with new teachers next year. While this sounds entirely normal to those of us who attended regular schools, in the Montessori model, students work with the same teacher for three years.
Griffin has been in the same classroom since first grade, beginning as a neophyte being mentored by older students and ending, this year, as one of the third-grade leaders. Although Maggie first enrolled this year as a kindergartner, she was part of the top cohort in her classroom, working with younger pre-k students. In the fall, both of them, as fourth- and first-graders, will be entering a new world where they will grow for the next three years.
Maggie has been very excited about the transition, eagerly looking forward to her “Fly Up!” ceremony and the dance her class has been practicing. Griffin has more mixed feelings, leading to some conversations about the term “bittersweet.” He’s excited to continue learning and doing new work (in Montessori parlance), but he loved his teacher and will miss his many younger friends that he’s leaving behind.
The bus stop crew.
Maggie with her mentor at the “Fly Up!” ceremony.
Maggie with her mentor at the “Fly Up!” ceremony.
Maggie with her mentor at the “Fly Up!” ceremony.
No transition for this guy, but he celebrated at dinner.
In Griffin’s classroom, crazy hair day coincided with their celebration of the Indian festival of Holi, “The Festival of Colors,” which involved running through clouds of colored powders. The last picture, above, shows Griffin after the festival.
Griffin and Maggie fondly recalled their joint birthday party in 2016 and decided to merge their parties again this year. Because we all love having parties outside, the endless winter of 2018 stymied our attempts to schedule it between their birthdays. We settled on the final weekend of the month, but even then our first two choices of parks weren’t open yet. We eventually settled on the Como playground near the Como Town mini-amusement park.
After all the weather hassles, the day was gorgeous. Breezy and warm in the sun and cool in the shade—perfect weather for a few hours rampaging around a playground. Sarah made two batches of cupcakes: Griffin had red velvet with cream cheese frosting; Maggie had vanilla with blue frosting. Griffin and Maggie (and Oliver, too) were exhausted and happy at the end of the festivities.
We weren’t trying to photograph the event, but I captured a few shots on my phone:
It landed on a Saturday this year so we got to do things up a bit more than usual. Highlights of the day included:
Sarah’s parents drove up for the day so that Sarah and I could go out without hiring a babysitter.
A date with Sarah at Can Can Wonderland, featuring miniature golf, hipster food, and a sense of relief that we didn’t have a herd of children to manage.
The Black Panther — my second viewing, but I really wanted Sarah to see it too so that we could talk about it. It was just as good the second time.
Temperatures rising above 60° for the first time since November.
Digging out the grill and firing it up for some delicious items Sarah picked out at the St. Paul Meat Shop.
We haven’t been photo-documenting things as assiduously as we sometimes do, but I did snap this shot of Sarah standing over the crack of doom at Can Can:
We’re sure getting tired of winter around here. Turns out the April 4 snowfall was nothing compared to what we received this weekend. The official Twin Cities total was 15.8 inches, the 12th largest snowstorm in Twin Cities history, and the largest on record for April.
Despite plenty of snow fatigue, I was struck once again on my walk to school this morning by how beautiful fresh fallen snow is. Everything was glittering and magical in the sunrise.
