We came across this display at a local St. Paul school a few weeks ago. It gave me hope. Kudos to the courageous parents, teachers, and administrators who resist the pressure to conflate standardized test scores with educational achievement.
Including the top shelf, out of the frame above, I counted 46 houses. The school has 570 students in grades 4-8 this year, suggesting that about 8% of the students opted out.
A small step?
Two generations of amazing mamas with their latest handiwork.
A lovely, warm, Saturday evening, clouds looming with impending rain, the chimes of the ice cream truck arrived at the perfect moment.
(Griffin notes that this wasn’t really the first ice cream truck of 2014; it was the first one where we bought ice cream. )
When Sarah told Griffin that she was eating a “Turtle Bar,” he frowned and asked,
“Is there really a turtle in there??”
(He’s convinced that we are bent on the destruction of turtles; see our recent post about Spicy Turtle Blood.)
An annual tradition, we joined friends near Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis for the 40th annual May Day Parade. It’s an incredible production every year. The pictures below illustrate some of the contrasts and creativity that characterize the parade. Click to view a larger slideshow.
It’s been a rather extended celebration this year. We began on Griffin’s actual birthday, April 8, with cinnamon rolls for breakfast and family presents at dinner. Then he was honored at both of his preschools.
Then Sarah baked a spectacular cake for his party on Saturday, but the kids both woke up with pink eye and we had to cancel the party! (Noooooo! But we ate the cake, which made it ok.) We rescheduled the party for the following weekend and this time everything worked out, including an even more magnificent cake. (Six layer rainbow cake with all natural ingredients? No problem.) And grandma and grandpa presented a new bike. Woohoo!
Click on the pics for larger versions.
What has Griffin learned? Birthdays last for three weeks and include numerous celebrations, multiple cakes, magic bunnies that hide eggs, lots of chocolate, and special trips to the ice cream shop (those last tidbits were for Easter and my birthday, but the distinctions may not mean much to him). We’re setting ourselves up for success here. 🙂
Before a lovely dinner at Everest on Grand, Maggie found a play structure that was just her size.
Dear Raven,
A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from you. Inside the letter was Flat Raven! We took pictures of Flat Raven. It was so fun. We can’t wait to share them with you.
The first place we went with you was Hidden Falls Park on the east bank of the Mississippi River. It’s so fun because the roots of the trees are pulled up and we can climb in them and slide down them sometimes. We even hide in them while playing hide-and-seek. Did you know that the Mississippi River starts in Minnesota? It starts at a place called Lake Itasca, but it goes by not far from our house. We ride our bikes to the river sometimes.
Next we went to play with Richard, a friend of mine. We played at his preschool which is very close to my preschool, the Dodge Nature Center. Both schools have animals and lots of nature. We play outside a lot. We played a game called Grumpy Old Troll which is the same as Tag.
After we got home, we decided to walk to a Thai restaurant for dinner. This Thai restaurant is on a street called Grand Avenue not far from our house, just like the Thai restaurant we used to eat at with you in Oakland on Grand Avenue! On our way to the restaurant we found a cool purple chair beside someone’s house. My favorite Thai food is Pad Si Yew. It has big brown wide noodles. It’s so yummy!
On Thursday night we had a really big snow storm. Some places got more than a foot of snow, but we only got about six inches. Whenever it snows, we like to sled to my preschool. We took you along for a ride in Maggie’s sled. We know that it doesn’t snow very much where you live, so we thought you would enjoy this fun part of winter.
Love,
Griffin
Clearing out a backlog of winter photos. Click for larger versions.
