New car + weekend happenings

What a weekend. Saturday was very busy… because we FINALLY BOUGHT A CAR! Longtime readers might remember we have been trying to buy a Rav4 Prime (a plug in hybrid) for over 2 years. We were even working with a car broker and were on multiple waiting lists in multiple states to no avail. So this fall we gave up and decided to get a Rav4 hybrid. We could not bare to go through another Minnesota winter without 4WD. So on Saturday morning, we sold my 2015 Camry to Carvana. It was SO EASY - the process once the Carvana guy arrived took 6 minutes! Phil did all the paperwork online which seemed pretty easy. I paid $18k for my brand new Camry in 2015 and we sold it for $15k!! I lucked out and bought my car when there were lots of cars on the lot so paid below MSRP. This is clearly a different car buying environment. Our car only had about 45k miles since we don’t drive all that much so that is part of why the value stayed high, I’m sure. But it’s pretty crazy to think that we got $3k less than the new car purchase price 8 years later! Had we sold it to the dealership, we would have gotten about $3k less so it was worth it to work with Carvana.

The boys were entertained by the towing process!

That afternoon I dropped Phil off at the dealership so he could buy our Rav4 hybrid. We looked it over/Phil did a test drive since we had never seen one or test drove one before and then I took the boys to the zoo for the last hour before it closed while he handled the buying process. That’s the perk of having a membership - you can swing by for an hour. We saw the penguins, monkeys, the Minnesota Trail and the aquarium. We mostly stuck to the indoor exhibits since it was 32 degrees outside! Leaving was not pleasant, though… 

 

Paul has the wingspan of a peregrine falcon; Taco has the wingspan of a pileated woodpecker; I have the wingspan of a Canadian goose.

What a day, though. Buying and selling a car from 2 different companies. Hats off to Phil for dealing with every single aspect of the buying and selling process. He got bids for our Camry, talked to several dealerships, worked with the car broker (who ended up being terrible at his job but refunded the $300 retainer we paid him), dealt with the dealership, etc. 

Our shiny new car - hopefully worth the wait!

Other weekend happenings:

- We were supposed to attend and co-host a pumpkin carving party on Saturday but we had to cancel as one of the host’s kids was sick. We will push it out a few weeks and host a fall party sans pumpkin carving. It was sad but for the best as our family is still kind of limping along. Phil is still pretty worn out from influenza and I’m nursing a pesky cough. Plus I had traveled for work Wed-Fri so overall we just felt tired and worn out. I also managed to hurt my lower back last Sunday when I pushed Taco in the stroller for an hour plus. Apparently my body isn’t used to pushing 50+ lbs of weight and wow has it been protesting. So we carved our pumpkin on Saturday night. I cleaned out the pumpkin which is something I am good at and oddly enjoy. Phil did the carving. Can you guess what we carved? 

- No runs for me between my cough and sore lower back. Instead I wore for a chilly walk (28F) on Sunday am.

The neighborhood geese are ready for Halloween!

- We went to a Halloween party at my former neighbor’s after nap on Sunday. We were kind of late joiners but the boys had fun and I enjoyed catching up with my friend. Phil took our cat back to his mom and worked on some projects for her so missed out on the fun.

The boys in their costumes earlier in the weekend. Definitely going to need winter coats over their costumes for Halloween since the high that day is 35F.

All in all, a good and productive weekend but I am worn out. I decided to make a clinic appointment for Tuesday to have my cough looked at. I’ve had it for 10 days so am not worried about passing it along to others - I wouldn’t be out and about if I was, although I did mask on the plane out of respect for my seatmates. I just wonder if I have developed bronchitis and maybe need some steroids or something to kick it. I’m going to try to snag an office when I am at work this week so others don’t have to listen to me cough (I work in an open air environment without many cube walls, etc).

How was your weekend? Did you carve pumpkins? Can you guess what we (by we I mean Phil) carved in ours? 

Weekend Happenings + The Illness Train

The weekend got off to a rough start but Paul rallied quickly thanks to the wonder that is antibiotics. Here are the high/lowlights. 

- Friday was rough. Paul tested positive for strep and influenza A at CVS minute clinic. But they could only prescribe oral meds and Paul will not take oral meds… Luckily I was able to snag an afternoon clinic appointment so he could get a penicillin shot. Of course by that time of day, clinics are often not running on time. So we waited for the provider to review the results/look him over and then we waited for the nurse to give him the shot and then we had to wait for 20 minutes after the shot. So all told, we were gone for 3.5 hours between the CVS and clinic appointments. But by Saturday morning he was feeling great! It’s amazing how fast a penicillin shot takes effect! 

- I was in dire need of some fresh air so I took Taco for a stroller walk after dinner on Friday. The weather was so nice and the fall views were gorgeous! 

So relieved our boy is bright-eyed and happy again! And he smiled for a photo for a change!

- I cut my run short and only ran 3 miles on Saturday since I was feeling tired and worn out. The views on my run were stunning. Pictures don’t do it justice!

- I went through the 2nd half of the 6 bags of hand-me-downs from a friend while the boys watched a show. Here’s how it started…

And here’s how it ended. The folded pile in the back went to another family. The sorted folded piles are things we will keep. We have benefited from so many hand-me-downs over the years! We’ve tried to pay it forward and pass along to others! 

- Paul had been fever free for over 24 hours and was feeling great so we were able to go to the pumpkin event at the zoo. I only felt comfortable doing this since it was an outdoor event. The carvings were amazing! This year the theme was the months of the year with carvings featuring animals and events of the year. There are 5,000 carved pumpkins!

One of the September pumpkins. The Viking should be crying because of how awful our season has been.

One of the October pumpkins

- Phil got taken down by the illnesses in our house on Saturday night, so instead of a run I took Taco on a LONG stroller walk on Sunday morning. Phil tested positive for influenza A so there was lots of solo parenting on Sunday since he felt like absolute crap. 

Beautiful fall view!

More leaf throwing at the creek

- We went to a park for 1.5 hours after nap since it was gorgeous - maybe the last really really nice weekend day? Highs are in the 30s next weekend.

They loved these swings that faced each other!

The flu has taken 3/4 of our house down, although the boys seemed less bothered by it since they felt great once they got antibiotics for strep. Can I avoid the illness train? I am SO GLAD I got my flu vaccine 2+ weeks ago. I only got it so early because I wanted the Covid booster so figured I would get them both. If you haven’t gotten your flu vaccine, I highly recommend getting it! Fingers crossed that it continues to protect me from the flu!! I’ve never actually had influenza and want to keep that record intact. 

How was your weekend? Have you gotten your flu shot?

Five Things Friday

We are really limping to the finish line of the week in our house. Will was home 4 days this week (as I type this, I am hopeful he’s back at daycare on Friday) and then Paul was struck with a high fever last night. Here’s 5 things on my mind today. 

1. I’m glad I took Taco to the doctor on Monday. He had a 103 fever but he hadn’t even been sick for 24 hours so it was a little bit aggressive to take him in so fast. But his in-clinic strep test case back positive. And then the next day, his influenza A test came back positive. Strep AND influenza A. Can you believe it? No wonder he was so miserable. He is usually a champ at taking meds but it is a 2-person job to be get him to take the antibiotics for strep throat. It must taste awful. I so wish he could have had the penicillin shot but he’s terribly allergic to that drug. I went to CVS minute clinic on Tuesday afternoon to make sure I didn’t have strep or influenza A. Both were negative thank goodness. It was a very slick process - the flu and strep tests took 6 minutes!! So that is where I am taking Paul today. 

Taco got star treatment at the doctor - a pedialyte popsicle!

2. Our cat is back for a visit! Longtime readers know we got a cat in 2015. She went to stay with my MIL as her ‘emotional support animal’ during the pandemic. And we’ve since come to accept that she is happier there. We got her before we had kids and she is really NOT into kids. She’s back for a week or two as she had a vet appointment this week. She’s happy to be in Phil’s company and puts up with our kids. They so badly want to be friends with her but the feeling is not mutual. She did briefly sit on my lap when taco was sitting next to me which thrilled him! But it was short lived. 

Proof that she got close to Taco

Meet Oscar - we were told she was a boy when we got her, hence the male name. Soon after we found out she was a female!

3. Paul had his first karate class and got his white belt at the end of class. He was so excited!

4. I listened to a very inspiring episode of the ‘People I (Mostly) Admire’ podcast. The host, Steve Levitt, interviewed a Yale law school grad that spent 8 years in prison when he was a teen/in his early 20s. Now he runs a non-profit called Freedom Reads whose mission is to put books in prisons. I know lots of you are avid readers so I highly recommend checking the episode out!

5. We are supposed to have our first Halloween event of the season this weekend. Paul and I were planning to go to a pumpkin event at the zoo. We went last year and it was AMAZING! But now those plans are very up in the air with his fever. :( 

How are you doing? I hope you’ve had a better week than us! 

Maniac drivers + airport stress + weekend things

Well I did not make it to Ann Patchett’s bookstore on Friday. I barely made it to the airport on time actually. My meeting went a bit long so I knew a stop at the bookstore wouldn’t happen but then there was an accident about 20 miles from the airport and I sat at a complete stand still for over 30 minutes and got to the airport 50 minutes late. Prior to this accident I had been shaking my head over how many maniacs there are on the roads these days. The passing lane was going about 82-84 mph (speed limit was 70) and there was so little space between cars. Post-pandemic, we have noticed this trend of insane driving. Often on our way to work, we will see cars weaving through traffic at a super high speeds, like they are playing grand theft auto or something. The accident on Friday was a single car accident that had appeared to roll multiple times and was upside down. I hope the person/people in the car were ok. It did not look good.

Back to Friday. I got to the airport at 1:40. I checked my flight to see if maybe it was delayed and it had been moved AHEAD about 15 minutes!! This is the 2nd time this happened to me - the other time was when I was delayed getting to the airport in Chicago. Of course this never happens when I’m sitting at a gate for an hour+.

Proof a flight CAN be moved earlier. 

Luckily they had Clear (super expedited security process that is worth every penny) and security was a breeze so I had time to grab something to eat. I hadn’t eaten since 7: 7:30 am so I was shaking from low blood sugar. But all’s well that ends well - they didn’t board quite as early as expected so I didn’t end up being super pressed for time. But that is NOT how I like to travel! I’m team get to the airport early because there are worse problems to have than killing time at the airport. 

But the main point of this trip was the client meeting and I feel good about how it went. I wore my usual outfit - dressed all in black like the grim reaper with a statement necklace. 

Heels would look better but I am team flats. I never know how far I will have to walk so my Rothy’s are a trusty shoe for work travel - and life in general. I was glad I was wearing Rothy’s when I had to speed walk through the rental car garage to get to security! 

The rest of the weekend was mostly business as usual: library, gymnastics and swimming. Walks outside in chilly weather. 

Runs along the lake where I enjoyed amazing Halloween decorations. This is a multi-million dollar house since it’s on the lake. I imagine there is a paid employee who puts up these decorations! I fully enjoy their work every fall!

Halloween decorating goals. Mums and skeleton and pumpkins and more!

Taco refused to nap on Sunday and then was tired and clingy at the park party for Paul’s friend that afternoon. So tired he fell asleep in my arms… which made my mom spidey sense tingle because that is not typical for my park-loving little guy. 

I did savor this moment as my kids don’t sleep in my arms anymore. Sick babies are so sad but the snuggles are a silver lining. Yes he’s wearing a hat of mine since we were short a hat and needed something warm.

I let him snooze for a bit and then we left the party. I took his temp when we got home and it was 102.8F. Le sigh. He was so miserable and went to bed at 5:15. I was thanking my lucky stars that his Covid test was negative because I don’t know how we’d handle a covid isolation period with how busy Phil and I both are at work. 

Fingers crossed everyone else in our house stays healthy. 

How was your weekend? Are you an early at the airport person? Have you observed people driving like lunatics where you live? I’m going to guess this is not a problem in Canada! 

Five Things Friday

Hey hey! Happy Friday from Kentucky.. I got in late last night so will be in the state just over 12 hours. I might have been overly optimistic about fitting in the Parnassus Bookstore stop but I am still hoping I can fit that in before going to the airport. Fingers crossed! Here are 5 things on my mind today!

1. Paul did a trial Karate class thisbweek and loved it! My former/retired colleague was SUPER into Karate. He even mentioned karate in his work bio. He's a 3rd degree blackbelt and both his kids got their black belt which takes a HUGE commitment. He’s always been so positive about the sport so we asked Paul if he was interested in Karate and he was. We feel like Karate will be a good source of confidence for him. Paul is SUPER petite. Like Taco only weighs a few pounds less than him despite being almost 3 years younger... So I feel like Karate might be a good sport for him because it seems like maybe size doesn't matter? Another colleague has her black belt and her son does as well and she said the best part of Karate was that from all the sparring competitions, her son got used to "performing" and having all eyes on him so now getting up to give a speech or singing a solo is not intimidating. So bottom line, I feel like there are lots of benefits to be had from Karate. We will see how long he stays engaged/interested.

You can see a HUGE smile on Paul's face in this photo. He had a blast yelling and kicking/hitting. Maybe I should sign up for classes too as an outlet for stress. Ha.

2. I'm still riding the high of making what I feel was the best hiring decision. My new hire continues to exceed my expectations. He's taking things off my plate and he's just a breath of fresh air. I do really love my job but some things have worn me down in the last 6 months. Plus he's just an all around great person and fun to be around. When I was agonizing over the hiring decision, Phil told me to just think about who I would want to work with for the next X years - like can you see yourself getting a drink with this person and working closely for the next 5 years? That helped me get out of analysis paralysis because it was evident I would really enjoy working with this kid (he's 17 years younger than me so he does seem like a "kid" to me, albeit a kid who has his sh!t together). 

3. I think I might do a post at some point about my work travel as I feel like I can now say I travel quite a bit since I will do 14 work trips this year. Would that be interesting? I have packing down to a science now and I always travel with my teeny tiny carryon that I received as a HS graduation gift in 1999. I can even use this tiny carryon for a 3-night trip to California (3 nights is the max amount of time I am gone most of the time). I like quotidian posts like that but maybe you all would be like - boring, move on Lisa. 

4. On Wednesday, my boss told me that he wanted to talk with me later that day and planned a time to call me. This resulted in a crazy amount of anxiety on my part even though I know I am a great employee and don’t have anything to worry about. Some of the anxiety is due to the fact that I have generalized anxiety disorder (which I take a medication to manage). It's also due to having a horrible boss in a previous job. Longtime readers might remember when I worked at a job in 2009-2010 that I referred to as "the psych experiment." It was massive retailer based in Minneapolis that loves the color red and has a dog as its mascot. We all know who I am talking about, right? When I took the job, it turned out that the previous person in the role lied about how much they were working (they understated the number of hours they worked). Then when I took on the role, they added another big project to the job since I was a recent MBA grad. I refused to lie about how much I was working so as not to screw over the next person. But my boss then thought I was incompetent since I was working 60+ hours a week. We had these awful 1:1 meetings in the food court of said retailer. So he'd be giving me this really rough feedback and, embarrassingly, I would start crying. In public. In the food court of a retailer. I would have unexpected meetings with him and that set off a pattern of me forever having massive anxiety when unexpected meetings occur. Flash forward to Wednesday. The call was fine! He was checking in to see how my new hire is doing and checking in on my workload/how I am feeling. So NO BIG DEAL. When he asked if we could talk, I probably should have told him - hey, I have anxiety around unexpected meetings, can you just tell me if everything is ok? I have a good relationship with my boss so I think that would have been fine to do. But note-to-self as a manager and to other managers out there - DO NOT PLAN UNEXPECTED MEETINGS WITH DIRECT REPORTS. Maybe say "everything's fine but I want to talk about x."

5. On that note, I love the company I work for but dear God, they have done nothing to prepare me to be a manager. I had tons of support during the hiring process. I was in constant contact with the HR person that was recruiting for my role and I had so many conversations with her when we were looking through resumes, after my interviews and when I was deciding who to make an offer to. Then once we extended the offer they were like - kthanksbye, here's a pdf checklist of stuff to do when the new hire onboards. So I have started to listen to some of the episodes of the podcast, "Radical Candor" and they have been super helpful. No wonder there are so many terrible managers out there if no one is prepared to be a manager! Which is all so ODD because I feel like your relationship with your manager is a huge part of your happiness with your role. Maybe if companies were better at training managers/offering tips, turnover would be lower? 

Do you have/have you had good managers?

Looking Forward

As much as I try to live in the present, as a planner it’s hard not to always have my mind to the future! So I thought I’d talk about some of the fun things I have to look forward to in the last 3 months of the year!

This week I’m looking forward to (hopefully) visiting Ann Patchett’s bookstore in Nashville! I have to present to the foundation board of a university in southern Kentucky on Friday morning. I fly in and out of Nashville and I should be able to squeeze in a visit to Parnassas Books before my flight home on Friday afternoon! I’m a huge fan of Patchett and her bookstore is famous among book lovers. I can’t wait to see it with my own eyes. I rarely buy books but will treat myself to a few things on this trip! 

This month I’m looking forward to several Halloween-themed events! In 2 weeks, Paul and I will go to a pumpkin extravaganza event at the Minnesota Zoo. Then the last weekend of the month we have our 10th (!!!) annual pumpkin carving party with Phil’s college friends. Funnily we started this before most of us had kids! Now most have 2 kids so the size of the group has grown and changed. We even did it in 2020 although it was just us and another family whose kids went to the same daycare so were in our ‘bubble’. That same weekend we have a family Halloween party on Sunday at the home of my former neighbor/running partner. Admittedly I am not a huge Halloween person, like I don’t ever dress up, but I’ve always enjoyed pumpkin carving and I really love the holiday now that I have kids! 

In November I’m looking forward to going to Wild Kratts Live with Paul who is a super fan of the show! I’m also excited to run a 10k in our neighborhood before eating a big, delicious Thanksgiving Day meal at my brother’s in the metro area. I’m also taking a ‘shouldless day’ mid-month which is a day off when I only do things I WANT to do and nothing I feel I SHOULD do.

In December I’m looking forward to celebrating Taco’s 3rd birthday, taking the boys to The Grinch at the Children’s Theater, and all the holiday fun that comes with Christmas!! 

Your turn! Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to in the final quarter of the year?

Weekend Highs + Library Excitement

Our first October weekend is in the books. We had a family discussion about everyone’s favorite months. Paul’s is October because of Halloween, mine is September because it’s still warm but usually not super hot/humid, and Phil’s is June which surprised me! I thought he’d pick his birthday month, August, when it’s reliably hot. He’s fully team summer and I am team summer AND fall. We all agreed that February (my birthday month) is kind of the worst since winter gets very old by that point. Taco is too young to weigh in quite yet as he’s still learning the months of the year.

The weather was cool so this was a complete 180 from last weekend. We went from running the a/c last weekend to turning on the heat this weekend. Here are some highs from the weekend!

- On Friday, I got my Covid and flu shots. It’s was tricky to book my Covid shot. My first appt with CVS earlier in the week was canceled so I ended up booking with a clinic. I could indicate I am immune compromised (due to RA meds) so I think I may have been prioritized. I didn’t have any side effects as usual. I was tired on Saturday but was I tired from the shot or because Taco was up yelling for us at 5:45 or because I am a mom with young kids? It’s impossible to know. 

- I ran in deliciously cool weather on Saturday morning (48 at the start of my run) and then we went to the PTA event at Paul’s school. It was chilly so we left after 90 minutes since our hands were getting so cold. The boys enjoyed donuts and Paul saw several new friends from school! I think Paul might be an extrovert! 

- We didn’t get to the library in the morning so we went after quiet time. The boys made friends with another little girl and had fun playing with this gears toys! An anonymous commenter recommended ‘Trashy Town’ for truck-loving Taco so we picked that up plus ‘Smashy Town.’ He is a huge fan of both so thank you for the suggestion!

- But the most exciting part was that Paul got his first library card! He was so excited! And I am selfishly excited to have access to his Libby ebook holds. Ha! I use mine, Phil’s and now Paul’s so I have 45 total Libby holds. Some day he will want his holds but he’s quite a ways from reading ebooks so I will enjoy the windfall of holds while it lasts!

- I had another great run on Sunday morning with perfect fall weather. The fall colors are a bit muted this year, probably because of our drought, but it’s still pretty.

- Paul continues to make excellent progress at swimming lessons! I was especially impressed that he did so well for a substitute teacher! 

An unassisted back float!

- Taco took a nice extra long nap while we were at swimming lessons after refusing to nap the previous day. Every time he skips a nap I panic and think his naps are coming to an end! Please let that not be the case for another 6 months or so! After his nap we went to a park playdate with a friend from his old daycare. They played so well together so this will be the first of many playdates I think! 

How was your weekend? What is your favorite month? 

Comment Woes/3 Things Friday

Happy Friday! It's a chilly fall day here. We went from hot and steamy to chilly with no transition in between. I am hoping we'll warm back up a bit. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I prefer 50s to 80s in October but if I was dictating the weather, I'd ask for highers in the 60s/70s. But Minnesota really loves to keep us on our toes. Here are 3 things on my mind.

1. First things first. COMMENTING ON BLOGGER BLOGS FROM AN APPLE PHONE HAS BEEN AWFUL for months. I do most of my blog reading on my phone (and I also write most of my posts on my phone, too). But I cannot for the life of me comment on blogger blogs from my phone, even through Chrome, even with a google profile. I have researched solutions. Nothing. Works. This seems to be an apple phone issue. Maybe it's google's way to tempt people to switch to an Android but I'm #teamappleforlife. So I am trying a new Discus plug-in as a workaround for this issue. My other option is moving my blog over to Wordpress and thinking about that overwhelms me. So here's hoping Discus works. But just a heads up to all of you - the commenting form will look a bit different while I try this out!

2. Lately I've had some moment with Taco that makes me think - gosh he's kind of getting bigger/less toddlerish? Like last night when we played "My First Orchard Game" and he was totally cooperative and compliant (like no throwing of the game parts around like a young toddler might otherwise). Although Hi-Ho Cherrio was a bridge too far but I hate that never-ending game anyways so wasn't sad that he wasn't ready for it. Or this morning when he picked out his bib (which he wears by choice - I'd be happy to get rid of our bibs) and he said, "actually, I want the blue bib." Something about a toddler using the word actually kind of made me giggle. We are not out of the weeds of toddlerhood but I'm seeing some lights at the end of the tunnel. 

3. We have a nice weekend on deck. Tonight Phil and I will do our Q3 financial review. So exciting right? ;) But it's a good way to touch base on our investment balances and what we might want to do in the next quarter. We also discuss charitable contribution plans. On Saturday morning I will run and then the boys and I will go to a family event at Paul's school while Phil grocery shops. We might hit up the library that afternoon since it will be a bit chilly so that would be a good indoor activity. Sunday I'll run again, Paul has swimming in the afternoon and then we have a post-nap play date with Will's favorite classmate from his old daycare. 

Please let me know if this new comment form works or if it's just as bad as the previous blogger issue. What's on deck for you this weekend?

What We Read in September

September was a really great month of reading! I read 8 books and 5 of them were 4 or 5 stars! Here’s how it shaped up. 

Favorites:

You can’t go wrong with any of these! I’ll start with my favorites. All That is Mine I Carry With Me might have the worst title of all the books I’ve read this year but title aside, it’s amazing. It’s written by a former attorney which I have found make excellent authors. A wife goes missing and her husband is the suspected killer. This was a page turner for me. It will make my top books of 2023. Under the Skin is non-fiction that explores the marked difference in health outcomes for Black people in America. It’s also a contender for my best books if 2023 list. Go As a River is historical fiction set in Colorado. A tragic thing happens to the female protagonist and the books follows her life across the ensuing decades. This also may make my top books of 2023. I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn alongside a whole bunch of bloggers through a book club hosted by NGS. The book held up to my earlier reading although I don’t know how this is classified as middle grade/YA given the very hard and heavy subject matter. Lastly, Happiness Falls is about a father that goes missing while on a walk with his non-speaking autistic son. Overall I enjoyed this book although I felt it drug a bit and I could have done without one of the themes of the book. But it was still excellent. 

Pretty good:

These were excellent pallet cleansers amidst some of my more heavy reads. Both fall in the romance/rom-com category. 

Did not work for me:

I have no idea how this book ended up on my holds list. I think it must have been written up in Book Page which is the free monthly magazine I get at the library. The Guest Lecturer is about a female economist who is laying awake in her hotel room, thinking about the speech she will give the next day. She imagines John Maynard Keynes, a famous economist, is with her. I should have abandoned this book but it was short so I kept reading. Bad decision. 

The boys’ reads:

The Clean-Up Crew is a book that Taco picked out at the library to bring home. He is obsessed with garbage trucks so this was a hit with him. He keeps asking for it so we need to check it out again.

Charlotte and the Rock was the best picture book we checked out for Paul. It’s about a little girl who wants a pet. Her parents aren’t keen to have a pet so they get her a pet rock. But is it just a rock? Read on to find out. 

Did you read anything great in September? 

Hot hot hot

I should be saying something about being grateful for a world with Octobers a la Anne of Green Gables, but let me tell you - it is not October-like right now. It was a HOT weekend with temps in the 80s and high humidity. So hot and humid that the Twin Cities marathon was canceled on Sunday morning due to dangerous weather conditions! 

I’m trying not to complain but I am kind of done with hot weather (I know this is not hot for southerners, but it is abnormally hot for us at this time of year!). But it looks like things will normalize later this week and we’ll be back to highs in the 50-60s. Bring it on. 

- On Friday Paul had a playdate at a park with a daycare friend he hadn’t seen in over 3 months. When he saw him, he ran to him and gave him the biggest hug. It was so cute! I failed to take any pics as I was busy catching up with the mom. 

- I ran on Saturday morning. It felt like an August morning with 80% humidity. Blech. The boys and I changed things up and got donuts for them and a latte from Starbucks for me instead of the library. This was a mistake because donuts before gymnastics resulted in sugar-fueled squirrelly behavior. Lesson learned! 

- Phil went to help his friends who live on a lake take their dock and lifts out and brought Paul along. So I was on my own with Taco. We went to a park after nap and then got some ice cream before swinging by a college friend’s new house in the neighborhood!

So sweaty. Ice cream was necessary.

- We hit up a shaded park on Sunday morning and then I got out our pile of Halloween/Fall books after lunch! 

Happily reading/looking at books. The silence was gold.

Reading our favorite, Pumpkin Soup, with daddy!

- Swimming lessons go better every week. I had major doubts that the teacher could overcome Paul’s intense fear of the water. But she is a miracle worker and these lessons are worth every penny!

- We went to my retired colleauge’s house after nap/quiet time. It was so good to catch up with him and his wife. Their kids are juniors in high school and college so the young kid age is novel for them. The boys got lots of attention! It’s good to be around people that find the stages of our kids novel and adorable. That’s, um, not the general vibe around our house. 

How was your weekend? Was it unseasonably hot like it was here?