A bonfire and a kidless weekend

We had some friends over on Friday for our first bonfire and backyard movie night. The event wasn't nearly as blurry as this picture suggests. Our friend Nick the eagle scout kept the anemic wet-wood fire going until my parents came over with some dry wood that ignited a welcome blaze on such a chilly & drizzly night. We watched Monsters vs. Aliens on Nate's homemade screen while my parents went back home with all 4 of our monkeys. We had been planning a kid-free weekend for quite some time, and it was niiice.

We did a little Christmas shopping on Saturday afternoon and then went to the Ordway in St. Paul to see Little House on the Prairie: The Musical which was not as good as I hoped it would be. I'm not a big fan of musicals, what with the whole bursting into song every 25 seconds. I think this one might have worked better as a play imbued with Pa's fiddle music. Picture taking was forbidden inside the theater, so Nate snapped this one in a waiting area with the twinkly tree lights behind us. I know...I've spent an inordinate amount of time lately writing of Little House related things, but it just so happens the musical was in town again and we didn't go last year and I wished we had.

Sunday we attended the feast for the senses that is Latin High Mass at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul. More Christmas shopping for the kids in the afternoon, and then we went to see Bright Star, a movie about the poet John Keats and his relationship with a certain Fanny Brawne. Most people would see this as a chick flick, so I was a bit surprised that the only other people in the theater were two separate guys who wandered in after us.

The house is still in order as the kids have today off of school and won't return home till later this afternoon. My batteries are recharged and ready to tackle this week's laundry and homework and hopefully we can avoid the H1N1 bug that's wandering through the area.