Okra is slimy

Disclaimer:  you probably shouldn't read this post before eating.  That's probably a good rule of thumb for my whole blog, actually.  Recently I bought a new veggie to try out.  Maybe I'm sheltered, but I had no experience with okra before today.  Turns out it emits some kind of snotty substance as it cooks.  We all managed to choke some down somehow.  It doesn't have a strong or offensive flavor per se, but it gets negative points for presentation.  Poor Nicky sat at the table the longest.  His attempt to eat one stinking piece provided some good video footage.

This is not my photo of okra

It reminded me of the one time my mom decided to make split pea soup when I was a kid.  Chris and I came to the table and thought it was some bizarre joke.  It was not.

"I mean, if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something!"

That was one heck of a gorgeous fall weekend.  Snapped a photo of this wheelbarrow my multi-talented hubby made me this summer.  Now if we can lay our hands on a giant and a holocaust cloak, we're all set to storm the castle.  If we can find a castle to storm.  Maybe Nate can build me one, after he finishes the wooden bench he's making for the entryway.

Blogger doesn't like my use of multi-talented.  It suggests mulch-talented, mufti-talented (what the sam hill are those?), and multifaceted.  Removing the hyphen or space doesn't help.  Strange.  After computers take over the world it'll be fun to hear them talk to each other.  If they haven't done away with us organic critters, that is.

Zach's 5!

The baby in the family turned the big cinco last week.  He's officially past toddlerdom and into big boyville.  I'd get wistful, but having older kids has it's perks.  No diapers or mushy baby food or tantrums in the toy aisle. 

practice for the jumbotron

Two middle schoolers!

Tuesday was the first day of school.  This year's Thing that makes Nate and I feel old is having two kids in middle school, 8th & 6th grades respectively.  Eesh.  First day jitters made Michael and Adrienne robotically follow my command to put their arms around each other for this photo.  Nothing I say can make Michael smile naturally on command, though.

Nicky's in 3rd grade and is the only one in elementary school this year.

 

One more year of preschool for Zach, since he turns 5 later this month.  He goes Weds. & Fri.

We've been to a handful of open houses and parent teacher nights and what not.  I like our district.  They make no bones about enforcing a dress code at the middle school.  One of Michael's teachers told everyone that no spaghetti string tank tops or low cut tops are allowed for girls, and that boys need to keep their pants up, because "we don't get paid enough to see your underpants."   Heh.

A's 11th

And to squeeze the boys in here...funky foot tan lines!

1st 5K!

Along with lots of other self loathing folks, I ran in the MN Zoo 5K this morning.  Well, "ran" is misleading...but I jogged it all and was happy with my time.  Never did one before, and was crazy anxious about it all.  When I woke up at 2 a.m. I couldn't get back to sleep.  Glad it's over, and glad I pushed myself.  I'd like to thank Michael for letting me use his iPod, Adrienne for the earbuds, and my left foot for forgiving me so quickly after I made a doofus of myself twisting it in a parking lot last Saturday.

I did not win this bling.  It's Zach's t-ball trophy, which was for participation, so I borrowed it.  Anyway, it's August 25th, and now that the 5K craziness is done we're chilling out and celebrating Adrienne's 11th birthday.  11?  How did that happen?

tuckered out

Funny how everybody's cuter when sleeping.  I know there's snoring and drooling, which aren't too attractive, but Felix hardly ever does either.

aforementioned stay-cation

Some highlights of the stay-cation week!  Exciting.

The Friday preceding, we went to a Twins game with Papa Duane.  They actually won, and afterward there were fireworks.  Nate and Zach disappeared for a while to go exploring.

Did you know Minneapolis was, like, the milling capital of the world for a while?  It does not get cooler than that.  We went to the Mill City Museum on Monday.

Here we are inside.  I guess you can't impress us with a giant wooden grain of wheat.

Wednesday was Walker Art Center day, 'cuz one of the kids wanted to see the big cherry on a spoon thing in the sculpture garden.  Most of the modern art in the museum was just plain whackadoo freaky.  We posed modernly by the spoon art.

Thursday was Get a New AC day, plus Nate's b-day (yay!)...

...and Zach's last day of t-ball for the summer.  Everyone got trophies!

And finally, on Friday we went to Fort Snelling, where the kids learned how to march like the soldiers at the fort did in 1827.

It wasn't all big fun adventures.  Spending half a day on Thursday waiting for the AC guy to come and the rest of it waiting for him to install it and then pony up the cash they wanted wasn't enjoyable.  Neither was my chat with the sales guy for some roofing/siding company.  'Cuz he didn't seem to know that when the homeowner hides behind the bookshelf it means Go Away.  I didn't mean to talk to him, but after he rang the doorbell, he knocked super loud and urgent-like.  Shoot.  You see, when I ran for cover after hearing the ding-dong (or maybe ours dings with no dong?  like ding ding?  gosh I can't recall) I thought I saw a clipboard in his hands.  Sales dude!  I felt confirmed in my choice to hide.  But that follow-up loud knock made me doubt myself.  I thought maybe it really was a neighbor informing me that our house was aflame or whatever.  But I shouldn't have doubted myself.  He was odd straight off and asked me if the USA got any more medals today 'cuz he had seen that the Olympics was on inside.  Hey sicko, don't start off a sales call by admitting you snooped through the window.  So I sent Peeping Tom packing, likely to frighten some other poor homeowner with his obnoxious mega ding dong and Big Knocks.  Hmmf.

Yesterday we went out for supper with my family to celebrate Nate & my dad's b-days and to give a send off to dad and my big bro Andrew, who are flying to Finland this evening for a 10 day exploration of the fatherland.  Pretty cool, and something my dad has wanted to do for a long time.  They're even gonna stay with some distant cousins for around half the time there.

alligator pond

When I was young my little bro and I would jump from couch to chair to table and such, because if you touched the floor the alligators would get you.  I've been wondering if they'll make that an Olympic sport.  During prime time NBC airs the 'normal' event footage, but the daytime coverage has been kinda weird.  If table tennis is an olympic sport, then something like jump roping should be, too.  Maybe on an obstacle course with alligators.

We watched most of the gymnastics.  It was fun to see team USA win gold, but I would have been okay with that poor heartbroken Russian girl winning individual gold.  I think the Russians' movements generally flowed more smoothly.  Less staccato than the American kids. 

Nate is off this week.  We're busy stay-cationing.  No vacay this year, mostly due to all the economy stimulating we've been doing this summer.  For Nate's b-day yesterday we got a new AC.  The previous fix-ups didn't do the trick.  So, we've been checking out some cool local stuff.  Like museums and junk.  Go team twin cities!