Cousins...

My niece Lilly

A beautiful photo of my new cousin Ellie

Ellie's brother Ian & Mommy Lisa

My Folks and World Domination with a Pawn

My mom and dad came to visit Sunday evening. They made it in time for our cook-out with our new small group from church. Monday we took Atticus to Choo Choo Bob's Train Shop over in St.Paul. We'd never been but our friends the Millers and Rodriquez' had talked about how fun it was. Atticus was a little young for it but ended up having much more fun than I had anticipated. Grandma and Grandpa bought him a neat Melissa&Doug wooden train that's also a block puzzle. He's been playing with it all day (-- even after Grandma and Grandpa left this morning). Monday afternoon my mom and I went to Mall of America for her to use her birthday J.Jill gift card. She found a very pretty sweater and skirt. That night after dinner all together, just Brad and I went over to 'our' coffee house and talked and played some chess. Amazing of amazing things I beat Brad at chess -- for the first time ever. I must downplay this unthinkable defeat by admitting that Brad who has been my chess teacher was teaching me all through this game. I will here defer to Brad to explain what happened:

Brad: "I overlooked her pawn. I taught her how people frequently overlook pawns in the endgame, and she exploited this to my deep humiliation. Everyone at Anodyne was laughing at me. Then I looked down and saw I wasn't wearing any pants. I opened my mouth to say something and all my teeth fell out. I may never play chess again. The end."

Hm. Interesting explanation, Bradley.

So this morning my folks left by 9 am because my mom had work this afternoon. I enjoyed their visit so much -- Atticus and I ended up spending the entire afternoon at the Como Zoo because I was sad about my family leaving. We had a lovely blustery cool day at a nearly empty zoo.

Minnesota State Fair

On Monday we visited the Minnesota State Fair with Brad's Folks.

Brad & Atticus on the Giant Slide

For Atticus, the trucks, tractors, & ATVs were the best part of our day.

All of us loved the Little Hands Farm Exhibit. Atticus wasn't sure at first, but as we walked through he got more and more into it.

A wooly sheep

Planting seeds with Grandma Nancy

Feeding the chickens & Gathering eggs

Milking a cow. Water came out of the udders when you squeezed them right. It was a really cool fake cow. I was impressed.

They had these neat wooden trees where the kids could "pick" apples. I think I should build one, but if I never get to it, I am so happy they exist. I kept thinking of that kids' game, Hi-Ho Cherrio -- the one with the plastic trees and little plastic hooked apples. Remember?

Atticus tried to eating the fake peppers and kept throwing them on the ground and trying another one out of the basket. Maybe he thought one of them would be real.

Inside the big barn there were live insects and a wall full of insect collections.

Grandpa Tom

Grandpa Tom & Grandma Nancy