Mazie
- I guess I should preface my food writing with a few caveats: I am a picky eater. I don’t (in general) like chain restaurants. I try to dine in places where they offer organic, local, and/or sustainable food choices. I wish more restaurants offered grass-fed beef!
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I still like riding horses.
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At this point in her life Mazie isn’t a huge fan of kid camp.
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Kids get really tired after a week of kid camp.
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Jamie likes to ride horses (even he was surprised). Jamie likes to trot on a horse (more surprised) and occasionally canter (super-duper surprised). Maril and Kent also enjoy riding horses.
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Being at a guest ranch is a lot like going to camp when I was a kid, except it costs more. It’s cool to be able to time-shift a few decades and relive kid moments.
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It’s fun to be a staff member at the Ranch, but there is lots of drama.
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I wish I would have worked at a ranch, or somewhere similar, when I was in college.
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I would like to repeat this experience each and every year.
[gallery] If you want to look at the full-size image, just click on a picture.
Larger Than Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Mo
Mazie’s new way to decide everything is eeny-meeny-miny-mo. What shirt to wear, who should put her to bed, which food should she eat first, the list goes on and on, and each item is put to the test with eeny-meeny. She reports at the end of each round of eeny-meeny, that “it” picked “x”. As if eeny-meeny were a sentient being that had an opinion and that opinion needed to be observed and followed. She rarely likes the conclusion that “it” comes to and this leads to another round of eeny-meeny. She has yet to figure out that if she starts eeny-meeny with the same hand each time, she will get the same result. So, this leads to another round of eeny-meeny, which leads to another round, and so on, until at some point she accidentally starts with the other hand and gets the answer she desires. If she already knows what option she wants, why does she insist on spending many precious minutes each day doing eeny-meeny? I am befuddled…
Larger Than An American Idol Dream
I’ve never been a Jennifer Lopez person. I know who she is, I don’t live under a rock, but I couldn’t tell you the name of any of her songs, if she’s married, single, dating or really anything about her. She’s pretty and she’s a singer/actress, that’s all I know. However, I am a fan of American Idol even though it shames me to admit it.
Ever since I saw the first show, I was hooked. I many times hate the performances, but watching each week gives me satisfaction. The ritual of every January starting with all of the hopefuls, culling them down to a group of 24, then 12 and then a winner is fun for me. I like a lot of the singers that they have on the show, but I’ve never liked a single song that any one of them have released. They talk on the show about being unique and having your own take and spin on a song, but when the music comes out after the show is over, it’s always the same. Over produced ick, or at least to my tender ears it sounds like over produced ick.
But, none of this is the point. The point of all of this is an introduction into why my daughter knows who Jennifer Lopez is. This is Mazie’s first year watching American Idol. She doesn’t really care about the show and spends most of her time playing while the show is on, but this is the first show we have watched as a “family” and I’m grooving on the idea.
The one thing Mazie does love about American Idol is Jennifer Lopez. From the first moment she saw the show, she has been captivated by her. She refers to her as Ms. Jennifer Lopez. It’s freaking cute and I can’t help but to like Jennifer Lopez myself. I’m never going to be a fan of her music, but as she is my daughter’s first celebrity “crush”, I heart Jennifer Lopez.
Mazie is also in the process of learning to read and write. She’s not had much interest in either activity, but in the last month or two, she’s started to see the light. She now writes phonetically and that’s another freaking cute thing. I’m sure everybody’s kid does it, but it’s my first exposure and I’m digging the experience.
All of this back story is finally going to pay off: Here is the picture that she drew of Jennifer Lopez with included name at the top. I don’t often say these words, but you can quote me…it’s precious!
Larger Than A Compliment
I’m not big on doling out compliments. If I give someone a compliment, it’s usually because they have done, said, worn, or whatever something so big and beauteous that I can’t keep my pleasant feelings to myself. I’m also not a person that talks about her kid in an overly positive way. In fact, many times it’s quite the opposite. I talk more about Mazie’s failings than her successes; it’s a Midwestern thing or at least that’s what I tell myself. Honking Mazie’s horn is like honking my horn and therefore it shouldn’t be done regularly. There is a fine line between proud and pompous and I am careful not to overstep.
All of the aforementioned is just the background for what I’m about to report…
My child, Mazie Kaye Thingelstad, has been the cutest, funniest, sweetest, most well-behaved kid for the last while. She has been a sheer pleasure to be around. Not all the time, all the place, after all she’s three. But, for the most part my child is in a stage of contentment that I find bewildering and lovely. She says funny kid stuff, she does funny kid stuff. She listens and does as she’s asked. She pees and poops in the toliet, she gets her own water out of the sink and climbs into the car by herself. Other than the endless three year old question of “why”(which I know is her just being inquisitive, but I still find annoying), she doesn’t do much that isn’t grand. I’m counting my lucky stars and I know my number will be up soon, but for now my Mazie is the rockin’est preschooler I know.
Winnipeg Wrap-Up
We spent last weekend at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. This was my fourth year and in some bizarre and strange way, this may have been my favorite festival. The weather was most unpleasant for almost half of the time, with one day of 50 degree, windy, rainy storms from morning till night, the mosquitos were out of control, it felt like we hardly heard any music and I was showerless from Thursday afternoon through Sunday evening. Despite all of this, I found myself sitting back and digging the experience.
I throughly enjoyed my first visit to the festival when we camped in the family campground, but the last two years were a bit lackluster for me. We took Mazie when she was one, stayed in a hotel and while it was really nice to shower each day, hoteling the festival lacks something. Last year, we camped, but in festival campgrounds (i.e. the party campground) because you can walk right from the campground into the festival and I foolishly thought that it might be fun to stay up late and be young again, but alas it wasn’t. This year we returned to the family campground, with family and friends in tow, and the the magic returned. Long live the Winnipeg Folk Festival!
Yum!
It struck me that while we were on our trip I spent a lot of time writing about restaurants and food. Here at home I also pay a lot of attention to restaurants and food and so it seemed only fair that I yap a little bit about some of my favorite places to dine here in the cities*. I am devoting this post to my number one, top dog, king of the jungle, favorite restaurant, Yum Kitchen and Bakery. It’s casual food, done right. The place is always hopping, but it’s not hard to find a table. It’s set up counter-style, where you order and they bring the food to you. Everything is good (except the burger), some things are really good, it’s affordable and the food is made from scratch. It’s the kind of place where most anyone can find something they like, including the kids. In fact, it’s Mazie’s favorite restaurant by a landslide. She can’t get enough of their macaroni and cheese. The place is frequented by little old ladies, hipsters, business types and lots of families. The only group that I’ve yet to spot is the little old man club. They are located on the verge of Minneapolis in St. Louis Park, so both suburbanites and city folk feel at home. If you’ve never checked the place out, give it a try and let me know what you think.
Here comes the bride
A quick shout out to the newlyweds, Kurt and Rosalin (Jamie’s mom/my mom-in-law). Happy wedding, happy marriage and happy Java. Thanks for a fun evening filled with good food, family, friends and a belly dancer. It was nice to see you all fancied up in your party clothes, gooey-eyed and in love. I hope you guys are off to a relaxing and fun-filled start…see you at the folk festival!
If you, the non-Rosalin/non-Kurt reader of this blog, missed the big celebration, here are a few pictures to help your mind’s eye recreate the magic! Click through if you wish to see the full image.
What I learned at the Ranch
Larger than a Canon 40D
Jamie wields a camera most of the time, most of the place and I’m often with a camera. Mazie decided the other day that she was sick of her no camera status so she invented a camera of her own. She had the best of times walking around taking shots of all of the pretty scenery. We had a hard time getting her back in the van as there were just so many pictures to take.
Larger than a Beetle
I never would have guessed it, but Mazie digs toy cars. She’s picked up two on the trip, a rad VW microbus decked out with peace signs and 60’s memorabilia and a VW beetle covered with a scary leopard print (I tried to convince her to go for a different look, but she was set on the “cat” theme). At home Mazie spends countless hours conducting the lives of her dolls and stuffed animals. Her cast of characters include a life-sized dolled named Mark, who, in case you’re wondering, is a girl, and Johnny, a stuffed bear dressed in very girlie clothes who Mazie insists is a boy. She has a wooden pull-frog on a string, froggie, and a few other babies, all girls, with names like Just Baby, Baby Beans and Little Tiny Baby. Mazie spends most of her free-time at home making sure that all of these “individuals” get fed, take naps, dress and undress, take walks, and get to know one another better. We brought a couple of her dolls and animals with, but without the supporting paraphernalia (stroller, toy kitchen, crib, clothes, etc…), she hasn’t had much interest in them…And here enters the cars. The cars have completely taken over Mazie’s world of play. She drives them around hours each day, inventing roads, trips, pretend people, car washes and elaborate stories. It’s awesome.
Quotes from the road...3rd Installment
Yesterday, at the Shark Reef Aquarium, Mazie saw a bunch of fish schooling. She said, “Mom, look, a class!”
