Minnesota Quick Trip & Barenaked Ladies

One of Jim's camps this summer (more on those later) was Camp Pillsbury, which is a fine arts camp in Minnesota. 

I had never been to Minnesota before - so Jim & I both added a new state! Sam & I drove possibly the most boring 6-hour stretch in all of the Midwest from Columbia up to Owatonna to get him. We did get to stop in Kirksville & see Grim Hall, where we met. It's no longer a dorm, but the building's still standing/in use somehow. The porch swing was gone, though. 

We had lunch at Bellacino's and it was exactly the same as I remembered. 

We stopped in Pella, Iowa & walked around & got German letters (the pastry) & took a picture in front of this windmill: 

There was a buffalo at a gas station/rest area: 

Unrelated to the quick trip, but related to selfies of us, Sam & I went down to Camdenton to see the Barenaked Ladies - such a cool outdoor venue. I had a $13 beer. 

There were open seats closer to the stage so we got to move up. This was probably the result to a pricing problem/miscalculation on vendor’s part - the cheaper back seats all sold out - the blue ones were still available two days before the show:

Guster & Fastball were the openers. 

Ashland Pride

Amelie & I went down to Ashland Pride, which was just lovely. It's much smaller & more chill than the one in Columbia - maybe 300 people or so, all there in the park.

Sunflowers

The MU practice farm grows sunflowers & they posted on Facebook that people should go see them & take sunflowers & photos before they were mowed down so we went! 

We drove out about 8pm & the humidity hit us when we got out of the car, but it was much cooler & the sunset was lovely. 

All of the other women there came prepared & I was a mess from working & then working on our table after work. Ha! It was a cool experience, though, and we got good pictures of Amelie! 

I picked some of the smaller sunflowers to take home:

It looks fake!

There were bees, too

AJR

Sam's taken the big kids to see AJR twice - in 2022 & 2024. (They are big fans.) 

We all 5 went to see them this summer! It was Leah's first real concert & my first time seeing AJR - except it really was JR - just Jack & Ryan since Adam's doing a book tour. 

We stayed at a hotel that had free breakfast & a shuttle to the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater (but it was cooler & easier to walk back afterwards). I think that everyone else we saw at the hotel was also going to the concert, and Jim kept counting the AJR shirts he saw.

Unfortunately, the hotel gave us the wrong type of room & there weren't enough beds for all of us (but Sam contends sleeping on the floor wasn't that bad just for one night). 

It was hot!

Leah got bangs! Hollywood Casino Amphitheater was extremely vigilant about checking our tickets every time we came back from the bathroom and getting snacks, which was surprising since we weren't exactly close to the stage! 

There were 4 opening bands! (Madilyn Mei, Valley, Lawrence, and Quinn XCII - Jim & I both liked Lawrence the best. Amelie liked Madilyn Mei. 

It was dark when AJR came on & a little cooler. They put on quite the spectacle with graphics & videos (as usual, I think!) 

 Amelie said the best song from the show was "Yes, I'm a Mess." 

Excellent Posture

 I mean, how do you sit on the couch to use the laptop? 

Leah's working on ST Math. 

4th of July

We went to Stephen's Lake Park again to see the municipal fireworks. We got there a little bit beforehand & listened to the last band (I think the same one that's performed the last few years!) 

We were set up at the very top of the amphitheater & it didn't seem crowded, but when we walked around the lake there were several thousand people at the park.  

Jim was at camp up in Wisconsin over the 4th! They saw some fireworks there, but he wrote about it in his letter home that he didn't know / maybe was disappointed that he'd miss the 4th with us. 

Here's the rest of us: 

Amelie had to be cajoled into wearing a patriotic shirt. I guess I could have asked someone else to take our photo all together! 

Sleep Study

After some arguing with the insurance company, Jim had a sleep study done. He & I went and checked in at 7pm. They hooked him up at about 9pm & the tech let me know that we got the only room with two beds - I was prepared to sleep on the fold out chair but glad that I didn't have to! I think we both ended up sleeping better than normal, which is probably not the usual outcome. Jim did promptly fall asleep and then snore all night, though, so there's that. I'm curious to see what the results are. 

He wanted me to take a picture of the electrodes. The goo was all in his hair the next day. 

The instructions said that the participant should get some exercise/spend some time outside the day of the study (and no napping during the day!) so I dropped Jim & Amelie off at the pool & unfortunately he got sunburned - he said it wasn't bothering him but it sure would have bothered me. 

(He also requested that I post this!) 

Summer goals

Amelie’s mowing the lawn (she did this a tiny bit last summer) & Leah took off her training wheels. 

Mini Golf

 We played a quick game of mini-golf out at Midway. Amelie got THREE hole-in-ones, but Sam still won the game. 

Crazy Hair Day

 Summer school is over (Leah's the only one who went again this year). They did a spirit week the last week & we didn't get pictures, but we remembered!- PJ day, sports day, tropical day, and crazy hair day. Leah had a plan for her hair, even though we didn't have all the rainbow-colored pipe cleaners. 

Oh, also I wanted to add this one - one of the older girls in the neighborhood did Leah's hair - she wanted me to take a picture so that she could see! 

Midsummer Night's Dream

Jim tried out for the community theater production of Midsummer Night's Dream & was cast as Robin Starveling/Moonshine! He's one of the players in the play-within-a-play (one of the mechanicals)  

Here are some pictures from rehearsal: 

Sam & I went to see the play on opening night & closing night together - and then we went separately one more time each. Grandma Mary and Papaw tried to go & got partway through & it was rained out so they went 1.5 times on the make-up day. Nana Jana took Leah & Amelie one night & Leah ate a boatload of concessions & fell asleep after intermission.

Here are some photos from one of the actual performances - "This lanthorn doth the horned moon present; Myself the man in the moon do seem to be."

Jim was a big, big fan of Marquan Martin, who played Bottom. 

It started at 8pm - when the sun went down - which meant for pretty late nights, a plus for Jim but it was hard on me!

Leah’s Animation

Leah made an animation this morning on Flip A Clip. She was surprised that I had a YouTube!

Birthday Interview

Amelie Birthday Interview

Amelie is 15! Her birthday came right during finals crunch time & we had to reschedule her party for next month! But we made a little celebration. She picked dutch baby pancake for birthday breakfast, Dairy Queen for her birthday dinner, & an ice-cream cake. 

Leah & Amelie & I picked up one friend & went to see Kiki's delivery service: 

And then tonight she played along for an interview. 

1. How old are you? 15
2. What is your favorite color? Blue
3. What's your favorite possession?  3-D printed dragons. Actually, change that - The Book of Bill 
4. What is your favorite game? I'm a Little Crabby
   
   
   
   
   
5. What is your favorite song? "Good Luck Babe." Do you have a favorite band? Maybe just AJR. I listen to their music most consistently. Is that your favorite concert that you've been to? Yeah
6. Do you  have a favorite animal? Fox
7. What is your favorite book? Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (this is the sequel to her favorite book last year.) 
8. What is your favorite movie? Wolfwalkers
   
9. What is your favorite TV show? Gravity Falls
   
   
   
   
   
10. What is your favorite thing to eat? Dutch baby (pancake) 
    
    

    
    
11. Where is your favorite place to go? No idea. What did I put last time? (Outside.) Just repeat that.
12. What is something you learned your first year of high school?  What scarcity is. (?) It's the concept that everyone has unlimited wants & needs, but because there are a limited amount of resources, people have conflict over what to do with those resources. 
13. What is something you'll learn now that you're 15 (or next year in 10th grade)? Maybe driving stuff? I know you really want me to. 
14. What is your favorite subject at school? English
15. Who is your favorite teacher this year? Mr. Batik (Social Studies)
16. Best memory from this year? Probably something from Youth Group. Anything specific? Watching Bottoms at the lock-in. It's a movie - it's really good.  
17. What is something that is hard for you to do? Talking to people 
18. What is your favorite thing to do? Read
19. What is your favorite thing to do with friends?  On the rare occasions that it does happen, debates - or just deep conversations
20. What do you like about Me (Mom)? I don't know. You're my mom! 
21. What do you like about Dad? He's my dad! 
22. What do you like about Jim? Shared music interests
23. What do you like about Leah? She's very energetic
24. What do you like about yourself? I think I'm creative
25. What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't know. Happy.

Here's the link to last year: https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2024/05/birthday-interview.html