Weekend update

Saturday, in addition to being library day, is Farmer's Market day at our house. I know, we lead such a glamorous life, right? If we're feeling really crazy, we'll even end the day with a trip to Target. ;-)

So, Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market. St. Paul and Minneapolis each have their own, but we prefer St. Paul's. It's smaller, and less busy (meaning: a LOT easier to find parking), than the Minneapolis one.

I *heart* the Farmer's Market. I love the idea of supporting local farmers, and everything is fresher than the grocery store, as well as being cheaper, in most cases.

The highlight of our day, though, was stopping at Sonic after we finished at the market. Minnesota's first-ever Sonic just opened last week in St. Paul, and we were excited to try it out. Obviously, we don't get out much.

We weren't the only ones who had that idea. There was a police officer directing Sonic traffic down to the Catholic Charities parking lot down the street, where the line was forming. We were told it would be a 15-minute wait, but happily, it was more like a 5-minute wait. And it was worth it. Yum.

It seems to take a long time for Minnesota to get the good chain restaurants. I remember when our first Krispy Kreme opened up in February 2002. It's not as sad as it seems that I remember the exact date. That is when I had my lasik surgery done, and the lasik clinic was on the same block as the new Krispy Kreme. When I went in for my post-op appointment, there was a cop directing traffic that day, too, due to all the donut-hungry customers.

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Natalie's been having a rough couple of nights. Teething, a cold, and who-knows-what-else, means that I've been running on fumes. Yesterday, I didn't trust myself driving, so I called in to work and stayed home. Natalie and I took a 3-hour nap after we got Sammy off to daycare, and I felt almost human again after that. Sadly, last night wasn't much better, but I didn't feel like I could take another day off of work, so I muddled through as best as I could. I know some day, I'll get enough sleep again, but it's hard to imagine that right now.

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Lastly, yesterday afternoon, I took the kids to a local park with a swimming beach. The water close to shore was very warm, and Natalie loved playing in the sand and sitting in the water, but Sammy didn't want to have much to do with it. I'm pretty sure that was my fault, though. On the way there, I was warning him against drinking the water, since I knew that would be one of the first things he'd try. I think I went too far when I explained why I didn't want him to drink the water. I said that fish and geese and ducks poop in the water, so it isn't good to drink, and he got a horrified look on his face, right before saying "I don't think I want to go in the water."

He did put his toes in for a minute, right before saying that he wanted to go play on the playground. We climbed up the two-foot retaining wall, and I gave Sammy a little boost to help him up. I had an "awwww" moment when I heard him say, "I help you up" and turned around to see him trying to take the hand of a little girl who was about twice his size, to help her up the wall.