February 18 - 19, 2019, MN

Tuesday, February 19.  Yesterday was another day off for Ben and Charlotte, so we basically hung out, did a few household chores, and played. In the afternoon, Jill and Ben had a meeting, so Charlotte and I went to the Wild Rumpus book store in Linden Hills, and of course, I splurged and bought them some books. In fact, the book that Charlotte chose, was half read before we even left the store and she finished reading it about 15 minutes after we got home. The kid is a reading machine. Later on, Ben told me that he should have warned me, as they have made the same mistake - better to get a loaner from the library because she goes through them so quickly.  For Norah and Camille, I chose a book about the instruments in a Symphony Orchestra and  “Man Gave Names to all of the Animals” by Bob Dylan - I really liked the illustrations, they are so colorful and creative.

And today, Ben’s day off without children, we had a very nice day hanging out together, starting with breakfast at Victor’s 1959 Cafe, a great little hole-in-the-wall Cuban cafe. From there, we headed to Eagan to the Le Cruiset outlet so Ben could get a 7.5 quart Dutch oven because he found one at a great price. A snack of coffee and a bite of lemon pound cake at Patisserie 44 hit the spot as we sat at a sunny window table and enjoyed the warmth. It made us feel like going for a walks, so when we got back home, we took off on a 2-mile walk around the neighborhood. It was refreshing but the snow or ice covered sidewalks caused me to use a lot of muscles that I don’t normally use and I could really feel it by the end. 

I finally had a few minutes to have a phone conversation with Tom and learned that he has been under the weather again, this time with bronchitis. I’m kind of glad that I am not exposed, although there is a bit of sniffling going on in this house too.

Tonight was swim class night for the girls at the ‘Y’ and it was fun to see how much they have improved. They sure do enjoy the water.  

Anther winter storm is coming through the area and we are expecting to see 8 - 10” of snow, starting tonight.  Lucky me. While we were heading out to swim class, Ben got a call from Charlotte’s school announcing another snow day tomorrow. Guess I will be hanging out with Charlotte.

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