Picture: Marissa's New Sweater

Guess what came in the mail today mom! Here is a picture of Marissa modeling her new sweater that my mom made for her -

 

Pictures: Fall Costume Party at CrossPoint

This morning Marissa and I went to a costume party held at the church for preschoolers. We had a good time, and as you can see in the picture below the cookies were delicious. Marissa is dressed up as Thumbelina. (We recently bought her that movie, so she was very impressed that she could dress up in her Thumbelina dress. All morning before we left she was carrying around the DVD wanting to watch it.)

In case you are interested, I dressed up as a wife of a hockey fan - I just threw on Chris' Leaf's jersey.



 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Surprise!

Greetings from Stonewall! Marissa and I are staying with my mom and Vincenso for the week. My sister Diana and Scott came to visit us for the weekend, and so we decided to travel back to Canada with them. The drive went very well - there was just a 2hr wait in Albany as we waited for Chris to meet us there with someone's purse (not mine!!!).

This coming weekend (Thanksgiving Weekend for us Canadians) is the Lobert Reunion in Grandview, MB (near Dauphin). It sounds like it will be a fun time.

I hope to post some pictures soon...

First Tornado Watch

Disclaimer: some of our "mom"s may not want to read this post...

Well, last night was certainly interesting - we experienced our first Tornado Watch.

Shortly after 7pm, just after getting Marissa out of the tub, I heard the tornado warning sirens go off. As it was the first time I had heard them (other than the first Wednesday of the month when they test them at noon) I wasn't sure exactly what that meant - was I supposed to run to the basement right away? (By the way - Chris was out on a run.) So I opened all my blinds but didn't really see anything, so then I turned the TV on. I watched the emergency broadcast for a bit but the map was zoomed in too close for me to figure out exactly where the storm was.

"Ok Marissa - don't be scared, but we have to be ready. There may be a big storm coming." I got her dressed with shoes on, and got mine on as well, gathered up a flashlight, our wallets and keys in case we had to run down to the basement. Then I remembered the important stuff - a blanket and stuffed animal for Marissa.

I figured Chris would be back any minute - but no, he didn't get home until 7:45. In the meantime I finally figured out that the storm was hitting the north part of Minneapolis, so I thought I would just watch the TV unless the power went out, then I would head to the car in the basement and try to listen to the radio. Marissa just sat beside me on the couch reading her books, occasionally pointing at the big dark clouds moving closer to us saying "Big storm." or "Rain coming."

When Chris did get home he looked at us and laughed - which I still think it wasn't very funny.

I talked to the ladies at Curves this morning, and they assured me that these types of storms usually hit the north part of Minneapolis, and rarely affect our area. In this case, Andover was the worst hit, and I see this morning two houses were flattened there.

If you do happen to see the warnings flashed on the TV, we are in Hennepin County, but the southern part of it, south of the I 494.

It was certainly exciting!

'Til we meet again...

Brendan and Tenille have just left to go back home to Winnipeg. :-(

Here is a farewell message from Marissa:.032kkkkkkjjjjjjjggfffdrwwqqqqqqqrgjnmjl'
llkj444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmm//////////////aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


We had a wonderful visit, and we hope they come back soon. Maybe someone else would like to come visit?!??!?

Pictures: A Trip to the Minnesota Zoo

Brendan and Tenille treated Marissa and I to a trip to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday. It is quite a bit larger than the Como Zoo - with more animals too. It is divided into "Trails" - Tropical Trail, Minnesota Trail, Discovery Bay, Northern Trail. Here is a link to its website for more information: http://www.mnzoo.com/animals/map.asp

We were there for about four hours - Marissa enjoyed it very much, although she again preferred to push her stroller rather than ride in it.

Here are some pictures of our trip:


Brendan, Tenille & Marissa checking out cockroaches


Komodo dragon


Gibbons


Marissa and Tenille exploring a cave


Tapir (not an anteater)


Seahorse


Seahorse (by Brendan ;-) )

(I found it to difficult to hold the camera steady enought to take a picture of the seahorse, so I had to ask Brendan to take the picture for me!)


Marissa and Brendan looking at a cougar


Shhh! Tiger sleeping...


Marissa riding the rail


Takin


Brendan and Marissa spying a pronghorn


Two-hump camel

These next few pictures are of two tigers play-fighting - it was really neat to watch! They were the last animals we saw to, so it was a nice ending.


Tiger (1)


Tigers (2)


Tigers (3)


Tigers (4)


Tigers (5)


Tigers (6)


Exhausted after a day at the zoo!