Drawing

Julien drew this Tyrannosaurus Rex at the Dinosphere in the Indianapolis children's Museum. As Julien said, "My drawings are beginning to look like something- like Margaret & Roselyn when they draw!"

Andrew

We finished our cleaning by the time Andrew and Graham came over. Julien was very excited to have his best friend, Andrew, at our house. We played at the park until Andrew scraped his face after a dangerous game of everyone-go-down-the-slide-at-once-upside-down-and-
sideways. When we returned to the house we had spaghetti & meatballs (meatballs are harder to make than I realized..) and Julien's favorite, watermelon. The next morning when Julien woke up he asked me, "When is my next party?"

Julien's goals

In the morning I said to Julien "Our one goal today is to clean the house before Andrew & Graham come over, OK?"
Julien: "OK"
pause
Julien: "Let me tell you my goals. My goals are: when you bring a dinosaur to school that you got at the Dinosphere, you have to keep track of it. And when you hear the train at school you have to rush over & get to the window before it even comes so you can watch it. Also, when you kick a soccer ball you don't want to hit it out of the field or hit another person. Sometimes it's very silly and you hit the goal!"

Raised Eyebrow

Julien raised one eyebrow.
Adrienne: "Wow, that's neat, I've never been able to do that. Your daddy can. And you know who else could? My mommy used to be able to."
Julien: "But now she's dead."
A: "Yes."
J: "Why is she dead?"
A: "She got very sick. Not like a cold, very sick.."
J: "Did she have a fever?"
A: "Well, maybe at some point, but she had cancer which is a serious illness."
J: "Is she bones now?"
A: "Well, not exactly. She decided she would rather be ashes so she could be scattered in the lake by Chicago. She loved that lake & wanted to always be in it."
J: "They cut open her bones and took out her ashes."
A: "No, they didn't cut her. She became ashes, like when you burn wood there are white ashes left behind."
pause
J: "And then the lake will all dry up and there will be mud and then the ashes and bones will turn to stone."
A: "You mean she will become a fossil?"
J; "Yes"
A: "She would like that."

Morning

Sometimes when I go into Julien's room in the morning he is sitting quitely "reading" a book. It is very sweet to see him so engaged in reading. In this photo he is reading "Ant and Bee and the Doctor" which is a book from my youth.

The Frosting on the Cake

Richard and Julien gave me a very nice birthday, including a homemade cake. As you can see, every other knife full of frosting ended up in Julien mouth. mmmm. Julien gave me a cute card of a kitten wrapped in a towel (which upon seeing he can't help saying "cute!") and a Paris guide book (knopf) with beautiful pictures (we are going to Paris for Christmas). Jekka sent me a beautiful scarf that she wove on her new loom. Thanks Jessica!

Birthday

Today is my birthday! It has been a nice, low key day. But isn't it funny how at this age a birthday hardly matters, but for someone Julien's age it is a huge deal? I have already started planning Julien's birthday party and it is a month and a half away!

Reading

This is a follow up to the earlier post, "Julien and his pile of books." We do actually attempt to read through Julien's piles of books, but limits must be set. He gives us a prioritized list of the top 3, usually. We have probably read the "Eye Wonder Dinosaur" book 50 times.

Our Garden

We have planted a vegetable garden this year, as usual. The tomatoes have grown into a tangle, but have been quite prolific. The beans have had their leaves nibbled into lace, but still produce a good bunch of beans each week. The basil has finally grown into something significant, and the sunflowers are tall and beautiful, but top heavy and now leaning over.

As for the photo of Julien, yes, he does have a string around his neck. The "fishing pole" is being used as part of his Pterodactylus wings. Why that means he has a string around his neck, I don't know.

Baby Dinosaurs

Julien: "The baby dinosaurs have a dry bed."
Adrienne: "Are they in your bed?"
Julien: "Yes"
Adrienne: "But, I thought your bed was wet."
Julien: "Yes, but the dinosaurs have a dry bed. Mama, you are a plesiosaurus and I am an allosaurus. I am the male and you are the female. I am protecting the babies. I am protecting them from the triceratops"
Adrienne: "I thought triceratops was a plant eater."
Julien: "Yes, but they have pointy horns. They collect heat in their horn and warm up all the baby dinosaurs. There is a baby triceratops in bed too. The baby allosaurus is silly. He's a silly guy." We walk into the kitchen. "The babies had a fun time digging in the dirt when I was digging outside. Now they are dirty and need a bath" he carries them over to the cooler (a long story- the power went out in our neighborhood for several hours yesterday so we filled up the cooler with ice) and puts them in (yes, they were invisible). He starts to laugh, "They are tickling each other when they take a bath. They are silly allosauruses!" He looks at me for a moment and pauses. "I am the daddy allosaurus and you are the baby." He walks over to me and gives me a little hug and a pat on the back.

Longing

The last images of our trip... We wish we were still there.

Boat Show

During our trip to Wisconsin we went to an antique boatshow in Tomahawk. We were tempted to buy a cool wooden motor boat with yellow trim, but we did not.

Train

When I asked Julien what his favorite thing was during our trip he said "the train!" We went on the Lumberjack steam train to camp 5, an old logging camp that now has a petting farm, logging museum and various tours. We went on the Rat River Natural Wildlife Tour - which took us on a pontoon through wild rice beds. It was beautiful! We picked some wild rice and saw a couple green herons. You could just imagine harvesting the rice from a canoe. Not far away is the Potawatomi Nation. The tribal center is located on "Everybody’s Road." The tribe recently fought a battle over Wolf River against the Crandon Mine and won-they bought the mine with Casino profits!

Maggie's Studio

Elcho

While in Wisconsin we visited Katy and Great Aunt Margaret in the old homestead. Julien and Richard explored the property while Cindy and I visited. Maggie recognized Cindy, but could not quite place me. She could tell I was familiar and told me she loved me, but she never quite figured out who I was. She asked me what happened to Ellen and when I explained that she had died she said "I thought so." She seemed to enjoy seeing peeks of Julien running around.

Lofts

Julien discovered that he loves lofts! While visiting in Elcho, Julien explored the maze of lofts, ladders and stairs. At John and Cindy's he found a perfect nook in the top bunk in the loft behind the chimney with the dear skull. He spent hours up in the bunk "reading" National Geographic magazines.

The Cabin

We just got back from a wonderful, relaxing time in Northern Wisconsin at Cindy and John (and Kristin)'s cabins. The cabins were the first cabins built on the lake in the early 20th century (now with a few more recent additions). We swam every day and went out on the lake in the peddle boat and the motor boat. Every evening we heard loons laughing and calling across the lake. We saw osprey, loons, a bald eagle and a muskrat. Julien dug in huge piles of sand and,with the help of Cindy, built a train track from Indiana to Boston. He also searched for dinosaur fossils. On the way home Julien complained, "but I wanted to stay there all day! I want to be there everyday of the whole year!" When we explained that we needed to go home he suggested, "Let's have Wisconsin be our home."