Choo Choo Bob's

Our chance to have an Antonio-only play date came last Friday. We went to Choo Choo Bob's just across the river in St Paul, which has a couple of nice electric train setups and several play tables in the back with the wooden trains we grew up with. I can attest that Antonio was the best behaved kid I've seen there (they tend not to want to leave). His only request was to go back sometime and bring Crystel.

First, though, we had a rousing game of Candyland at our house. Ann won first, I won second, and Antonio won third.

Choo Choo Bob's has books in the same series as one my dad has a picture published in (but not the same book). We already have an autographed copy, but I wanted to show the proprietor I come from good train stock and know which end of a train goes first (it's a trick question).

Welcome Visitors

As I was rummaging about at noon I kept hearing little outdoor voices but couldn't find the sources (Sarah and Johanna), like in The Wizard of Oz when you hear Munchkin voices but can't see them yet. Finally they appeared at the back door, all snowsuited and smiling. Johanna showed off her vocabulary - notably "kitty cat" - stacked boxes, charmed, and generally stomped around owning the place. Sarah and I, having heard the same public radio piece yesterday extolling the virtue of communal child-rearing, patted ourselves on the back.

Johanna is turning out to be an outdoors girl, hard to separate from her snowsuit. She and her family spent the weekend in the snowy Far North. I wish I had taken pictures today because she's growing so fast any picture more than a week old is obsolete. Visit her dad's blog for shots from the weekend. The one above is about 10 days old.

Johanna and Emmie (the youngest kitty) are peers of sorts, each delighting in the attention of the other. I'm reminded of my niece Chris growing up with the family dalmatian as her nearest sibling. A girl could do worse.