Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I wanna live where it is spring all the time

We went to St Paul, Minnesota for the annual winter carnival. We also visited all the friends and family and had fun in the snow. As usual, it was a fun trip and I had a great time. We were actually testing the area out thinking we might move there since I am out of school and have almost 2 years work experience under my belt and the husband is unemployed looking for new work.

When we first arrived our stubborn California native 4 1/2 year old daughter just can't grasp the concept of true cold. She thinks she can go outside with practically no clothing on. To prove it, she puts on her cousins' cape and bathing suit with snow boots and says she is going out to play in the snow. It was probably 10 degrees out and snow was maybe a 1-2 feet deep in places. She went out and came back in within 2 minutes and didn't try that again.
She did discover the joys of snow such as, sledding, building stuff out of snow and eating snow and just running and sliding around in the icy stuff. However, she did struggle constantly with the whole mitten thing. Seems it is hard to find mittens to fit hands her size.

We started talking to the daughter about moving to Minnesota towards the end of our stay. We asked, "So, would you like to move here to Minnesota?" and she says, "No, I want to stay in California where it is spring." Ah, such genius.

In the meantime, the husband and I will keep our job searches open to Minnesota and see what happens.

The first picture above is the daughter at Grandpa's cabin. The ice sculptures were part of the winter carnival celebration and were in Rice Park. Below is one of the lions at Como Zoo. They said the lions were raised here so they have no problems with the snow.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sunrises

When I am driving to work in the morning, it is that wonderful time just before the sun peeks over the hills. I am driving east and seeing the most spectacular sunrises and it just fills me with so much energy and hope. Something about the beauty of it, the newness of it . . . I keep thinking I should try to capture a picture of it with my cell phone or bring my camera, but I never do. I just soak it in and let the smile creep up my face and embrace the new day. The good feelings from it can sometimes last most of the shift at work and somedays I lose it and have to remember back to the images.

What is it about sunrises that have affect over me? I am feeling all relaxed right now, just remembering the last one.