Another Phase in Life

The Tobias family is cruising into another phase of insanity. We're moving. Into Minneapolis and out of the burbs. I could go on and on about the benefits. No, we aren't buying. We're renting half of a duplex.
The bus stop for a non-stop 20 min. ride to the U. is on the other side of the block. (rather than an 8 min. drive to get the one-transfer hour-and-a-quarter trip).
The next-door neighbor (read: landlords) have an in-home daycare which will take both boys until Michael goes to the (now closer) German preschool.
It's closer to much of the fun social stuff that's in Minneapolis.
t's in a nice neighborhood with lots of other families with children (read: not in the middle of a sterile "ignore me & I'll ignore you" apartment complex).
There is a yard. With a fence. I can finally say "go out and play in the yard!" without releasing them a) out of my sight, b) into a sea of goose-guano, c) onto insanely pesticided grass and d) next to the parking lot.
It's bigger than our apartment, though perhaps not much more sq.ft., but what's there is much, much better designed.

School is over for me, for the summer. I'm not quite 1/2 done. One year down, 1.5 to go. I have an internship for the Summer at Honeywell. I'll be doing noise measurements in a factory area. This is a different facility than the one where Peter works. It's a paid positions - double bonus.


Michael is now 4. His birthday party was today. He and one of his new friends (a daughter of a classmate of mine) went to the Minnesota Children's Museum, one of the coolest places in the world for a kid. He & Reece spent the morning playing with all of the cool stuff. We enjoyed eating banana birthday muffins. (mom - the Muppets are another success.) Michael's communication is amazing, even when it needs to be de-coded, as he still tends to mix up both languages. I find it amazing that when he starts putting German words in the sentences they abruptly take on German sentence structure.

Gregor is big and happy. He's running around on his own. Has hit the "I want that because Michael has it" phase. Yes, I know this doesn't really stop. Ever. Well, at least not for a while. He is also entering the "I need to cry when being left at daycare so you know how much I'm suffering" phase. When he's quiet, he'll pull a book off the bookshelf, sit down, and read it. He also destroyed Michael's favorite "Cars" book (which is in hiding, until I can figure out if it can be fixed).


We finally got a region-free DVD player. Finally, we can watch "Findet Nemo" & "Monsters AG". Oma & Opa are bringing a couple more from Germany next week. They've never been in Minnesota, so it should be interesting for them.

Peter is sick. We made it for about 2 weeks without any plague striking the family. Gregor is sick, too; unfortunately, there's no way to tell if it's the same thing. Although, since Peter want to puke, and Gregor succeeded in doing so (all over me), it might be the same bug.

Politics is beginning to get a bit more political, in both the stupid and bizarre sense. Political protesting and permits therefore are big in the news around here, due to the impending doom of the Evil Empire's Quadrennial Conclave. (the RNC convention). Some store in Mpls (Stpl?) is making tons of anti-republican/bush/etc. paraphernalia. He's offering a 20% discount to any Delegates who visit. See, free market economy in action.

The photos are from the Minnesota Zoo (yesterday) and the Children's Museum (today). I assume you can figure which ones are which.