pics from MN, and making one's own destiny

... courtesy of Omi.

Enjoying ride-on toys in the yard shortly after we arrived:



Omi had acquired and set up kid furniture, toys, and other great stuff to make a very well-stocked playroom. The girls one morning, still in pajamas:



Emma was very happy when Omi made Japanese food:



One morning while Emma and her parents were shopping (for a stroller for Emma's soon-to-arrive baby brother), Omi, Opa, Sam, Frida, and I went to the beach by the lake near their house. It was too cold to swim, but there was a cool digger toy:



Girls wearing matching t-shirts from Omi:




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Recent kid quotes:

Both kids have strong opinions about the music we put on in the car. It's usually some kid-friendly (if not specifically kid-centric) CD, but even so, there are songs that each kid requests to skip. Frida calls out, "I want bippet doodit!" (I want different music).

The other day she was drawing, and first drew an "ah-dader". After that was done, she announced that she was drawing a "tott-diwul". The latter took me a while-- any guesses?

And then apropos nothing the other evening, Sam mused, "I really need to figure out what I am and what I'm supposed to be like." (me: ???) "What my life is for. Like in the Billy Jonas song, Happy Accidents."
Me: "Do you think every person's life is for one thing?" Sam: "No, I think my life has a reason." Me: "What kind of reason?" Sam: "A reason to live. Like a special reason, it could be hidden anywhere. Like in a cave."
(We talked for a little bit about how a person's life can have many reasons, how each one of us can do many different important things, and how many of those are things we don't realize are important until after we have begun or even finished them. Sam also mentioned that he meant the part of the song in addition to who you're supposed to marry, because he already knew that part, but he refused to elaborate on that.)
Sam: "I feel like there's something going to happen to me that tells me what my life is for."
(More conversation in which I let him explore this idea while trying subtly to reassure him that most of us don't have some stroke-of-insight about our vocation/avocation.)
Sam: "Or maybe you make your own destiny."