Last Au Pair Meeting in Minnesota

B attended her very last au pair meeting in Minnesota in September. The group went on a boat cruise in Stillwater on the St. Croix river. Her friend B drove her there and as they got there early they did a little sightseeing around Stillwater and she made him take her across the river into Wisconsin so she could get her photo taken by the welcome to Wisconsin sign. In addition to all the au pairs, B had the good fortune (joke) of being on the boat with a bunch of women from the Red Hat Society. She didn't care for the food served on board (not surprising as B only really likes Thai food and my spaghetti) but she said she ate a lot (also not surprising as B loves to eat)!

State Fair Parts 1 and 3

B got to go to the fair with her friend B - not once, but twice! They went the first weekend it was open and then again the following Friday to see a concert. She had fun at the midway but did NOT enjoy the ride she went on. Those rides at the State Fair midway are pretty intense. The one she went on made her cry because she was so scared. Poor girl. On her 2nd trip there with B she finally got the turkey leg she had been wanting although she didn't listen to me and get the best one ever from Turkey-to-go. She got one that was bigger and cheaper (although I'm sure not as tasty)! B also got some kettle corn from Heritage Square which reminded her of the popcorn in Thailand.

Mini Golf

B went on her au pair meeting for August (yes, I'm late on posting this) which was a round of mini golf and she had a lot of fun. It was her first time going mini golfing and it was cute because she asked if there were certain clothes she needed to wear. She remembered our vacation in Arizona when Josh had to adhere to a dress code to go golfing with his grandpa. I explained that mini golf was much different from regular golf.

of course she picked the pink ball!

standard pose for B

B with her mini golf team of au pairs

Football

B has had her fill (I'm sure since she knows nothing about the game) of football this year. She got to go to a pre-season Vikings football game and also one of J's 6th grade games. Although she doesn't know much about the game she still enjoys the atmosphere and people watching. Last year when she joined our family one of our first outings was going to the metrodome to watch J play in his playoff game. Unfortunately she won't be able to watch him play there again as he broke his collarbone one week ago today and she will be leaving us shortly. :(

Skyzone

As you're aware we went to Skyzone for J's 12th birthday party and fun was had by all (until little man peed on me)! B had never experienced anything quite like this before and enjoyed jumping around although not for a very long time. I didn't get a chance to try - maybe next time!

Dodge ball

I love this photo of B

This one is super cute too

Her standard pose

Walking with Daddy

"Are you sure I can't get any of that candy?"

B and t

Pinhole Photography

B had to take around half a credit in order to complete her education component of her year in America before she would be able to sign up for a second year here (the au pair's need six per calendar year). She loves taking photos so we helped find her a class on pinhole photography. It was a two-day course and was worth one credit so it was perfect. The extra 1/2 credit will get carried into her next year so it will make her a little ahead of schedule there. B signed up on a couple days before the class was to start and she never got the email with all the supplies she'd need to bring. We looked online and found what we thought she'd need and gathered it all up so she'd be as prepared as possible and luckily we packed right! She had a lot of fun in the class - she met lots of nice people and the teacher and teacher's assistant took her under their wing to make sure she did well. She got the highest grade in the class for their final photograph and she was so excited about that. B got an A in the class and we're very proud of her. I think in her second year if she can find more photography classes that would be ideal. She loves photography so much I think she should get herself a nice digital SLR camera for the future and take classes to help her learn how to use it in the best possible way.

Drive Time

B hasn't spent much time driving in America. She has her international license but since she's been watching such a little guy there hasn't been much opportunity for her to get out and about in the car. She loves to walk so she takes him on stroller rides where ever they go. B drove with her friend B a couple times but has never driven our car. Friends always pick her up and that just got easy. Now that she's in the process of finding a new family for her extension year she's finding that many other families want or require her to drive and so she's a little nervous. Last night we went to the grocery store and I had her drive. I figured if she and I could go out a few nights a week for practice driving and parking she'd start to feel more comfortable and this wouldn't hold her back from finding a new family. It would be a shame if she'd feel the need to turn a potentially great family away because she was too nervous to drive. She did GREAT! B is definitely on the cautious side and tends to drive a little slower (which is the case with most nervous or cautious drivers) but I explained that it's important to keep up with the speed of traffic because if you're going to slow it can be a cause of an accident, just like if you're going too fast. We're going to go practice parking next as that was the one thing she had a little trouble with. We'll have to set up some saw horses to practice parallel parking and she can just use the lines in the empty parking lot to practice parking slots.