in which my little man turns 3 and we go do stuff with cows and pumpkins

Birthday week! And how we celebrated! Lucas' grandma visited from Amsterdam and his family here joined in the celebrations as well. Before we even got to the birthday festivities I already bought a few (well, 3 in fact but don't tell Lucas) red tetra fish and attendant machinery (you know - $150 for the equipment, $9 for the fish) which took up most of the weekend. One fish didn't survive past Tuesday and so was technically not a birthday present. "Wien" and "Bobby" seem to be little survivors and their presence is quite relaxing - apart from the fear I'm going to murder another one and then it's back to the aquarium shop to start all over again. Mid-week it was bowling for 3-year olds. Incredible as it may seem, it was a huge success and all the kids loved it. Pics right at the bottom of this post. Then it was dinner and more cake at Grandma's on the birthday itself. Domestic Goddess that I am (well, you wouldn't think that if you were the dead fish but whatever) I had baked apple muffins for Lucas to hand out at school on his birthday - only to be told when I collected him that they couldn't give them to the other children as I hadn't asked for written approval from the parents. That's the kind of insane health and safety rule you'd expect in the UK but in a state where you can text while you drive, you can ride a motorbike without a helmet and twelve-year olds can get gun permits for hunting, the dangers of the apple muffin would appear to be relatively limited. Still - more for us. Friday I had a symposium at work to help a Further Education college in Chicago develop their South Asia program, it was an interesting day which had taken a lot of organisation and so I was glad that all ran smoothly. At the weekend we hit Wisconsin big time: on saturday we went to the World Dairy Expo which is held in Madison the first weekend of October every year, and which attracts farmers from all over the world. In fact, when I first visited Madison 2 years ago just after Lucas turned 1, the plane from Amsterdam was full of Swedish farmers who were drunk by the time we left European air space. The Expo was a true experience: a kind of Ideal Home Exhibition for farmers, it was full of equipment to optimise milk production and advertised dubious methods of modern farming. One tent was dedicated to a dogshow for cows - we went to the preparation area and witnessed a cow having its coat blowdried. On Sunday we visited a local farm and took a hayride to the pumpkin patch where we all got to pick our own pumpkin. Lucas was ecstatic about this acquisition of "pumtins" which makes choosing a gift for his fourth birthday all the easier. We had to leave the farm a little early as Lucas had a soccer match (Starfish v Geckos) but as he was exhausted by the time we got there he refused to go on, and could only muster interest in the half-time snack. Don't bother looking for him in the action pic... I guess Mummy will have to go on working til she's 65 after all! This evening I took him to gym class - with the days getting shorter and the temperature dropping time at the playground is limited so this seemed a good moment to introduce some indoorsy activities. This gym class doesn't allow parents inside the gym area and so I had to sit upstairs in the "viewing area" which upset me for 5 minutes until I realised the liberating potential of this rule. While Steve has to run after my son directing him back to the trampoline I get to sit around playing with my own early birthday gift - an iPhone. I am thinking next week I might smuggle in a beer!