Unhand My Gourd

On Thursday Erin and I headed up to Isanti, MN, to my sister's to see my dad who was in town visiting from South Dakota. We spent the early part of the afternoon on a shoe hunt (both of us needed new shoes) and then picking up my dad in Blaine, where he was spending time with an old friend of his. We stopped at another Kohl's on the way back from Blaine (and finally both found the shoes we wanted).

We got back to my sister's and were immediately greeted by my 3-year-old niece Keagann (I also have a 4-month-old niece Laynie). Keagann is the most energetic kid I have ever met, and is always a lot of fun to play with (she's always saying "C'mon Guys!" and grabbing your hand to go do whatever the next thing in her mind is). One of the big things she liked to play with this time was a basket full of "gourds" that were from the garden, and were of course supposed to be a centerpiece in the living room that you just look at. Well of course you tell a 3-year-old not to play with something and that's the only thing they want to play with. But the gourds are pretty durable and of course replaceable, and so all in all not a bad thing for her to be interested in.

Anyway, her and Erin get along really well, and Erin often likes to teach her funny phrases. She is a very good "actress" and will repeat whatever you say with accent and everything. In some previous meetings, Erin taught her to say "I survey my kingdom". Well this time, she was playing the game of handing you one of the gourds and then of course wanting it back. Even though she's supposed to say "please" and be polite, Erin thought it would be more fun if she said "Unhand my gourd!" in a British accent. Her British accent altered some of the words though and it sounded more like "Unhont my gold" but of course it is still cute. Being the "actress she is", she's not at all shy about performing on camera, so here is Keagann in "Unhand My Gourd":



We also finally came up with an "alternate" name for uncle Erin - his name is the same as my sister's and Keagann gets confused when we try to explain that to her. So her dad Chris decided to call him "Uncle Aloiscious", which she actually caught onto, although sometimes it comes out "Uncle 'wiscious" or even "Unclicious" :)

After we left Keagann and Co., we visited Erin's (and my) friend Caryn over in Eau Claire - we got to eat at the Northwoods Brewpub, one of my favorite places (I have been to Eau Claire twice and have now eaten at the Northwoods Brewpub twice). They have a beer called "Bumblin' Bubba's Buzzin' Brew" which is now one of my favs.