L.R. Burt

…a thousand words. As a writer, I want not only to know what made them decide a thousand was the magic number equivalent of pictures and words. Also as a writer I tend to think that’s crap. A thousand of my words, for instance, are better than a picture I’d take. And I don’t think you can compare words to pictures anyway. It’s like saying Pride and Prejudice is a better work of art than one of Ansel Adams’ photographs.

All that to say…

Minnesota: LR and Mr. Burt were there and back again, and that means LR’s got pictures which means LR’s got things to say about them. Because if she just posted the pictures, you wouldn’t have the stories behind them and they wouldn’t mean anything. LR can’t promise a thousand words for each picture, which you’re probably glad of — but she guesses that’s what that whole expression means anyway, isn’t it?

So here we are in snowy Minnesota. This isn’t actually our first day here. If I had an outdoor picture from early in the week, it would include this much snow on the ground. Which was mildly disheartening to see when we arrived because, freakishly, about the time we boarded our plane out of Dallas-Ft. Worth, the temperature dropped, the rain turned to ice, and all flights after ours were cancelled. Not only did home get one day of ice while we were in un-snowy Minnesota, but they had nearly a week of it. I didn’t mind once we got a few flurries, and then a proper snow Thursday. Especially since if we’d been home we wouldn’t have had a warm, cozy fire to curl up by…

After not having seen Jeff’s folks since last January, we naturally felt that a bit of competition at the bowling alley was the best way to re-connect as a family.

(From left to right, Danny - Jeff’s brother-in-law, married to Stephanie; Ashley - brother Peter’s girlfriend; Peter - Jeff’s younger brother, holding Macy - Danny and Stephanie’s 3-year-old; LR, Jeff, Stephanie - Jeff’s older sister, holding Madeline, her 4-year-old, and Tim - Jeff’s dad.)

Same crew as above, but Renee, Jeff’s mom, took Tim’s place. She’s too cute for me to leave her out. If I were handy at photoediting I’d just manip her into the above picture. But I’m not, so it’s a moot point. I’m getting closer to a thousand words on this picture, though.

Macy Leigh Gutierrez should be the poster child for the word precocious. After we got home from bowling that night, she approached me with a very grave expression and said, “Auntie Lisa, I really want to take you and Uncle Jeffrey to Culver’s for lunch tomorrow — if you haven’t been there.” When I told her we’d love for her to take us (as if she were going to hop in the van and drive us there, and then pay for our hamburgers, fries, and shakes!) to Culver’s, even though we’ve been, Macy’s little strawberry blonde eyebrows knit together as though she were considering a very serious problem. Then she said, “Well — I still really would like to take you and Uncle Jeffrey to Culver’s, if you don’t mind going again.” That long story was all to preface the fact that even though this was supposed to be a shot of the guys, Macy wiggled her way into it and no one argued with her.

Maybe this picture is worth a thousand words. Context would tell you these are the girls at the bowling alley.

Do you remember the old days when little kids couldn’t bowl? Or if they tried, they could only squat on the floor and push the balls with all their might, which makes them take about five minutes to get down the lane — if they make it past the gutters at all, or don’t get stuck on the bumpers, if those are in place. These little chute thingies are a great invention. Except the little kids can actually get better scores than the grown-ups. Macy is now deluded into thinking she’s the best bowler in the Burt family.

Madeline isn’t as competitive as Macy, so she at least didn’t rub it in our faces that she bowled better.

Non-competitiveness must be a brunette thing. But that didn’t stop me from asking Macy for high-fives when I got my strike.

But bowling never stands in the way of our love. Mainly because I don’t care when Jeff, who does have that competitive streak, beats me at…everything. When you’ve got a Cookie Loves Milk t-shirt, you win at life.

After bowling, still on good terms, we returned to the Burt house for a family dinner of Renee’s homemade lasagna. Jeff’s youngest brother Matthew (the blonde in the burgundy sweatshirt next to Jeff) got off work and was able to join in the fun - which included Madeline in a rare act of rebellion, crossing one eye and making a very strange face (which, of course, I didn’t see) because she knows her mother doesn’t like it when she does, “icky eyes.”

Here are all the Burts: Tim and Renee, their sons and daughter, their son and daughter-in-law, and their grandbabies. Pretty family, huh?

Well, sometimes we’re pretty…

Since we didn’t get to go up for real Christmas, Jeff’s family saved ours for us and then suffered through watching us open them. We came off with some good loot: clothes, books, goofy stocking stuffers. For some reason Jeff here makes me think of Animal in The Muppet Family Christmas. You know, when he screams maniacally, “Peace on Earth! Gimme presents!”

We also got to spend some time with Jeff’s grandmother (Renee’s mom). She always has the best caramel rolls.

At Nanny’s house, Macy enjoyed playing with Renee’s old doll, which, as this picture doesn’t show well, has no hair in front, because Renee loved to play with scissors when she was a kid. Madeline spent most of the visit being terrified of this doll, which she called The Icky Doll as she cuddled against me on the sofa, refusing even to look at it.

Eventually, however, Madeline decided The Icky Doll was nothing to be afraid of. I’m not sure if she did Icky Eyes to it, or what, but by the end of the visit, she loved her Mimi’s bad barber project.

After breakfast with Nanny, we met up with Grampa Burt (behind Jeff) and Jeff’s Aunt Sally for lunch at a cafe. It started snowing while we were there.

After lunch we went up to see Grampa Burt’s redecorating endeavors at his apartment. He’s got great taste. You’ve got to love 83-year-olds who like purple walls and red accents.

I really should have stood next to Jeff so I wouldn’t look so short…

In case you were worried we didn’t get enough to eat in Minnesota, here’s a shot of us at Biaggi’s, a really fantastic Italian place we go every trip to Minnesota. It was fun to get the whole family together one last time before Jeff and I came home.

Jeff and I get a kick out of the fact that Danny and Stephanie’s kids look like they could be ours. Seriously, Macy is a little carbon copy of Jeff. Looking at her is like a preview of the kids we’ll someday have. Who, for the record, Macy volunteered, with no prodding from me, to babysit someday. “I will change their diapers,” she said, “and put them in their beds and make them go to sleep.” I’m going to hold her to that. Especially since the thing I learned last week was that there aren’t many things in life more difficult than getting two children to look at the camera, keep their hands out of their mouths, and smile, simultaneously.

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bowling, madeline and macy, minnesota, the burts, the icky doll, vacation, winter