It’s a Government Sanctioned Mudgy and Millie Day

I know! It’s been forever since we’ve posted. We haven’t been to town so we couldn’t upload our photos.

BUT…

Today, yes today, Grandpa decided a change would do him good. So, he turned off his phone line. Turned off his dial-up. And took the plunge to high speed internet. There’s no turning back now! And it ironically cost the same as having a land line + dial-up.

So, here’s what we did today. I’ll try to post our adventures from last week soon. This makes it all illogical and out of wack, but that’s ok. It’s ok. It’s all gonna be OK.

Hubs and Grandpa had several errands to run in town so Schäfer and I went to the park.

At 11am we headed over to Tubbs Hill for the official launching of a new children’s book: Mudgy & Millie.

Mudgy the moose and Millie the mouse are best friends. They decide to play a game of hide-and-seek which sends Mudgy tromping all over downtown Coeur d’ Alene looking for Millie.

Today, the book was released and in accompaniment with the release, five beautiful statues of Mudgy and Millie would be unveiled. The statues are on the path that Mudgy walks to find Millie.

On our way there, we saw people taking a fly fishing class. Since I’m a southerner transplanted, I thought this was photo worthy. These men were very serious as they fished for grass!

Anyway, upon arrival at Tubbs Hill everyone got a pair of moose ears for free!

Let’s just say that the turn out for this new book was HUGE.

Mudgy and Millie written is by Susan Nipp who is the co-created Wee Sing in 1972. Wee Sing now has 80 different product types and has sold more than 50 million products around the world. (read: Why didn’t I think of that? Oh yeah…I wasn’t born in 1972 so she got to it first!)

All of the proceeds from the book go to the Coeur d’ Alene Library.

Schäfer couldn’t see a thing, but wasn’t at all upset. Look boats!

After the official introductions – including the mayor of Coeur d’ Alene who informed us that the Governor of Idaho declared today “Mudgy and Millie Day” – there was a walk through town for the unveiling of the five statues on the official 2.25 mile long “Mudgy and Millie Trail”.

Due to the crowd, we skipped this part and went straight to the end

Schäfer was just famished from all his stroller riding. This moose cookie hit the spot. Well, almost. He begged for “MORE MOOSE COOKIE!” and didn’t seem to understand my English when I explained that there was only one cookie per child.

There were also complimentary bottles of Mudgy and Millie water. Plus, more merchandise than I ever thought possible for a book launching, but then again this is the Queen of Wee Sing. There were stuffed animals, blankets, t-shirts, moose candy, thermos, Frisbees, etc.

I was thankful we skipped the parade because we were the 20th person to queue to have our book autographed. The sun was just blazing so I coaxed Schäfer to stay in the stroller.

Here’s author Susan Nipp, illustrator Charles Reasoner and sculptor Terry Less who created the statues on the Mudgy and MIllie Trail.

Hubs gave us a call and was ready to pick us up just after we had our book signed. Perfect timing strikes again!

Grandpa thought we should drop by the Coeur d’ Alene Library since we were so close. Local residents privately raised 3.5 million dollars for this amazing library which opened in September of 2007.

The library sees an average of 24,000 people a month. I’m pretty sure they’re coming to sit and read by one of these huge fireplaces.

This is the back of the library which is also an entrance.

Here’s one of the Mudgy and MIllie statues that were unveiled today. It’s a little less crowded now!

Once home, we got our moose on.

Hubs and Schäfer took time to read about Mudgy and Millie. We hoped the book will help our kids be familiar with the area so when they visit they can feel connected – at least with the moose trail!

This evening, Hubs got the internet crankin’ on Grandpa’s computer. Now that’s some fast surfin’!

Print Friendly