Pelotot. We started Ben young, here he is watching the TdF in 2006.

My husband doesn’t dominate the remote year round watching football, basketball and baseball. But July? Forget it, it is all Tour de France all the time in our household. “Sorry, kids Caillou and Clifford are going to have to wait. Today’s a mountain stage.”
And, that’s fine by me. It took me a few years to catch on to the appeal. But now I marvel at the athleticism and endurance of these riders every day. It is truly awe inspiring.
Plus I love the scenery as the peloton speeds by in a colorful spandex blur through small towns, breathtaking mountain vistas and sunflower fields.

In addition to the scenery there is plenty for the kids to enjoy. They really like the stuffed lions the winner of each stage receives and are even learning a few French words like, maillot jaune (yellow jersey) and domestique (support rider). Plus all of the riders names are infinitely fun to say out loud: George Hincapie, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, I could go on and on down the list.
Ben pretends he can ride as fast as them when he’s going up and down the driveway on his trike. For that matter I think Peter does to when he’s pulling the kids in the Burley pretending our rolling neighborhood hills are switchbacks in the Alps.

Then there’s announcer Phil Liggett’s voice - so friendly and calming in the background, it lulls the children into nap time mode.

It’s a rite of summer and it is really a letdown when it’s over and we have to say “Au revoir Tour de France.”

Any other Tour de France fans out there?

I recently found the Mike and the Bike site to be a very educational website for kids about the Tour (and I learned a thing or two as well) - Check it out!

So we haven’t had a “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ post on Cribsheet yet. I have only seen glimpses of the show and quickly turned it because it stressed me out too much. Besides, watching anything on TV before collapsing on the couch for the 10:00 news is a rarity. However it did also put our life in perspective - life with two little ones is a piece of cake compared to the motions they need to go through to get through each day. (Which is why I’m assuming the show is so popular). Have a tough day? Turn that show on and sigh, “At least we’re not them….” They’ve been plastered all over magazine covers recently and now we know the inevitable “big announcement” they made last night was - they are getting a divorce.

But their story puts the spotlight on a topic we haven’t discussed on Cribsheet yet. Divorce. Already a heartwrenching decision. But when there are kids involved everything is intensified. I know many of our readers have been touched by divorce first-hand and can give a personal perspective.

What is your opinion? Stay together for the sake of the kids, or break up and get out of an unhappy marriage?

You know how sometimes you read a travel story on your hometown and you think - what? How could they pick Cafe A over Cafe B? What morons! Why did they feature that tired, touristy horror that no local ever steps foot in? What about the hidden gems? Did they even talk to anyone who actually lives here?

Well, when Rachael Ray came to the Twin Cities, she didn’t make that mistake. Right after the obligatory shot of the spoon and cherry, she headed to United Noodles, a hard-to-find Asian supermarket hidden away in an industrial complex by the light rail in the Seward neighborhood. It also has a hole-in-the-wall deli which happens to be my favorite place for noodles with the girls on weekends.

Zoe and Maya and I stumbled on the link to Rachael’s “Tasty Travels” segment on the UnitedNoodles web site last weekend. We watched, rapt.

Zoe, 5, is a foodie who loves Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain with equal passion. When I was home on maternity leave during those long winter months with Maya, we (Zoe, me, my visiting mom from Malaysia) watched endless segments of Rachael’s 30-minute Meals on demand.

When it comes to cooking, I am a resolute non-measurer (my husband is the opposite) and Rachael’s exhortations to “Eyeball it!” suited me just fine. As did her cheerful and unapologetic use of ready washed and cut greens and other handy short-cuts.

But wow, how I wish she’d not taken so many short-cuts with her United Noodles segment. (more…)

A couple of links and alerts today:

Bunnies & Bonnets:
Hope all of you had an Easter weekend full of family, fun, great weather (and photo opps). So why not upload your cutest jpgs of your kids in their finery, ears, bonnets, on egg hunts, dressed up etc and share them with us. Not a contest -this is just fun! You can upload them at our Bunnies & Bonnets gallery.

Cutest Baby Winner:
Check out Emilie and all of the adorable finalists of The Cutest Baby Contest winner

Mom & Me Look-Alike Contest:
Any mother/child look-a-likes in your family? Enter the Mom &Me Look-Alike photo contest on StarTribune.com that is now taking entries.
Winner wins $1000. Here are the rules and links.

TV/Tivo alert Matt on OPRAH!
If you haven’t already read (or seen the Oprah promos) Matt Logelin & Maddy will be on Oprah today at 4pm.
That’s so great. Speechless. Not at all surprised. Hope he has an enormous server to handle all of the additional blog traffic he will be getting.

I’ve always wanted to know how to get to Sesame Street.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I always have aspired to be involved in that show in some aspect. (But I don’t think they’re currently hiring.)
You may have heard, Sesame Street Workshop is feeling the economy and is starting to do layoffs.
Peter Hartlaub at the SF Gate’s parenting blog the Poop poses this question. Which character would you lay off of Sesame Street?

(my vote is for Mr. Noodle AND his brother Mr. Noodle -a package deal - and once again letting my mime prejudice show)

So Cribsheeters what furry, feathered friend would you vote off “the Street?”