The arrival of his 'Highness..."

His Highness, the Royal Michael Matthew Tichy (Karen's brother's son) arrived with his mom and dad for a week-long visit at the end of August. It's funny, but that's what his parents call him, 'his Highness'. And he tries to live up to the name.

All kidding aside, John, Melissa and Michael came for a visit. It was great to see them all, as it had been a year since we saw them last.

They stayed up in the cities for the first part of the trip, then they traveled down to Nelson to stay near Oma for a few days. We visited the Tichlins at their hotel in Edina and visited the indoor play area - Edinborough. It wasn't very busy (very nice) and we got to play all morning. We also played a little in their hotel room as well, then had lunch. We also spent time at our house, showing Michael our collection of toys that we have accumulated over the years. Cailin and Andrew were happy to share their toys and 'show' him how to use everything.

So we took to the camper down for the latter part of the week and were able to spend additional time with them down there at oma's place. We took our camper and hooked up to Mom's red barn for electricity. John, Melissa and Michael stayed at a condo in Wabasha for the week (since mom has two foreign exchange students staying with her for the school year).

We all had fun playing together. The kids got a long great. We were thrilled (probably less thrilled than Michael's parents) to show Michael a few 'new' things that hopefully will remind him of his Minnesota cousins, such as fruit loops cereal, hot dogs and toys out the ying yang.
Michael has grown so much and the kids played well together.

Andrew had big fun driving Oma's tractor around the yard. We also played in the pool quite a bit and managed to splash almost every bit of water OUT of the pool by playing a jumping game called 'chop, chop, timber', where they would stand for the chop, chop part and jump up in the air and kersplash into the pool for the timber part (from swim lessons...). Oh, what fun!
Cailin was excited to float in the pool. Masher enjoyed, well mashing in the pool.

Kamp Dels

We've done a few more camping trips as we had hoped with our new camper. One such trip was to Kamp Dels in Waterville, MN. This wasn't quite the type of camping experience I remember from when I was a kid. This place was huge! It had a petting zoo, mini-golf, lake, boat rides, pony rides, a large pool with diving board and a water park as well as several playgrounds, big and small. We decided to try and hit it when there were fewer people - Monday through Thursday. It was a nice deal, we'd do that again for sure! As we arrived on Sunday, it was craaaazy nuts. But then it quieted down, it was still busy, but much less crazy. Cailin loved the water park. Andrew not so sure about the water park, but loved jumping into mom or dad's arms into the pool. Then poor Andrew, as if on command, got double ear infections (including a trip to the Waseca Medical Center - Urgent Care), then a trip to THE Walmart in the area (everyone knew WE were from outta town...) to get our prescription filled. He was pretty crabby for the last few days, poor guy. He and mom hung out a lot in the camper, while daddy and Cailin hung out with the friends we went with, Luke, Sarah, Caleb and Dawson (our friends from across the street). All in all, it was a great trip, we had a ton of fun, and are already planning our trip for next year.

Cailin and Caleb hung out in the in hammock, and wanted to play in the campers (theirs as well as ours). They wanted to watch movies, so we had to remind them of all the fun stuff to do.

Plus, the best thing it was only about 40 minutes from our house! That was sweet!

Keeping busy this Summer!

This summer has been busy with playing, playing and more playing. Andrew has moved up his 'big boy bed'. He says that cribs are for babies. Either way, he's very, very proud that he's in a big bed like his big sister. He loves the freedom of getting up when he wants to and that's been kind of early in the morning. He also loves to watch Thomas, especially in bed with mom and dad while we catch an extra bit of sleep. His language is incredible and is so incredibly independent, all while being still very emotional (he is 2 after all...).

Cailin has become fully potty trained! That has been a big accomplishment. We are so very proud of her and she is so very proud of herself. She is happy to be independent in that area. She is excited for her ECFE class to begin again so she can see her friends. And is always looking forward to camping, especially with her 'best friend' Caleb from across the street.

We are also excited for an upcoming visit from Uncle John, Auntie Melissa and cousin Michael. We haven't seen them in a year, so the kids are so excited to see baby Michael. I've told them he's not a baby, but they'll have to see for themselves. That should be great!

We also have several upcoming camping trips (we took a hiatus for the month of July) coming up over the next two months. So everyone is excited to go, go go. Options are greater for sleeping in the camper now that masher is in his big boy bed.

Helping in the Kitchen - Again....

We have been lucky enough this year to have a very bountiful garden growing in our backyard. So we've been spending a lot of time recently 'harvesting' the goods. Cailin loves to hunt for raspberries. Andrew likes the watering part. He hasn't completely soaked us, but laughs when he 'accidentally' gets us.
They both love to help cook in the kitchen. If we are vacuum sealing beans or making something with zucchini (we have TONS of it...) they love to help. This past weekend, we made a few different zucchini treats, including making zucchini bars. We had to make dad's favorite cream cheese frosting and the kids 'helped' with that too. After it was all done, they wanted to lick the spoons. That led to frosting everywhere. But it was fun!! The kids did help and they later ate some of the zucchini bars with the frosting. They even ate the bars, not JUST the frosting....

Masher's new haircut

Andrew has quite a thick head of hair. He was lucky enough to get the thick curly hair of his dad. Poor Cailin got mom's thin, fine, straight hair. Those boys have all the luck don't they? Well, we keep Andrew's (or masher as we affectionately call him at home - if you've seen him in action, you'd understand the nickname) hair pretty short. They even thinned it a bit the last time we were in, because he gets so hot especially in the summer. The hair stylist put a little gel in his hair and spiked it. He loves to have it spiked and will ask for it to be done. The only problem is it doesn't hold. He's got such thick coarse hair, it holds for a while, but then slowly flattens out.

So usually masher will ask for more 'spikes'.

Swim Class Update

Several people have asked for the swim class update - Well, as you may have guessed it, Cailin would not return to her swim class. She kept saying that she didn't like the guy teacher (there are two teachers in the class, one is a guy and one is a woman...) and something about not wanting to do a 'belly flop' into the pool. So my guess is the guy teacher said some joke and it freaked her out... Anyway, it's a hiatis for now from formal swim lessons.

She still LOVES the pool and loves to swim, so she's not afraid of the water. So we'll see!! We spend most weekends during the summer in our pool and she loves it!

2 year check up

Andrew had his 2-year check up yesterday. He is a healthy boy, all in all. He is 33" tall, 32 lbs (only 2 less than big sis) and his head is still rather large - 95th %.
Now, the big dilema is to remove the 'fire' as he calls it (his pacifier). We were told he should have stopped using it 6 months ago - whoops!
That should be fun, although masher may not agree with that....
Maybe we'll have to call the Supernanny to help us......

Camping in Nelson

We went to Oma's house for a weekend getaway. We brought the camper and 'roughed it' at Oma's place. We visited the Carousel at Lark Toys in Kellogg and went into Wabashsa to play and have lunch.

Most of the time we played up at the farm. Saturday was pretty rainy most of the day, so we ended up setting up our toys in the barn and played and played. Cailin's favorite toy was chasing after the dogs. She said Rosie (the dog she's following in the picture) was her favorite and Andrew said his favorite dog is Emma.

Andrew also played with the kayak that was being stored in the barn. He thought it was big fun to sit in the kayak and pretend to be in a boat in the water. He's quite the adventurer! He also found some water toys in there and were playing with those.

It was Andrw's birthday and he got a new Step 2 Ride on Fire Engine. He thought that was big fun. It even has a loud siren that sounds when he hits the button! Mom and Dad love that toy! But Andrew thinks it's pretty cool, so that's good.

All in all, it was a great trip. We got to see Uncle and Uncle Chris too, they came down for a birthday party for the masher.

On the way back Cailin asked me when we could go back to see Oma again. She wanted to spend one more day.....

Swim Class

Cailin recently started a swim class through the local community education department. She was all excited because her buddy, Caleb is also taking swim classes, and she wanted to be just like him. Caleb is in a different class (because all of the classes were pretty much full), but she seemed excited to go spend some time with Daddy (the other family fish).

Cailin started a few weeks ago and here's how it went:

Week 1 - getting over stomach virus - not fit for the pool. We'll try next week.

Week 2 - went to class (see picture, blurry, but proof she was there), seemed to love it. Smiled the whole time. Had to get out three times to use the bathroom. I guess the water was the inspiration with that (since we are in the midst of potty training, we obliged).

Week 3 - (this past week). Would NOT get in the pool. She had talked about it the night before that she didn't want to go, also mentioning that she wanted to play with her friend Caleb instead of going to swim class.

Week 3 - the evening after class: Big talk with mom about WHY she wouldn't get in the pool. "I don't know, maybe I don't like the water..." yeah right. She apologized to daddy for giving him a hard time, promised to get into the pool next week.

Week 3 - the day after class: I picked up the kids at daycare on Tuesday, the first question Cailin asked me when we got into the car "mama, is this a swim day, can I go to class?" I told her it was not, but that it would be on Monday. She then said "ok mama, I'll go in the pool next time, I was just being silly."

Leave it to Cailin to tell it like it is. She's so very 3 and we love it!

:)

First 'Official" Camping Trip

We took our new RV out for it's first run. We went with some friends (who are experienced RV'rs) for two nights and three days out to Baker Park Reserve in Maple Plain. The plan was to go somewhere close to home, so that if we needed to, we could just return home.

Turns out everything went great, we had a blast with our friends, Luke, Sarah, Caleb and Dawson and the weather was perfect! The kids did well too. In fact, as soon as we got home, the kids wanted to climb back into the camper to watch movies and have a snack. I guess that's a good thing too!

The kiddos played and played together. There weren't many people at the campground (mid-week) so we had the place almost to ouselves.

They played with bubbles, toys, trucks and we took walks and went down the playground (which still had a version of their famous zip-line that I remember from when I was a kid).

Trip to Pine Island

The whole family packed up to head to Pine Island for the day on
Mother's Day Weekend. First stop was Zumbrota, where Grandpa was driving bus (he had to bring the softball team up for a tournement), so we stopped by to visit him on the way to PI.We visited with Grandma Bea at her place, spent some time with Grandma Betty, then we were off to the playground. Once we got to the playground, it started to pour, so we flew back up to grandma and grandpa's place for play time and dinner.

Camper

We purchased a new camper last week. Yes, we have stimulated the economy. We have been looking for awhile and talking since last year about this, but it actually came home last week. Since then, the kids have loved playing out in the camper (parked in our driveway). They watch movies on the sofa or have snacks out there or just hang out and play or read books. We put Andrew's portable crib in there - thinking that's where he'll sleep for a little while at least until he gets used to a big boy bed.

Weekend Fun - from a few weeks ago

I know, I know - we haven't posted in some time. I have been swamped with preperations for the fundraiser at my office. It was on May 3rd and went very well, but needless to say the few minutes we had at home the past few weeks were playing with the kiddos and not much else. So now I will try and catch up with a few entries.

Andrew and Cailin now like to dress alike - yes, that's a bit odd. But it's mostly that Cailin wants to dress Andrew the way she wants him dressed. So if she has a sweatshirt on, he should have a sweatshirt on - etc. So this shot was her proudly showing her dressing skills for her and Andrew.

Cailin also brought out her Wild jersey that she wore a few times during hockey playoffs. Unfortunately, the Wild did not make it past the first round, but we were trying to cheer them on! Cailin even wore it proudly to class one day (although thankfully the teacher removed it turning painting time...)

Helping Oma with Dessert

Oma still comes to visit every Thursday to watch the kidlins. She is also kind enough to make a meal and dessert for all of us to enjoy together as a family every week. Uncle Chris makes it over most nights to enjoy and Uncle even makes a guest appearance on occasion as well (that is when he leaves the safety of the 'beltway' as we say...

Oma was making something with whipped cream and Andrew needed to 'help' her. You can see what his idea of 'help' really means.

Duluth / Two Harbors Weekend

We were able to go up north this past weekend. We had actually planned it some time ago, long before our previous invitation to Lutsen (thanks again Sarah and Luke!). So we headed up north again, just a short 3 weeks after our last trip. We stayed at Superior Shores in Two Harbors and played around that area.

We stayed in a lakefront condo, which was very, very nice. We were right on the lake. There were spots you could stand in, where you could not see any shoreline, so there were times it felt like you were on a boat. The weather was overall nice. And the lake was open, free of ice. This was new from the 3 weeks ago when we drove past last, and it was frozen solid then. Now it's open and ships were traveling in the distance.

The kids loved the view. Andrew kept saying 'splash, spalsh' when the waves would crash outside of our window. He also loved seeing the birds and loved the big whirlpool tub in our condo. Cailin thought the big swimming pool at the lodge was swell as was their hot tub. She would have spent the whole weekend with blue lips traveling between the pool and hot tub.

We went to Gooseberry Falls (above, flowing fast under the ice, it was loud) and into Two Harbors a few times (hey, Pamida has great toys to play with in case you didn't know...) We also stopped in Duluth on our way up and way home so we got to spend some time hiking around Canal Park.

We had an amazing sunrise on Saturday.

We all had a blast and happy to say we have another 'trip' under our belts. We love to travel and are thrilled the kids do too!

wow, that's a lot of snow!

We got another wonderful snowstorm last week. It was swell. Not to say that our lawns were clear of snow and it was really looking like spring. Mother Nature had something else in mind. Nice and wet and heavy too. Swell.

The only thing about March snow storms that is nice, is that it's generally gone pretty quickly.

Geez. blasted snow!

Reading the paper

It is common in our house to have the newspaper sitting on the dining room table. Especially on the weekend. Cailin loves to read through the Walgreens ad (yes, it's true) to see what fun stuff they have on sale. Daddy likes to read the Menards, Home Depot, Lowe's ads and such. Mommy usually reads the actual news sections. So then Andrew had to get on board. So he decided he wanted to read about food. Not shocking to anyone that knows him. It was quite a site, the whole family looking at the newspaper at once. I was only able to capture Andrew still reading though, even after everyone else was all done. Hey, he even has it right side up this time!

What's even funnier is that neither Mike nor I have many books or spend a lot of time reading. The kids must have gotten some mutunt gene or something. Because they both LOVE to read!

Easter 2008

This year, as with most holidays and birthdays, we had several different Easter celebrations. The first one was actually held on Palm Sunday and the Lechelts house. There was a big group and there was an Easter egg hunt in the yard. It was little chilly and the snow posed a few obstacles, but none the less everyone had a blast! Plus the candy was super yummy, or so I'm told.

The next Sunday, the kids woke up and the first thing Cailin wanted to do was to look to see if the Easter bunny had left a basket for her. Which, sure enough he had. Andrew got one to of course.
Then we were off to Pine Island to visit Grandma and Grandpa Friary. We played with the puppies too - including the new puppy Bullit. The kids had a blast. There were Easter baskets there too and the kids played and played and played. They got soaked playing in the sink and then played in the tub. Hey, who needs real kiddo toys when you have water and tubs to play in I guess.......

Field trip

Cailin went on a field trip with her ECFE (early childhood family education) class on Friday. We went to Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington. We met at the school where we have class to meet up with the bus. She was a little nervous about riding the bus, but got on board and sat very quietly. Then as the bus got going, she got more comfortable and turned to me and said "mommy, I'm riding a big yellow school bus!". It was super cute. I actually found myself a little misty at the fact, seeing her, looking so grown up and all. I wondered what had happened to my little pipsqueak of a baby. Goes quickly!

Here, the big girl on her first big bus ride!!

She had a lot of fun. The purpose of the trip was to learn about how to make Maple Syrup, so the kids got to learn about trees and the maple syrup making process. It was quite fun. A little chilly, but overall pretty fun!

Cailin's favorite part of the trip was drilling into the tree and pounding the spiggot into the tree. She thought that was pretty cool.
Here, she was sampling some of the homemade syrup. Yum, she wanted more, more more!

Andrew got stuck at daycare that day, but had fun. He was a little confused as he left with Daddy and mommy and Cailin were still at home. But we picked him up after daycare and got Shamrock shakes (which he polished before we even got home....) and then went to the mall for haircuts and dinner.