Duluth Weekend

We wanted to get away for a weekend and decided that Duluth was going to be our destination. We do travel up to Duluth several times a year and really enjoy it. Most times, we stay in Two Harbos at a condo, but this time decided to stay right in Canal Park. The weather was very warm (in the 60s) and the final bits of ice were just melting off the river. Although there was no ship traffic this weekend (we were one week early), we had plenty of other things to see!

We found the historical society, which houses a train museum, the children's museum and some other art galleries (which weren't on our 'kid' list). It's in the beautiful old Duluth Depot. Beautiful building. We had never been there, but knew they had trains, which both kids are really into - especially Andrew.

We walked down all the stairs to the old track area and there were probably over 25 real trains in there!! Andrew's eyes were huge when he first saw them and didn't know where to start first. He was so excited!

Cailin loved climbing on board the trains and checking them out. Andrew liked to climb on board and yell "all aboard!" (like the conductor does in Polar Express - that's the most favorite movie these days - we've watched it dozens of times...).
They also had a big Thomas the Tank Engine train set with two tables set up. Needless to saw we stayed all day there, even came back after naps.

Our hotel - The Inn on Lake Superior was was great (Had a few problems but all in all it was ok) - we did a lot of swimming. Cailin loved that.

We had a beautiful sunrise Sunday morning too.

All in all - a really good time!

A difference between two siblings....

As the kids continue to grow older, we continue to notice differences between their personalities. Andrew has always been this shy, quiet child, and he has really started to grow into his own little self. Cailin is confident and eager to please. It's really fun to see how their little personalities are changing and forming as they grow.

Mike was working late last night - so it was just the kids and I (karen) at the dinner table. After dinner - they were excited for dessert. The kids love ice cream, not my favorite, but Mike had picked up a box of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches which is a favorite for Cailin. And Andrew wanted one as well. So we're at the table and I noticed another key difference between Cailin and Andrew.

Cailin ate hers as you would think most people would eat an ice cream sandwich, carefully and somewhat quickly so the ice cream didn't melt all over. She was careful not to let it drip on her and promptly cleaned her hands and what little was around her mouth. Tidy.

Then there's Andrew.

(Oh, and please forgive the bumps on his head, he smashed it on his yellow dump truck. That head has gotten several bumps and bruises - ouch!)

He was less tidy. I was chatting with Cailin and I look over and he's covered in chocolate. He had it even in his ears. Not sure what the heck he was doing or how long I had ignored him to allow it to happen. He ripped apart the sandwich and had pieces of it on his chair, floor and all over himself.

Needless to say, it took quite a while longer to get every inch off of him and he still had plenty on his shirt and pants to show dad when he got home....

Cailin's Birthday Party - Take 2

or rather Take 3.

She had a party at daycare with her friends, then a party with mom and dad at home. The third party was a 'friends' party at a place called Pump It Up Parties. They were located in Eden Prairie and had two huge play rooms. In each playroom were four huge inflatable jumpers. One was a huge slide, one was an obstacle course, ending in a slide and the two others were some kind of jumper/bouncer. Each room had a slightly different assortment, but similar set ups. Then the final room was a party room where the kids had dinner, cake, ice cream - etc etc.

Cailin invited a bunch of her friends from daycare, from across the street (Caleb and Dawson) and family members to join her for her Pump It Up Party. She was so excited.

They have it down to a science, your private party is welcomed by your own 'party coordinator' who stays with you, plus one or two assistants the whole time, making sure you have everything you need, keeps you on track and keeps everyone safe. Then it was off to room #1 where we jumped and played for 40 minutes, then on to room 2 where we jumped and played for 40 minutes, then on to the final room - the party room for dinner.

Andrew was nervous at first. Cailin ran to the biggest slide first, climbed up without fear and off she went. Andrew needed mom to go with him and jump at first, then you couldn't tear him away. He even hopped in the basketball hoop jumper with the daddies and played some hoops with them.

Everyone seemed to have a great time, and everyone, including mom and dad were exhausted. It was a lot of fun and a great workout! (plus the pump it up staff did all the set up and clean up too - which rocked!)
Needless to say, we all slept really, really well.

Cailin's Birthday

We celebrated Cailin's 4th birthday this past week. She was so excited and was really looking forward to it (just like her mom does). Cailin (below) working on her new puzzle with Oma. She had a party at daycare during the day and then another one with family that night.

We had Oma, Uncle and Uncle Chris over for dinner and cake. Andrew was being helpful saying "Happy Birthday Cailin" over and over and over again. He also wanted to help open presents and asked "where's my presents?"

Andrew sitting on Oma's lap eating the rest of her dessert. He seems to like the whipped cream the best!

Andrew - the Ham

Andrew loves to ham it up for the camera. It was a cold weekend in January, one of the weekends that we pretty much camped inside.

Andrew decided he wanted to rest on the chair with dad, but decided he needed to bring his pillow and blanket. I thought it was a cute sight, so I brought the camera out to take a picture and mr. ham had to pose. Silly guy!

While Mom's away....

In January, I (mom) spent the weekend up in Ham Lake with Auntie Rayna, Kayla, Wanda and Katrine at Uncle Gary and Aunt Rhonda's. The girls were planning to do some card making and scrapbooking.

While I was up north, Mike was home with the kids. The house was pretty well trashed upon my return home on Sunday. Although I can't really blame them, having stayed home plenty by myself with the mashers, you get to learn, that a messy house usually means happy kids. Which is a lot easier. The kids also love to stay in the pajamas - a nice weekend treat!

Here, the kids apparently dragged everything into Cailin's room to play. Andrew found his Halloween costume that he wouldn't wear for more than 5 minutes on Halloween, but wouldn't take off this weekend. Cailin wanted to put on one of her Care Bear costumes too.

Andrew was also complaining about not wanting his picture taken, so Mike said he'd take a picture of his puppy instead. Andrew thought that was funny!

After catching up with kids and the weekend's activities, we did some cleaning up too.

Christmas Day in Pine Island

We spent the day in Pine Island with Mike's family. His sisters were both there (even Wanda and Sean from Wisconsin were here - YEAH!). The kids were crazy yet again, although you can't blame them. The kids opened stockings first, then went to the big stuff.

Everyone had fun and it was great to be together with everyone, including Great Grandma Bea!

Andrew was excited to get an orange in his stocking. He wanted to eat it right away...he also wanted to eat the candy that was in his stocking as well right away.

Buster and Bullitt (the two goldens) had fun too - they were busy unwrapping presents and eating the paper inbetween stealing things from people (mainly the puppy, Bullitt)

Next....

We celebrated with my (Karen's) side of the family on Christmas Eve. The kids were WOUND UP that's for sure. Mom brought the two exchange students that are staying with her this year and they enjoyed seeing the kids running mad. The kids each got a piano keyboard, so they were giving us a show before the night was over.

The kids were actually excited to go to bed, knowing Santa was coming after they went to sleep.

Andrew with one of his new Thomas the Tank Engine movies.

Cailin, holding the new kitten, Smokey.

Santa arrived and the kids opened up their presents from Santa which included GeoTrax trains and sets. The kids loved that. Cailin was amazed when looking at the empty plate of cookies and empty glass of milk. It's really cool to see the wonder in their eyes. Cailin got a Dora Bike and Andrew got a big wheel, which he calls his Diego Bike. So the house is destroyed and there is stuff everywhere. But everyone is finally healthy, happy and content. The house will clean itself soon I'm sure....

In this shot, Andrew is playing on Cailin's keyboard. Not sure what he's doing with the thing on his head, but I'm sure he had a plan in mind....

Then, after changing and cleaning up just a little bit, we packed up to head to Pine Island to spend the day with Mike's family.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas - round 1

We are very blessed to have a larger family. Not huge, but a pretty good sized group. So this year, as with other years, we attend a few Christmas gatherings. The first one was with Mike's side of the family on Saturday the 20th. For those of you who live here, you will remember that day as the day of snow, ice and blowing snow. For those of you who live elsewhere....feel grateful you did not have to drive that day here. (the drive was a bit tough, but with 4wheel drive, it helped that's for sure).
Andrew in his new Wild hat - he loves that hat!

Andrew was excited to get a new Lacrosse stick from his cousin Joey. Joey was showing Andrew how to use it. Thankfully, the ball is very soft and we didn't break anything.

We had a great time seeing everyone and the kids were excited to pass out presents and open them. Cailin has been unofficially appointed (or self-appointed) as the present hander outter person. (ok, so that's not gramatically correct, but it works)

Christopher (Choppy), being a ham-bone.

Joey and Choppy showing off their new ornaments.

Andrew's big thing that we heard at each Christmas was "look mom, it's a box!" when he got the paper off. He soon realized that each present was more than just a 'box'.

Andrew enjoyed reading the new books he got from Auntie Rhonda and Uncle Gary. He wanted to read every one as soon as he opened them.

Inside Days

We have had a fair amount of ilness in our house in the recent few weeks. And you can always tell when kids are getting better, because they want to run around and be crazy for a few minutes or the get into mischief. Since both kids have been under the weather (and parent too) we've spent a lot of time in the house trying to keep busy.

Here, we were just finishing up dinner and Andrew had disappeared down the hall to do 'something' as he said, which usually means he doesn't know why he's going but will figure it out when he gets there. He ended up in the bathroom and made quite a mess with the soap. (Incidentally, he loves to put his hood up if he has a sweatshirt on, not quite sure why, but he loves doing that, which is shown in this shot as well).

Cailin has been practicing her sign language, she's spelling her name in this one ('l').

The kids also were trying on their glasses they made at daycare a few months back.

And finally, in this video clip, Cailin was busy cooking things for us and Andrew was mowing the lawn with his lawnmower.

Painting

I had started some painting last winter and never quite got around to finishing things with the busy summer and fall. So it was time to finish up. Mike had lugged in a foldable ladder to help with the high spots and Andrew found it very interesting to 'help' me paint.

In these pictures, he had just woken up from a long winter's nap and still had his "fire" in his mouth. Silly guy! He would paint the windows and I'd steer him clear of the wet paint.

New Family Member

We did get a new family member over Thanksgiving weekend. We left the house with the intention of 'visiting' the humane society on the way to pick up our Christmas tree. We came home with a 14 week old kitten and no tree. Oh well.

The kids named him 'Smokey' and he's really nice.

Now, we have to work on the kids not to pick him up all the time. He's so easy going and friendly that he doesn't seem to care, but we don't want him getting hurt with over zealous hands.

Day on the Farm

Cailin had a Preschool cooking class Saturday morning, then it was off to Pine Island for the day. We spent the first part of the day at Grandpa Norm's farm to celebrate his birthday. We found some old toys in one of the barns and the kids played and played. Andrew liked the trike and Cailin found an old tractor/trike. She loved it, but it was a bit heavy for her little legs, so she got 'rides' from Uncle Dan and others.

Andrew also liked playing with his football and his Uncle Dan and cousin Christopher showed him how to 'strip' the ball from people. Then he spent the rest of the day practicing.
We had a bbq lunch and played and played. It was a beautiful fall day, hard to believe it was actually November. It was beautiful and we took full advantage of being outside almost all day.
We met up with Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Katrine and Tony and Auntie Wanda at Katrine's house. We had a bbq supper and played more. We finally rolled out of town at 8pm and the kids were so pooped out, they slept the whole way home.

It was a fun day!

Halloween

Cailin was waivering between wanting to be a Lion or a Care Bear for Halloween. She decided to be a Care Bear. The kids wore their costumes to daycare on Wednesday (for a trial run) for a Halloween party. Andrew was insistent on being Clifford the Big Red Dog. Got the cute, furry Clifford costume and everything.

Well, Andrew wore his costume for a total of about 5 minutes, then insisted it come off. After that, he assured us he did NOT want to put it on again. Which he did not. He stayed at home with Mom to hand out candy to the trick or treaters.

Caillin was very, very excited to go trick-or-treating. Daddy and Cailin went over to Auntie Buzzy (Rayna) and Uncle Dan's house in Chanhassen to trick or treat. They had a blast. They trick or treated with Uncle Dan, Joey, his girlfriend, Tiffany and Christopher. Cailin chattered the entire time, soaking it all up (and coming home with a large loot of candy).Andrew LOVED handing out candy. We were playing with playdoh inbetween trick or treaters, but then it became so often that he'd camp himself in the doorway (door open) kneeling and saying "mama, more kids coming?". I'd tell him "yes, we have lots more kids coming!". He was very happy.

Maybe he'll try the other side of trick-or-treating next year!