Cheese Fest

One of the traditions we try to hit each and every year is something called Cheese Fest in Pine Island MN. Mike grew up in Pine Island and the second weekend in June has always been taken over by Cheese Fest since he was a small child. They bring in carnival rides and games, food vendors and have entertainment and games all weekend long. We originally were going to camp down there for the weekend, but ended up needing to cancel due to other weekend engagements that had come up. We spent the entire day on Saturday in Pine island.Cailin was ready to go on all the rides as soon as we arrived. The rides didn't start going until 1pm, so we hit the playground first for a little play time.


Lauren and Cailin on the swings.

Cailin even went on this ride (see above) - it's the kiddie roller coaster, which actually had some speed to it. She had a great time. I'm sure having Lauren with her helped a lot! She was the rule girl. The attendant told the kids they needed to hold on and as soon as the ride got going, one kid a few seats back had her hands up in the air (like most of us do) and Cailin was trying to correct her "you have to hold on, please put your hands down...."

Andrew was more apprehensive about the rides, wanting to watch his big sister first, then maybe hit a ride or two. By the end of the day, he was the first in line and wanted to go 'again mommy!'. We were blessed with lots of free ride tickets through a family friend and so we had an abundance of rides that day.

Mike's cousin, Kelly came down with her three kids and they played on the rides. The youngest, Lauren was willing to go on rides with Cailin (lauren is a year or two older than Cailin). Cailin was in heaven being with Lauren and was very brave to go on all the rides Lauren wanted to go on.
Andrew actually got to pose next to the firetruck (below) that his great grandpa drove along time ago. He also got to climb inside a current fire truck and check it out. He was amazed. He said he wanted to drive one when he gets bigger.



Andrew wiped out at the very end and cracked his head on the ground when he tripped over his feet while running away from me. Cailin scraped her elbows on a ride, so those were the only two injuries. Although Mike and I managed to get quite sunburned, me more than him. I always forget to sunscreen myself since I'm busy lathering up the kids.

They were so tired by the end of the day. We also had cousin Joey's graduation party the next day, so we headed home Saturday night from Pine Island and as soon as we got home, we all crashed.

Camping - part two

We spent four nights at Baker Park in Maple Plain, then headed down to Pine Island to visit Mike's family for the weekend and took the camper. We figured it was already packed, the kids' loot was all tucked safe and sound inside so we'd just keep driving.

We arrived at Grandma and Grandpas and Grandpa had his mustang outside and his John Deere Tractor. We got the camper all set up and then Andrew wanted to take a tractor ride. Cailin and Grandma disappeared to the playground on Cailin's bike. The kids were totally pooped out Saturday night.

Wanda was in town from Milwaukee and Katrine and Tony came up and we all had dinner together. It was also the birthday weekend, as we celebrated Mike and Wanda's birthday. The kids enjoyed 'helping' open presents.

Cailin isn't really captured in any of these pictures because she was off playing, having tea parties, playing on the neighbors swingset, going to the playground - etc etc. Grandma and Cailin disappeared for awhile, off playing.....

We also saw cousin Kelly and her children, which Cailin and Andrew both LOVE to play with the kids!

We had one last visit with Great Grandma Bea as we headed out of town on Sunday. But Andrew was soooooo tired, he actually fell asleep in my arms and slept through the entire visit. Cailin chose to sleep the whole way home while Andrew watched "Cars".

Then, when we got home, it was laundry time! I don't think I've ever seen so much laundry piled in front of the washing machine - yikes!

First Camping Trip of the Season

We ventured out for our first camping trip of the season last week. We were gone almost a whole week, so it was a brave one at that. The kids were pretty excited, or I should say Cailin was super excited. Andrew appeared like he didn't know what we were talking about when we discussed camping and sleeping in the camper and camp fires - etc. But he soon remembered and jumped right into his bed upon arrival to test it out.

We went with our neighbors and friends, Luke, Sarah, Caleb and Dawson. We went to Baker Park Reserve which is part of the Three River's Park District in Maple Plain, MN. It's super close and now with the new Hwy 12 bypass, it's really quick too! The weather was great, cool the first night (needed the heat on) and then pretty warm the following days (needed the A/C). A little bit of rain the last night overnight.

The assorted animals had to join (below) us on our trip as well. They mostly watched but occasionally were dragged to the different destinations....

Since we were there during the week, the campground was pretty empty, but then Friday night, things filled up. We spent time in the lake - Cailin and Caleb are little fish - they loved the water and we had to drag them out kicking. Andrew and Dawson hung out near the shore, getting their feet wet or playing in the sand. We also spent time at their huge playground as well as at our campsites playing with the large quantity of toys and bikes that we had brought. Made it really fun! Nevermind the pictures with the kiddos in their jammies - hey it was vacation right? The kids certainly kept busy. We were all tired by the end of each day.

S'mores were of course a big hit and everyone loved that too. On the last night, we pulled Cailin and Caleb out of bed (since they are the older two)so they could stay up late and sit around the campfire with the adults and they LOVED that. Cailin reported that was her favorite part.
Masher with lots of left over chocolate on his face. After this picture was taken, the chocolate was promptly wiped on mom's sweatshirt. Nice look!

Ice Cream Sunday

It was a really nice weekend this past weekend and we spent most of it on the new playset (see previous post) and so we'd pop in the house to eat and sleep, but otherwise spent most of the rest of the time outside.Cailin LOVES, loves ice cream. So her and Mike will have ice cream treats frequently. We came in the house and were having an ice cream snack on Sunday and the kids plopped themselves infront of the sliding glass door to watch the birds while munching.

Andrew for some reason loves to have his hood on his sweatshirt up on his head. It looks kind of silly especially since he is now wearing shorts! But the two of them perched in front of the window was kind of cute I must say. They are the best of buds sometimes!

Swingset

We have been discussing the idea of getting a swingset/playset in our backyard. We are very lucky and live within walking distance to at least four playgrounds. However, it nice to just open the back door and have one ready to go. Many summer days, we (the adults) spend a lot of time in the garden and doing yardwork, so it seemed like a reasonable option to put a playset in - so the kids have things to do while we're (the adults again...) are working.

So after lots of searching and price shopping, we found one. And with my wonderful brother, Chris' help - ok he did pretty much 90% of it all - we got the playset put together ourselves. It was a bit freaky to see multiple HUGE boxes in it and bags with 500 some screws in it - it was a big project. Thank you Chris!

Cailin wanted a glider (which you'll see they use together and frequently) and Andrew just wanted to swing. So both are happy.

Coloring the Easter Eggs

We spent some time coloring eggs this week. The kids thought this was a great activity. We only prepared maybe eight eggs, but the kids wished we had prepared many more, because they wanted to keep making more, more, MORE!

Afterwards, the kids were playing with them, which didn't bode well for a few of the poor eggs (now cracked), but for the most part, we have several intact. We kept them in the fridge (since we colored them on Tuesday and it's still a few days shy of Easter) and Cailin was constantly checking on them.

She even woke up the next morning and reported that she was worried about them and needed to check on them first thing...

Birthday Gathering In Pine Island

We recently went down to Pine Island for a visit. We weren't able to get together the weekend of Cailin's party and then Grandpa got sick, then we were out of town for a few weekends in a row. So this was the first time we could visit and the kids were super excited to go visit everyone.

We had not been down in several weeks and were actually overdue for a party for Cailin's birthday with Grandpa, Grandma and Grandma Bea.

We had a really nice time spending the day with everyone. We also opened some presents from Katrine and Tony (even though they were visiting Wanda in WI this weekend).

One gift was a particular "hit".

All kidding aside, this was by far one of the favorite presents of the year. We offered to leave it at Grandpa and Grandma's house for when we come to visit, but the offer was declined.

Imagine that...

:)

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.