Lex & Glad Days

Yesterday was a busy day.....Science Museum in the afternoon and then Kids Fest at Glad Days (the local town celebration) last night.  Lex and I walked down to the park, bought her a wristband (so she could bounce in the bounce houses) and she was off playing games.  Kids Fest has lots of games that kids play and win cheap prizes -- though last night she came home with a notebook and crayola marker set.

What she really wanted to do though was ride the mechanical bull.  She rode it once, but after she got off we realized that was an extra $5....so right before we left to walk home at 8:30, she wanted to ride it again, this time we payed.

Here's the video -

Just in case the video quality isn't very good on the blog, here's a few pictures...

She had fun...

Lex & the Science Museum

The boys are still gone for a few more days, so Lex and I were home alone yesterday and we needed to find something to do.  When I asked Lex, she said "let's go to the science museum"....so we did and had lots of fun.

The fun started where it always starts at the museum....at the T-Rex just outside the gates...(p.s. don't tell Luke)...

She got to play on the musical stairs all by herself...

She found the giant beaver...

Made some impressive shadows using 3 different colored light bulbs...

We saw the Triceratops like we always will...

But they've recently moved the Triceratops to be closer to the other dinosaurs, good idea to me, but we're not sure what they're putting in the old spot (it's under construction now)...

Loved this comic...it fits the boys pretty well...

Turns out, Lex does have a big head....I knew it...

The best part for me, the earth science teacher, was watching Lex enjoy playing with items that teach about permeability and porosity of different rock materials...

Here she's determining which rock (sandstone, shale limestone, dolostone or granite) is more permeable...

She played with a bigger version, determining the permeability of sandstone or dolomite...

She figured out which tube has the higher porosity (sand and small, medium, large pebbles)....

She made her own turbidity current....

And examined what a dam will do to sediment in a river (and what removed that dam will do)....

And of course, we needed one more picture...

It was a busy afternoon...she didn't make it far from St. Paul before she fell asleep...

Though she promises that she didn't fall asleep...

The MN Zoo

The kids and I went to the zoo a few weeks ago and even though we saw all the animals that we could see, the goal for the day was to see Dinosaurs......Luke had really wanted to go, so we went...

Entering the dinosaur kingdom...

The first we saw really caught Luke's attention...

Even Kieran enjoyed them...

Some looked like they wanted to eat you...

This one he spit...which is why Luke is standing in the line of fire...

Almost every time that Lex knows a picture is being taken, we get this smile....hope it gets better...

They liked 'Fluffy' - the T-Rex...(apparently K's forced smile is like Lex's....)

Here's a raptor getting ready to pounce...

Of course Lex liked the babies the best...

This might be Lukie's biggest wish...that he could've hatched as a dinosaur...

Luke and I had to take a picture with the T-Rex....

What....you're upset we went to the zoo and there are no pictures of any living animals?  Fine....here's a brown bear...

And a moose....

And Lex and Luke watching the brown bear...it was a pretty hot day out that day...

The dinosaurs are at the zoo until Labor Day and I know we'll be back again before then.  Luke has three goals for the rest of the summer -- go to the zoo, the science museum and a cave...

Kieran and Lex think those goals are just fine...

Lex's Birthday

So the little girl had a birthday a few days ago....she finally turned 6...she's been waiting, impatiently for it for months now...

It started early that morning...this is what she looks like in the morning...hair's a mess, but it's rare that she's got this smile going that early...

Of course she was happy with everything....

She had a birthday party at the pool in Shakopee - considering it was over 90 degrees, it was a good day.  Lex invited five kids (three girls and two boys), but on of the boys couldn't go.  Sarah figured that in order to keep the boys away from her, they should each bring a friend.  So we had 9 kids total coming.

The boys and the friends rode with Sarah, while I had Lex and her four friends...I bet Sarah's ride was quieter than mine.  Five first/second graders don't go quietly....

After a quick lunch it was time to go swimming...

And then of course, eat cake and open presents while the lifeguards were taking a safety break...

Here's the cake...

And some present opening....

I think everyone had a good day!

Baseball Clinic with the St. Paul Saints

Kieran and Luke had the opportunity today to participate at a baseball clinic put on by members of the St. Paul Saints at their home field, CHS Field.  They had both done the same clinic the same weekend in July last year and had been on the field, but I had never been there - it's nice stadium.

They both got into the same group, which was nice - plus you could see them talking to each other and having a good time.  Each group rotated through 4-5 different stations working on fielding, batting and pitching.  Both boys said they enjoyed the batting (this station was out of sight in the batting cages behind the dugouts) and the pitching stations the best.

Here's some pictures....

Luke getting ready to field the pop fly

Here comes Kieran's pop fly 

And a good, hard throw back to the infield

Luke getting ready for the ground ball (Kieran's right behind him)

Kieran's turn for the ground ball

It is a nice stadium, with good looks of the St. Paul skyline and even the capital, if you're in the right spot...

Pitching practice was fun.  First they started with the mechanics of the windup.  Kieran is in the lower left and Luke is in the upper right, close to the kid wearing the blue shirt....

First they paused to balance on one leg

Then they finished the practice throw

Then each kid got some time to pitch to the catchers...

Luke firing a pitch

And Kieran too...of course Kieran says his were better

We had to start the day off with a group picture...the boys were excited...

Lake Maria State Park

With Kieran team at a tournament in Maple Lake all weekend, we got a little antsy between games.  Sarah arrived at the ballpark just as the first game was ending on Sunday (she was coming from a triathlon up in Clearwater) with a slow leak in one of her tires because of an embedded nail and needed to get that fixed, so she took Kieran to Buffalo to fix the tire and get lunch.  That left Luke, Lex and I alone looking for something to do....we found it when we stopped at Lake Maria State Park.

We had never been there before, so we had about an hour (before we had to get back to Kieran's next game) to find some of the highlights for a later visit.  The ranger said that the deer flies were out and I sort of blew her off....I should have listened, they were out in force - thankfully, we only had an hour...

We took a 3/4-1 mile interpretive walk that took us along a lake and over a marsh on a boardwalk.  There were lots of little signs explaining the plants and animals that lived there....but there were too many deer flies to stay in one place too long....

The portion of the trail heading through the woods was easy going...

Once we got to the boardwalk though, it got a little tighter...

Many areas of the boardwalk are almost overgrown....being a small park, they must have limited staff...

The park protects an area of kettle and kame topography that resulted from the most recent glaciations, as well as a portion of the 'big woods' that existed prior to European contact.

It also protects multiple nesting sites of the threatened Blandings turtle.  We saw several signs along the road warning us to slow down and watch for turtles...

Even though we were only there for an hour, of course we got a picture of the sign!

And we got our passport stamped too (we did not complete the hiking club trail, that'll have to happen on another visit -- Kieran will have to be there too)...