Easter Egg Hunt...

The annual Easter Egg hunt was this morning...after a quick inch or two of overnight snow, moving the hunt into the high school...which was okay since it was 26 degrees with a strong north wind...

Lukie and Lex were in the same age bracket...they thought it was cool they were in the high school gym (where we've watched a lot of games)...

The kids were told that they could get 8 eggs to start and then had to return to the wall (making sure everyone got 8 eggs)...at that point it was a free-for-all...random chaos...

Going in, they were given tickets that entered them into a raffles...after the hunt, they raffled off many really good prizes based on age (0-3, 4-6, 7-10), but we didn't win any...they also got a bag upon entry that had a lot of nice things (coupons, etc.) that we'll be using soon...

A good morning...

The Minnesota Zoo...

It had been a while since we had been to the Minnesota Zoo...so on Tuesday, Lukie/Lex and I visited again...it was spring break for the kids and I took a personal day...

Lukie wanted to see the Minnesota Trail first so we were off...Lex loves riding the wolves...

Lukie likes looking at them more...

Hanging with the kids is always better than not being with them, but this was a fun day, especially when Lukie and I compared pictures...

He's got the puma(s) in a picture by themselves, while I've got Lukie taking a picture of the puma(s)...

And the Lynx...one of Lukie's favorite animals there...

I was having a blast taking pictures of Lukie taking pictures...

We've always liked the Komodo Dragon in the tropics exhibit...we don't see it active much, by judging from the tail drag marks on the sand, it moves sometimes...

From there we went outside to the Northern Trail and the Russian Coast exhibits...Lex loves the Tigers...though this one was pretty sleepy at the moment...

Lukie remembers seeing Moose in the wild, we might have to go find some this summer...

We were pleased to find out that the Kangaroo's are coming back this summer...

I said Lex likes Tigers...right?

The Brown Bears were pretty active too...

They were feeding the sea otters....

The kids have also always liked the penguins...

After seeing everything, we had about 45 minutes before we needed to leave to get to Lex's dental appointment, just enough time to re-visit their favorite animals....Lex wanted to see the Tigers again...

This time it was awake...Lex said "the tiger is so cute, I just want to hug it..."

Seconds later it yawned and Lukie said "Lexy, your head fits in it's mouth..."  Yep, no hugging tigers...

Lukie wanted to see the lynx again, but this time they were sleeping...but we got a nice look are a river otter playing...

And after seeing the black bears, they had to ride the black bear...

On the way out we saw a crowd gathering for an impromptu show...a zoo employee near a large cooler and we had to see what was inside...of course it was a snake...snakes....it had to be snakes...

This was a 5 1/2 foot long bull snake...after a short presentation, if you wanted to touch it you could and Lukie/Lex both did on the top and bottom of the snake...they both said it felt different on the bottom than the top...

***Note --- there are no pictures from Discovery Bay, but that is were the best moment of the day happened.  Among a bunch of oceanic exhibits is a touch tank that has some stingrays and a few species of sharks (nothing dangerous).  There were a bunch of school groups at the zoo that day and one boy who wasn't being watched well was a little eager to touch a shark.  Well...he fell in!!  It was awesome all three of us laughed afterwards...we talked about how he looked today actually...eyes wide open, like he expected to be attacked by a shark at any moment...lesson learned, don't reach too far in a touch tank...

Easter Eggs...

Part of our busy day yesterday was we needed to dye Easter Eggs...

We had hard boiled 14 eggs the night before in preparation...and both Lukie and Lex have said that we need to do more eggs later this week...

We got the colors ready...Lukie and Lex were ready...

And it was time to drop them in...

We could do about a half at a time...then it was time for a do over...Lex used the magic pen to write on a couple...

But overall...we came out with a decent amount and colors of eggs the first time around...I bet we do a similar amount later this week...

Plus, I'm the only one of the three that will eat the hard boiled eggs...more food for me...

Lexy...Patient of the Day

Today's been a busy day...the zoo, dying Easter eggs and Lexy had an appointment to have a cavity filled...

 It was the first cavity she's ever had that needed to be filled and I asked if she wanted me in there with her, she went back and forth and decided she would try on her own (it helped when the hygienist said she could get me if she changed her mind)...

Fifteen minutes later and I saw that she was getting her picture taken...

I signed a release for the dentist to post it on Facebook and the pictures above showed up a couple of hours later...

Now the best part (definitely in her mind) is that she got to choose between a gift card to Subway, McDonalds or the Dairy Queen...and she excitedly showed it off to Lukie, she was trying to get under his skin like he would to her...

She felt very proud to pay for her dinner tonight...

3rd Grade Wax Museum

Last Tuesday was the wax museum for Lukie's 3rd grade and he asked me to come for the afternoon. He decided he was going to be Lebron James, he has really taken to basketball since playing in the 3 on 3 summer league and playing this past winter.

As you can see, each student put together a 'Biography Poster Report' for their famous individual and could dress up if they wished...Lukie had his BB shoes, shorts, knee pads, a Lebron jersey and an elbow pad/sleeve that Lebron tends to wear...he was excited...

Lex was also excited when I got there...her class was checking out the wax museum when I got there and she took me around to some of her favorites before having to head back to class...It was a fun afternoon...

Triscuit Eating Challenge...

Delano Middle School has had a triscuit eating challenge for Pennies for Patients for the last several years.  Staff volunteer to eat as many triscuits as they can in three minutes...my record has been 26.  I won a few years ago with that number and have also lost with that number...

Students pledge a certain amount of money per triscuit eaten...they choose the contestant...it's all voluntary of course...

Last Friday was the challenge...my Principal, a first year math teacher and myself were the triscuit eaters...

Some contestants get all dressed up and use 'walkup' music to engage the crowd...

My Principal was the first out...apparently he was booed heavily...

I came out last...

My plan was to follow Randy 'the Macho Man' Savage's entrance...had the music and everything...the kids loved it....

Once we were all ready, it was about time...

You can't just start eating triscuits dry...you've got to soak them in something...I prefer Diet Coke or Diet Mountain Dew...once properly soaked...it's one bite and down...the first time eater didn't know that and had a hard time...though she finished 16 in three minutes...

I like to stand up so the triscuits have somewhere to go...

It took me 2 1/2 minutes to finish my 30 triscuits...I have never finished 30...a new record!!

With the time remaining, I drank the Diet Mountain Dew and triscuit remaining parts down...it was disgusting, but the kids loved it...

It's a disgusting, fun three minutes...money well raised...

Class 2AA 3rd Place Game...

Yesterday was the Class 2AA 3rd Place game, meaning we were off for Concordia University in St. Paul.  The highest a basketball team from Central had ever placed at state was 4th, so this was a chance for the team to leave their mark...

Well...they did it and both Lukie and Lex were excited...

Before the game, we took the usual picture -- Lex is trying to show off the CR tattoo on her face again...

And then it was time for the game to begin...

It certainly wasn't easy...there were a lot of timeouts to slow the game down and give the girls some rest...

But eventually the Raiders got in the double bonus in the second half and it became game of making free throws...

They ended up winning 64-54, each girl received a bronze medal for 3rd place and the team got the trophy...

We had also known for a couple of days that there would be celebration for the team back at school at 7:00 that night, regardless on how they did at the tournament...Luke said that we'd be going for sure...winning 3rd just made it a better time...

The band was jamming, lots of people showed up, lots of people give congratulatory speeches and all the seniors spoke...

Lukie was loving it...

But his favorite part was that he got another picture with Mary, this time all by himself.

Lukie and Lex also got another picture with Mary together, but I didn't take that one (I was talking to someone across the cafeteria).  I'm sure I'll get that one too at some point, I just haven't asked Brooke for it yet...

There is nothing wrong with 3rd place...awesome season and awesome time for the kids to be following the team.  I bet we went to between 2/3 and 3/4 of their games together (I made it to several without them)...

At the end of the regular season, the Raiders were ranked #6 in the state.  During the tournament, the beat the #4 ranked team (in the quarterfinals) and the #2 ranked team (in the 3rd place game).  They just couldn't beat the #1 ranked team (in the semi-finals...it's also the team that went on to win the tournament)...great season...

State Semi-finals...

Last night was the Class 2A semi-finals at the Target Center featuring the #5 seed Central squad versus the #1 seed Sauk Centre team...

But before we went into the stadium, Lex needed to have a picture taken with Target icon...

Okay...check, we could then get onto the game...

Our standard for the past few seasons have been to take pictures with the kids and accompany that with the opening tipoff...here's the kid picture (Lex is proudly showing off the CR tattoo, Lukie has one on his hand)...

And the opening tip picture...

It was an awesome game to be at, a chance to go to the state championship...the Raiders gave the #1 seed every thing they that first half and it ended at a 23-23 tie (there were some simple mistakes that the Raiders don't usually do that could have left the score at 29-23 at halftime)...but a good half...

The second half was a lot tougher...Sauk Centre came out hot, at one point they went on a 16-2 run (with one player hitting 2 or 3 NBA three point shots)....but the Raiders worked to crawl themselves back into the game....

Near the end it was apparent that the comeback wouldn't succeed, but it was an awesome game to be at...both Lukie and Lex had a great time rooting for their team, one of the last 4 teams remaining...

Of course we hung around for the end of the game...if you support a team, you support them to the end and that includes the lineup at the end of a disappointing loss...

The good news was that they had not been eliminated from the tournament, they would now be playing in the 3rd place game scheduled the next day at Concordia University in St. Paul.  They still had something to accomplish...no Central Basketball had ever placed higher than 4th at the conclusion of the season...