Spring Break 2013

Spring Break 2013 is coming to end....back to school for everyone on Monday.  We got away to Duluth for a few days late this week.  We stayed at the Edgewater Resort and Waterpark up on London Road, everyone seemed to have an okay time (if you plan on going...take the stairs, not the elevator).

The hotel provided a couple of pools, a lazy river, a waterslide and a slide dedicated to tubes.  Basically enough for everyone to have fun.  Luke proved to be his typical self, it took a little time before he got comfortable going down the slides (he really doesn't like to be splashed).  There were several kiddie slides that he was able to enjoy (as well as everyone else).

Lex also proved to be herself, fearless and determined, always wanting things her way.  She does not have an aversion to being splashed.

Kieran was.....well....Kieran, after a few tears here and there, he figured out he'd have fun.  He enjoyed waiting for the large bucket to spill on him and everyone below (Luke would hide during these times)...

We were able to get away for a few hours to head up the shore to Gooseberry Falls State Park, where we'll be camping in a few months.  It was nice seeing a different perspective of a waterfall we know so well.

Closer to the lake, the area that the boys call the 'tadpole place' (in late June, every pool in the rock crevices is filled with tadpoles) was covered with a winter's worth of lake spray that had frozen on most surfaces.  Many inches of ice covered almost everything.

Back at the hotel, we kept swimming.  Even though Kieran is not the strongest swimmer, he found a way to walk over the water that was almost four feet deep.

Before leaving Duluth for home, we had to visit Canal Park, taking in the sites of a fairly frozen harbor.

Ice-breaking began a few weeks earlier, allowing 'lakers', those ships dedicated to traveling the Great Lakes to come into and out of the harbor.  We missed a port record by a few hours, late on Friday night, the first 'saltie' was due to come into the harbor.  Salties are ocean-going ships that pass through the St. Lawrence Seaway.  This was the first time a 'saltie' passed under the Aerial Bridge before April 1st, thus a record, who said this winter never wanted to end?!

Just a few more months and we'll see this bridge again (of course....minus the snow and ice)....

Snow Day!!

What's with the big snowstorms at this point of the year?  Last year, February 29th to be exact, one that winter's largest snowfalls canceled school.  Well....March 5th was the date this year...somewhere in the range of 6-10 inches of snow over the last two days canceled school for two-thirds of the state.

The boys came outside around 7:30 to play while I shoveled snow (for the second time), they stayed out until about 10:00, until they were "freezing cold".  They were able to push through the cold while playing with a few neighborhood girls.  After naptime, Lex joined the boys outside to play.  Sorry about the poor quality camera phone pictures.

Luke playing in the snow...by himself

Luke has always been okay with being apart from the crowd.  He spent a lot of time building mound of snow that he said was a clown...I didn't see the clown.

Kieran shoveling 'trails' for Lex so it would be easier for Lex to walk

 I prefer if the boys play with their shovels somewhere other than near the driveway.  Before knowing that school was canceled for the day, I spent 30 minutes from 4:45-5:15 shoveling the driveway, within minutes of being outside Luke was shoveling snow back on the driveway.

See.....Kieran's 'trails' work

One problem with Lex, when she falls down in the snow, she still is not comfortable getting up by herself.  She just sits and whines until she gets what she wants....which is what she also does inside I guess.

'Trails' make walking easy for little legs

Lex was really happy while playing outside....until Luke put a shovelful of snow on top of her head, most of which went down her back.  Fifteen minutes after the shovelful, she and I were inside.

Luke pretending to nap outside

Just a few more weeks and most of this snow will be gone.  Forecasts call for 40 degrees and rain/slush by the weekend.  No more snow days this year.

Minneopa Falls

Saturday morning the kids and I went to Minneopa State Park just south of Mankato.  Even though the area had 5+ inches of snow the day before, we sort of expected the paved trail to the falls overlook to be plowed (we know now that it is not plowed, though the parking lot was).

The hike to the falls overlook is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 mile....it was a little difficult for Lex, we moved slower than the boys would have liked.

The bridge over Minneopa Creek, between the 10-foot upper falls and the 39-foot lower falls was completely replaced (trust me...it needed to be) last fall.  In my mind it is safer now, the boys can't lean over the railings of this bridge.

While the boys were off throwing each other in the snow, Lex took some time to actually look at the falls.

Eventually I was able to get the boys over so I could get a picture of all three kids.

I took two pictures of Luke, Lex, and Kieran together by the falls -- I have no idea how both of them turned out okay (no one mad, crying, blinking, hitting another, etc.).

One more picture of just the lower falls, because of the dry conditions we've had since the middle of last summer, this creek has been mostly dry since at least September.  It wasn't much of a surprise to see the falls  without much ice.  The little bit of snow that we have isn't going to make much of a difference in the ground moisture when it melts, especially if it all runs off when the soil is still frozen.

Altogether, we spent a couple of hours at the falls, until the kids were soaked and cold.  Trust me, the moment the kids realize they are cold occurs almost instantaneously....

Pinewood Derby - the races

Here's a video of one of the races (sorry, but I'm pretty sure it's sideways and I couldn't rotate it).  Kieran is sitting with his back to the camera a the end of the track.

The day was pretty successful.  Kieran won 'Best Design' out of all the cars (total of 39).  That was unexpected!

Above is a picture of Kieran holding his car and trophy for best design with the other two big winners (best engineering and fastest car I think).

Out of his den, Kieran took second place in overall speed.  I figured he'd get a trophy in this category, the top three fastest cars in each den got a trophy and Kieran's den has four members.

All in all, I think Kieran had a good time!

Pinewood Derby

Kieran is in Cub Scouts this year and one of the activities that they do is the annual Pinewood Derby.  Kids make a vehicle following a set of guidelines that will be raced, with awards given for fastest car, best paint, etc.

Well Kieran wanted his car to look like Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, of Transformers fame.  So it took a bit of work and was completed last night (Wednesday).

Kieran did the type of work that one could expect of a 6-year old.  The design was his (he didn't do the exact measurements, but the rough outline), he did some of the sanding, painting, helped with grinding the axels down, etc.

The derby is Saturday, we'll see how it goes.

Christmas Gifts

Christmas Day is getting more and more fun as the kids get older.  Part of it is probably that they are getting old enough for the gifts to be useful or playful for everyone.  The boys have been counting down until Christmas for well over a month and have been anxious for Santa's visit.  Thinking that the kids would be awake early on Christmas morning proved to be wrong.  They slept in until sometime after 6:30 am, usually the boys are awake by 5:45 am or so.

During the video, here hear both of them yell 'Ratchet' a couple of times, then Kieran stands up and gives a fist pump while saying "Finally.....we have Ratchet!"  I laughed and have watched the video numerous time since (partly because I remember a similar video of me receiving an Atari video game system.

If you are asking what 'Ratchet' is....well....Ratchet (and Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, etc) is an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron, which you can call an Autobot for short.  The enemy of all Autobots are the Decipticons lead by their leader Megatron.

Merry Christmas

Fall at Minnehaha Falls

The month of September 2012 was the second driest month of September in recorded history for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.  Officially, just 0.30" of rain fell (during the record September of 1882, only 0.27" of rain fell).  Because of the lack of rain and the fact that I knew the falls were nearly dry, we had to go spend a few hours there (plus, I wanted to gigpan the falls, check out the gigapan below if you don't know what that means).

See the full size version of the gigapan here.

Now the kids just wanted to run and they found lots of space to do that.  Below the falls and near the abandoned waterfall, the creekbed is dry, which provided the space needed.

They could do silly poses and throw some rocks....

Of course there is a great picture of the three kids that should make the Christmas card....

Did I mention it was fall?

Of course Kieran always has to be the one who climbs the highest...

We finished the day with a short picnic lunch.....Luke and Lex fell asleep about 100 yards away from the parking lot, they were pretty worn out.

Luke's Second Day of Pre-School

So apparently getting on the school bus for the second day was not as big of a concern...

Hopefully the day went as well as the smiles indicate...

Luke's First Day of Pre-School

Luke's first day of pre-school has been coming for awhile.  Lately, he's been talking about how he'll be riding the bus with Kieran and about all the fun things he'll do at pre-school.

But...remember...he's Luke and he does not like new people or even new routines (not sure where he gets that from).

Quoted from a text by Sarah:  "I feel sorry for Rich (the bus driver, great guy) as Luke was screaming as I actually had to physically put him on the bus.  Rich said it was the 2nd one this morning and he wasn't at the least fazed."
Quoted from an e-mail by Sarah:  "When I put Luke on the bus, I looked at Kieran and said hold on to him, and I ran off quickly so he couldn't follow."  (hope Kieran can hold on tight!)

Another text from Sarah:  "Betsy (the pre-school teacher) had to take him off the bus & I left him with Betsy screaming.  Hopefully the day will get better."
I'm sure the day went just fine and Luke had fun.  These first few days may try the patience of those involved, but Luke will do great!