Pumpkin Carving

So what do you do when one kid is sent home from school with a fever (Kieran) and another (Luke) comes home from daycare feeling icky?  Well, we carve pumpkins I guess....the big day is tomorrow!

Kieran got his hand right in there and started pulling all of the innards out.  He gave the following directions:  triangle eyes and nose, rectangle mouth with two teeth.

Luke though, he's never liked pulling the seeds out.  He took one look and asked Kieran to do the dirty work.

Kieran said he would only if Luke would stay and watch....done deal I guess.

Luke's directions were:  triangle eyes and nose, rectangle mouth, and more teeth than Kieran's (that certainly got a reaction).

We've got one more to carve, but Lex doesn't seem too interested at the moment.  Not our best work, but at least we will have some for tomorrow.  

Happy Halloween!

Luke's First Dentist Appointment

We just got back from Luke's first dental appointment.  He was the typical Lukie, didn't say a whole lot, but was busy observing everything.

Here's a picture right before the cleaning started:

And here's one as the cleaning started:

Good news is that he had no cavities (Kieran was in the next room at the same time getting two small cavities filled).

State Fair 2013

Was thinking last night about a few pictures that we took while at the state fair and then remembered we never put them online.  It was Kieran's first time at the fair.  Before we begin though, let's take a look at what the weather was like on that day:

Yeah, it was hot....but it was actually cooler outside than it was in any of the buildings.  Once we got past the heat and the dew point, Kieran had to do all of those 'fair firsts', like a pronto pup....

And wearing some sort of free headgear....

Even Sarah was excited for the free headgear....

Kieran wanted to take the Sky Ride, so we bought a one-way ticket and got a ride from one end of the fair to the other....

With all those 'firsts' out of the way, we got down to seeing the fair.  Everyone thinks of baseball when at the fair, right?  Well Kieran did and he played a little ball.  Sarah was shopping for a t-shirt and I was hiding in the shade while Kieran played.  He even hit one out of the park, a home run!

Kieran really liked watching the bees at the exhibit on honey (that, or the rotating fan helped him rest)...

We even got to see what Kieran would look like a little older, a female....and covered with bees...

Kieran found a ropes course for kids and spent about 30 minutes getting set up and working his way through it...I sat in the shade and tried not to die.  First he had to gear up!

Then he had to climb 10-15 feet to the course itself.

Once on the course there were numerous obstacles to work his way through --- things like the bridge, swinging steps, the tight rope, the hour glass and the swinging ropes.

If you ask him, he wasn't nervous at all, but there were a few times that got him a little concerned...

He stumbled once, but quickly caught himself and continued on...

After 8-9 hours at the fair, it was time to head home.  Kieran wanted one more time on the 'Giant Slide' and thought it was a good idea for me to go along (it was still around 98 degrees and there were a lot of steps, so he did it himself).

Can you find him?  He's the one in the green shirt....

Still haven't found him?

Surprisingly, Kieran didn't sleep on the bus ride back to the car (I would have).  Overall, he had a great day.

Homecoming Week

Last week was Homecoming for Central --- dress up days were:

Monday - Pajama Day

Tuesday - Crazy Day

Wednesday - Jersey Day

Thursday - Class Color Day

Friday - Raider Pride Day

Kieran dressed up for each day, so did Luke and Lex had to as well.  Here are a few pictures of the week.

Crazy Day #1

Crazy Day #2

Crazy Day #3

Crazy Day #4

Crazy Day #5

Jersey Day

I don't have pictures for pajama day (not that exciting anyway), class color day (picture Kieran in red, Luke had to wear red too) or Raider Pride day (both Kieran and Luke wore their Homecoming 2013 shirt).

The football team lost 28-21 Friday night, it was another game they could have and should have won, but didn't.....

Last Day of Summer

We celebrated the last day of summer by taking a couple hours off to hike to the Carver Rapids.  We started at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge near Carver, on the west bank of the Minnesota River.  Talking to people or reading stories, you get the idea that the Carver Rapids are typically seen once a decade or maybe more, but this is the third straight year they've been exposed.

Great day for a walk, no clouds and mid-60s for temperatures.  We left home around 4:00, so the shadows kept creeping, especially when we were in the Minnesota River Valley and the sun was closer to the top of the bluff.

There was a hint of changing leaves, but not much yet.  In a couple of weeks all the trees will be yellow, orange and red.  The lower rapids are a short (3/4 mile or 1 mile) hike, the upper rapids is a much longer hike.  The upper rapids can be accessed from the other side of the river.  With the kids in tow, we opted to head to the lower rapids.

With the shadows creeping in from the west, about half of the river (and the rapids) were covered in shadows.

Kieran and I were able to work our way down to the rock forming the rapids.  The rock is the Cambrian-aged Jordan sandstone, one of the most frequently used aquifers in central Minnesota.

With the slope down to river level being fairly steep, Sarah stayed with Luke/Lex while Kieran and I went down to the river.

Evidence of high water times is everywhere, especially with this large tree that is sitting about 25 feet above the current water level.

Historically, the Carver Rapids limited steamboat traffic up river during periods of low water.

After spending some time down by the rapids, it was time to head back to the car - another walk of about a mile.

If you ever get the chance to walk with the kids outside, you quickly realize it takes quite a while to get anywhere.  They tend to stop to check out everything!  The list yesterday included:  caterpillars, leopard frogs, American toads, baby American toads, grasshoppers, a snake, beetles, etc.

All in all, not a bad way to end summer.  Happy Fall everyone!

Fire Department Training

Think the boys are happy?

Raider Football Games

Fall brings the start of the school year and probably even more important, football season.  Our favorite football team is the local high school team, the Central Raiders, I enjoy watching them more than I enjoy watching the MN Vikings.  It's great to watch the team through Kieran's eyes (and Luke's when he comes to the games).  Kieran has been coming to every game, every season, since he was about 2 or 3 years old.  A few years back, Central played Maple Lake in St. Cloud and the winner would go to the state tournament.  Central lost, unexpectedly (they really should have won) and Kieran crying the entire drive home until we stopped for a late night ice cream at McDonald's (to this day he dislikes Maple Lake and talks about playing them again).

Football season starts with the Raider Bowl.  It's an intra-squad scrimmage where a cheap meal is sold during the practice, it gets quite a good turnout.  We've gone for several years now.

Raider Bowl 2013

The season started this year in Howard Lake, all three kids came to the game in the 90+ degree heat.  It was Lex's first football game and Luke's first since he was really young.  They had a blast, the team lost though.  Week 2 brought Tri-City United to Norwood, but only Kieran came to watch.  Lost again --- Tri-City United is going to win the conference.

Raiders vs. Tri-City United

Luke went with Kieran and I went we followed the Raiders to Jordan.  Kieran and Luke spend about half the time watching the game and the other half running around and playing...just about what it should be.  The Raiders lost to Jordan too.....

Week 4 was another home game against the hated Mayer Lutheran Crusaders (think Green Bay Packers, but worse).  Kieran came along, but no Luke -- apparently he doesn't like home games.  We ate our standard 2 bags of popcorn, Kieran got his Kit-Kat candy bars....but we lost again...

We knew going in this year that it would be difficult season with few wins....but we've had some nice sunsets....here's one from two weeks ago at the Tri-City United game.

And here's another from tonights game against Mayer Lutheran...

Too bad I didn't think to take of picture of the nearly full moon rising tonight....

Homecoming next Friday night versus Watertown-Mayer (we don't like them either), we'll be there....

Nickle Dickle Day Fun Run

Saturday was Nickle Dickle Day in Waconia, part of the day was the kids 1/2 mile fun run.  Kieran had signed up for the run, so we had to get him to Waconia by 11:00 am.  While we were waiting for the run to start, Luke and Lexy's attention drifted to the tank outside the Carver County Historical Society.

We took a short walk to check out the WWII-era, Sherman tank.

Luke and Lex came up with a cheer for him that morning.  It went something like:

Kieran, Kieran he's our guy

He can't run, he walks.

Hey....combined they are eight years old, what do you expect?

Twins Game with Sarah

Last Saturday, Sarah and I had tickets to the Twins game.  The MN DNR and Twins had a promotion all summer long, if you bought a fishing/hunting license you had that opportunity to buy tickets at selected games at a much reduced rate (plus you'd get a free hat).  So on an early September day with high temperatures in the 90s, we went....it was a nice day...

Sarah was excited...it might have been the free hat or the free MN Twins earbuds (essentially headphones, I haven't seen my pair since that night)...

Of course the Toronto Blue Jays scored 5 runs in the top of the first inning (off two home runs) and the game was over before the Twins would bat, they would eventually lost 11-2...but it was a nice evening...

Towards the end of the game, we started wandering around the park to see it from different views...the game was already over by that point....

Sarah had the opportunity for a picture with a MN Twin version of Mickey Mouse or the Statute of Liberty...she choose Mickey (we even had to wait for a group of girl scouts to get out of the way)...

The night could have been worse...the Twins could still have been playing in the Metrodome...