At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_25
O preferred walking on these dinosaur feet, but she also tried the walking wheels.
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_17
Being a daredevil, M tried walking on this contraption. She actually did really well! I tried it out, too!
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_12
C also enjoyed performing feats of strength! This was an exhibit on physics (I think).
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_11
C seemed hesitant to try a lot of things on his own. However, if it involved banging things together he jumped on the chance to try it out!
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_5
C was not at all interested in touching the turtles!
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_4
The Children's Museum also demonstrated turtles to the kids. They were allowed to touch them after the presentation.
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_1
The first thing we did at the Children's Museum was make these hats out of newspapers. The activity was part of an exhibit on paper pulping and recycling.
O's hat featured a single antenna!
At the Minnesota Children's Museum, pic081109_3
The first thing we did at the Children's Museum was make these hats out of newspapers. The activity was part of an exhibit on paper pulping and recycling.
M's hat was a simpler design than O's.
The boy's spoils from the Mall of America, pic081009_47
C got a Sponge Bob hat at the Mall of America. He actually won the stuffed Sponge Bob at the amusement park!
At the Mall of America, pic081009_25
This is a straight vertical drop...it was a lot of fun just watching them from directly below the ride! M is in the car in the picture. She rode this 4 or 5 times by herself (they wouldn't let O on this ride...maybe next year).
At the Mall of America, pic081009_30
O really liked going on her own without M and trying some of the slower rides.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_36
It's hard to see, but Rody and C are there in this view from the ferris wheel.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_35
It turns out that the only ride that requires a parent/adult to go with the child is the ferris wheel...so I got to ride one thing that day!
At the Mall of America, pic081009_34
It turns out that the only ride that requires a parent/adult to go with the child is the ferris wheel...so I got to ride one thing that day!
At the Mall of America, pic081009_32
This is one of the insane rides that M wanted to ride! I think she is on the front row in the sixth seat from the left.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_24
All this ride did was take the kids up about 20 feet in the air and shake them up and down a bit...and judging from the squeals and laughter they seemed to love it!
At the Mall of America, pic081009_19
The operator wouldn't let O drive these by herself, so she had to ride shotgun with M. They didn't quite understand how the controls worked..."Keep turning the wheel if you get stuck!"
At the Mall of America, pic081009_18
The operator wouldn't let O drive these by herself, so she had to ride shotgun with M. They didn't quite understand how the controls worked..."Keep turning the wheel if you get stuck!"
At the Mall of America, pic081009_15
This ride was O's favorite. She ended up riding this 3 or 4 times.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_11
Everything seemed interesting and fun to M and O. They weren't afraid to try anything.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_8
The amusement park at the Mall of America was Nickelodeon-themed! Blue and I bumped fists (paws?) right after this picture was taken.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_7
We got to the park early so the rides had fairly short wait times. M and O liked the log ride a lot. I thought that O might be put off by waiting in line out of my sight, but she didn't seem affected at all.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_6
We got to the park early so the rides had fairly short wait times. M and O liked the log ride a lot. I thought that O might be put off by waiting in line out of my sight, but she didn't seem affected at all.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_4
This was the first ride the kids went on at the Mall of America. I thought for sure that they wouldn't like it, but they had fun! M especially went for the more hair-raising rides.
At the Mall of America, pic081009_1
We found a store in the Mall of America that featured Hello Kitty!
On the road to the Cities, pic080909_2
Even with all the room in the new van, C still manages to get his hands and feet on everything and everybody.
2009-07 IMG_0312 Camping at Old Mill State Park v001 BW small
2009-07 IMG_0312 Camping at Old Mill State Park v001 BW small, originally uploaded by patrick_schultz123.
Pictures of the forest at Old Mill State Park. O and I went on a hike on one of the trails at the park, and she called this area the "land of the dancing trees"!
2009-07 IMG_0302 Camping at Old Mill State Park v002 BW small
2009-07 IMG_0302 Camping at Old Mill State Park v002 BW small, originally uploaded by patrick_schultz123.
Pictures of the forest at Old Mill State Park. O and I went on a hike on one of the trails at the park, and she called this area the "land of the dancing trees"!
Cash for clunkers - the Jeep
Our Jeep made the cover of the City section of the paper. The picture is for a story done on the Cash for Clunkers program. The dealer said that we were the first people to complete the deal with the program. Even with that, it took a little while to finally finish all the details. We saw the Jeep in the lot last night with the word "Clunker" marked on the window. If I keep it insured, I wonder if I can make a claim when it's scrapped?
The new minivan, pic072709_1
A picture of the new minivan we purchased. It took a little while to sort out the details for the "Cash for Clunker" program part of the deal, but it was finally completed this week. Combined rebates, cash for clunker voucher, and negotiation on the price netted over $9,000 off the sticker. Everyone seemed to love the new vehicle; the most popular feature seems to be the entertainment system!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_52
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_50
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_48
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_45
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_43
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_41
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_40
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_25
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_24
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_23
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_19
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
First Pres street dance and block party, pic080109_3
First Presbyterian had a street dance/block party this weekend. Everyone had a great time. The evening started with food, including every kid's favorite--watermelon. Some went swimming in the church's new inflatable waterslide, although it was cool enough that the water was quite cold. The kids did most of the dancing, including dancing to Thriller, although that was cut short when the ice cream truck stopped by! Thanks to Gretchen for buying everyone ice cream! At the end of the evening a few of us hung out by the fire. Hopefully this can become an ongoing summer tradition at First Presbyterian!
2009-07 IMG_0308 Camping at Old Mill State Park
O and I went on a hike during our camping trip at Old Mill State Park. She called this area the Dancing Trees!
2009-07 IMG_0295 Camping at Old Mill State Park
While camping, C was a mosquito snack! Despite all the bites, he didn't seemed bothered at all and was his usual self.