As the World Turns

As the world turns and we wait- wait for our new house (with a never ending continual string of one drama after the next), wait to move, wait to begin a new season of our lives, and wait to see what I'm doing work-wise this school year, we continue to try to stay busy experiencing all the great things available in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota!

There are SO many free concerts at local parks around here- we went to see Bob the Beachcomber at Ojibway Park in Woodbury, Minn. one morning. It was hot and sunny but I had fun hearing the songs even if Sam and Anna weren't in the mood to get up and dance with the majority of the other kids that were there.

What's summer without attending a fair?  We went as a family to the Ramsey County Fair and did the typical fair-type stuff:  kiddie rides and checking out the animals.  Sam and Anna do not seem to have my fear of heights and definitely enjoyed the Ferris Wheel more than I did.

We also trekked out to the other zoo in the area- the Minnesota Zoo- over the weekend.  While we were getting ready to leave, I had an experience that has never happened to me before: a reader/commenter of my blog came up to me and said hello.  Lisa at How Babies Are Really Made was visiting family, happened to be at the zoo at the same time we were and recognized us.  Crazy!

 

 (Anna provided some entertainment at the entrance/exit to the zoo by howling alongside these wolf statues for a few minutes)

The next week we headed over to the International Airport and watched planes take off and land.  Sam and Anna are still excited every time one flies overhead where we are currently staying, even though it happens often so I thought they'd have fun plane spotting at the airport.  I was right, although I wish I had found a spot where we could get out of our vehicle to watch.

 

 

(Playing with our Lowes Build and Grow planes while we waited in between takeoffs)

The temperature continued to rise so we also explored a different free splash pad at a park in St. Anthony, Minn.  It was fun but crowded.  For my two, I think the little splash pad with less people  that is closer to my parents house is a better fit.  But I do think that the real rainbow created under the rainbow water arches is pretty neat!

 

We also headed back north to my in-laws cabin and spent some time swimming in the lake.  Sam and Anna went to the local community parade while we were there this time and received stuffed animals from one float- lucky kids!

 

One beautiful summer day (not too hot but sunny) we checked out a new nature center- Tamarack Nature Center in White Bear Lake, Minn.  I had heard it had a wonderful outside area for kids, and once there I was surprised to discover it was even better than I expected.  First we wandered into the expansive garden area and happened upon a Meet the Gardener Activity.  Along with other kids, Sam and Anna helped plant a new bed of garlic for the nature center.  Then we wandered around watering every kind of plant you could imagine belonging in a garden.  Sam and Anna could have stayed in the garden the entire time, but I tore them away to check out the other areas.  There was a great rock climbing area (prefect for younger kids), a log climbing area and a man-made stream made for playing in.  We also went on a hike on one of the nature trails and explored inside the nature center.  There was enough for us to do for an entire day of free fun, even though we went home for lunch and nap.

 

 

We actually went to the library twice this week- on Monday for a puppet show, and Wednesday for the regular storytime.  When we arrived on Wednesday, the storytime actually had a science component and included making paper from recycled paper too.  It was a little over Sam and Anna's heads (although it said it was for ages 2-5), but they had fun anyway.  Plus the community center in the same building had free open gym afterwards so before checking out new books to read we ran around the gym with balls as well!

 

(Making paper) 

Sam and Anna also went to their very first movie at a theatre this week!  I took them to the kids summer series viewing of Oceans.  I thought it would be a good fit for them because they love animals so much and most reviews I read said it was appropriate for three year olds, but that it might not sustain their attention.  I expected to last an hour or so in the seats and then leave when they got squirrelly.  Imagine my surprise when they sat through the entire hour and 40 minute movie!  They did so well sitting quietly.  I think we may actually take them to see Monsters University now since I think they could probably sit through it all too.  Or maybe Planes when it comes out in a few weeks...

And of course we went swimming at Lake Elmo Park Reserve's Swimming Pond a few times too!

Keeping Busy

Still sans house.  Still living out of boxes.  Still looking forward to the day this is all a distant memory.  Still trying to keep busy while we wait...

We found a new place to go strawberry picking this year... and afterwards found out it was the same farm/orchard that my MIL (Sam and Anna's grandma) went strawberry picking at when she was young.  Strawberry picking is one of my top summer activities to do with Sam and Anna- and the fresh strawberries, strawberry pie made by Daddy, strawberry shortcake and strawberry bread that follows is a great added bonus!

 

We've spent more time at the Lake Elmo Park Swimming Pond (chlorinated and filtered water) since there have been more warm and humid days lately.  I only wish it was close enough to keep coming once we finally move into our house.

 

We took one long morning to to go the Minnesota Children's Museum.  It was a lot of fun, although pretty expensive for what I'd typically spend for a half day of entertainment for my three year olds.  Anna touched the coral snake although Sam declined.  Some of the favorite activities were moving the blocks on the conveyor belt and "making" a thunderstorm by moving clouds across the ceiling to create thunder while producing lightning. 

  (Dr. Sam)

 

We took the opportunity to use paint in the Children's Museum art room since ours is all packed up to make blow paint art.  My little artist Anna kept at it for a long time as usual.  After Sam was finished, he hunted down the letters in both his and Anna's name on the wall and built their names.  He was pretty proud to build Anna's name without any assistance.

Another big hit was watching traffic downtown through the Sky Walk.  Next time we'll just do that for free for hours and I can save the $30+- ha!

Anna got her second haircut at 40 months old to even out the long back.  After only trusting my hairstylist of over 7 years to cut my kids' hair, I tried out a kid's haircut place for the first time.  It went okay, but made me nervous to find a new hairstylist for myself in the next few months!

For the Fourth of July holiday weekend, we traveled up north to Grand Marais, Minn. (2 hours south of the Canadian border) to visit grandparents.  Sam and Anna practiced the fine art of skipping rocks while waiting for the fireworks over Lake Superior (and enjoyed popcorn eating).

We played in the river to beat the heat.

 Sam and Anna also got to go fishing again this year with their Grandpa Dan while we were up north.

 

We attempted to take the same photo in Duluth, Minn. in Canal Park as we did on last year's trip... but it was very cold and windy.  This was the best attempt before I threw in the towel:

 

 Last year's photo (yes, the same shirts were deliberate)

Other pictures from Canal Park and the Lift Bridge:

After returning from our trip I took Sam and Anna bowling.  We utilized kidsbowlfree.com and only had to pay for shoe rental.  It kept Sam's interest for a game and a half, while Anna stuck it out for the entire two games. 

 (Sam celebrating his spare- or "knocking all of them down".)

We also explored a new park, North Mississippi Regional Park on one hot morning.  I originally picked the park because it had a wading pool (plus a huge playground and sand/water feature) but upon arriving the wading pool was closed.  That was okay though, because the sand and water area kept Sam and Anna's attention for over 2 hours alone.  They didn't even want to stop once to explore the equipment behind it.