The Final Leg

Friday we hung out at Nathan's parents for the day. The kids happily play, play, and played. They got to help Grandpa in the barn. Uncle Michael was there in the afternoon and took them down to the river. Lydia and Grandma made cookies. It was just a blissful day. Here is the end of the day, the end of the tour. Three kids found their way onto three laps to read and be read to for awhile.

Thank you Kevin and Mary for letting us use your house as out home away from home. Being there with you is one of our favorite places.

Thank you Aunt Joanna for being such a wonderful, fun, special auntie. Adventures with you are awesome. You are loved!

The Thursday Leg of the Tour

Our adventure kept right on rolling along on Thursday. We headed over to New Ulm to visit a certain Heidtke family. For this part of the trip Mary joined us as well. We arrived in time for lunch and then filled the day with a trip to the play ground (where I took the one picture of the day), a stop at the new MLC chapel, a tour through the biology rooms and all the critter that reside there with Professor, some quality time entertaining Naomi, and a tasty supper to finish off the day. It was wonderful to catch up with and spend time with people so dear to our hearts.

A few more butterflies

Just a few more shots of the beautiful butterflies.

Last leg of the day

While we were eating supper the balloon artists mentioned that there was a butterfly exhibit there in the mall. We decided to go check it out. The exhibit consisted of a large net room filled with plants, ripe fruit and nectar feeding stations, benches for us to sit on while we observed, and thousands of live butterflies. We got to meet them up close and personal. The kids loved it! There were twenty different kinds of butterflies although one species seemed the friendliest and took turns landing on all of us. Here are a few shots of each of the kids and Joanna with their flying friends.

The Supper Leg

After we'd exhausted the zoo we headed back to MOA for supper at The Rainforest Cafe. We'd walked by earlier and the kids had been enthralled with the fish tanks (pics 1&2), jungle atmosphere (pic 3), and bar stools that look like the back half of animals (sorry no pic). After we'd been seated and ordered a balloon artist came around and made the kids their choice of balloon animals. Then we had a pink elephant, orange butterfly, and brown monkey join us for the rest of dinner (pic 4).

Our afternoon leg

For the afternoon portion of our adventure we headed to Como Zoo in St. Paul. This is a place I fondly remember going as a child. It's not a huge zoo or as impressive as the MN Zoo but it is perfect for an afternoon with my kids. We saw a variety of animals and also enjoyed visiting the conservatory.Sorry the captions for the slide show are white but they do narrate our visit. Enjoy.

Next Leg

I suppose technically the next leg of our tour was back home for Monday and Tuesday although "tour" implies that we were someplace other than home. Either way after two days back home the kids and I headed back to Nathan's parents to meet up with his sister Joanna who also was enjoying Spring Break. Jo and I had planned an "Aunt Joanna Adventure" for Wednesday.

Our adventure began with a stop at Mall of America. Evan has several classmates who have vacationed in Florida where there are many great things including Lego Land. Evan really wanted to visit Florida to visit Lego Land. Hmm. I decided I could make this happen without a trip to Florida. We spent the better part of an hour designing race cars and crashing them around at MOA's Lego Land. We also did some wandering around of the mall and took many aimless trips up and down escalators and elevators just for the fun of it. We toyed with the idea of rides but decided to save those for another visit, maybe with Dad.

Our next stop has no pictures but we did wander around Ikea for a little while and managed to find a few birthday gifts but not the rug I'd been hoping for. After that we hoped back in the van and headed for our afternoon portion of the adventure.

1. Lego Land!

2. Lydia's girl car that was green and orange with a girl driver.

3. Jo playing technical advisor the boys.

4. Three Amigos!

Second leg of the Tour

Saturday afternoon we arrived at Nathan's parents house where nearly all of his family already was together. (Andrea is still in South America.) Shortly after our arrival Michael and Tammy announced they are expecting their first child in September. Thrilled doesn't even come close to describing how excited we are for them. Due to medical treatments they'd been told kids would be just short of impossible. What an awesome reminded of God's great power right before Easter!

Sunday we started the day at Nathan's home congregation for the Easter morning service. Choirs, trumpets, bells, a strong sermon, and delicious breakfast completed the morning. After a stop back at his parents to change we headed to Nathan's Grandma's for lunch with the extended family which I think was 44 people this year. It was a beautiful afternoon both in weather and in company. As evening approached we said our good byes and headed back home for a brief stop in the tour. :o)

picture 1-Many of the cousins at Grandma's.

picture 2- Mary and Naomi happily playing with Great Grandma's Easter decorations.

First leg of the Tour

Our kids had eleven days off for Easter and Spring Break starting on Maundy Thursday. Unfortunately Nathan only had Good Friday off of school and work. We didn't let that stop us from having a great time though. Thursday while Nathan was at school/work the kids and I enjoyed a low key day at home. Friday all of us left bright and early for my parents house. That afternoon we celebrated my nephew Joey's 8th birthday (picture #1). I got to decorate his cake. :o) Traditionally my family has a Good Friday meal together before heading to my parents church for their evening service. This year as part of a beautifully reflective service I even got to step in and direct the choir as the director was out of town and my mom happened to have volunteered me. After church and again Saturday most of my family was at my parents for some visiting and cousin bonding time (picture #2-Lydia and Hannah) before we headed to Nathan parents. It always amazes me how much we can pack in during such a brief visit.

Ice Tides

March 30th was the last day of school for the kids before Easter and Spring Break. With sunny skies and 70 degree temperatures we couldn't just stay inside. After school we headed to the shore of Lake Winnebago and the kids climbed around the ice piles. The ice is what had covered the lake all winter but as it beaks up the waves shove it up on the shoreline. The weather had been warm all week so these are actually pretty melted compared to what they'd been earlier. The boys really enjoyed climbing around the throwing chunks of ice back into the lake (1&2) while Lydia decided with flip-flops on she was better off on the grass (3).

Two Wheels

As spring is well upon us, bikes have come out of hiding and have been making tracks around the yard. Lydia decided she was ready to ditch the training wheels and try "riding like a big girl." All it took was a few pushes, a little cheering, and she was off. Each day she gets a little better and she even rode all the way to the park about four blocks away last week. No more bottles, no more diapers, no more training wheels. My baby is not a baby anymore.

The Golden Goose

An advantage to living in WI is being closer to some of our extended family. We recently got to attend the Fox Valley Lutheran HS production of The Golden Goose. This by itself was exciting but more exciting was that Nathan's cousin Becca (known to the kids as a "big" cousin) was the Golden Goose! Becca and the cast did a fabulous job impressing both us and our children.

1. The whole cast.

2. THE Golden Goose!

3. Up close and personal with the big star!

Q&U Wedding 2010

The Kindergarten teacher both boys have had is excellent. Mrs. Frederickson is kind, creative, and turns preschoolers into first graders. She's the kind of K teacher everyone should have.

One of her annual creative events is the Q&U wedding. While technically it'd be a renewal of vows (or vowels??) that concept is a little beyond Kindergartners. Each year there is a wedding complete with shower of gifts beginning with the letter Q, a ceremony, a dance, and of course, a reception complete with cake.

This year and last I've gotten to make the cake. (See here for last years cake.) This year I had quite the little assistant (picture #1).

When making a Q&U wedding cake it must be lots of fun. Kindergartners need fun cakes. I used two basic white cakes, divided the batter into six equal bowls and tinted them rainbow colors. Then Lydia and I made rainbow marble cake in two 9in. circle pans and three 6in. circle pans (picture #2). After they'd baked and cooled, I trimmed them to make them level. This also gives a nice peek inside. (picture #3). To finish I frosted and layered the 9in circles and topped them with two 6in circles. The cake was completed with pastel rainbow polka dots and a Q&U cake topper (picture #4). Lydia did decorate the extra 6in cake for her friend Cooper but I forgot to get a picture of that.

Now Q&U can just live happily ever after!

Skating

*sorry these pictures are very dark*

After we'd finished at EAA we headed to the roller rink for a school sponsored skate. This is the second time the kids have been on skates. It's not so much the skating but the playing with friends that appealed to all of them. Here you can see each of the three and their preferred method of skating. We look forward to next years skate!

Family Flight @ EAA

As is pretty obvious, a favorite Oshkosh destination of our is the EAA museum. In March they had their annual Family Flight Fest. There were lots of extra activities to keep the kids busy for hours.

1. The kids tossing their gliders around the WWII hanger.

2. Lydia inspecting our egg after we'd dropped it from the balcony in our self-made parachute.

3. Evan and his decorated glider.

4. The kids finding the correct airplanes to match the descriptions on the scavenger hunt.