Annual Minnesota Trip July '12

I know this is a month late. I've been working a crazy schedule and just haven't had the time to sit down and write a post about our trip. Can I just start by saying our kids are great in the car. We had to make only a few limited stops on our way up and on the way back.

 Our first full day in Minnesota we took the kids to the Minnesota Zoo. I hadn't been there in more than 10 years. Abby was very excited about the trip to see the "whale-fins" aka dolphins.

 There was a great touch tank with stingrays and leopard sharks.

 Bobo and Noah leading each other to the big sharks.

 Waiting for the dolphin show to start, killing time with snacks.

 The dolphin exhibit will be closing next year at the zoo. I'm glad we were able to see the show before it's gone. Abby was in awe of the sealife.

 It was almost 100 degrees so once we got outside we were sweating. The animals weren't impressed by the heat either, most just laying around.

 Thank goodness farm animals don't care about the temperature. Goats are always hungry. This was Noah's first time feeding a goat.

 These piglets were just six days old.

 Sibling love.

 I love this, you can't even tell there is a glass wall between them.

 While we were standing in front of this coral reef tank Abby proclaimed "this is the best day of my life" from the mouth of babes.

 Later that night we met up with the Surbrook side of the family at my brothers house for a bbq. Grams and Abby getting their puzzle on.

 Noah made the rounds schmoozing all the ladies.

 Owen attempting to teach Abby how to play chess.

 My sister-in-law, Anna, made Dave a birthday cake - we spent his birthday in the car for 10 hours.

 Great-Grandma Peggy and Abby trying to stay cool.

 A storm rolled through during dinner, afterwards it was much cooler outside. Uncle Jon and Noah in a serious game of peek-a-boo.

 The next day included some serious playground time.

 Grams, the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum. It was awesome. A larger version of our Magic House.

 They had the coolest and largest bubble room I have ever seen. I think the kids could have stayed in there the whole day.

 Water boat races.

Too cute

 Noah trying to feed Grams a frog, yuck.

 They had an awesome traveling exhibit on Curious George.

 Afterwards we had a great meal at Mickey's Dinner and a stop at Candyland.

It might seem like we spend a lot of time at playgrounds, but we have young kids, it's what they love. The next was all about Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater.

 It was still hot and still very sunny even at 9am.

 Walking the banks of the St. Croix river.

 They were having a matching shirt day.

 It was a bubble party with Uncle Jon.

 The kiddos and Uncle Jon and Aunt Anna

 Abby really wanted to see a corn field. Thankfully there are some near Bobo's house.

 Hanging out with Gabby

 Building bird houses and playing with power tools.

 Everyone had a cartoon shirt, and their newly built bird house.

 Bobo lives on a golf course so the boys were able to get in a few rounds of golf on this trip. Bobo's house is on the 8th hole so I took the kids out to watch the guys play.

 The guy's had the last tee time of the evening so they could take their time and even let the kids hit off the tee.

 I how carefree she looks.

Noah Getting Dizzy

This is one of Noah's favorite things to do lately.  He thinks it's hilarious.  He walked sideways into a door once.

Noah Locks Himself in his Room

As you know, a couple days ago we converted Noah's bed into a toddler bed.  Everything had been going so well....until this morning.

Noah did fine in terms of sleeping.  He got up around 6:30AM.  He usually talks tand plays for 10-15 minutes before we go in and get him.  So, I went to get him this morning around 6:45.  As I was reaching for the handle, I started saying "Good morning big bo...."

And then I realized there was a problem.  The door was locked.  Awesome.  We had talked about putting the lock on the outside.  Our reasoning had nothing to do with him possibly locking himself in.  We never even considered that.  Peggy thought he might be able to get the door open if we didn't lock it.  I didn't think it was possible, so I didn't mess with it.  We were each right (or wrong depending on how you look at it).  He didn't get the door open, but did lock it.

No problem, right?  The lock is one of those where you have to stick a straight key into a little hole in the middle.  We didn't install these locks, and of course there are no keys anywhere to be found.  Never fear, daddy's here!  Well, maybe....

I went down to my workshop and got a wide assortment of skinny straight things I could push in there: wire, ice pick, leads on a volt meter, etc.  I thought I was pretty creative in a short period of time.

Luckily, Noah was still happy and having a great time on the other side of the door.  So, I started pushing these things in the door.  Usually there is a little lever that the key hits to unlock it.  No such luck this time.  Argh.  I tried for a few minutes, all the while Noah was talking and having a great time.  I knew that wouldn't last long though.

So, now what to do....I couldn't exactly tell him "Noah, unlock the door."  A one year old would have no idea.

So I took another look at the door handle.  The screws to take it apart were on the outside of the door (facing me).  It makes no sense (but neither does not having the unlock lever inside the hole).  The screws should always be put on the side with the lock.  Luckily for me, they weren't.  This wouldn't be the first stupid thing the previous homeowners did on this house.  It's just more to add to the list....

This meant another trip to the basement to get a screwdriver.  By this point, Noah was screaming.  He had enough.  I ran down and then up two flights and started unscrewing the handle.  He was mad.  I go the handle apart, but the other side got stuck.  That took a couple minutes to release.  By then Noah could hear me very clearly and couldn't understand why I wouldn't let him out.

Now I had the handles off, but the lock was still engaged.  I couldn't seem to get it unlatched.  I seriously considered just breaking the door down, because I didn't know if I could release it.  Then I found a tiny little pin that was keeping it from releasing.  Took me another couple of minutes to get that taken care of, and finally I got the door open.  Noah was very happy, but probably very confused as well.

I will be moving the lock over today :-)

A New School Year

With the coming school year, we will be having some daycare changes.

You may remember our hope to get Abby in to the local preschool last January.  We signed her up late, and weren't sure she would get it.  Well, she did.  We were ecstatic.  We absolutely loved that preschool.  However, they don't have a dropoff time until 7:00AM.  I am required to be at school by 7, and Peggy's new schedule has her going in to work at 1AM.  So, we were faced with the tough position of looking for a new school.

We looked at several places and found one that I think we'll really like.  We certainly don't like it as much as the local preschool, but we didn't really have any other choice.  It is located within a mile of my work and Noah can go there too.  It won't be as convenient as their daycare last year (which was right up the road from our house), but it is much more of a preschool that Abby's old place was.

Abby is really smart and needs something to challenge her.  She is so ready for preschool.  Her new classroom is much more of a classroom than a daycare room.  There are not really many, if any, toys in the room.  Most of the room is a couple of big tables that the children sit around.  When we went to see the place, we almost wondered if it was too hardcore.  However, they do have an hour or two in the morning in the gym.  They also get time in the afternoon there or outside on the playground.  But, it seems like the time in between there is reserved for learning.  When we were there, the kids were trying to find certain words in their books.

So, we took the kids there the other day to meet their teachers and see the place.  Abby is beyond excited.  She loves the gym and can't wait to play in it.  They also have a large cafeteria....much more of a school-like setting.  And here's the kicker.  Once per week, they get to go to the small library they have and Abby gets to pick out a book.  They use that book throughout the week for different activities.  Abby couldn't believe they have their own library.  This is the biggest thing she's excited for and she seriously can't wait.

This also means that I will be left to get the kids ready in the morning.  It's really (hopefully) not a big deal, after all, I've done it before.  Abby has been very independent lately.  She gets herself all ready and changed, and has even started doing her hair.  The bigger challenge each morning will be Noah.

Big Boy Bed!

We decided it was time to get rid of the crib.  So yesterday, before nap, we converted Noah's bed to a toddler bed.  As we did with Abby, we feared the worst.  Abby did great in the conversion and never had any problems.  Noah is a completely different kid though.  He's much more active and, well, crazy than Abby was at his age.  We were worried that he would get up out of bed and play or bang on the door....anything but go to sleep.

As it turns out, he did great during his nap.  We did hear him either get up or fall out of bed about three times during the two hour nap.  He didn't make any noise though, so we just let him go.

Later that night we put him down for bed.  He seemed to do fine, although we heard some creaks and noise in the floor again as though he was walking around or fell out of bed.  We figured he either fell out, got down, or was playing REALLY quietly in his room. 

So, we decided to check on him before we went to bed (a few hours after he went to bed).  This is what we found:

 

Apparently he got off (or fell off) his bed and just decided it wasn't worth the effort to get back in bed.  Heh.

I then picked him up and put him back in bed.  He was dead to the world.  Overall, I would call the conversion to a big boy bed a big success so far.