Sean and Aleece

Today we went to the zoo.  We have zoo memberships and have been there many times before, but really…can you ever go to the zoo TOO much?  I don’t think so.  The animals alone put on a different show each day!

We started off with a visit to the water park area.  Leif likes the shooting jets of water that come from the ground.

Kalven liked the water jets too.

When we stopped by the otters it was feeding time.

The walkway around the new bear exhibit has a part where you can see in real close but without any fences obstructing your view.

Along the pathway there are steam vents.  Leif is feeling the steam here.  The part that you can not see is the steam, it was there, just really lightly.

Over at the bear viewing area Leif had a race with the bear.

Leif won!

But Leif is a good sport and gives the bear a hug and a pat on the head.

The bear liked Leif so much that he climbed up on the rock just like Leif.

Bear snuggle.

Kalven liked the bears too.

The snow leopards are still a little shy, but they were out and about a bit.

The tiger was sleepy from all it’s night duties.

Leif and I are looking for more tigers.

Kalven is happy no matter what, as long as he has a snack.

Feeding goats at the petting farm.

My family is a bunch of chickens!

Leif likes to play with those chicks!

Here we are at the bird show.

Aleece and Leif went to sit in the crowd to get a good view.

Snack time for Kalven again.

Leif was worried that Kalven and I were not having as much fun as he was, so he had Aleece come up and join us.

Kalven was mad that Leif blocked his view.

We basically took the afternoon off after the zoo.  The last 2 days both kids were just exhausted by 5pm so today we thought we would have a quiet afternoon and let the kids take a nap and get all rested up.  Aleece and I were happy with a rest too.

Tomorrow…The county fair again, this time it’s rides at night.

Today was the second day of our family vacation.  The big event of today was the Dakota County Fair.  We arrived that the fair at 9:00am so we could walk through the 4H barns as or before the judging occurred.  We did not watch the judging, we just took advantage of it so we could see the animals at their best.

First was the bunnies.

Everyone liked them, especially mommy!

Grandpa is giving bunny wisdom to Kalven.

Then a walk through the cow barn.

Had to get a picture next to the shark.

See that really IS Leif.

Grandpa helps Leif drive a tractor.

Now on to a petting barn, new baby chicks were the first thing Leif wanted to play with.

Kalven liked the horse,

and goat.

Leif liked the goat too.

See the goat eating the stroller?

Leif also likes feeding the rooster wood chips.

Time for a climbing break.

And look at that cute hottie in the shades!

There was a puppet show, don’t interrupt Leif while he is watching or he will make sure to tell you where his attention lies!

After trying to get some naps in we got some ice scream and went to the park.

Played in the water,

and slid down the slide.

There really is nothing better than spending all day playing with your kids.

Tomorrow…the Zoo!

Aleece and I decided that this years family vacation would be spent around home. Not because of expensive gas prices or anything, but mainly because a 1 year old and 3 year old are just too much work to take on a long trip that Aleece and I would not have fun and the kids would not care. So we are doing fun stuff all within short distance to our house.

Today’s main event was Underwaterworld and the park at the Mall of America. For those that do not know, Underwaterworld is a aquarium that is in the basement of the Mall of America.

Leif is watching a huge turtle swim around in it’s tank.

Kalven was more interested in the texture of the wall.

Leif likes the baby alligators so much he kissed the tank.

Here is a pirate ship play area.  Leif wanted to climb over the edge and jump off.  I had to tell him no.

After Underwaterworld we had lunch then we went to the amusement park at the mall.  Leif got to ride the trucks ride, he liked it so much he went twice.

They also had a Blues Clues ride.  Blues Clues is a show on TV and is probably Leif’s most FAVORITEST shows in the whole wide world!

And as you might have guessed after all this the kids were pretty shot.  We went home and put them down for a nap.  The rest of the day was spend playing in the back yeard, grilling hamburgers, and watching movies.

Tomorrows big event… Dakota County Fair!

We have a refrigerator that has the freezer on the bottom and the fridge on top. It’s nice because the lowest thing in the fridge is only waist level, easy to locate stuff. However this configuration is not so friendly to kids. Leif has found this out many times when he has been excited to get some milk or apple juice. Just like a normal kid, when he gets excited he will jump around a lot not really looking where he is or where he is going. Well, with a fridge door that starts at about waist height for adults it also starts at head level for kids. Leif has bonked his head on the door many times.

That’s how we started the “Watch your head” statements whenever we open the fridge. Leif has learned that when we are in the kitchen and he hears “Watch your head” he will immediately drop to the floor and wait for us to tell him it’s ok to get up. It works great. If I open the oven and tell Leif to watch out, he will drop to the floor. If I open the dishwasher and tell him to watch out and be careful, he will drop to the floor. I have even had him drop to the floor at my parents house when opening their fridge, and they have a side by side model so the door is just an inch above the floor. But we rarley have a bonked head.

Kalven on the other hand has not learned the “Watch your head” significance yet. He will real soon though, every day I watch the space between the bottom of the door and the top of his head shrink.

Tonight Leif and Kalven were playing a favorite game. I like to call it the “Call Of The Wild”. Wanna know the rules for the game? Here they are:

1. Scream at the top of your lungs.
2. Wait for sibling to scream at the top of his lungs.
3. Laugh.
4. Repeat.

I had Kalven sitting in his chair and Leif was in the living room playing. Someone started the game, I am not sure who, but soon there was scream, laugh, scream, laugh… Thankfully they were not running through the rules too fast so it was actually pretty funny and cute. Leif would wonder around the living room playing with other toys at the same time, he can multi-task. Kalven just sat watching where Leif would go and respond to him. I could not stop them, they both enjoyed it too much.

Ok so I enjoyed watching them too.

I was at work today and Aleece called  me to chat, just normal married couple chit-chat.  About 5 min after we hung up the phone rang again and I noticed that callerid said it was my house again.  I picked up the phone and started to give Aleece grief for some of the chit-chat we were talking about in the previous call, but it was not Aleece.  “HI DE DA!” is what I heard.  Leif was on the phone.  Apparently after Aleece had hung up Leif kept bugging Aleece by saying “De Da now. De Da now.”, so Aleece called me at work and gave Leif the phone.  I talked to Leif for about 3 min before Leif wanted me to get him an apple.  I was able to get Leif’s permission to have Aleece give him one instead.

Oh, and “De Da” is how Leif says daddy.  He can say mommy and momma just fine but for some reason he switches the syllables around on daddy to have it sound like de da.  Man kids are funny.

So, last week we had a few storms.  The first one was during the day and I was working from home.  Kids were awake and Aleece was home.  It was an intense storm, lots of wind and rain.  The second storm I was home with the kids alone, Aleece was working.  THe kids were asleep when I heard of the storm so I got stuff ready in case we had to seek shelter, radio, flashlight, water, blankets, phones, you know the usual stuff.  Then I got ready and watched the storm intently, I even broke out my camera and took some shots.

This is the front end of the storm rolling through. It went from clear to dark clouds very fast.

Here you can see the clouds “dripping”

This one is from the other side of the house, you get a better view of what is coming.

This is pretty much the same time, I just adjusted the camera a bit so it captured more light and you can see more detail.

And after the storm was over, here it is just ending.

Another adjusted shot so you can see more detail.

I tried a few times to capture lightning, this is the best one I got before my batteries ran out.

Today Aleece and I had our very first parent/teacher conferences for Leif.  We went and met with his current teacher and also his next teacher.  Leif gets to transfer classes soon because he is not 3.

Today’s meet was mostly a formality and to introduce us to his new teacher.  Leif has not been in school very long so there is not much of a progress report.  We did get an un-official report though.  Leif is doing well.  He is starting to say more, not a whole lot but some.  He is really taking to the structure of the classroom well, he will move from activity to activity.  Even though Leif does not have very many new words he is continuing to be able to illustrate what he wants non-verbally.  Leif is also demonstrating a better understanding of directions.  Leif’s teacher also said that Leif is a very easy going kid and a lot of fun to have in class.

Aleece and I have noticed an improvement in Leif since he has been in school.  He can pick up on sign language very quick and does not need as much prompting to repeat it back at appropriate times.  Leif even broke into song the other day and serenade Aleece.

Kalven is still a little cranky from time to time.  Mostly he is a very happy cheerful baby, but over the past couple weeks he just has seemed a little “off”.  Well, last night I think I figured out one problem.

It was about dinner time and I sat Kalven down to eat.  I tried feeding him mac and cheese, we had some leftovers.  Kalven kept trying to grab at the spoon and push it away and was just generally not happy.  I finally got the bright idea to just give him his own fork.  That was it, because as soon as he had the fork in hand he turned right back into his cheerful happy baby self.  Take a look…

Leif kept saying “CHEESE!”, I think he wanted some pictures too.

As promised here is a picture post of the July 4th parade.

Mom wanted a picture with some head thingies.  Leif was not happy about waring his.

Leif and his step-cousins are playing with squirt guns.

Kalven enjoying a treat.  I know he looks like he does not like it, but he always does that on the first taste of anything.

When my parents got there Leif took my mom for a walk.  They ended up by the fire truck and Leif got to sit in the drivers seat.

The planes do a couple fly-by’s to signal the start of the parade.

Kalven throught it was more fun to play with his sun glasses than wear them.

Once the parade got started Leif was really, REALLY into watching it all go by.

Everyone sits down because the excitement of a parade is tireing!

Grandpa and Leif are dancing to one of the marching bands.

This year was really fun.  This is the first year that Leif truley noticed the parade and really enjoyed watching.  When the Army Jeeps and tanks drove by he was so excited he was shaking.  He wanted me to take him down the road and follow!  I think he was trying to enlist.