Sean and Aleece

Our vacation actually started on Friday Aug 1, in the afternoon.  We had an overnight babysitter for the kids and Aleece and I went to see a concert at the Zoo.  If you have never been to a concert at the Zoo you really should go.  It’s a nice small amphitheater so pretty much any seat in the house is a good one.  On Saturday Aleece and I went tubing down the Cannon river with some friends, I burned my shoulders a bit and Aleece burned her ankles.  It was a great time.  Sunday was time to play at grandma and grandpas house but otherwise pretty quiet.

Monday started the busy vacation madness.  Here is a picture of the schedule we had planned.

Not much room in there, but man it was a good time.  I set a goal for myself to post an update after each day and by the 3rd day I was wondering if it was too much.  But I made it through and am glad I did.

After this busy week Aleece and I managed to get a overnight babysitter for the kids this past Sat.  We ran some errands, saw a movie, went out for drinks and dinner, and pretty much took it easy.  Sunday had a birthday party for one of the kids of Aleece’s friend, but again was a rest day.  We did go to the park and a walk but nothing too exciting.

This really was a fun week.  I do not think we would have had as much fun if we would have packed the kids up and drove somewhere.  I sure hope Aleece is doing ok with the kids today, we don’t have exciting stuff planned like last week and the kids might retaliate.

I think the week has caught up with us.  Everyone is in good moods, but we all seem a little tired.  Still the Children’s Museum was a lot of fun today.  Leif was a little overwhelmed when we first got there, just too much to do.  But just like a little trooper he dived in and started enjoying himself.

First stop was a warehouse play area.  Leif loved taking the blocks and loading onto the receiving ramp.

Kalven helped too.

Then on to the water area to play with boats.

The forest area was next.  It came complete with a anthill area that had lots and lots of tunnels.

We stopped by the roof top play area.

It had a sand box to play in.

After the museum we picked up lunch and went home to eat.  After lunch we all went down for a little nap, and boy did we all need naps!  The rest of the afternoon was spent taking it easy and just playing around the house.

Tomorrow…rest.

Today’s activities were a little turned around compared to the last 3 days.  On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had our activities in the morning and early afternoon and the kids had early bed times.  Today we took it easy this morning and had the main activity at night.

This morning we went to the park and had breakfast then played on the playground a bit.  We walked around the lake twice and Leif and I made a sand castle.  Well, ok…I made the sand castle and Leif just threw rocks and sand in the lake, but he WAS close to me when I was building.  While we were at the park the puppet wagon stopped by and gave a show.  After the show we went home and had lunch then put the kids down for a nap.

After the nap we went to our main activity of the day…

The county fair again.

On Tuesday we went to the fair in the morning.  We looked at animals and exhibits.  But by the time any vendors or rides opened up the kids pretty much had it.  That was ok, Aleece and I had planned on that.  That’s why we went to the fair tonight.  By giving the kids a quiet morning and making sure they got naps we were able to go to the fair later in the day and the kids could survive.

My parents met us at the fair, of course as soon as the kids saw grandma and grandpa they RAN to them.

The very first thing Leif wanted to do was play a game.  He even won a prize!

Now for the rides.  The green bug is first.

Look!  It’s that hottie in the sunglasses again!  Man I am luck to have her follow me around.

Next ride was some race cars.

Then a spinning barrel thing.  Leif looks a little scared in that picture, but let me tell you he really was not scared at all.  He loved it!

Leif was too short to ride the dragon roller coaster alone so I got to ride with him.

On to the bug ride, this one is different…it is red, not green.

Ah, inflatable slides.  Those things are fun.

Leif does not have fear.  If those other kids are too slow to go down Leif pushes right past them, but he pushes politely.

Climbing back up for another turn.

Wow, this was a very tiring day.  Very fun, but tireing.  When we got home it took Kalven about 15 min to be in bed asleep and Leif was downstairs watching TV for 35 min before he asked to go to bed.

Tomorrow…the childrens museum.

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!

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.

This was a while ago, but I just got the pictures off the camera and found it again.  Anyway…

Aleece loves to walk through the discount section at Target.  One time she found a container of like 20 or so glow in the dark bracelet/necklace things.  For like $1.  She picked up 2 containers.  I told her for a dollar get 5 or 6, Leif would LOVE to play with these!  So she went back to the aisle and grabbed a few more.  When we got home we went to the downstairs bathroom (only room in the house besides the laundry that has no windows) and we tried some out.  Sure enough, the glowed!  We were waving and shaking them around to streak the light.  Then I had an idea.

If I grab my camera and turn the shutter speed way down we can paint with light.  I got a couple pictures, mostly just goofing around, but boy was it fun.  Leif did not care about the camera, he just liked the glow in the dark.

Before I knew Aleece any holiday or birthday was just a 1 day event, much like just about every other person.  Even growing up Aleece experienced that.  But when Aleece was out on her own she turned holidays and birthdays into multiple day events.  At first I saw this as a way to milk more presents out of the situation.  But over the years I have seen that is is a really fun way for everyone to celebrate.  So now Aleece has a birthday month (I usually start kicking in a week prior) Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day are all multi day events with presents given out for the duration, and we are planning a birthday month for our kids, kind of the month in-between their birthdays.  This is one reason we wanted both kids birthdays in the summer, we can spend more time celebrating and having fun as a family.

Well today started off the birthday week for me.  This morning Aleece asked me if I wanted to start opening my presents today.  Now I don’t have much feelings either way, I can wait.  But the look on the face of Aleece, Leif and little Kalven told me I just had to participate in a birthday week.  So I opened up present #1, or more accuratly Leif gave me a present and opened it for me.  We all had fun.

I brought Leif up to the cabin for the first time this weekend. My parents were up there making maple syrup and Leif and I joined them.

When we got there Leif just jumped out of car and started exploring. He did wave hello to my parents but wanted to just go off exploring.

Finally we got a jacket on him.

If you are going to cook maple syrup, you need to gather sap.

Leif wants do do his part and pulls the sled.

The trail is kind of wet, but Leif does not mind

Back at the cabin we cook down the sap. Typical syrup ratio is 40:1, that’s 40 gallons for 1 gallon of syrup. Sap has lots of water to boil out.

Leif wants to help again and stir the sap to keep the sugars from burning on the bottom.

After some work is done it’s time to play. Leif is taking Grandma on an adventure in the woods.

But then Leif saw me riding the three wheeler and he had to get in on that fun.

Leif found his own tapper out on the trail.

It’s been 5 min since the last ride, Leif thinks he has master that machine and can go on his own.

Time for some more chores, Leif is helping Grandpa shovel out the turn around.

Now time to gather wood for for a campfire. Not sure if that qualifies ad a chore or fun, I vote for fun.

Leif wants to poke at the fire, so I let him.

Poking at the fire is fun, but if there are no flames it gets boring. Time to throw some stuff in.

Leif absolutely loved it up there. That night after dinner we started to settle down and watched a little TV, it was raining after all. Leif would not fall asleep because he did not want to miss out on anything. We finally turned off the TV, turned a light out and just sat in silence. It took about 5 min for Leif to be asleep and 3 min after that to make sure he would not wake back up. Then we turned the TV back on and finished watching the show. That little guy was really tuckered out.