A Day in the Cities

I am so far behind in all my blogging.  We have been incredibly busy and I've lost track of the time.  These are our memories though.  I have unofficially replaced scrapbooking with blogging.  Only for the convenience factor and I still continue to scrapbook whenever I get the time.

One thing I have wanted to do for a while now is to take the family to Como-Park and ride the street cars.  So, when we finally had a weekend free we headed up there.  It was a drizzly morning, but that didn't matter! 

The street cars were so much fun.  They are run by a group of volunteers who just want to keep educating youth and adults on history.  The volunteers were so friendly.  We walked around the station and bought tickets (coins) to go on the street car.  

We had to wait a while for a street car to come back from a trip, but once the boys saw it pull up they were beyond excited.  

The boys each had our coins to insert into the coin deposit on the street car.  They picked our seats out and we were ready for the ride.  The volunteers do tours and restore old cars.  This street car was beautiful.  Only one other family rode with us on this day.

The street car doesn't go far, but I'm glad the boys had the experience.

After the street cars, we walked around the area looking at the ducks and eating some ice cream.  It is gorgeous down in that area of the cities.

We then headed over to Como Zoo.  We try to make one stop there each year and this was the day.  We probably could have picked a better day as it was drizzly/rainy most of it.  But, we made the best of it!  Most of the animals were out and walking around, too.  

We are spoiled by my Godparents/Aunt & Uncle with a MN Zoo pass, so we don't come to this zoo often.  It's nice, but kind of disappointing that the animals have such tight living conditions.  

One fun thing about going to the Como Zoo is the rides.  We had some points from a prior visit and they each were able to pick one ride for the day.  Of course they both picked the cars!  

After the Zoo, we headed over to the Great MN Food Truck Rally at Harriet Brewing.  There were about 10 different food trucks there and each picked food to pair with a Harriet Brewing Co. beer.  Andy really wanted to try this and it sounded like fun.  There were quite a few people there and live music, too!  We had a good time.

When we still hadn't had enough for the day, we met up with the Hoppe's at Brunswick Bowl in Lakeville.  I usually steer clear from here because it can be spendy.  But, once in a while it is okay to splurge on fun!  

At Brunswick Bowl you bowl by the hour, we picked a 2 hour deal.  We probably would have been okay with 1 hour.  The littles got a little restless by the end and more and more people were packing the place.  

In the beginning, they were loving the bowling.  The bumpers would come up on their turns and they would use the thing the ball rolls off of to get their ball down there.  They had some food and pop even, too!

It was a great day.  It is so much fun trying all these new things.

TBall: Year 2

My boy loves his sports.  He loves to watch them and cheer for different teams (not the Packers!) and he loves to run and play them also.  Last year Alex participated in TBall through Montgomery-Lonsdale Community Education and it was fun, but it wasn't "TBall".  It was parts of "TBall".  I can see how some kids would love it, but I know my kid and he gets into the game.  So, this year we signed up through New Prague where he had the opportunity to play on a real field against another team.  He loved it!  

 The season was supposed to start in May and go through June on Wednesday nights.  But, mother nature had other plans and due to rain 3 games were cancelled and moved into July.  On his first night of ball, he got to play his friend, Ryan.  I think he would have rather played with Ryan on this night, but it was still fun!

I feel very selfish saying I didn't want to coach.  Andy doesn't get home until late and couldn't make half the games and what would I do with Aiden?  Thank goodness for this nice man to volunteer.  He was very patient and kind-hearted.  Alex really enjoyed and respected him.

I don't know how it happened, but Alex's team only had boys on it.  I don't know if any other teams were like that.  Every time the ball was hit, every single boy in the field would run to the ball and jump on it.  Into a dog-pile.   Then, inevitably, one boy would come out with the ball shouting, "I got it!"  While the others just saunter away.  It was very entertaining to watch.

My boy, as well as the others, loved to hit the ball.  They were always jumping at the bit to get up there.  In the beginning, Alex seemed to hit the Tee so he could have another try at hitting.  It didn't seem to last long though.  He loved to get a good hit too!

 

Although playing the field is never as much fun, it is part of the work.  On the last night, many families, including the coach, had already planned vacations not taking into account mother nature.  Our team had three kids attend.  They combined both teams of kids and asked for adult volunteers to take to the field.  It was kids versus adults.  My parents happened to be with us that night and my Dad was the lucky volunteer.  They both look about as excited as the other to be in the field.

Look at that arm!

And, who would a player be without his fans?  Alex's number one fan being Aiden who didn't miss a game.  Even Andy and I missed a couple of games on odd nights, but Aiden was always there.  He sure loves his brother.  Grandma Guse and Grandma & Grandpa Johnson came to watch too!

 

 I am definitely proud of my boy.  He grew a lot as a player this year.  He seemed to listen to his coach, enjoy the other kids' efforts, had fun, and showed nice improvement in form (haha). 

Our Second "Date" of the Season

Our second "date" with Cassie this summer and Great Aunty Reney and Grandma were able to join us too!  It was such a fun and perfect day. 

We started off looking at the penguins and that was a treat.  The ladies were in and feeding the penguins whole fish.  It was amazing to watch them swallow the fish whole.  

The Africa exhibit was back at the zoo and the boys and Cassie fed the giraffe.  Okay, Cassie fed the giraffe while holding the boys.  The tongue of the giraffe was something to see for sure.

We had the perfect day outside.  It only sprinkled momentarily, but it wasn't hot/humid, it was just right!

There seemed to be a theme with the kids in the goat area.  They all drop the food in excitement/terror just as the goat is about to eat from their hands.  

The farm was not packed and it was fun to visit all the napping animals.  The boys also churned butter for the first time.

One of the best parts of the zoo trips are going on the tractor rides.  

After last year's trip to visit the dinosaurs, I have not worked up the courage to take the boys back there yet. But, we did see a photo op!

This was not a day to fool around at the zoo. We did all of the outside and the Tropics.  That doesn't happen very often.  It is always nice to have people with us to distract from me and the whining.

The Butterfly Garden was amazing! I love going in there and this was only the second time.  A butterfly rested on my back for a whole minute or more.  They are truly beautiful.

After our big trip to the zoo, we headed to Chuck-E Cheese for an impromptu lunch at 3 in the afternoon!  With lots of pizza, drinks and games the boys were exhausted!  Not tired enough to sleep on the way home though...

It was such a fun day!  Thanks Grandma, Great Aunty Reney and Cassie for making it so special!