Adventureland!

Our family headed to Adventureland Memorial Day weekend.  We are starting to make this a family tradition!  Adventureland honors the military that weekend and offers great discounts (like free for the soldiers!).  Mark and I have gone to Adventureland MANY times together in the last 13+ years and it's fun to make it something our boys enjoy too.  

We had not decided for sure if we were going to go or not until the day before and when we told Isaiah he was ECSTATIC!  I don't think I've ever seen him as excited about anything else - ever.

The forecast was for rain in the early morning, but to stop raining by 9 (park opened at 10) and mid 70s so we figured it would be a good day to go.  Unfortunately the weatherman was wrong and it rained and poured while we were there until about 2pm.  When we first got there it was just barely sprinkling and the boys were excited to be greeted by Bernie - Levi especially who pointed and waved until we got to say hello and then he waved at him until we couldn't see him anymore! :)

Levi was a bit timid about the rides at first, but Isaiah had no fear.  He was very excited to make our first stop at the Frog Hopper - Levi refused to go on it- but Isaiah enjoyed every minute.

There are SO many rides that are just right for both boys.  It was so much fun to see them enjoying them!  Memorial Day weekend is one of the slowest weekends at Adventureland all summer long (according to a few of the workers we've talked to the past several years) so the boys got to ride the rides over and over and over as many times as they wanted.

We made it to the bumper cars - this was one of the rides that Mark was looking forward to most.  Again, it was so slow we did this one at least 3 times in a row and then came back later for more!

At this point the rain started POURING down really really hard.  The boys took a ride on the carousel because it was dry and then we went to the arcade to try to stay out of the rain.

After a little bit it did let up and we moved on - only in time for it to start raining some more! :)

Mark has always, always played the fair games while at Adventureland (or any other place like it).  It's something we count on doing and it makes him happy.  He bought 3 darts to try to pop a balloon and win a prize - Isaiah wanted to try so Mark told him what to do and he threw the dart and popped a balloon!  He was soooooooo excited and both Mark and I were surprised!  Then Mark and Levi tried and they were unsuccessful! :)

Isaiah got to pick out a crayon stuffed toy as his prize - look at the smile on his face!  He has since taken a huge liking to this toy and sleeps with it almost every night and plays with it.  One night he woke up hystrically crying and I hurry to his room and he's saying, "I can't find my crayon!!!"

The rain kept coming, but we didn't let it stop us - the boys got on the dragons and rode this ride at least 7 times in a row...they were the only 2 on it for most of those times!

Mark had a few friends that were also at Adventureland that day so he rode a few rides with them - the rollercoasters and the bigger ones the kids couldn't do - it worked out great.

And the ladybugs - these are so cute!  I'd have to say this one was probably Levi's favorite.  They rode this one for at least 30 minutes straight!  Take a look at their faces - they are having so much fun together!

Mark came and took Isaiah on the Stargazer (or something like that) - it's a huge ride that goes up so high.  I was surprised he agreed to go on it, but he did.  Afterwards Isaiah wasn't so sure if he liked it.  Levi rode the ladybugs by himself this whole time!

Of course the boys wouldn't miss the tea cups. (not me, I'd get dizzy!)

And Levi really really wanted to go on the pirate ship so we all got in line, but when it was time to get on Isaiah decided he'd rather not so we stayed back.  Levi LOVED it and wanted to go again and again!

The rides just kept coming and the boys were loving them all!

We made it back to the Frog Hopper - this time Levi was more than excited to ride it!  I think they did this one at least 10 times -- but the line for this was a little longer - they got to go every other time it went!

You'll notice the rain had stopped so we went to change into our clothes...but no time to waste, plenty of rides to get to!

We did pause for the juggling show - which the guy picked Mark to be a part of and he got to juggle on stage - no pictures as I took a video- and at the end all the kids watching got to come up and help the juggler.  It was cute - I think Levi mostly agreed to go up just because Bernie was on stage!

Both boys agreed to go on this really fast moving ride with Mark.  Not me! :)  I think they probably would have ridden this one over and over again too -- but once was enough for daddy!

Then we went to lady luck - I thought maybe just Isaiah would go on it with Mark, but oh no Levi wanted to go too.  I am just not able to go on spinning rides so Mark was going to take each boy one at a time, but the worker noticed Isaiah and asked if he would go with another little girl - this ride requires exactly 2 people to ride together and this little girl was crying so hard because she had no one to ride with.  Isaiah was such a good sport and agreed to ride with the girl.  I could tell they had fun together.

and so did Mark and Levi.

We were running out of time ... and energy so we were sure to take a ride on the train, but not without stopping at the train station to pick out some candy first (another tradition of Mark and mine).  The boys both picked swirly suckers and had them finished by the time the train ride was over.

And then before long it was time to go (but not before we rode the ferris wheel - which was too scary with curious little kids with no seatbelts of any kind for pictures) and it didn't take much before the boys looked like this...

What a perfect day of family memories!  I can't wait to do it again next year! 

Rock climbing

Mark's work had a employee fun day at the university wellness center.  We didn't stay long as we had an Adrenaline X Mobile Laser Tag party in the evening, but Mark did want to stop out say hi to a few work buddies.  It happened to be the week that Grandma Michele was here so she got to join in the fun!  The most exciting part of the event was the boys both got to climb the huge rock wall!

Our table where we ate was looking right over the wall so I asked Isaiah if he wanted to give it a try.  He said, "not today" but Levi quickly chimed in, "I do!"  So daddy and Levi went down to climb the wall.

He was so brave and knew just what to do!

After a short turn, he was all done.  He got a little scared, but all in all was very excited about it!

After hearing and seeing that his little brother was going to climb the wall, Isaiah quickly had a change of heart and decided he was ready to climb the wall too.  So we went and got ready while Levi finished his turn.

Isaiah was very brave too.

He made it quite a ways up all by himself!

Way to go boys!  

Last day of preschool - for the year anyway.

Friday May 27 was Isaiah's last day of preschool - for this year.  He was in the 4/5 year old 3 morning a week class, but will attend the same school 5 afternoons next year.  I'm definitely happy with our decision!  I think he could be ready to go to kindergarten this fall, but we want to give him every advantage he can have so are excited for him to learn and grow one more year as a preschooler!

He was being silly before school - this was the best I could get. :)

 For the last day of school, the student's families got to come spend the day at school.  Here they are doing the calendar time - it was so cute listening to them sing about the weather.

 Then they headed to the sanctuary to put on a little show for us.  They sang a cute song and then played a nice video with lots of pictures from the year.  Mrs. Knapp told the kids whenever they are missing their preschool friends to play the video this summer - we've already watched it several times!

 Then each student got to come up and get their award certificate for completing their year at preschool.  Lots of tears were shed by the teachers as they said their goodbyes.  

 Isaiah was excited about his certificate and his copy of the DVD.

 What a sweet picture of Isaiah and his buddy Caiden with their teachers. 

Isaiah does miss his preschool, but I think he enjoys the extra time at home too.  I'm sure he'll be excited and ready to start back up the end of August!  I'll keep you posted!

Grandma's visit.

Grandma Michele came to stay with us for a week in May.  The boys were so happy and greeted her with big hugs!  I'm not sure who was more excited! :)

Grandma got to be involved in our every day stuff like taking Isaiah to school...she walked him in to his classroom and got to show her all around.

Then Levi had to show her his (Sunday school) classroom (which was locked, bummer!).

Grandma Michele likes to spoil the boys so of course she didn't come empty handed - she brought them each a cool new t-shirt.  Levi's has guitars and says Rock and Roll and Isaiah's has a huge t-rex.  She knows the boys well! :)

And while Isaiah was at preschool, Levi got to go help pick out a new toy for each of them - Levi got a big motorcycle and Isaiah got a humongous dinosaur monster truck - WAY COOL.  Thanks grandma!!!

The boys taught Grandma how to play the Wii - Mario Brothers.

We also got to surprise Matthew with a graduation party!

He was very surprised and glad to see so many friends and family - Congrats again Matt!

We also took Grandma and Uncle Matthew on a walk through Hartman Reserve.

We had a movie night with popcorn and all - Grandma had never seen Toy Story 3 - the boys were excited to watch it with her!

We also taught her how to play one of our favorite games - Cranium Hullabaloo. 

and she got plenty of wrestling time in - the boys LOVE to wrestle!!

One day we made a morning stop at Chuck E Cheese .

And it wouldn't be a week without the park. 

or outside time...

Grandma also bought the boys horns for their bikes.  

Grandma and Matthew took the boys for a bike ride with me - I think they both about had a heart attack along the way - it can be a bit nerve wracking to have to little boys riding their bikes on the street.  

and last but not least, Grandma got to give them a bath.  She washed their hair and all - what a break for me! haha.  

Thanks for coming Grandma Michele!  Come back soon!!!

Matthew's Graduation

Mark's brother Matthew graduated from the University of Minnesota this May.  Of course we wouldn't miss his graduation so we left the kids with my parents and were on the road to Minneapolis!  It was a pretty uneventful drive with a stressful ending trying to find a parking spot on a huge campus when we had no idea where we were going! haha.  But we found a ramp and ran -- and made it with plenty of time to spare! 

The ceremony was held in the hockey arena and was just about full.  What a special event for Matthew - I'm glad we were there to support him!

Mark's mom Michele flew into Minneapolis to be there too.  It was great to see her - it'd been over 3 months since we saw her in Miami in February.

 After the ceremony we finally found Matt in the huge crowd of graduates.  Of course we had to take the many "typical" pictures - Matt and Mark, Matt and Mom, Matt and friends, Matt and everyone, Matt and .... you get the picture - I"ll only share a couple with you :)

 We then walked to Chipotle for lunch (yum - I'd never eaten there before, I'd definitely suggest the chicken tacos :) and then we were off for the tour of his campus.

What a beautiful campus!  I would have loved to spend all afternoon walking around and enjoying the beautiful buildings, but we decided to take in all that we could in about an hour and then get on the road home - Matthew and Michele were spending the following week in town so we'd have plenty of time to spend with them!  Here's a few pictures from the tour.

I can't remember what these buildings were, but they were very pretty.  

Thanks for sharing your day with us Matthew -- congratulations!  Can't wait to see what the next chapter holds for you!!