Tricks and Treats

Tricks-

My sneaky brother Joey gave us a huge surprise when he showed up on our door step the day before Halloween! We had no idea he was coming and I'm glad we were home when he showed up. I'm always badgering him to come and see us, so I guess my badgering paid off! We had a great time and we are so glad he came.



Fun Rides with Uncle Joey at the Mall of America




Treats-

Joey was kind enough to bring the girls large caramel apples! The girls loved them, or at least what they could bite into!



Getting ready to go trick or treating. I got dressed up as a skunk (thanks Amy P for the idea) and took the girls out while Todd & Joey stayed home to pass out candy.


Jayda and Addison loved their costumes, even after halloween was over they kept wanting to put them back on and wear them. Addison did her best to keep up with Jayda and her friends. Jayda raced from house to house trick or treating with the neighborhood kids. Addison had to skip every other house so she could catch up since her legs don't run quite as fast. She also would grab handfuls of candy not understanding you are supposed to take just one. They both really enjoyed all of the activities we did for halloween (and there were a lot in the weeks leading up to halloween).

Gas....

Two or three weeks ago I posted about the price of gas and how excited I was that it was $2.78.

This is the price at Costco today, I can't believe it.

Fall fun

Quick update with some recent fall fun activities.

We went to a nearby pumpkin patch to pick our Halloween pumpkins. Even though it rained a little, the girls loved looking for pumpkins. Jayda would run from one to another yelling "Mommy look at this one, it is perfect!"


An old-fashioned wagon for them to sit in with pumpkins.



We also spent a day at the Minnesota Zoo last weekend. Perfect cool weather to be out and about, and so many pretty trees to see while looking at the animals.






Part of the zoo is an actual working farm with cows that they milk, pigs, and goats. You can feed the goats with food from your hands. Addison thought it was so fun, but every time she got close she would jump back and start laughing.



Not used to seeing a moose at the zoo. I guess growing up in the West, where moose run wild in the mountians makes it seem strange to have one in the zoo.



As I said before, tons of trees at the zoo with some really nice fall colors

Gotta love it...

Gotta love the price of gas these days.... I saw it even cheaper then this at another station yesterday. Crazy how a few months ago it was at least $1 more a gallon in some areas.

Fall berries & ski lifts

One of the many things we like to do in the fall is to pick raspberries. Not too far from our house is a nice big raspberry farm where you can go and pick all of your own berries. I took the girls the other night and they loved it (just look at the mess on their faces). Addison ate every single berry she picked, and Jayda ate about half of what she picked. It was a fun time for them and we still ended up with a lot of raspberries.



Having fun picking, before she realized they tasted so good and then she just kept eating them.


Sometimes it is nice to be small and close to the ground!


We still got a lot to take home...



Another fun event we did was visit a local "ski resort" in Minneapolis (it doubles as a golf driving range in the summer). It is only about 25 minutes south of downtown, and is the highest point in the county. The ski resort opened up one lift from 5-9pm for you to ride up, enjoy some fun events like a fire pit, food, band, live animals, etc... at the top, and then you can walk down the lantern lit grassy ski slope to the bottom.
It was fun and the girls enjoy the short ride on the ski lift.

At the bottom


Enjoying the ride with another family.


At the top of the resort just before it got dark. Notice the extremely high elevation! :)

Fall is in the air

Fall is in the air- it is nice and cool outside today, the leaves are beginning to change, and our lives are spent outside everyday trying to enjoy the weather as much as posible until the inevitable long winter rolls around where we will stay inside for the next 7 months.

Jayda started pre-school a few weeks ago and loves it. She gets to go 3 mornings a week to the elementary school where they teach pre-school also. It is fun to see her interact and learn from them and she looks forward to going everyday she can.

First day of school




Both Jayda and Addison are taking some "dance" classes. Of course Addison doesn't really dance much, or do anything in the class but watch, but she thinks it is so much fun to put on her leotard and go. We bought her the smallest ballet shoes possible, and they were still two inches too big. Jayda on the other hand does dance and run around in the class. She enjoys the ballet, tap, and the tumbling that are part of each class. I know you are wondering what I do while they are in dance- I walk back and forth between classes and watch the girls, and pity the poor parents trying to control the toddlers that aren't in dance. That is the main reason Addison is in dance.





We got together with some of Todd's residents and went bowling last week. First time that Jayda has ever bowled and she thought it was fun to roll the ball down. When she tried to roll it by herself it barely made it down the lane, so we found this cool ball rolling thing for kids and she loved it (and we didn't have to help her)!



Some other miscellaneous activities these past few weeks:

Playing at a nearby area called "Teddy Bear Park"


Fall bike rides in the leaves. She loves to ride her bike everyday and won't stop asking when we get to go again. She has already worn through a full tire (and tube) and we had to buy a new one. She just keeps on riding....


This is what Addison does when we turn our backs. She is trouble, and keeps climbing up to play with any computer or anything else she knows is off limits.

Taxes...

I'm not really into politics, and never really get into the issues or battles much, so I am surprised that I even want to post about something political. I am sure many of you have watched the democratic and republican conventions, and that you have your opinions on the various issues, etc....
Today I came across this chart about the different tax plans of McCain and Obama. It compares the income of an individual and how the tax plans of each candidate would effect that income. I thought it was interesting and maybe you will too....

Labor Day Fun

A quick report on our Labor Day weekend. We decided to take a trip up to the city of Duluth, Minnesota and explore some of the area up there. It is about 2.5 hours north of us on the coast of Lake Superior. It is a very industrial city with a lot of shipping business on large ocean going ships. It was fun to see all the boats and the size of some of them.

The real highlight of our trip was all of the State Parks we visited. We went to 3 different parks and they were all beautiful. We took our bikes and rode them everyday in the parks and got to see a lot of great scenery that way.

The girls enjoyed riding in the bike trailer and were happy most of the time (except when Addison would pull Jayda's hair)



One of the parks we went to had some nice waterfalls that you could hike around and get close to.






We even brought Jayda's bike and let her ride on the path for part of the time. She did awesome and loved it, but after about 2 miles she got tired and wanted to stop and ride in the trailer with Addison. She was hot and sweaty, but so happy that she rode her bike so far and so well.






We had to tie her bike on the back and finish our 12 mile ride with it hanging off like this.




After all of the hiking, biking, and sightseeing the girls were pooped. They were both dead asleep when we finally stopped.



Lake Superior has a beautiful shore. It seemed to be quite rocky in the area where we were, but very scenic and nice.



Our last day we stopped by the local ski resort and hiked around a little. It is nothing like the ski resorts out west of course, but this had a nice view of the lake and some good area for the girls to run around.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Just wanted to post a Happy Birthday message for Anna. The girls and I love her so much and appreciate all that she does for us. She is the greatest!
Happy Birthday Anna!

State Parks

Now that July is over and Todd has finally finished all of his night classes (yahoo!). We decided to explore some of the state parks Minnesota has to offer. About 45 minutes from our house along the St Croix river are two parks- the Interstate Park (on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin), and the Wild River park. Both are very pretty and have various things to offer.

Here are Anna and Jayda overlooking the St Croix river at the Interstate park. The state border is actually in the middle of the river. You can see a small ferry boat (paddle boat) that you can take on a ride up the river to see the large cliffs if you want.

 

Addison did pretty well hiking around in the backpack, and Jayda was a super energetic hiker that we had a hard time keeping up with. She could have run up and down the trails all day long if we let her.

 

Part of what is popular are the large rocks that you can climb in and on. Several groups of rock climbers were there, and Jayda thought it was cool to hide in this little rock outcropping.

 

The kids and dad again overlooking part of the river.

 

A little farther up the river is the other park called Wild River. Not sure why they call it that name, it is a very calm and quiet area where the water barely moves. It was a beautiful walk/hike through the trees to the river. It was a short hike, but very scenic and fun to watch the kids run half of the way. Here is Anna with the girls on the way down into the trees.



The girls loved walking together and holding hands or chasing each other.



After our hikes we had a little picnic at the visitor center. Addison was playing around and we snapped this picture. It looks to me like she is doing a little country jig. Not sure if she was really dancing or not, but it is darn cute.

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY!

It's been a while since we have updated our blog, so I'm just going to summarize it in the good, bad and ugly. Let start with the ugly and get it over with.

UGLY

1) Our house was broken into when we were away on vacation in Utah. It was very disturbing and violating for us, but we were fortunate and only ended up with a Dewalt drill (graduation gift from my dad) and our garage door opener stolen. We found our computer with all the cords removed and turned sideways, about ready to be swiped but fortunately it was not taken.
Any one else have a vision of "swiper no swiping, swiper no swiping!"

2) Todd started his pediatric program on July 1st and we haven't seen him since. Okay, so I might be exaggerating a little bit, but not much. He leaves around 7 am and returns between 10pm and 12 am every night. The 12 am has only happened one time, but it does deserve some sympathy! The worst part is he puts the girls to bed Sunday night and then doesn't see them until Friday around 6 pm. Jayda keeps asking me "Did Dad take his sleeping bag with him to school?" and "Who is daddy going to eat dinner with tonight?".

And now for the Bad:

1) watering the new grass by hand with sprinklers. It is such a pain and takes so much time out of my day.
2) We miss all our good friends from Ann Arbor. Jayda misses all of the kids she used to play with, and we miss our good friends too. We know that most of them have moved away and aren't in Ann Arbor either, but we still miss them.


And how about some Good to finish off with:

1) We got new sod in our yard and don't have a dirt yard anymore. Even though the watering is a pain, at least we have some clean soft area for the kids to play in, and it is a lot prettier then dirt too.



2) 4th of July- A fun holiday as always. We went swimming at a nearby lake in the morning, had a BBQ for dinner, then lit some of our own fireworks before the girls went to bed. We only spent a small amount of money on fireworks for the girls, but luckily our neighbors spent hundreds of dollars and entertained us all!








3) Jayda has started a dance class and loves it. It is a Ballet/Tap/Tumbling class with other girls her age. They do all 3 events during the 45 minute class each week. She loves to dance, and to make new friends each week. We even had some of the kids come over and play in our yard after dance today.

4 ) New friends- Jayda had made some new friends in the neighborhood, and so have we. We were invited to a bonfire at our neighbors house the other night where Jayda just ran for hours with the other kids. We are grateful for nice neighbors and new friends that we are making.

5) Todd started his program. We are now 2 weeks done with the 24 month long program. He really likes the other 4 residents he is with and thinks that they will have a great 2 years together. Things are a little unorganized right now, but overall it will be a good experience and enable Todd to learn what he needs and wants to learn. We even went to a Welcome dinner last weekend and got to take the girls with us.
Here is a photo with 3 of the other 4 residents with Todd.


The girls got to wear their special dresses and looked so cute.


That is all for now, we will try to update more often, sorry we are slackers....