Why's Cordelia so quiet?

Because she figured out how to open the sprinkles. She was sent directly to the bath after this.

Torii's birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Torii's birthday with family and friends. He wanted his party at Snoopers so that's where we went. Cordelia was much more adventurous than the last time at Snoopers. She laid in the ball pit for awhile. She didn't seem bothered by all the kids bouncing all around her.
Cordelia wanted to go down the slides, but she couldn't make it up the ramp to the tunnels. Luckily, she has a good big brother who helped her out.

This is Torii's Candyland cake. We saw it in a magazine and Torii loves that game so we knew this was the cake for him. Usually I just bake a cake and throw some frosting on top so this was quite the deal for me. It took a couple of hours just to decorate it. And Fred had to go out for more Starburst so I could finish the path. Torii liked the cake. So did Cordelia who was caught more that once trying to take candy from the cake. She didn't get the gumdrop she is reaching for, but she didn't have to wait long because we had cake soon after this picture. We still have a ton of candy left since I only needed a bit of everything.

I'm tired!

First day of school

I can't believe it, but tomorrow is already the first day of school! Tonight the school hosted an open house. Over the summer the school had some major remodeling done inside and in celebration of that, they went all out for the open house. They served hot dogs, beans, and watermelon to everyone and then had four big inflatables outside for the kids. It was a perfect night for all of it. Doesn't Torii look so excited for school? At least I got a good picture of the mark Auntie Laurie gave him while she was here. Thanks Laurie for bruising my son for his birthday and first day of school pictures. Of course this is all in fun, I will never let her live that down.
Rion at his desk. The kindergartners shared tables so it was kind of exciting for him to have a desk now. He is sitting next to Hannah, the girl who always said goodbye to him after class last year. "Goodbyyyyyeee Freeeeeeed". I didn't really think it was a big deal for Rion's first day, but after attending the open house I'm more excited for him. It was fun to see kids and parents that we already knew. I think about half the kids in his class this year were also in his class last year.

Rion on his way down and Torii on the way up on one of the inflatables.

And now Torii on his way down.

It's doesn't seem like school should be starting already. If you went by the weather, it feels like summer is just starting. Torii goes back and forth on whether he wants to go or not. He is afraid of mean kids. Torii has the same teacher Rion had last year which is really nice. Torii sat in with the class when they had special programs and his teacher also taught the summer program too. He also knows one of the girls in the class who is the little sister of one of the girls in Rion's class. I think all of that will help him adjust. He says he will miss me, but I told him he'll have so much fun in school that he'll forget to miss me. I could never sleep the night before the first day of school. And now I find myself a bit wired. The kids are sleeping soundly, but will I be able to sleep tonight?

Really busy having fun

On Saturday I got out for a few hours and did some thrift store shopping, which I've been dying to do. I found Rion this bike for a whopping $5.00. The back tire needed some air and now it's good as new. We spent most of Sunday outside learning how to ride. Rion was also excited that he could wear his new Pokemon bike helmet. He still hasn't got the hang of the bike, but he can go short distances without falling. He is loving his bike. I think he thinks he is pretty big to have such a bike.
Meanwhile, I can't get Torii to go on either of the two smaller bikes that have training wheels. He also wanted to wear his new bike helmet, but he wore it while driving the tricycle.

While taking a break from learning how to ride a bike, (it wears a parent out), Torii was collecting leaves. It was a nice blustery day so a lot of leaves could be found in the yard. I told Torii I had a cool project we could make with the leaves. Laurie got me this book for Christmas last year and it's full of traditional crafts. There are a bunch of crafts I remember doing as a kid. One of them was making waxed leaves, which I did in school once.

Here's our waxed leaves. They look nice with the sun shining through the window. Rion's is on top, mine in the middle and Torii's at the bottom. I was looking in the book for Halloween projects and now I'm excited to get started on some of them.

The joy of getting a group shot

More vacation pics

The first place we visited when we got into the cities was the zoo. It was really fun to see animals that we don't have at our zoo. The really nice thing was that our local zoo membership worked there. We still spent a lot of money on food and souvenirs. I had forgotten how big the Minnesota Zoo was and by the end of our visit the kids were getting a little grumpy. Cordelia actually fell asleep in the car while we were in the drive thru to bring back some food to the hotel. The Minnesota Zoo has a new playground which is really nice. I'm not sure what Rion's doing, but he kind of looked like an explorer. He's standing next to the playground's version of Split Rock Lighthouse.
Torii and Cordelia on the other side of the lighthouse.

Torii after testing out the zoo's cotton candy.

After the game we hit up Nickelodeon Universe and the Mall of America. If you look at Cordelia's feet you'll notice she only has one shoe on. About five minutes later, I noticed she had no shoes on. The girl loves shoes, but she also loves taking them off. I made somewhat of an attempt to find them, but ended up buying a new pair at The Children's Place which was conveniently located near Legoland.

Rion was in heaven in Legoland. I don't think he wanted to leave. He was amazed at everything. When we got back to the hotel we were talking to a couple outside that had gone to the game. Then a boy with a huge Legoland bag walked by and Rion could tell it was Star Wars set inside. Poor guy. We didn't get anything at Legoland.

Last game at the dome

In 1988, I saw my first Twins game at the Metrodome. Every summer after that my family went to at least one game every summer. I always hoped to keep up that tradition, but college and the everyday busyness of life stopped that. Suddenly I realized that Rion is now six and since he's been born we've only been to one Twins game and that wasn't at the Dome. With time ticking down until the new stadium opens, I knew I had to get the kids to the Dome. It's been years since I've been to a game as well so I wanted to go to one final game there. We finally got down there last Sunday. The game was a blowout, but we still had fun. The kids were great, even Cordelia, who I didn't think would let me watch much, let alone the whole game. I am so thankful to the kids for letting me enjoy as much as the Dome as we could. I used to love the Dome, but since visiting some other ballparks, I'm glad to see it go. Still, I had a hard time leaving knowing that was my last baseball game there. This was the place that I saw Puckett, Hrbek, Hunter, Knoblauch, Mauer, Morneau, and countless others play. This was the place where I saw back-to-back jacks by Puckett and Hrbek. This was the place I got my closest shot at a foul ball when a Bo Jackson foul hit the seat in front of me. This was the place I sat with this guy I was dating named Fred, behind Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven, for a special TV broadcast in the home run porch seats in hopes McGwire would hit one out. It was on the Dome's Plaza that I watched Kirby's press conference announcing he would never play baseball again. And it was the place that my family journeyed to each summer to indulge the only baseball fan in the family. I have so many great memories of that place and I got to add one more by bringing my own kids there. I am determined to not let six more years go by before seeing another Twins game. I hope our family will be able see a game every summer. I know the kids didn't enjoy the game as much as I did. The game was more for my benefit than for anyone else. I do hope they become baseball fans and enjoy our yearly pilgrimage to the cities to see mommy's favorite team. And even if they go astray and root for the Yankees, I'll still be happy knowing they are baseball fans.

We took the light rail transit to and from the game. We picked it up at the Mall of America and then got dropped off right in front of the Dome. It was cheaper then parking around the Dome and we didn't have to hassle with the traffic. Plus we planned on going to the mall after the game anyway. It did take longer than driving since there was 13 stops, but it was worth it. The boys were excited about riding on a train.

Torii had to have some ice cream at the game and Rion had a snow cone. Torii also had to have some cotton candy. He saw the guy with cotton candy two sections over and wanted it right then. We told him we would get some when he came by. "But he's right there!" Torii kept telling us. Fred eventually had to get up and Torii went with to get his cotton candy.

This was towards the end of the game. I think he was really bored, but he was on his best behavior. He was told he would not get to go to Nickelodeon Universe after the game if he acted up.

This is when we first left the mall and were on the way to the game.

Fred bought Cordelia a pink Mauer shirt at the game. She was getting really tired by the end of the game, but I had blankie with so she grabbed it and put her head on the chair. I think she would have fallen asleep if the game had gone a little longer.