Happy Birthday, Ian!
We had a small party with just the four of us on Monday to celebrate Ian's 5th birthday. He opened a few presents and we all enjoyed some cupcakes in honor of his big day. He'll be having a larger party with some of his little friends from school this weekend. We'll be sure to post those pictures in the coming days.
Today was beautiful and warm (nearly 40 degrees!), and the kids & I had the day off of school. We decided to go for a walk around Como Lake before lunch, and then we hit the Winter Carnival this afternoon on Harriet Island. The walk was a blast - even Toby came! We found a tree that someone had decorated with Christmas ornaments, a squirrel that was waaaaay up in a tree, and the kids searched for the second medallion since there were so many other people out there today digging for it, too. After heading home and warming up with some soup for lunch, we hit the road again to Harriet Island for the Winter Carnival. There were snow & ice sculptures to see, and a frozen playground to play on. The snow slide was fun, but kids under eight had to ride with an adult. There was also a large warming tent that served up some Minnesota hot dish, hot cocoa and samples of an excellent soup from Bruggers Bagels.
If you plan on going to the winter carnival:
* Use the park and ride! There is NO WHERE to park anywhere within a one mile radius of the island and there are no sidewalks to walk on.
* Buy the buttons. They come with coupon books that allowed us to ride the slide and the go through the ice maze for free.
* Bring a sled to pull behind you for the kids, not a stroller. For most people, the deep snow on the island made strollers next to impossible to navigate through most of the snow and ice sculptures.
* Cover up! The wind was fierce down on the river!
Quick updates:
* Still no news on Taylor's science project, or the grade she got.
* Taylor read the 497-page book, Eragon, in less than three weeks!
* My first two weeks at school have gone smoothly and I've already had to take a test in Medical Terminology. I got 28/30!
* Panod now knows most of the Med. Term. words since he helped me study all week.
* Ian insists that he's still 4.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Back into the swing of things
With the first week of school almost behind us after a long winter break, we are finally getting back into the swing of things. Staying up late and sleeping-in was a very easy habit for all of us to form over the two-week time we had off. Since the last post we've celebrated Panod's birthday, decided where to have Ian's 5th birthday, and finished Taylor's science project. We are also looking forward to my starting school next week. While it is only two classes, it will be a good way for me to start seeing what is ahead of me for the next two years.
Panod's birthday was celebrated at Stella's Fish Cafe in uptown on Saturday night, while our neighbor watched Taylor and Ian. (Thank you, Deb & sorry about the popcorn/living room incident!) Stella's was wonderful! We would highly recommend getting there during happy hour and chowing on the $1 oysters at the oyster bar. We arrived with only 30 minutes left before happy hour was over, but we still manged to down 11 or so oysters! After that, we were seated and we decided to share a heaping basket of super soft, and super spicy calamari. This stuff was amazing, and we probably could have (or should have) stopped eating at that point and been fine. But no, we continued on our seafood frenzy - Panod ordered a wonderful, but slightly too salty seafood soup that came with a large helping of sweet cornbread, a large king crab leg (you can add them on to any entree for only $5.95), and the shrimp hashbrowns, which were amazing. I ordered the daily three, which ended up being salmon, scallops and swordfish - all smothered in rich, creamy sauces. The food was really good and we would like to go back, but we decided that if we do, we'll just hit up the happy hour and down an appetizer.
Over the course of the winter break, we have been helping Taylor with her science project. This year was different because we got to do it in English! Woo hoo! She decided to try and grow crystals on strings that were placed in jars with boiling water and several different materials. Several of the materials tested were regular sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, iodized salt, regular salt & epsom salt. Only the regular salt and iodized salt actually grew crystals and she had to figure why & state it in her report. It really was educational in teaching her the basics of the scientific method and she seemed to do well to do well today when it was her turn to present her work to the judges. Right now we're not sure how well she did, but I have a feeling that at the very least she got a good grade.
I also have some pictures from the kids playing in our latest snow. There just hasn't been much of it this year, so it seems like every chance we get we're out playing in it - I even travel with the kids' snow tubes in the back of the van just in case we feel a spontaneous sledding fit come on while we're out running errands! There are also pictures from Panod's birthday and Taylor's science fair today....
Panod's birthday was celebrated at Stella's Fish Cafe in uptown on Saturday night, while our neighbor watched Taylor and Ian. (Thank you, Deb & sorry about the popcorn/living room incident!) Stella's was wonderful! We would highly recommend getting there during happy hour and chowing on the $1 oysters at the oyster bar. We arrived with only 30 minutes left before happy hour was over, but we still manged to down 11 or so oysters! After that, we were seated and we decided to share a heaping basket of super soft, and super spicy calamari. This stuff was amazing, and we probably could have (or should have) stopped eating at that point and been fine. But no, we continued on our seafood frenzy - Panod ordered a wonderful, but slightly too salty seafood soup that came with a large helping of sweet cornbread, a large king crab leg (you can add them on to any entree for only $5.95), and the shrimp hashbrowns, which were amazing. I ordered the daily three, which ended up being salmon, scallops and swordfish - all smothered in rich, creamy sauces. The food was really good and we would like to go back, but we decided that if we do, we'll just hit up the happy hour and down an appetizer.
Over the course of the winter break, we have been helping Taylor with her science project. This year was different because we got to do it in English! Woo hoo! She decided to try and grow crystals on strings that were placed in jars with boiling water and several different materials. Several of the materials tested were regular sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, iodized salt, regular salt & epsom salt. Only the regular salt and iodized salt actually grew crystals and she had to figure why & state it in her report. It really was educational in teaching her the basics of the scientific method and she seemed to do well to do well today when it was her turn to present her work to the judges. Right now we're not sure how well she did, but I have a feeling that at the very least she got a good grade.
I also have some pictures from the kids playing in our latest snow. There just hasn't been much of it this year, so it seems like every chance we get we're out playing in it - I even travel with the kids' snow tubes in the back of the van just in case we feel a spontaneous sledding fit come on while we're out running errands! There are also pictures from Panod's birthday and Taylor's science fair today....
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