Como Zoo!

We were lucky enough to visit Como Zoo in St. Paul on the most beautiful summer day!  Logan woke up so excited to go to the ZOO!  He remembered so much from his visits last summer - all about Sparky, the seal, the monkeys, and the giraffes.  My dad had the day off work and even Amy joined us on her day off!

Papa and Nana were in charge!  They knew their way around and which exhibits to visit first. 

First stop: the new Polar Bear exhibit.  We were impressed with the care taken to keep the bears learning and developing.  We got to see the bears play, jump, swim, and eat.  Logan LOVED watching the bears splash in the water right in front of him.

Lots of water breaks!  The weather has been so hot but after storms last night, the air was much lighter today - perfect for a sunny visit to the zoo.

Finally it was time for Logan's favorite: Sparky!  He sure does love the seal and her tricks!  The show is much better this year than last year.

Mom & the boys.

Bennett has been trying hard to figure out how to put his hat on by himself lately....hasn't quite gotten it down yet.

One of my personal favorites is the butterfly house.

Papa with the boys in the butterfly house!

And, of course, we couldn't go home without a ride on the Merry-Go-Round!

Bennett almost fell asleep during the ride!

After a picnic lunch on the lawn at Como Park, we all headed home for naps!  What a great day!

Two Parties, One Day

Last weekend, we had TWO fun birthday parties in ONE day!  We traveled to Stillwater on Saturday so we would be ready for the festivities all day on Sunday.  It was a nice short trip and we even got to swim in Baggie and Bopbop's pool before the storms on Saturday evening.

First stop was our friend, William's, third birthday party at Choo Choo Bob's in St. Paul.  William is just 3 weeks older than Logan and Sarah and I have been friends for ages.  Its been fun to have our little boys growing up at the same time.  We take advantage of any chance we have to get together with their family.  We had never been to Choo Choo Bob's, but it was a big hit with our little boys!  Logan keeps asking to go back - even a whole week later!

The back of the store is set up with lots of great train tables for the kids to play on.  The boys made themselves right at home...with a little help from Mom.

Logan literally would have played all day.  It was a challenge to get him to stop for lunch or cake.

The boys stuck together amidst all the other friends at the party.

Bennett was exploring the whole store and having a blast!

Sarah had a delicious lunch and a great party.  We loved being able to celebrate with William!

Then it was off for a couple errands and naps before the next party!  We headed through River Falls, WI to celebrate our friend, Avery's, FIRST birthday!  Avery is a super special little girl and Kim has also been a friend for ages.  We were so happy to be there to celebrate with Avery!  Because of so much commotion and our worn out kids, I didn't get many photos of the birthday girl.  She is such a cutie and a lucky girl to have parents like Josh and Kim.

Little Miss Avery

As always, Kim had delicious food and threw a great party.  

By the end of this great busy day, our kids felt like this:

Yikes!  We got the kids in their pjs and headed home to Eau Claire!

Go Twins! [Updated]

We were lucky to have tickets to the Twins games at Target Field last Tuesday.  We've been waiting for the game, since it was our first time to the new ballpark.  Logan was so excited!  Amy and Andrew went with us and we decided to leave Bennett home with Papa and Nana since the game started right at his bedtime.  It was special time for Logan and he really loved everything about the game.

We were impressed by the ball field but didn't have too much time to look around - we went right to our seats for the start of the game.

Logan was one super excited little boy - we couldn't get enough of those smiles!

The three of us!  We can't wait to bring Bennett next year!

Thumbs up!

The impressive new ballpark.

At our seats behind home plate with A & A.

Dusk with the Minneapolis skyline - my favorite view of the night.

We wanted to get Logan a new hat because he has outgrown his, but since we couldn't find one, he got the T.C. Bear Claw instead.  Logan really loved that bear!

Logan was sitting on my lap, cheering with his new bear claw when a cameraman sat just a couple rows in front of us.  When there was a break in the game, he pointed the camera straight at Logan and filmed him for the jumbotron!  Andrew was quick enough to catch this photo above on his iPhone when the cameraman started filming.

Ironically, we ran into some Minneapolis friends, Troy and Mary, on our way in the ballpark.  Wednesday morning, Troy sent this photo to John.  Troy was playing around with his fancy camera, checking lighting, etc when he inadvertently snapped this photo of Logan and I on film.  He didn't even know until later that he got the photo of US!  What are the chances?!  Of course, once Logan was on the big screen (or the "stage", as he called it), we got texts and calls from friends at the game saying, "I just saw Logan on the jumbotron!  We're here at the game tonight, too!"  It was awesome!  John summed it up like this:

Twins ticket: $59

Parking: $15

Foam T.C. Bear Claw: $12

Logan on the big screen at his first Twins game: PRICELESS.

That says it all!

7th Anniversary!

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary!  We celebrated last weekend on Saturday by eating dinner out at Marx in Stillwater in the midst of a great thunderstorm.  It was lovely - and symbolic.  Amidst many storms (jobs, school, houses, losing the car keys...you know, the usual!), our love has remained a constant through it all.  And now we enjoy life each day with our wonderful little boys.  What a blessed life we live.

Sooooo ready for a nice dinner out - no kids!

Seven already???

Happy #7, babe.

Bennett gets another party...

Bennett is one lucky one year old.  Last week, Baggie and Bopbop came over for dinner and brought Bennett a great party!  Balloons, cupcakes, presents and dinner for everyone.  It was so much fun!  I think my favorite part is that even though the party was for Bennett, Logan was so excited.  This was the first time we saw B & B since being home from camp and it was a great visit!

Logan loved decorating cupcakes with Baggie!

The Man

Cute cupcakes for the birthday boy!

Singing for Bennett.  I don't know if you can tell, but Logan was just so excited!  He sang the birthday song just perfectly!

Oooohhhh...

Yum!

Bopbop reading Bennett his new book.

Bathtime with new bath toys!

 B & B stayed for bathtime and playtime before bed.  The boys were so riled up - and so adorable - playing together in Logan's bedroom.  It was fun!  Thanks for the marvelous visit!  Come again soon!

Summertime Concerts

Being that we've been away for so many weeks this summer, we're trying to cram all the great things about summer in EC while we're home.  A few things we love the most: the downtown farmer's market, summer concert series at phoenix park, and just hanging out with our neighbors.  Tonight we got to enjoy the summer concert with our neighbors and it was a great night to be out!  We were sure Logan would love dancing around with the little kids, but he was pretty shy.  Bennett was itching to get out and shake around, though!

Bennett and I on the dance floor!

B and I with our neighbors, Lauren and little Ellen (15 months).

The boys climbing on Dad!

Bennett's 1 Year!

Today we finally had Bennett's 1 year check up at the pediatrician.  At over 13 months old, he is meeting all his developmental milestones: walking and talking included!  Bennett says "Ma", "Da", and "Ball".  He began walking this week once we were home from camp.  Of course, he is thrilled that he can take off on his own and soon he will be keeping up with Logan (and giving Logan a run for his money when it comes to toys and attention!).

Before we left for camp, we had a visit to the neurologist again because we had noticed new symptoms in Bennett's shivers.  We had to get some special treatment to find a time we could get into our specialist before leaving for camp for the whole month of June.  Luckily, the staff were amazing and fit us in - with time to spare.  In our meetings with Dr. Hanson in March, he said if we noticed any changes, we should be sure to call right away.  At that time, Bennett was deemed "normal" after an EEG and some other assessments.  In May we began to notice Bennett forcefully nodding his head, sometimes uncontrollably.  As we watched for about a week, we became nervous about the newly developed behavior.  We knew we had to get it checked out before leaving town for the first half of the summer.

We had a great assessment with Dr. Hanson again and after examining and playing with Bennett we showed him video we had taken of Bennett nodding his head.  Luckily, we had plenty of footage for the neurologist to see Bennett's behavior in different contexts.  We were assured his head nodding was nothing pointing to a developing seizure disorder.  Rather, the head nodding is related to his previous shivers, which have now subsided.  Often, children with the shivers will develop head nodding as a stimulatory behavior.  Apparently, Bennett just liked the way it felt - and likes making his parents worry.

With Bennett's great check up today with Dr. Gilmartin, we are so thankful for healthy kids.  We do not take for granted that the boys have been strong and healthy this far - what a blessing!

What a big guy!  

Bennett weighs 21 lbs, 11 ounces (23rd percentile) 

and measures 31 inches (72nd percentile)!

His head, of course, is in the 98th percentile.

Look at that crazy hair!  Bennett is a wild man - hard to contain for any amount of time, especially now that he is walking!

Missing this...

Now that we're home, we are missing lots about Castaway.  One thing I'm missing is this view from the house.  We're missing friends, kids, staff, big spaces to run, the beach....  But, it's good to be home and house all our memories in our hearts.

Castaway Club 7

One last day at the beach!  After a couple days laying low, we took advantage of our last day at camp with some family time at the beach.

We love Castaway!