"Touch A Truck"

We took the boys to the "Touch a Truck" event at Central Park in Roseville this evening. As we were standing there gawking at trucks we ran into an old friend of mine from teaching and her family. Elena and her daughter had biked there and Steve and their son brought over bocce ball. Their kids are elementary school age, but the four kids had fun climbing all over the trucks together.

Owen got Evan into a giggling fit through this truck window, but it ended in
a sweet little nose bop.

After climbing in and on all sorts of trucks, we played at the playground for awhile. Evan saw some pinecones on the ground and asked Jim, "What dat?" A few minutes later we were meandering over to watch our friends play bocce ball and Evan says, "kinecone," and starts picking up the pinecones. He is learning words so quickly, but still has his own little language.

He then proceeded to collect and hold as many pinecones in his hands as he possibly could!

Summer Days of Play

We had some friends come over for a play date this week. The night before we sprayed all the bird poop of the outside toys. There was a lot because we had a little nest above the garage with 5 baby birds in it. Evan calls it "nessssss." They've all outgrown it now, but they haven't gone far. Anyway, Evan was excited to help with the hose and when we were done, we cleaned out the pool, just in case it was warm enough to swim.

The boys were having too much fun to swim. There is about 6 months difference between Owen and his friend Connor, but there seems like years between their swings. Owen Y. aka "Chief" eventually took his turn when he settled on where exactly the stand should go.

But then the two Owen's decided that sharing a swing and talking about who stinks more, was a lot more fun!

Evan still follows the big kids around, but he's started to take on some of his own interests. Here he is making me "egssssss" which sounds a lot like "nesssss" without the "n." He is not as tentative as Owen and will try any word. Owen didn't say a lot before the age of 2, but when he started talking it was full and descriptive sentences. As you can see, the kitchen was hot and he had to cook shirtless.

Ya-ya and Bumpa came this weekend to watch the boys while we went to a lovely wedding for my good friend Sara. Ya-ya brought a pre-school version of the lemon drop. Owen, who like Jim, does everything slowly, eventually stepped back so he could successfully jump after the bee went buzzing by.

Fire Truck Day!

SAY "FIRE TRUCK!"

My Stay At Home Moms Meetup group went had Fire Truck Day today at the North St. Paul Fire Department. This was the best event we've had since trick or treating at the nursing home.
One of the moms has a cousin at the fire department and he was so wonderful with the kids. They let the kids roam around and explore the inside of the trucks. Here's Evan looking out the front window with the view a fireman might have if he or she was on the way to an emergency.
Owen was on the other side listening to orders over the headphones. "10-4 Big Buddy!"
Of course, the most fun was driving the trucks. "Nee-or Nee-or." The kids were really good about taking turns. The organizer's son was the only one who pushed a button and water came shooting out of the back of a tanker truck. It was loud, but cool. Glad it wasn't one of my kiddos!

We found out about how they wash the trucks, fill them with water, and charge the batteries. The firefighters were really good about answering questions. Here is my friend's cousin showing the kids the Jaws of Life. They were enthralled by all of the sticky situations the firefighters help people get out of. Even one high school boy who got his finger stuck in his desk. (Of course if would be a boy!)

They also showed them the hose room where they dry out the hoses and practice small fires. Here they were seeing what a burned toaster looks like. The coffee pot wasn't even damaged!

There was a dummy in that room, too. I can't remember his name, but he was missing one hand.
Evan found the hand.


I asked him if he would show the kids their mask. I have heard that little kids are often afraid of firefighters because of their masks and they will hide when they see them. With all the Skippy Jon Jones Owen reads, he would probably say, "Why the maskito dude? Do you go incognito?"
The kids even got to see what firefighters do during downtime.

Cousin Lilly's First Birthday

Lilly is practically a niece to us, since our boys consider her aunt to also be their aunt. The boys adore her and were so excited to go down to Rochester for her 1st birthday party. But once we got to the amazing park where the party was held, it was like, "Birthday? Who?"

The day started out innocent as could be. The kids all played in the amazing Soldier Field Park in Rochester; an endless venue for the imagination. Here Owen and Ellie play in the canoe-shaped sandbox with Rosie in the background.
And Evan thought it was hilarious to "hi" (hide) from us in the pseudo corn maze. But the blazing, hot sun soon made the lot thristy and they headed for the coolers.

"Hmmm. What do we have here," thinks Evan as he watches Hank dig into a cooler.

Under further inspection they found the holy grail: JUICE BOXES!

And what park would be complete without a dog for Evan to buddy up to? Seriously, if there is a dog around, you won't find Evan far from it.

Lilly was tentative, at first, with her smash cake. Ben and Claire were so cute with their smiles of encouragement. You can just see the adoration on their faces.














We were able to rally the troops for awhile when Lilly ate cake and opened presents. Evan was entertained by a "booball" (football), and Owen was contained on Jim's shoulders. After awhile, however, this got boring and he decided to use Jim's head for drum practice. Jim was too busy between chatting and video taping to know the difference!
Owen also adores his first cousin, Ellie. She is very verbal and Owen is more of an observer. Therefore, I'm sure Ellie is thinking that Owen is smiling about this candle she is telling him about, but really I think he is smiling because he's sneaking bites of her cake. He probably thinks they are sharing. Ellie would be reluctant to share her special treat.

Lilly has a great-aunt whom Jim is very fond of (pictured on the right.) She is a physician is Sparta, WI and has been a bit of a mentor and role model to Jim over the years. She has so much spirit in her! She has so much spirit that she brought her scooter to the birthday party. She also brought her mother, who I think is in her 90's. I was kind of wondering if she was planning on taking her for a blissful spin. If there was any possible way to balance her on the scooter, I think those Robertshaw ladies might have tried it.

We've been trying to bribe Owen with a scooter or bike if he can stay dry at night. It's not really working, but he's trying. We thought the motivation would be a little better if he actually knew what it was like to ride a scooter. I asked Pat if we could borrow her scooter and she ended up leaving it for the kids to take turns riding. They had such a blast! Ellie and Owen liked to ride together.



Before Pat and Enis left, Owen did a little ape-ish dance for them. It was so cute that I had to encourage it by joining him.





Of course, when there is acting to be done, Anna cannot resist the temptation.




What an amazingly fun day! Thank you so much Claire and Ben!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLYBELL

Millsy

My old college roommate, whom we call Millsy even though her last name is no longer Mills, paid us a visit this week. She is a school librarian outside of Seattle. She always has her nose in a book, so her and Owen got along real well.

Owen got up one morning and said he was going to go downstairs to see Heather. When I came down she was reading one of his favorite books to him, Deep-Sea Creatures.

In between each page, they would have an in-depth discussion about these really rather scary looking fish. I think here they are discussing whether or not the deep-sea fish in Finding Nemo is an Anglerfish or not. I love these two little nerdlingers!

Our Music Friends

Owen has been in Music Together classes now for almost three years. We met some really good friends the second session and have taken several more classes with them. When my friend's oldest child went to kindergarten this year, their schedule changed. And then when she had her 4th child this winter, our schedules became almost impossible to combine. Finally, now that school is done, we were all able to get together for a playdate!

We went back to our new favorite park, Lexington Park, in Roseville. Mostly because it has a port-a-potty for emergencies, but also because it is centrally located between us. My friend's son will be going into first grade next year and is such a wonderful little man. He swung the kids around on this tire swing and then would jump in himself once it got going. Her oldest daughter put her arms around Evan so he could join them. They are so sweet and are just genuinely happy kids all the time.
They were pretty excited about me taking this picture so they could show their Dada what fun they had. They are such positive, well-behaved kids and they eat everything that is put in front of them. I love hanging out with them and watching how they interact with each other and outsiders. My friend's oldest daughter was teaching Owen how to pump. She is such a good little helper. She also was telling Owen all about his pre-school. She will be in kindergarten next year, but the next youngest daughter will be in school one year with Owen and one year with Evan. Owen has had some anxiety at the talk of school, but since his talk with her, he has been really excited!

I also just love watching my friend's calm, loving, organized, and reasonable parenting style. She is an inspiration to me.

Lake Martha Days Parade

You haven't seen a parade until you've been to a parade in Osseo. Every semi-truck and four wheeler in the tri-county area rolls down the streets, past the Nursing Home and the Norske Nook, pulling their chains and honking for all the young!

We went over to my grandparents' house only to find that my Grandpa was left alone on Father's Day! He's 80! You'd think he'd have earned a little more fuss than that, but my Grandma and aunt left that morning for a 5 day bus trip to DC. My Grandma is 80, too!

My Mom and Dad stopped up to the house, but they had a long drive back "Up North" and were planning to car shop on the way home. We decided to stick around and join him for the parade. I always like going to parades there because the parade always lines up outside their house. You can walk to the start of the parade when it's time and get out of there quick when it's over. Before we left, my cousin Brock and his family stopped in and we made plans to sit with them. We sat across from the nursing home. They wheel out all the residents and temporary patients. My other cousin's son, Graham, was there visiting his Great Grandma and he came over to join us, too.
Evan doesn't remember the last parade he was at, so this was all very new to him. He did not know what to think of this Shriner who was holding a puppet that almost looked like his Sally Skunk. Ahh, to get into that little head.
Owen has never gotten the concept of collecting candy before. Graham was sporting some nylon shorts with huge, stretchy pockets. Owen quickly learned how to dart out into the street (after years of trying not to) and grab as much as he could when the big kids had their backs turned, but his internal speed is similar to Jim's.
Even Evan, who always does what the big kids do, was into it. Grandpa made sure we had a couple plastic sacks with us when we left the house. He obviously has a lot of parade experience. Evan wanted to eat all the candy, but he eventually got the routine. The parade participants handed out everything from mardis gras beads, to stickers, to frisbees, to chocolate milk!
When the parade was done, Jim and I scrambled to pull all of stuff and the kids together. My Grandpa was long gone down the road by the time we were ready to go. He just folded up his chair and headed home. It was so cute walking behind him as he waved to his friends, young and old, who were in the parade. He has spent his whole life living in Osseo. I wonder how many parades he's been to.
When we got back to the house, Owen and Evan decided to help Great-Grandpa out a little, since he was all alone, by sweeping the sidewalk.
As he was cleaning, Evan found this squirrel on the steps. He came running across the yard to show me. The interesting thing is that I think my late Aunt Lori gave that squirrel to my Grandma. She just missed meeting Evan, but I think Lori would have gotten a kick out of Evan. They share a love for animals of all kinds.

Lake Martha Days

THE CARNIVALOsseo has it's Lake Martha Days over Father's Day weekend. There is a carnival with rides, games, a pageant, and lefse büss (meatballs wrapped in lefse) which is really the only reason to go to Osseo if you don't have family there. You can get other food, but I don't bother. My cousin's daughter Chantell apparently likes the ice cream, but she lives in Osseo and get lefse whenever she wants. If it's not Lake Martha Days, and you're driving by Osseo, check them out at the Norske Nook. But really nobody makes them like my Grandma Johnson and she would cook them for just about anyone if she's not too busy playing cards with her sisters.

Jim and I also had a college reunion going on in Eau Claire this weekend, so we arranged for my cousin's daughter, Devin, to watch the boys. She just finished babysitter classes and was pretty excited. When we got down to the carnival, she whisked them off right away and took them on some rides.

The dutiful babysitter even took tons of pictures with her new phone. Unfortunately, she hasn't sent any of them to me yet. Ahem.

Then Devin and family took the boys to the games. Here they played the ever-so-challenging Pick a Duck.

Owen won a shark and Evan won an even larger, rainbow porpoise.

And then, of course, more rides. Riley, Devin's younger sister, convinced Owen to go on the roller coaster with her. Of course they sat in front.

I'm not sure if Owen really liked the roller coaster or just really likes Riley, but he seemed to be in a deep and animated discussion with her when they were getting of the ride.

What carnival would be complete without cotton candy. Owen could not get enough of it. He was shoveling it in his mouth so fast we could hardly get it away from him. Here is my Dad trying to moderate how much Evan is inhaling. I might have let them indulge in this new found paradise if it weren't for the fact that I was leaving him to Devin for the rest of the night. Sounded like he crashed pretty well, though.

THANKS DEVIN!!!

THE FIREMEN'S PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Then on Sunday, Father's Day, there is a firemen's pancake breakfast and a parade. They have all the firetrucks, new and old, lined up in the street, waiting for the parade. You can hop up in any of them and let your imagination take you.

Everyone wants to drive the old one because it's the easiest to get into and it's got a really funny sounding horn.

Luckily the breakfast wasn't that busy this year because when Evan took the wheel, he honked almost incessantly. Usually the fire station is packed with dozens of picnic tables filled to the brim with Norwegians. But this year, apparently, everyone was at "church in the park." Hope the pastor didn't mind a few toots during the gospel.