Family
Cars 2 in 3D
Mazie and I went and saw Cars 2 this weekend. We splurged and saw it in 3D! It was a ton of fun with a Daddy-Daughter movie and some Gummy Bears.
Mazie was excited to wear her special glasses!
I really like Cars. It is probably my favorite kids movie. I liked Cars 2. It was a lot of fun. It wasn’t as good as Cars, but that is a really high bar.
Tyler Mowing
Tyler thought it would be fun to push the lawn mower for a while.
(Note: that is our neighbors lawn mower. I was out shooting pictures of the remodel)
Saving Plants
My Mom came to the rescue of more plants. This week the excavation starts on the remodel and the side of the house is going to get dug up. A lot of Hostas and others had to be moved or destroyed. Mazie helped loading the rescued plants into Grandma’s car.
Open Eye Backyard Puppet Show
Last week Mazie and I had a delightful evening sitting in Garrick Van Buren’s backyard watching a puppet show. This is the 3rd year that the Van Buren’s have hosted the Open Eye Figure Theatre and we’ve made it every year. This year Garrick commented to me that he had counted over 100 people. That’s great, and I hope that Open Eye continues to do this Driveway (or in this case Backyard) Tour.
Before the puppet show starts the puppeteers give a little introduction to the theatre and the puppets. They have a simple stage and are accompanied by an accordion player. Every year there is always some water moment where water will fly from the puppet area into the audience. It’s a lot of fun for everyone involved.
This years show was The Amazing Cow Boat
Taking a bath will never be the same for audiences after seeing the all-new The Amazing Cow Boat! Told through a giant pop-up book with puppets, songs, and surprises, the show is the story of Charlie who, while taking a bath, sails away in his imagination in search of treasure. Traveling in his boat that amazingly is also a cow, he encounters pirates, mermaids, a whale, and an orangutan.
While I was sitting there watching the puppet show with Mazie in my lap, I took a moment to look around at all the other families and their kids collected in this neighborhood enjoying the show. It all seemed so right and so good. We need more things like this.
Fun Day at Zoo
Yesterday Tammy had a photo workshop at the Minneapolis Photo Center. This was a class that we had gotten her for her birthday. Mazie, Tyler and I had the day and I went to the tried and true plan for a Dad left alone with the kids – to the Zoo we went!
We had a spectacular time. This was Tyler’s very first trip to the Zoo and he went crazy at every animal siting. He particularly loved anything swimming and was ecstatic when the Otters came by him. Mazie had a great time as well and brought her camera along. She took a lot of pictures and posted 100 of them on her website.
Our basic plan for visit revolved around the shark feeding and dolphin show. The shark feeding was packed so we didn’t see much of that. We got great seats for the dolphin show and both Mazie and Tyler sat in awe watching the dolphins perform.
After the dolphins finished we should have headed home for Tyler’s nap, but Mazie really wanted to go on the monorail and I’m a perpetual pushover so we each grabbed a soft pretzel and headed to the monorail. Both kids loved it.
It was a huge success and we all agreed we needed to return to the zoo more often.
Tyler Learning to Sit in a Chair
Tyler is still very much constantly on the move. He has started to enjoy the novelty of sitting in the kids rocking chair that my Mom got Mazie a long time ago. It lasts for about five seconds at most.
Mazie with her Spring 2011 Soccer trophy.
Mazie's 2nd Soccer Season
Mazie is playing soccer again this year with the Cyclones in the Fuller Soccer Club. The whole team has improved a ton and there is some improvement to ball handling this year. Mazie is having a great time too.
Twins Fan Tyler
Tyler did his best to try and help our last place team. Doesn’t seem to have had much effect yet.
Mazie In Tree
Mazie’s kindergarten class had a picnic at the Rose Garden by Lake Harriet. She decided to do a little tree climbing while we were there.
Tyler taking a (very) brief rest on a blanket while playing.
Vacation Coffee Break
I’m on vacation this week. We went to North Dakota earlier. Today I spent the day with Tyler and it was great. Tomorrow Mazie and I are having a Daddy/Daughter day.
While Tyler tried to nap, I did get time for a wonderful Chemex coffee break. Very nice.
Note the old school Road Sign Math coffee mug. 😀
Tyler Walking
Tyler is an exceptional crawler. He passed his 1 year birthday without feeling the need to work on walking all that much. Why walk when you can crawl super fast! In the past few weeks he has worked on finding his balance and taking steps. He can now walk a good dozen or more steps without falling! He is also now sometimes choosing to walk instead of crawl. I have a feeling he’ll be running around the house in no time.
Tyler refused his morning nap after swim class this morning. By the time we got to lunch, he was too tired to eat.
Heart Shaped Pancakes
Valentines Day dinner. This was Mazie’s special request. Of course she was so full of chocolate she hardly ate any.
Happy Valentines Day 2011
Mazie made me this awesome and sweet Valentine. Happy Valentines to everyone!
Sunday Afternoon Sledding
We all got bundled up this afternoon, grabbed the Mountain Boy sleds and headed over to the sledding hill. Even Tyler got into the action taking a couple of runs on the toboggan with the family.
Here is a quick video from the afternoon.
We had a great time!
Family Websites Updated
We took a little time this weekend and updated everyone else’s websites this weekend.
Tyler now has a landing page up on his website. No blog or anything for him, just a simple page with some links. Mazie switched to a new theme and I posted a bunch of her pictures from the last few weeks. Last but not least Tammy also put a new theme on Smaller Than a Redwood.
Everyone looks clean, fresh and nicely updated!
Mazie the Butterfly
Mazie getting her fingernails painted to go with the butterfly face. Having a lot of fun at the Sunshine Montessori’s Sunshine on a Stick festival at Burroughs.
