How come Florida is all fun stuff?

Surprise! We just returned from Florida yesterday! We had a chain countdown going for about 45 days...which I intended to blog about and never did. Well, we are back and (hopefully) so is my blog!

We left on Friday, April 1 (no foolin') and got in to Orlando at 10 pm local time. As we were driving to our hotel we were all pointing out all the exciting billboards and signs we saw along our way (let your kid imagination go wild...we saw it all from Mickey to Sea World to Alligators to Buzz to, well, you get the point) and Owen said "How come Florida is all fun stuff?"

On Saturday we went to the Magic Kingdom. It was packed, it was hot, we were tired (Walter had woken up in the middle of the night saying his ear hurt - we realized it was from the plane ride.), but it was also lots of fun! The unanimous family favorite was Splash Mountain, although sometimes Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Spin Around get thrown into the mix. Mickey's Philharmonic was also a big hit - a 3D movie that somehow magically splashed us with water. I loved seeing the boys faces during the parade and also loved getting the classic castle shots.

More later...

Want to hear me count to 1,000 by tens?

Owen loves his new found skill of counting by 10's. He now times me by counting by 10's, times how long it takes to charge his remote control car by 10's, and times how long it takes to get places by 10's. Sometimes I'll just hear him for no reason at all (except for the pure joy) counting by 10's. Yesterday as we were on our way to dinner, he asked me if I'd like to hear him 'count to 1,000 by tens.' I said yes and he did.

I failed to share our cabin getaway last weekend with you. We went to a friend's cabin for a ice fishing party and enjoyed all sorts of time on the ice! I must say it was a first having birthday cake and opening presents on the ice and it was so much fun! The boys thought it was pretty awesome to have a whole day with friends, stay up late with them and then wake up in the morning to find them all still there and ready to play again.

Owen is becoming quite the skater and was able to get in some good ice time at the cabin. He says he wants to play hockey, so I'm looking into it now. Unfortunately, he decided this in February, when most of the leagues have already started and been happening for a good 3 months! I will find something for him sooner or later. Until then, we will have to keep hitting up the rinks on our own.

I can't think of a quote.

So there is no fun entry to this post. I'm too tired to try and think of one of the many cute, funny, silly, sweet things the boys say in a day, but I do want to share some photos.

The boys had a four day weekend due to President's Day along with a professional development day. Today we decided to take advantage of the fact that most other schools were in session and headed to the Mall of America to enjoy the rides at Nickelodeon Universe. We brought along one of Owen's buddies, Andrew, and the four of us had a great time hitting up ride after ride. We even worked up the courage to go on the Log Chute and one of the real roller coasters. (see the photo of the photo below) I don't think I will ever go on the Log Chute again. That was scary and will be left for Jer going forward!

Isn't this playdate awesome? Its so long!

On Friday the boys had an early release day so we invited one of Owen's best buds over for a playdate. I picked them up at 1:00 and it was pretty much nonstop giggling, wrestling, playing and ball dribbling until he left at 8:00. At one point I heard Owen say this to Roman. At another point, I suggested a cartoon. Something I have only done one other time with a playdate. I just needed a few minute break from the noise! As you can see in the photo below, they have sweat to prove their activity. It sure is fun to see their friendships grow.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Jeremy's birthday was yesterday and we did our best to ensure he had a wonderful day. Saturday we celebrated with his family at one of his favorite restaurants from his years in Chaska. Sunday the boys started his day out with kisses, hugs, birthday wishes, fresh coffee and the Sunday paper in bed. We randomly had our season tickets to the Children's Theater yesterday, too, so we went to see Babe the Sheep Pig followed by dinner at Christo's (who catered our wedding!). We ended the day with some singing, dancing and cake eating and then a family movie. It was a wonderful weekend celebrating an amazing guy!

I think I was made for summer.

Walter has been dreaming of the day when he can where tennis shoes outside again and run fast on the sidewalk. He asks about when he can, when it will be warm again, and when summer is daily. The other day he told me this out of the blue. I'm not sure where he's heard this before, but it reminds me how he listens to and catches everything!

Since I, too, am dreaming of summer, here are a few photos from my grandparents home island and their neighbors, the Hindu's.

Below are pictures of the Hindu temple being built on Kauai. They import each piece of granite from India and hand carve every piece. The photo of the tools are all the tools the carvers use, pretty amazing!

To Happiness

My wonderful grandfather, Charles A. Armstrong, passed away on Saturday at 4:40 a.m. in Kauai. I was blessed to be able to be with him the last ten days of his life, as I left on Friday afternoon to return home. Our good-bye has been playing over and over in my head since I left. He was so weak and had barely spoken any words for the better part of my time there. When I went to say good-bye, he lifted his arm to hug me and told me he loved me in the sweetest, truest voice. Its hard not to hop on a plane and get back to my grandma and parents. They are all in my heart.

My grandpa was such a powerful, loving presence. He held my grandma on a pedestal (rightfully so!) and showed his family nothing but love and acceptance. He was smart man but more than that, he was a true artist.

Their neighbors are a Hindu monastery and temple. The guru who founded this monastery searched all over the world to find where to put this temple and found the foothills of Mount Waialeale on Kauai to be the perfect setting. My grandparents also searched high and low to find the right place to build their home and around the same time that the Hindu's began building their temple, my grandparents began building their home, about a 1/4 of a mile away. I could go on about the amazing hand carved temple, but what I also keep coming back to is how my grandpa found such a powerful place to live. The energy and beauty there is quite something. I was able to visit the temple when I was there and one of the monks talked about how the guru encouraged all monks to do something creative with their hands in addition to their studies. It struck me as I having been working on getting back into some art of my own and then I thought about my grandpa and his woodworking. He made us wooden toys (that my boys still play with) along with many other wonderful things. Most recently he became a master of the lathe, turning bowls to perfection.

My grandpa loved to see you smile and believed deeply in the power of positive thinking. We enjoyed many wonderful times together and special meals together as a family. At nearly all of these, he would raise his glass and toast "To Happiness."

To my Grandpa, to Happiness!

I am a Razorback!

In honor of Jer's cousin who is a Razorback and our time living in AR, we received a fun gift from Jeremy's aunt and uncle this year...matching Razorback gear! Owen is quite proud of the fact that he lived in Little Rock for a while and tells me he remembers swimming in the pool in his lady bug quite a bit. (Could it be that he's seen this photo a few times???)

Walter is just extremely proud of his shirt. Though we all enjoy sporting them here and there, he often turns into a Razorback hog when he puts his on. (A darn cute hog, that is.)

Mom, there is no more soap!

A few days ago Walter decided he wanted a bath. I got him all set up and in addition to his bath toys, he decided he also wanted to play with the two brand new, full, bottles of kids soap I had just bought. I told him that was fine, but not to open them until I was in there and ready to help clean him up. Well, you can see where this is going...about 5 minutes later he yelled this to me. He had dumped both large bottles out into his bath and was squeaky clean.

Christmas was lovely. We had all sorts of celebrations with lots of family and enjoyed some time with some great friends, too. Best of all, was having the boys off school and Jer off work for two full weeks. It was perfect! There was lots of ice fishing, sledding, game playing and too many gifts. We are certainly lucky.

My highlight was going up to International Falls and spending time with my grandma. As you may recall, she was diagnosed with ALS last year and it is certainly harsh. It was wonderful to have some time hearing her talk about her old work (something she always used to want to talk about!), giving her a good foot bath and massage, and so great to see her banging out some "Roll Out the Barrel" on the piano. She is so sweet, it was hard to leave her.

First Fish of the Winter

The boys and I went ice fishing on Lake Nokomis yesterday and today. We were skunked yesterday, but today Walter came up big by nailing our first fish of the year. It was a 4 inch perch caught on the north side of the Lake. Hopefully it is the first of many that we are going to catch this winter.

I am a zipper master.

Walter has been working feverishly on the zipper frame at school. He has worked so hard on it that he now zips his own winter coat and even has Owen requesting his assistance to zip his coat. Yesterday he wanted to zip my coat for me and told me this.

Yesterday was the winter concert at Sunny Hollow. Owen sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "The Snowflake Song". Walter sang "Shoefly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" and "Over the River and Through the Woods" (well, he sang about every 5th word that is). After, there was a family lunch with pizza and cookies. Owen ate six, yes six, pieces of pizza...maybe he will be eating us out of house and home as a teen after all!

Today, the boys are with Joanne & Al. They were going to see Puss In Boots at the Old Log Theatre and also to the Arboretum to see the gingerbread houses on display. Tomorrow we are going to Mother Goose's Nutcracker at the Southern with Auntie Kindi. How fun to be a great kid and take advantage of this great city!

This sounds like Grover.

We were listening to a Louis Armstrong Christmas song and Owen told me this. Funny, funny!

So again, here we are with a long break since my last post. I've been having issues with storage space on my computer, apparently I take too many photos with my sweet camera of my completely adorable boys. I have been working with the Apple store to come up with an alternative and I think I have it under control now. Only time will tell...but I think I'm going to start saving for another computer now, just in case!

There is a lot to catch up on, so I will start with the crazy fun weekend we just had! We started with an impromptu trip to the Timberwolves game on Friday and made it home just as the first flakes started to fall. The snow continued to fall and kept on falling until past 6 p.m. on Saturday. We ended up getting more than 17 inches of snow and are still digging paths out and around our house. It was such fun! We were locked in our house for the weekend, only going out to shovel, sled and play in the snow. Inside, we spent quite a bit of time in front of the fire, making cookies, playing games and watching movies. It was wonderful and the final cherry was having Monday a snow day! Tuesday after a day of school for the boys and yoga and groceries for me, I couldn't just come back home after three straight days here, so the boys and I hit up a movie to get out a little more.