Birthday weekend with the Hansons!

This weekend we headed up to River Falls for the annual summer time birthday party extravaganza! Activities included the park, pinatas, swimming, swinging and a whole lot of other fun. I know 4 kiddos that are going to sleep well tonight!The party started with watermelon, chips and hot dogs...a party hit!Each kiddo got their own pinata...mainly because the boys could not decide on one...Party City had pinatas in EVERY AISLE! If you want to see a little boys mind explode bring them there.Spectators gathered for the grand event. We declared the towels as "safe zones" to ensure no one got a bat across the head.I dont know who looks more fierce...Jamison or the shark. "hahah, you are not going to get me little boy"And Lucy came to the party in style...hand bag and all.

Even placing a number of large slits in each pinata with hopes that a 3 or 4 year old could break it open...it ultimately took an adult to do the deed. Gathering the loot!And the remaining carnage.

Happy Birthday to all of you summer birthdays!

Back at the stump

Pat is still working on getting rid of the rest of that tree. It is a really big tree and we are finding lots of treasures in the tree....50 year old nails, some poured concrete...yes, concrete was in the tree, and lots and lots of grubs.

The boys thought the grubs were gross, and cool! They are boys!

The neighborhood robins were sure happy! Prime rib tonight!

Cowapitter update

Well, we successfully tended to 4 cowapitters to the cocoon stage (you can see two in this photo- one center and the second lower right. These were the smart ones)

But despite my efforts to place some really nice, sturdy sticks for them to form a chrysalis...two crazy caterpillers decided that the rug that I temporarilty placed on the top of the net basket would be the perfect place to put up camp. Silly caterpillers. Now I have to leave it like that for another 9-14days...oy vey!

Another one bites the dust

We tackled another tree but this time we needed to rent some serious equipment...every boys' dream! Large equipment and a chainsaw!

Tree-before

Large equipment
Tree-after
Boy with tools and a safety harness

We again found some critters nesting in the tree, this time no one was harmed. And we even did a little animal rescue operation to locate a new home, Diego would be happy!. We are happy to report that momma woodpecker was spotted coming out of the new home.Yes, that would be 2 nails, and duct tape, Red Green would be proud.

The boys, gma Jill and I left for most of the scary work...explored the Farmers Market and scored some good food! We picked out four treats....cheese, cookie, strawberries and some sweetpeas. We figured we could stop and eat on every length of the capital!.

But the next day the boys did put in their fair share of work.

For those tiny scrappy arms, Peter can sure carry heavy logs!And since we had the lift, Pat took the opportunity to mount a classic tire swing, just like he had when he was a kid!

Bike Ride

So Peter finally started riding his bike, and I have to tell you he is getting pretty good at it!

He does have a small crash at the end of this video...he was pretty proud to report the he crashed seven times! Watch out knees and elbows!

The boys gave Pat a bike for fathers day. He was really needing one as his old one had a bent frame. So, he loaded the boys up in the chariot and went for a ride.....it ended up to be a real short ride and the boys are a lot bigger than they use to be.This picture was taken in May of 2005!!! A little different from now eh!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

On Fathers Day we took Gpa Van and Daddy out for a nice breakfast and then to a park. It was such a beautiful day! We were so lucky to be with the "World Greatest Grandpa" and "No1 Dad!"
Even Keiko got some great swinging in!

Back at Gpas and Gmas house enjoyed riding a scooter, bigwheel and just running. For some reason mom kept saying....ready, set go! I think she was trying to make up real tired for the car trip home. We were still a little too excited from our day with Thomas.

I think it worked.

Back at home we enjoyed icecream on the porch with dad. What a great weekend!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY ! to all you dads!

A day with Thomas

This weekend we went up to Green Bay for a train ride on Thomas. We were all very excited we even wore our Thomas underware and sunglasses, and Peter wore two pair of sunglasses. There he is, the man (or train) of the hour coming down the tracks! The boys were sooo excited He even posed for a picture. A celebrity like that was so nice to even smile.We got to meet one of the conductors. He reminisced about all the adventures he and Thomas were on lately while the boys enjoyed a juice before our ride.We got to ride on Josephine, Annie and Clarabell had prior engagements
There was even a Thomas made out of legos! After the train ride we got to explore the rest of the museum. They had models of every kind there. I think Jamison could have spent all day there.
We even got to climb on all the really old trains in the museum.

The wheels of the old trains were huge!!!

And there was even an orange car for Peter and a red one from Jamison.

For any train lover I recommend checking out A Day with Thomas. The boys will be talking about this for a very long time!