Minneapolis

I have had these pictures uploaded for a while and should really just say a little something here and get them out there. Minneapolis, although a distant memory now, was great. A highlight of the summer for sure. The drive was fine, no one puked (Sammy has puked 3 times now in the van, one time just as we were coming in to Minneapolis on one of the freeways...so gross. I'm glad Julio is the designated puke-handler in the family, I just freeze and gag), we had an amazing hotel room with lots of space, ate decently, and not gluten (last time we went to Minneapolis I had accidental gluten at least twice...also not a pretty scene), and did lots of kid-friendly things (like shop for hours on end at Ikea - every kid's dream, right?) We did the rides in the mall, Minneapolis Zoo with my sister Marcia and her family who were vacationing there at the same time, the Minnesota Children's Museum which had so many different and interesting rooms that we stayed for 5 hours, and a bit of shopping. So, here's our vacation, in no particular order.
Luke, our ride enthusiast. Sammy was a vision of terror during this whole ride. This is the pre-terror shot.

Anna, times two.

Cart, being used as nature intended.

Just another boring ride. ha ha.

Oh yes, I love riding around on kids rides that actually scare me and I have to pretend it's no big deal. Actually, it wasn't this one I hated, it was a stupid car one that whips you around the corners. That and the carousel. Can't stand those.

The world's slowest train.

The car one I hated.

Same lovely car one.

Mini-golf at the mall. It was actually pretty fun. Anna slept for most of it, bless her heart.

Grumpy Sam. I have no idea why he was grumpy here, but I always laugh when I look at this picture.

Oh look, the charming carousel that no children actually like.

One tired babe at the sweltering zoo.

just another trek through the corn with dad...

Camels in sludge.

sprinklers along the path at the zoo

I think this was honestly the highlight of the zoo.

That bear was freakishly close.

The petting zoo.

The Children's Museum...this particular part amused me, in that these kids were just totally fixated on getting these blocks moving along the conveyor belts...they worked like dedicated factory workers, it was impressive really. I just wished this could transfer to some real life skills, like, say, bed making? Sadly, they don't work obsessively on that. But big grey blocks? They could do that for hours.

Crepe

Back at the zoo. Thank you Blogger for making photo uploading so easy and not random.

Museum.

Anna was right into the water part of the museum. So fun to see her standing there getting everyone wet.

Weighing Anna in the factory of grey cube greatness.

Conveyor belts...must keep turning wheel and putting cubes in thingy.

Cheerio strings, to stay sane as we drive.

Focused Sam. This kid has the best attention span. I love his little thinker look.
Oh look, more grey cubes!


Trying to stay on top of this blog is definitely not happening. I may revert back to real time soon, but that implies that I may start blogging regularly about our current life, which I don't expect to happen either.

Deck building

Slowly but surely I'm making my way through the summer. Hopefully by Christmas I'll be done. I'm not taking any pictures until then and not having any fun so we'll have nothing to blog about. That seems so much easier.

helpful friend Steve, working hard.
Luke, giving direction to Julio. He talks and acts like a foreman on any job. His main ambition in life is to have two careers: firefighter and builder.
These should go before the deck building, as part of the getting ready stage. They were really trying to lift those huge things, and did actually move them a bit. They look more helpful in this picture than they really were.

What Sam lacks in work ethic, he makes up for in enthusiasm and getting dirty.

Pink and purple smoothies for the hard working men.

This is our crazy load of rock, 8 yards or something. The boys are still talking about how awesome that dump truck was...

Putting in some swing time...

Finally! Getting close to the end!

A sort of after shot. We got better patio furniture now so we're even more excited about our deck life.

And, in no particular order, the deck being run on by half naked lad while being built.

Emeth, our child labourer.

That was a lot of pictures about a deck. Hmmmm. We don't get out much. Because now we have a deck to sit on. ha ha.