Fall is in the air

We are back after a long over due period of silence! Everyone is doing great. Emma is enjoying her second year at Emmanuel Day School. She is excited every morning to get to school. He favorite thing to do right when we get there is to read the question of the day! Her french vocabulary and songs are growing daily. They are working on language skills and she can frequently be heard in the back seat of the car clapping her hands to figure out how may syllables are in a word. Emma is taking swim lessons again and is much more comfortable in the pool this session. Wil is really having a developmental burst, stringing 3-4 word sentences together and really maturing so that we can enjoy library group, play gym, and other outings with kids his own age unlike last year when it was just me chasing him all around, this fal he's really participating. He enjoys story time, we go once or twice a week and we've been getting to the zoo or children's museum once a week. Playground is hit daily sometime twice a day to get our energy out for great naps and bedtimes. Wil is now potty trained, has been in big boy undies since a week ago this past Monday. So happy to be a diaper free house. We have had a busy fall apple picking, enjoying the harvest fair, and pumpkin picking. We are gearing up for Halloween and look forward to posting picture from our trick or treat adventures. Happy Fall to you all and my goal is to post twice a month.

The Range

We took the kids up to the Iron range in Hibbing. Both kids loved watching the truck/diggers at work on the range and then getting to climb on and explore the HUGE truck and digger pieces at the museum.

Quick trip to Hibbing

We had a nice, quick visit up to Hibbing and a meal with grandma and grandpa Krause and the rest of the Hibbing gang. The kids all played well together and enjoyed the ball pit, balls were everywhere!!!

Snack Time

Lauren and Wil taking time out for a snack !

St. Paul's Children's Museum

Emma had a sick day on Tuesday so Sophia, Lauren, and Wil headed with the moms to the children's museum. The kids had a blast in all the make believe rooms dressing up and pretending. Wil's favorite was the bus, he could have sat all day and driven. All three had a blast on the stage rocking out to music as they watched themselves on the video monitors. There was also a fun Wizard of Oz exhibit that I was sorry Emma missed.

note to self, if the bus drivers hat is on backwards you should think twice about getting on the bus :)

MN here we come

We left Chicago and headed to MN. On our way we stopped at a fantastic free zoo in Madison WI. Lots of the big animals without having to walk miles around a zoo! The kids loved the carousel and tree play center. The lions were roaring and the tiger was pacing, looking like it might eat our kids. Next stop Minneapolis!!!!

4TH of July

We have been very busy since I last blogged. We enjoyed the fourth of July with the Chicago gang. Wil fell asleep before the fireworks and missed them, Emma on the other hand was decked out in glow necklaces and happily singing her line up of patriotic songs as she watched in amazement. The fireworks were "the best she'd ever seen in her whole life".

Grass Cutters in Training

Emma and Wil got some cool bubble gun today, Wil was more excited about popping the bubbles then using the guns :)

Emma and Wil both received lessons today from Uncle Dan on cutting the grass :) Wil has been checking out the "tractor" all week so it was very exciting to get a ride.

Playmates Galore

The kids are having a blast having so many kids around to play with. There is never a dull moment around here :) Wil is in hog heaven, there are so many different cars/bikes to choose from to drive. He's taking advantage of each one! At home we ride bikes on our quiet street, so it's been a little hard for him to understand that here we only ride in the driveway :)

Wil filling Katie's car up for her

Emma is having a blast
(mom needs to learn to face Emma towards the sun when taking photos to avoid the shadows)

Katie, Summer and Emma

Wil's partner in crime is another 2 year old little girl named Stella, She and Wil have been so cute playing and talking together. Here they are reading books together. They were naming the different animals to each other in Wil's zoo book, TOO CUTE!

Hang Day

Emma and Wil had a great day just hanging and not getting into the car :) Bete watches a bunch of kids Emma's age and today they all played hard and well together. Here are a few of Emma and Wil's new friends (Wil was napping during the pic)





The kids had a fun time out in the driveway playing with all the cars and bike , Emma was happy to be the gas attendant She also had a blast riding the bikes down the driveway and haulting to a stop inches from the street giving mom a heart attack over and over again :)


Emma and Wil LOVE Bete's beanbag chair. The kids were go, go, go all day and by the end of the evening they were both ready for a good nights sleep

MADE IT!!!

WE MADE IT!!! Left Youngstown, OH around 7:30 after a quick Dunkin Donuts breakfast which made all of us smile to start the day. We headed to the Toledo to check out their zoo, IT WAS HUGE. Emma & I must have walked miles from one end to the other. Fantastic exhibits, but felt bad we were there three hours, rushing around and we still only saw half the zoo. We went on a nice train ride through the safari and on a fun African animal merry go round with beautifully carved animals. The kids favorites were the hippos, elephants, polar bears, and orangutans.
Trying to take pictures while making sure not to loose a child was my challenge at the zoo, took a few pictures then decided to keep both eyes on the kids and take mental pictures instead :)
After the zoo I was sure both kids would take fantastic naps in the car, Wil slept for about and hour and Emma didn't sleep at all :) but were both good and watched movies for the 5+ hour drive. The kids were so happy to be at Dan and Bete's house and torn into the toys bins in minutes and just played for a few hours before bed.

Here are some of our zoo pictures

Beautiful Driving!!!

Children's museum

We had another successful day in the car. Left Madison NJ early AM and made it to children's museum in Bloomsburg, PA with time to spare before it opened at 10am. Great museum the kids had a blast running around looking at all the animals, and playing in all the different rooms, running the grocery store, flying in the spaceship, playing school and brushing the large teeth!


after the museum some of the staff members directed us to a super local park where we did a picnic lunch and ran around the HUGE playground.



We made it to our hotel after a quick couple of pee breaks along the way. We took bubbles out at one and made friends with some 3 year old triplet girls traveling solo with their mommy, who were also out getting a little energy out. We played ball and red light green light.
Once settled into the hotel we ordered in a pizza from a local pizzeria delivered to our room. Then chaos broke out. Wil & Emma went into hyper, get all stored up energy out from a day in the car in a 15ft small room. So we decided to suit up and by this I mean, Wil in a life jacket and Emma in a foat suit with noodle and head to the pool. That will be the last time we do the pool on our own without a second set of hands. Once in Emma was fine on her own. Wil wanted to jump in and then climb out and repeat till the end of time. Emma then decided she wanted to join in keeping one little boy from jumping in while catching Emma wasn't easy so pool time was over to both kids dismay. Back to the room jammies for all, some coloring and playing with our reward for being good toys and now it's time for bed. Hitting a BIG zoo tomorrow in Toledo then our longest leg of 5hrs to Chicago tomorrow afternoon. All and all things are going great, Night All