Pump It Up ... Also Known As Burn Some Energy!!

Mommy and the girls had to leave the house early and head to school today to register for our preschool program for next fall ... we are happy to report that we have secured two positions for the morning classes with our same teacher from this year ... mommy and the girls are both very happy about this!

After registering, we headed to the car for a 30 minute drive to Pump It Up! The girls were thrilled as it has been a while since we went there to play and boy did we make up for lost time!

After spending a lot of energy sliding, running, bouncing and climbing ... the three of us girls headed out for a nice lunch at a local restaurant and had a wonderful afternoon! Mommy is hoping for a very peaceful and tired evening after all this activity!

Springtime = Park Time ... Our first Visit After A Long Winter!

The weather here today was in the mid 50's F ... at least for today, as things are looking a little less "warm" for the next few days ... but we are, after all, in Minnesota!

Mommy, daddy and the girls headed out to run an errand and hit the park. The girls were super excited to find out that the park was destination and they actually got to get out of the car and PLAY! Suddenly we were flooded with "I love you mom" and "I love you dad" as they ran off to the playground equipment.

The girls ran from toy to toy in the park and mommy and daddy stood and marveled at how much things change from year to year. It doesn't feel like so long ago we were terrified of them walking too close to the edge or climbing to a slide that was too tall and do not even get me started on the ladder steps and fireman poles!!! Now, however, really, we just stand and watch and move from area to area as they do ... mostly just to watch and be there if they need us ... maybe one day I will be one of those carefree moms reading their tabloid magazines or a good book while their children run off and play ... a girl can dream right???!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

No ... we are not Irish ... but we do know a fun thing when we see it!! In honor of all things naturally and artificially green ... mommy made a St. Patrick's Day lunch that the girls are still talking about! As unappetizing as it may look, the girls thought it was fabulous and funny. Green milk, green pickles and a favorite ... orzo pasta ... which mommy cooked in green dyed water!

Mommy tried to push the idea of broccoli but they were not in that festive of a mood, so we left it at that and had some fun. We finished the meal off with a shamrock shaped sugar cookie covered with, of course, GREEN sprinkles!

The girls want to know if I can make this lunch every day ... I better check the health ramifications of too much green dye before agreeing! :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Could It Be ... Spring??!!!!

With temperatures reaching around 55 degrees F today, mommy and the girls headed outside to dust off our scooters after a long winter in storage.

We also managed to find our sidewalk chalk and went to town decorating daddy's driveway ... we are sure he will love it when he returns home tomorrow!!!

Field Trip to Underwater World at Mall of America

Today mommy and the girls headed to school to catch the bus for the big ECFE field trip to the Mall of America to visit Underwater World and explore the walk through aquarium as well as attend a Crabs & Claws class. Daddy had some errands to run during the morning but decided to meet up with us after the tour and class to have some family time and to keep mommy from having to return back to town via the good old school bus.

The kids were divided into two groups. The group that girls were in got to head to the aquarium first and have their class second. We had 45 minutes basically on our own to explore the walk through aquarium and explore the touch and feel pools. Mommy and the girls headed straight to the tunnel to watch the sharks and sting rays swim over our heads and around us. The pictures were hard to take as it was a dark space and the fish do not really show ... but they were amazing and the girls were pointing left and right in delight at all the sharks.


After the walk through tunnel, there were some smaller fish tanks to view and examine. Again, some of the tanks were so dark, that the fish do not show, but this was a very old and extremely large lobster.


Both girls loved the sea horses and ran from tank to tank to see the different sizes and colors. Alyssa really liked these particular ones.



However, the biggest highlight of the girls day was finding NEMO swimming in tank. They squealed and demanded that mommy take a picture of them with NEMO. Dori was snuck into the picture, so we got two stars for the price of one!



Sharkey the Shark made an appearance and the kids went crazy for the big blue shark with the toothy smile.


Finally it was our turn for the Crabs & Claws class. Only three parents were allowed to attend the class and mommy was one of the lucky names drawn. The class consisted of the children being read a story about a hermit crab outgrowing his house and needing to find a new one. The "teacher" likened the need for a bigger shell to that of the children needing bigger shoes for their feet. After a few minutes of discussing the children's new shoes, a little voice rang out over all the others ... "Ummm ... excuse me ... can we just get back to the story ... " One guess who the voice belonged to ... *sigh* ... yes, my impatient Madison.


After the story and a brief matching game and discussion of how many legs different sea creatures have, it was time for the children to explore the room. They were allowed to wander at will and touch and examine different shells, shark bones, exoskeletons of lobsters and a whole big table full of plush sea creature puppets!

Alyssa was very interested in many of the shells and spent some good time and thought examining many of them.



Madison on the other hand grabbed the giant shark puppet and ran around the room playing with that and some of the other kids with puppets.


The kids had a good time and after the class ended, we met daddy for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and then topped off the day with a visit to Lego Land to build at the play stations there. We managed to fit a lot into the day and the girls enjoyed having their daddy there with us!!!