National Peter Day

 !!National Peter Day!! Let the trumpets ring! and let the brother get all mopey sad because he wishes it was his day. See, that is the point of your special day...it is only for one person. So Jamison, can I remind you that Peter was sad when it was Jamison Day. So really I think more focus is trying to console the boy whose day is not today.

Anyway...Peter celebrated at school and then at home with pizza and dessert. Not just any dessert...

but my now famous Lemon (not meringue) Cream Pie. Perfected after the Lemon soup dessert I served at Easter.

The present...the forever talked-about Lakers Jersey and Mario Kart Video game. It is so awesome to be 7 3/4ths! Happy Peter Day to my favorite Peter!

We also received a special package in the mail from Germany! Thanks Heike! The army of ladybugs and bunnies safely arrived and will ultimately see their fate inside of our bellies. mmmmmm

The boys also opened their Lego cars, built them and have been racing them ever since. Thanks again Heike and Happy Spring!

 To end our Peter day celebrations we played his board game of choice. Sorry. I think it was the longest Sorry Game we have ever played...there are way too many 4s (go backward 4 spaces) and 11s (switch places). This game went forever! But ultimately Jamison won with Peter at a close second. Mom and Dad were too busy trying to send each other back to the start.

all the men in my life....hovered around the tablet playing video games.....even the cat.

Easter

Easter preparations began soon after our return from Mpls. Let the egg dyeing commence!

The boys wished that they have more eggs to dye but since they are not the favorite things to eat I am making a ton of them. There is only so much egg salad you can eat!

While in Mpls we stopped at a game store and picked up some new brain games. This one is called Sumoku...a mix of Qwirkle and Sudoku.

It really got our brains working! You can almost see the steam coming out of Peter's brain!

 Friday night/Saturday morning the EBunny came to pick up our eggs and baskets. And yet again something spooked him and his minions and he/they scatttered eggs all over the yard. This year they were pretty tricky....how did be get that up there??? He must jump real high or has claws and can climb trees? or is he a nice shot....maybe the Bucks can recruit him.

I think Peter is still sleeping...one is right under his foot and he cant see it!

EBunny had a message for the boys....inside of the the eggs he said..."dont fight with your brother"

Another one said "Be nice to your mom" and lastly "respect your dad". I like that rabbit.

The basket hunt Sunday morning came with a message also.... I think the rabbit is going to make this more difficult every year. Peter found our basket right away but it took longer this year than any other. The rest of sunday we spent with Gma/Gpa Van and our cousins Grayson and Zachary. Happy Easter Everyone!

We also bought 24 Game....a fun math game I see the 4th graders play all the time. The goal...use all 4 numbers in a series of + - * / to get the answer of 24. You can also use the sums. This one stumped Pat for awhile....I cheated and found a website to get the answers.

Spring Break in Minneapolis

It is that time of year....spring break! where the boys and I escape up to Mpls to explore and visit some of our hold haunting grounds.

First stop....an afternoon with Lily and Lucy. We were hoping to get out on our bikes but the weather was colder than expected so instead we went for a hike to feed some ducks.

Thanks L&L for spending some time with us...next time we will have to get some riding in!

Sunday was suppose to be the nicest of the days so we planned a hike to  Minnehaha Falls and bike rides around Lake Calhoun. Still no nice weather but that did not stop us! The boys thought all the names of things were really funny...minne-hahahahah. get it!?

Rock climbing is always the best...until you fall in and get a wet foot, just like your mother predicted....and yes, both boys got wet feet.

Had to try out the cool vine/swing. Luckily it did not go all the way over the creek. That would have been real interesting.

The crazy thing is that I dont think I went to the Falls when I lived there....I am glad to do it with them!

After the hike we were hungry for lunch. We took the boys to a sushi restaurant. They were interested in trying it. I was super proud of them. They thought the miso soup tasted like Doritos and Jamison had a couple pieces of the California Roll. He said it was not his favorite but he did give it his honest try.

Peter tried the ceviche, thought is was too spicy, and the wasabi paste, also WAY too spicy so he stuck to the rice and tempura chicken, still super proud of them both!

Then off to a ride around Lake Calhoun. Jamison wanted to make a bonus lap, so he and I did that while MaryAnn and Peter threw rocks on the beach.

The sun did eventually come out...so all was good. Peter was pretty happy that he made it to the top of this climbing structure....sometimes his fear of height stops him from doing things like this.

Last stop of our crazy day for outdoor fun...a nature center/trails. I think I pushed Jamison a little too far because he was totally done with this and proceeded to walk 50 feet behind us the whole walk with a super pouty face. Ah, good times.

A friend of mine told me about this engineering museum for kids called The Works that we had to try out. It was pretty fun with some good hands on experiments. We built gliders and hovercrafts and made ourselves look really funny. 

They also spent a long time building K'nex cars to race. They thought these were awesome...and then I told them that we have K'nex and that they dont play with them at our house. Maybe now that their interest is renewed I can get them to play with thoses when we get home!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Mall of America. The boys were greatly disappointed when they got there...they were saving their money for Ninjago Legos and the store was very low on stock. Not much i can do about that...but we learned there was going to be a large release of product later spring. I guess we have to wait...and hope that E Bunny brings some money in the eggs like he did last year.

Tuesday was Science Museum....The real story of Pirates and the Omnitheater presentation of Under the Sea. Here is Jamison with his loot from his days of piracy.

And I had to get the yearly picture of the boys infront of my contribution to science. Zebra mussels.

This year they really got into the hand on exhibits and spent over 5 hours at the museum. If it wasnt for the fact that we needed to eat they would have likely spent the night there.

Peter is magic!

Jamison build a glider that never did come down....it went up so high it got stuck!

Who is that crazy kid on the other side?

Since the boys went to my restaurant choice (sushi) they asked if they could go to a restaurant of their choice, i thought that was fair, so off to Rainforest Cafe. (Peter was crabby because I would not buy him the expensive ninjago set, the only one at the store)

A posed picture but super cute!

Last day...MN History Center. MA's friend hooked us up and we were able to see an early draft of the US Consitition. Not all that impressive when you are 7 but the interactive display of a tornado and a bomber was fun. The boys also really enjoyed the grain elevator...burned off a lot of energy there.

Made our own postcard! Greeting from Minnesota!

And captured a picture of the MN state capital....maybe next time we will go in there!

Final stop before heading home....here the boys are waiting in suspence. I told them we will be having a special surprise at the Como Zoo. What could it be? They almost could not wait any longer.....

Their friends from MH, the Johnstons! Who were also going to be in Mpls for spring break. The boys were excited to see each other and greeted each other with punches and kicks. I guess boys greet eachother different than girls. We spent the afternoon at the zoo and then headed home. I dont think the boys could get more into their break. We are looking forward to some relaxing time at home.