Friday, May 27, 2011

ALWAYS HELPING

Thursday, May 26, 2011

GUS. HOE!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

SHE LOVES THE PINK BEAR

Nova has adopted the pink bear that was mine when I was her age. I'm just surprised it still winds up and "sings" to her!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

MICROMACHINES!


20 years later, and micromachines are still cool.


Who knew?

Monday, May 23, 2011

COUSINS

When we got to Fargo, there were cousins,


and new toys!


Look! Our Broderick babies still look a lot alike.


And little Ben is growing up so fast!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

BULLDOGS

On the way, we stopped to visit our favorite bulldogs Pearl:


and Ruby:



(Gus is blurry there, but the look on Ruby's face is awesome!)

We also drove over to where Grandma & Grandpa are building there new house. The best part for Gus: a giant dirt pile! Yay!

FARGO


Last weekend, we went to Fargo.

Monday, May 16, 2011

AW, GEE.....

Sunday, May 15, 2011

OH....NOES!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

THE NOVA TOUR

Nova has got ahold of the camera. The best part is the photo of Poppa.



















Friday, May 13, 2011

TINY PONY



Thursday, May 12, 2011

QULT TOP


The monsters & I have been working on a new quilt for Nova. As soon as I finished the quilt top, they decided to take a nap. I think it turned out pretty well.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

MI NONI

Monday, May 9, 2011

SCIENCE MUSEUM PART 4 - THE BEST PART


The best part of our trip to museum was Dairy Queen. We stopped on the way home and got an Oreo Blizzard (at Gus's request). This is the DQ that I single-handedly kept in business during the last 2 months of Nova's pregnancy. This is the first first time we've visited this spring. I'd say the monsters enjoyed themselves.



Sunday, May 8, 2011

SCIENCE MUSEUM PART 3 - RICE PARK

After we left the museum, I cajoled Gus into walking toward the bus stop by telling him there were sculptures to look at. Gus loves that word, if only because he has no idea what it will mean. We ran into F. Scott Fitzegerald, whoever stands outside the Ordway, and then we found the Peanuts sculptures. Gus loves Peanuts as much as Poppa does.

Here's Peppermint Patty kicking a football:


Lucy bugging Schroeder as he tries to play the piano....


Woodstock!


My favorite photo of the day - Charlie Brown with Snoopy on his lap (and two little monsters)


Linus and Sally & Gus and Nova


And look! Right across the street! The other Hymie's (yea...they spell it Heimie's.....but it's still the other Hymie's)

Saturday, May 7, 2011

SCIENCE MUSEUM PART 2

From the giant hand and the sneezing girl, we moved up to the Mississippi River display. Look, birds!


Part of this display is the Charles E. an authentic Mississippi River towboat. The actual boat is there to explore, and this absolutely delighted the monsters.




When you get to the top of the stairs you're in the tiny pilot house, complete with captian's chair and a view of the Mississippi River.


Gus was totally the captain, and absolutely loved this exhibit.

Friday, May 6, 2011

SCIENCE MUSEUM PART 1

Today was Cinco de Mayo, and I thought that I would take the kids over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the festivities, but after re-reading what was planned (craft projects, scavenger hunt, etc.) I thought that might turn into a disaster - sometimes wrangling these two is a lot like herding cats.... While Nova was napping, Gus and I looked up some bus schedules and talked about going to see the dinosaurs at the Science Museum. It's been a very long time since we've been there, and he was pretty excited by the prospect. So excited, in fact, that he stomped right upstairs and woke his sister up.

Nova was less than thrilled, especially because she didn't really get what was going on. She understands adventures, and buses, and dinosaurs but honestly - she was napping and not really in the mood for Gus's excitement. Once we got going, she was on board. It was unfortunately her brother (Mr. I-will-not-nap-anymore-no-way-no-how) who totally crashed while on the bus:

We got there, though, and I only had to carry both of 'em for about 2 blocks. I tickled Gus awake, and we went right to the dinosaurs. Triceratops!


This giant fossil is right at the bottom of the steps when you get to the dinosaur exhibit. The monsters liked him an awful lot.


Right next door is the giant T-Rex skull, which (if you're strong enough) you can pull a lever and have him open and close his jaws. Gus tried, but it was pretty tough.


I showed them my T-Rex skills, and then Nova and I had a little talk about why they put fences around the exhibits.....



To keep kids OUT! I think I said the sentence "we look with our eyes, not with our fingers" just about 8 million times. Doesn't matter, she climbed every fence. Stegosaurus!



I know these aren't all great shots, the kids were moving fast.




And this little guy hasn't moved much. Remember? The last time Gus saw him?
(sheeesh....looking that up made me awful nostalgic. That was from this post (probably the first & only time Nova's been to this museum)


Miss Nova checked out the Apatasaurs's tail...


And we moved on to the other exhibits. Look! A giant hand!


One of Gus's favorite exhibits was one I didn't get a photo of because I had to hold him up to see it. There was a wall with a life size photo of a girl who was probably about 10 years old (thus, taller than Gus). The caption over her head said "How Fast Is A Sneeze?" and her face had a little door you could open. When you did, water shot out at you, and the photo of her face changed to a sneezing one. Essentially, a little girl sneezed on you. Gus made me do it 8 times. He loooooooved it.