PHOTOS: Playhouse

Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparents Day at Aidan's school and five very special guests joined him for the event. Four grandparents and one great grandparent each came more than 300 miles to share the day with him. What an AWESOME family!

Grammie and Papa D (Deur) and Great Gramma Deur

Papa and Nana (Christensen)

Great Gramma Deur

Storytime Live

Last night we took the boys into the city to see Nickelodeon's Storytime Live at the State Theater. Kellen was mesmerized by the show blinking all of once during the first half of the performance.

The show featured the characters from four popular kids shows including the Wonder Pets (my favorite), Dora the Explorer, The Backyardigans and Ne Ho Kai Lan.

Photography was not permitted during the performance but I managed to pull this cast photo from the internet.

Tuesday at the Zoo

Rachel's back to work in two weeks so we're trying to sneak some family outings in on weekdays when kid friendly attractions may be less populated than they would be on the weekends.

We saw some zoo visitors dressed in Chicago sports gear and the guy on the right (below) who obviously shares our love for a certain Midwestern football team known as...Da Bears!

I don't remember seeing camels on previous trips to the Minnesota Zoo so this guy (and his friends) are either seasonal or new.

Rachel and I always joke about the farm animal exhibits at zoos. I guess growing up in Iowa these guys don't seem so exotic. Of course not every kid knows his way around livestock as was evident by the kid explaining to his friend where the milk comes out of a bull. Ahem...that's not an udder you're looking at young man.

Kellen was highly entertained by the sheep calling out to him and his opportunity to feed the goats.

VIDEO: Volcano III

While contemplating how to boost the bang of our volcano, I drew inspiration from the following video.

We misfired neglecting to recognize the lack of pressure in an uncapped volcano. The post-volcano bottle attempt fell a little flat too having drained some of the soda again falling short on the pressure we needed to build inside the bottle.

Next time we're in Iowa we may need to find an open field and try this...

...and hope this doesn't happen...

The Fine Print

As part of their assortment of Easter basket* goodies, Rachel grabbed the boys what was labeled as a two pack of Spider-Man kites. Upon opening them yesterday, we found the second kite (pictured below) had the standard spool of string and a long flowing red tail.

We also discovered that the kite was all of four inches wide. Upon further review the package deemed it a micro kite and included dimensions in centimeters. Our web shooting superhero is about as big as George Washington on a dollar bill and likely to be just as visible in the sky...if not for the long tail.

* Incidentally, nothing says "He is risen!" like Easter baskets that look like Star Wars Storm Troopers.

The Boy Who Cried False Alarm

With Phase One of potty training in good working order and Phase Two a work in progress I offer this final check in...unless something hilarious happens in the next few days.

Earlier this week I was told by Kellen that I also do a good job going potty and should have my own sticker chart when I turn 21 or 22 or 23. It was nice to get that vote of confidence! Perhaps when I fill my chart I can have a cupcake party just like him.

Kellen also has found an indestructible excuse for climbing out of bed repeatedly in the evening. We already had trouble keeping him there and now he just claims he's up to use the bathroom. How can we rush him to the restroom during the day and tell him we're not buying it at night? One out of four or five exits turns out to be legit and the others draw a "got you" smile, a shrug of the shoulders and him saying "false alarm".

The False Alarm