Good morning from our ark

The Twin Cities survived some major rain last night - 35W had 4 feet of standing water and most of the highways across the city were closed. Lakeville got 2-3 inches of rain in about an hour - some minor damage with tree limbs, but nothing major. Logan got very "sensitive" when the sirens went off. We tried to explain to him how BIG dakota county is and we are fine, but he kept asking if we were going to be ok.

Today is Logan's first baseball practice/game - he is very excited! Hopefully the field will not be a mud pit.

2 more days of work till PTO!!!!

Happy Father's Day to All

Hope all the dads out there had a fabulous Father's Day!

It seems like an eternity since our last post. Shawn has been busy traveling and managing 2 active boys is a full-time job when Shawn is gone....as a result the blog is the last thing to get attention.

Summary of our Father's Day:

• Spent Saturday at the cabin with all the cousins. We decided it would be easier to drive up early Saturday and return late Saturday. The boys had a blast fishing, swimming, playing soccer, driving up with their cousins, and drinking root-beer floats. Getting home late Saturday meant the boys got a full night sleep in their own beds and we avoided cranky kid syndrome on Sunday.
  
• Sunday morning was spent at the zoo - Carter's favorite place in the whole world! The boys loved the new Africa exhibit. The afternoon was spent at the waterpark and ice cream store. It was a nice, relaxing father day. The boys made Shawn a bird feeder for Father's Day.

Exciting stuff on the agenda for this week:

• Logan has golf camp every night
• Logan's baseball start this Thursday and Saturday.

Sharing some zoo pictures - yes Carter has been wearing his winter hat....he is starting a new sumer fashion!

Some exciting news!

We recently received an article that identified the best elementary schools in MN. Logan's school, Lake Marion, was ranked #9 in the entire state based on test scores. WOW!!! Check out the entire list....makes it tough to justify moving outside of the district - not that we are considering it.

http://www.schooldigger.com/go/MN/schoolrank.aspx?pagetype=top10

Logan is enjoying his last couple of days of school - it is field trip mania. So far they have been to Underwater World, Como Zoo, Cub Foods, and the eye doctor. Next week they go to McDonalds and learn how the kitchen works.

Memorial Day Weekend:
We spent Saturday and part of Sunday up at the Mattson cabin. Logan was on a roll and caught 5 Bass and 1 Northern (18 inches)! Shawn caught 2 sardines. Carter caught a bunch of weeds. The highlight of the weekend was when Logan was trying to cast as far out into the lake as he could and ended up throwing his entire body into the water. The look on his face was priceless! Luckily Shawn was on the dock with him and quickly scooped him up.

Carter had his "year 3" school conference this week. His report was fabulous! With the second child I think you do not recognize milestones as much as with the first. Some comments:

-Happy disposition....always signing
-Loves to read to himself
-Very empathetic
-They call him their "gentle giant" due to his size and empathy
-Loves puzzles
-Already knows his ABCs
-Was able to sequence

Although it was not said, Sara and I both could infer from the comments that Carter is much easier than Logan. I think daycare was challenged by Logan's sensitivity and lack of sleep! It will be fun to watch how Carter progresses. On the negative side, they recommend a speech evaluation. Not sure if it is bad enough to justify services. In the last 2 months they have noticed it becoming more difficult to understand his speech. They are not sure if it is because his speech is exploding or if there is something else happening. At least we know the routine.....

Annual post for Grandpa Roger

Grandpa Roger loves his gardens. Here is the annual post of pictures of our gardens in full bloom. I love spring!

Front Perennial Gardens:

Front hanging basket:

Backyard perennial gardens & path to the fire pit.:

Some of our vegetable gardens:

Who left the oven door open....

What a fabulous week of weather! Yesterday the temp in Minneapolis approached a record 95 with a heat index of over 100. A little different playing soccer last night than a couple of weeks ago when the kids had to wear pants, long sleeve shirts, hats and mittens. Unfortunately Logan's team got TROUNCED on Saturday 11-0.

The weekend was full of fun: dinner with some friends, playing with cousin Porter, date night for Shawn/Sara (we spent the night shopping for a new car - how romantic), playing outside, running, watching movies, etc. Last night the neighborhood kids all got together after soccer for a waterslide party at one of the houses and had a blast….somehow they ended up in the hot tub (where else do you go when it is 95?).

The excitement over the weekend is that Carter got a hair cut. No more "fuzzy wuzzy" beach bum look. It is still long on top, but at least the mullet is gone. Pictures will be posted this weekend.

Field trips: Logan started his string of "4" field trips last Friday. The kids walked to an eye clinic - Shawn chaperoned. The best part was when the Dr. was talking about the eye model and he pointed to the dark spot in the middle and asked if any kid knew the name for that part of the eye….one boy said, "the pimple." The answer of course was the "pupil" - it was hysterical for the adults. This Thursday Sara is joining Logan for the BIG field trip to Underwater World at MOA and Como Zoo. Hard to believe Kindergarten is almost over.

Shawn is in LA this week for work so we will decide on weekend plans when he returns Friday. If it is 85 in the cities and 65 in Duluth we will stay here and enjoy the weather.

Old McDonald Had A Farm.....

E...I...E...I...O

A beautiful string of spring days provided us the opportunity to get our garden planted. It is always a mixture of anticipation and the dreaded "here we go again with watering, weeding, and fertilizing" for the next 3-4 months. Either way, it is a passion of Sara and I.

This year we planted.....
(14) pots of flowers
(2) cantaloupe plants
(1) strawberry
(3) red pepper plants
(2) green pepper plants
(4) cucumber plants
row of snap peas
(2) rows of green beans
(2) cherry tomato plants
(2) regular tomato plants

All in about 20-25 sq ft of garden....this year we expanded to the side of our house and some pots for the veggies. With the Euro crashing Armageddon may be around the corner so we need to start growing our own food!

Other weekend adventures included:
-Shawn and Logan went golfing with Grandma Closer
-Logan soccer
-"Lakeville Safety Days" (kids loved climbing on the fire trucks and ambulances)
-"Kids Day America" (tons of food, inflatables, games, and vendors)
-Hiking in the woods and camp fire in the fire pit
-Logan play dates
-Zoo
-Biking, running, oh my

I am exhausted - time to go to bed. Weekends are always filled with lots of activities and time outside now that the weather is good. Enjoy your week!

Happy Mothers Day to ALL - and to all a good night

Yes - I am exhausted. No business travel for 3 weeks equals 3 weeks without sleeping through the night :-) Actually we have had a fabulous week...despite all the cold weather and rain. Here are the fun facts in the Mayfield Adobe this week.

Twins Game -
We were blessed with (4) free tickets to the Twins game Friday night...second row behind the Twins dugout. The new stadium is beautiful! Unfortunately Friday had a high of 48 and it rained all day - thankfully the game was cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday pm. Saturday was still cool, but we managed and it turned out to be a lovely night. Carter came down with the croup this week so we didn't want to expose him to the cold weather - or the fans around us to a 3 year old who can't sit still. As a result, Logan invited his cousin Dominic. The boys had a great time chowing on hot dogs and cotton candy. Twins WON!

Soccer started a couple of weeks ago. These pictures are from the first week when it wasn't snowing. Yes...for the second season in a row we had a couple snow flakes during the game this Saturday. Logan loves soccer and it is great exercise for him! He has improved a lot from last season. Shawn is doing is best coaching (8) 6 year olds on how soccer is not a full contact sport. So far we are 1:1. Logan is #1.

Happy Mothers Day to ALL! Sara had a nice Mothers Day. After church we went to Clearly Lake and enjoyed time at the park running/roller blading/biking around the lake. Logan made Mom a "sweet pea" picture frame in school and both of the boys got Mom a new suit for work. Our annual tradition of planting the vegi garden and patio flowers on Mothers Day was postponed till next weekend - it was only 32 degrees this AM!

On a positive note....our kitchen is finally done being remodeled! All I have to say is starting from scratch would have been a lot easier than a remodel! Worst part of the job - having to hire someone to cut the granite back so our new stove would fit in the hole....you would think all holes are the same size! Imagine DUST, DUST, and MORE DUST.

And to all a good night - safe travels Roger and Karen!