Happy 2 Year Anniversary!

My blog is two years old! Again, I will share some pictures from last year's Memorial Day Weekend to contrast with this year's and see how much the kids have grown (or not!).

M definitely looks like he has changed a lot from last year:



But D doesn't look too much different:



We spent the long weekend at the cabin again this year. Have you heard of Angry Birds? It's an app for the iPhone that Gary has. The kids loved it, but I had no idea what it was until I tried it several days later. Good thing, because it is now an addiction.



Speaking of angry birds, I'm sure momma bird won't be too happy to find we moved her nest. It was in an undesirable location, so Steve moved it. The kids loved seeing the bird eggs--Steve thought they were sparrows.





Lots of four wheeling...





...and more Angry Birds. Good thing we don't own an iPhone.



On Sunday, we went to my parent's house for a Memorial Day picnic. D had been so excited to go fishing and Grandma and Papa's all week.



Yea! Success!



Testing out the new pontoon.



Watch out! M's in the driver's seat.



D and her cousin eating snacks together.



Getting pushes on the swing from Uncle Dan.



The Stiehl men.



D and M's cousin turned 4. Cool cake!



Papa broke out the sparklers.



D was kind of afraid of them, but not M!



Back at the cabin...time to relax!



Both Papa and Grandma read lots of books to the kids.



D and M got bubbles from my parents on Sunday and couldn't wait to use them. It poured all Sunday night and Monday morning, so we rushed outside to do bubbles during a brief dry spell.

Ni Hao

D had kindergarten round up on Thursday. We met all of the kindergarten teachers and got an overview of the curriculum and what to expect.



They shared some of the strokes they would be learning for the Chinese writing system (it's a Chinese immersion school--no English spoken the first two years).

Firefighter's Hall & Museum

We started our summer field trips with a group of 4-5 other moms on Wednesday. Our first stop was the Firefighters Hall & Museum in Minneapolis. I think it's going to be hard to top this one. It was very kid friendly and informative--the kids loved it. M couldn't wait to wear his fireman's hat here.



D and her friend pose by the dalmation.



The kids did a simulation of a bucket brigade.



We got to see all kinds of fire vehicles, from ones that were pulled by horses...



..to ones that you had to crank to start.



D helped in the demonstration on how fire calls were made long ago.





One of the highlights of this museum--getting to slide down the fire pole.





D demonstrated the "Stop, Drop, and Roll" technique during our safety lesson.



The kids got to climb aboard one of the fire trucks they had housed inside the museum.





M preferred the fire truck "ride", like the ones you find in a mall...



...but eventually he made his way to the real one.



The definite highlight of the trip was a ride in a real fire truck through Minneapolis. We sat in the second row of seats inside...



...but most of our group was outside in the back.



When we got back from our ride, the kids got to be the firefighters and put out the fires in this housing complex.





Contest to see who could shoot their water the farthest.





Picture inside the hall.



We also got to learn about and watch a video about Mickey the Fire Cat from Minneapolis Fire Station 10. This is the most hilarious video ever, I think the kids and I could watch this a thousand times. See video here.

We finished off the morning with a lunch on the lawn. The kids loved the fact that there were about 10 or so trains that came by the tracks up the hill.

Butterflies!

I curled D's hair one morning for fun while M was at speech. It looked so cute, but sadly her hair behaves badly like mine does. The curls just kind of disappeared.



Snuggle time with Papa.



On Tuesday, the butterflies came out of their chrysalids. It was so fun to watch them. It was amazing how quickly they emerged once they started.



One last pose with the butterflies before setting them free.



D was afraid at first to have the butterfly on her..



...but M couldn't wait and thought it was great.



Eventually D warmed up to the idea...as long as it was on her sleeve.



They figured out they liked to be on flowers, so they carried them around that way for a long time. I wasn't anticipating that they would actually play with the butterflies, but they were almost like pets. D wanted to bring hers to Steve's softball game that night.