4th of July Party and Teddy Bear Band

We celebrated the 4th of July with some friends on Thursday. First, we went to a 4th of July storytime at the Crooked Lake Library. At the end, the kids marched in a parade through the library waving flags they got to take home.



Next, we headed over to our friend Liz's house. She organized the whole 4th of July party for the kids and made great food. Here are her rocket dogs, along with a flag yogurt and fruit dish made by Christin. Mmmm....yummy! The kids loved it all.



Liz had 4th of July crafts for the kids to do, too. They made glittery fireworks and painted flags.





What more appropriate dessert than rocket pops! The party was a great way to start of our 4th of July weekend. Thanks Liz!



That evening, as part of Rosefest, we went to listen to the Teddy Bear Band. They had fire trucks and police cars there for the kids to see before the music started. There was also a tent set up where you could get balloon animals made. Sadly, M's popped almost as soon as he got it (he tried to make it "walk" on the grass--the balloon guy told us balloons don't like hot weather and many had been popping). Many tears were shed, but D's lasted the whole night. They both got kitties (M's was blue). Poor guy!



The kids had a great time dancing to the music and of course M was in heaven with their mascot, the giant panda bear.





It was such a hot night out--close to 100 degrees I believe--but the kids were troopers and kept on dancing.

Police Station Tour

Time for our next field trip! On Wednesday, we visited the Centennial Lakes Police Station. The officer that gave us the tour started off by showing us the bullet proof glass in the front office.



Looking at the evidence room.



The office where the officers do their paperwork.



They all stood on the white line while listening to more information from our guide.



Inside a real jail cell (gross!). The kids are just fascinated by jails (that was their favorite part of Fort Snelling, too--I didn't get any pictures of that one). Don't worry, they know they never want to be in one after seeing them in person. They are just curious about "bad people" and the whole jail thing.



The kids got to see and crawl in the squad cars.









Each kid got a goodie bag with stickers, tattoos, and coloring books.





Afterwards, we headed to the park across the street for picnic lunch and some playground time.

Chino, Mercedes y Fuerte Snelling

Before and after pictures of the kids getting their hair cut at my friend Nikki's.



D only got an inch off, so not too much different.





Nikki cleaned up M's hair from all of my "in-between" cuts.



Our friends Chino and Mercedes from Guadalajara, Mexico came to stay with us again for a couple of weeks this June while joining our church's mission trip to Pelican Rapids. This is Mercedes fourth time here and Chino's second. The kids love them and were so entranced by Chino when they found out he played guitar. They always wanted him to play for them and they got serenaded a lot in Spanish. M is accompanying on the drums.



On Friday, we did field trip number three. We missed last week's trip to Como Zoo because of Vacation Bible School, but I guess they cancelled due to bad weather anyways. We visited Fort Snelling, and I'm so glad Chino and Mercedes were able to join us for this excursion. Gracias a Chino por las fotos porque se me olvido mi camara!

As we were entering the fort and I was talking to Chino and Mercedes, I realized that I really didn't even know why this fort was built, even though we visited it just last year! We asked about it and the very short version is that it was built to protect traders and Native Americans from British and Canadian settlement.

Overlooking the river and Minneapolis.





We visited the school house. We learned that if you so much as whispered out of turn, you got rapped on the knuckles with a ruler. Ouch!



The kids got to try their hand at doing laundry "the old fashioned" way. It will be hard to complain about doing the laundry again after seeing that!



We visited the kitchen in the Commandant's house. We learned the ins and outs of cooking over a hearth fire.



The kids learned how they would grind coffee.



In the storage room next to the kitchen.



Another room in the Commandant's house.



We listened to a talk about trading goods at the Indian Agency.



D and M got to try on peace medals. M then promptly smacked D in the face with one of them. Oh, the irony.



We watched an infantry drill and got to see them shoot their rifles.





Lunch time!



Chino and M playing checkers at the Sutler Store. Chino really is an avid chess player.



The Round Tower was built in 1820 and is the oldest standing structure in Minnesota. It has been used for many things--a prison, beauty shop, and even a private residence!





We had great views of the entire fort and city of Minneapolis from the top. It was a beautiful day--so unlike the unbearably hot temperatures when we visited last year.



The kids just wanted to run in circles. Time to let off some energy.



Atop the tower by the fort's entrance.



One of the most interesting demonstrations was the blacksmith showing us the process for making a nail. The large bellows would get the fire up to 3000 degrees! This was done several times in the different stages of making a nail. I couldn't believe the process it took to produce one little nail!





They also did a cannon demonstration, but the kids weren't too interested in watching this as the rifles were quite loud during the infantry drill. We went down to Dred and Harriet Scott's residence (another thing I learned--I never knew Dred Scott lived on Fort Snelling) instead, which I'm thankful for now. The cannon shot was still very loud even thought we were quite far away.



After Steve came home from work, we went to the Stillwater for the evening. First stop, Teddy Bear Park.











Next stop, the riverfront. The water was so high, we had to walk up on the grass instead of the walkway. The plus side was that the bridge seemed to be going up more than usual as the bridge was so low to the water that most boats needed it up in order to pass through. Hey, that looks like the boat we got married on!





Final stop, Nelson's for ice cream. Mercedes told us Chino could eat a whole carton of ice cream by himself in one sitting, so we knew this was the place for him. First he wanted a child size all by himself (which is so big they let you split it into two flavors and is what Steve and I normally get to share). Then, he decided he wanted a single. He finally settled on a double. This is what a double looks like! And yes, he ate the whole thing.







Superman is one of our favorite flavors and we had to show off our blue tongues.