Mill City Museum

On Wednesday, we went on our next summer field trip to the Mill City Museum. It was great--I learned so much and the kids had a lot of fun. Here D and M got to design their own cereal box.



The giant box of Bisquick.



Using the trains and river to deliver the goods to the stores.



Doing puzzles in the baking lab.



Then, learning about wheat and sampling baked goods.



The coolest part of the Mill City Museum was the Flour Tower. You get a scheduled time to ride in a giant elevator and learn more about the city of Minneapolis and its history of flour production.



This elevator is so big, it has risers in it to sit on!



We are sitting in the back row of the elevator listening to our tour guide give us some information. During the presentation, the elevator would go up and down eight different floors, stopping now and then at various ones which had a scene set up for us to look at while we listened to audio and watched some videos about flour production.



Closing the gates on the elevator.



We stopped on the eighth floor and saw some of the original building that was not destroyed in the 1991 fire. We also got great views of Minneapolis and the Mississippi River.





We also got to go outside on a little walkway on the eighth floor.



Below us were some of the ruins.



Back inside to the water room where we learned about the importance of the river in this industry back in its hey day.



Feeling the strength of the water pressure.



Logging on the Mississippi.



The kids took the place of the water and spun the wheel.



Outside, the kids got to explore the ruins.



We topped off our morning with a picnic lunch at the park next to the Guthrie Theater.

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.