A trip to the park

Let the Ridicule Begin!

Mike finally did it. He bought himself a “new” mini van. We were both tired of the Escape and since I refused to buy another Ford, he decided a mini van was the practical way to go. That, and Rion had a mini van on his birthday list. We’ll let you know how it goes. Here’s what the boys had to say about it.

Owen: Me and Rion really like Daddy’s mini van because there is a sun shade to keep the sun away from us.

Rion: Owen. Now tires, OK? Tires go on cars. Tires have stuff in the middle of them. The end.

Owen: Me and Rion are touching all of the buttons in the mini van.

Rion: Yeah, that’s fun.

Owen: There’s a fan, a sun shade, and there are even locks. We got it on Monday.

Rion: Mommy, I want to buy a Honda. I want to go on it every day.

Under the Stars Easter Egg Hunt

Rion: We got ten eggs only and then we counted how much eggs and we said how much we got. We got lots of candy and I got a toy. The end, I’m done.

Mommy: What about the Easter Bunny?

Rion: The Easter Bunny was at Gym Stars. We got a picture with the Easter Bunny. It was a person inside of there.

Owen: We went to this Easter egg hunt. It was really cool, but I only got four eggs, because I got ten eggs but I dropped them all. Now, I only have four. And, we saw the Easter Bunny in Gym Stars. We got to take a picture with the Easter Bunny and then Rion got to drink some Gatorade.

Rion: No it wasn’t Gatorade. It was the red one. No, it was the soda that mommy and daddy drink. It was alcohol.

Mommy: It was not alcohol. Don’t lie.

Rion: What was it then? Gatorade?

(Translation – The boys call the community rec center “Gym Stars” because that’s where they took gymnastics. And, no we don’t let our 4 year old drink alcohol. However, he’s always asking to go to the liquor store because they give him suckers and he gets to buy Daddy elephant beer.)

Rion's Birthday Party II

My birthday party was on Saturday and we went to Pump It Up. And, it was Alex and Declan’s birthday party too. They had glowing in the dark. We were glowing in the dark. And we had a necklace, a glowing one. It had red on it. I got a Batman toy and a water gun. I got a bubble blower. Done. I’m done. – Rion

Rion had a birthday party at Pump It Up. It was really fun. We got to go on this new area where you got to climb up this big slide thingy and you got to try to get the flags it was holding. (It was hard and it was slippery. – Rion) Some of the presents were Playmobil, batman toys, spider man toys, iron man toys, and zhuu zhuu pets. And that’s it. - Owen

And I got clothes. The End. - Rion

Rion's Birthday Party I

Happy 4th Birthday Rion!

It was my birthday. And we stayed home. And they got us a present, but I had the same one. And Owen and I had donuts and a muffin. We watched Alvin and Chipmunks Squeakquel. My birthday party is coming up the next Saturday. Nothing else. – Rion

Rion had a pretty cool birthday. He was four years old. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel. Then we went to Sweet Tomatoes. We saw our chef for Kindercare. Rion had popsicles and donuts for his desert at his birthday party with his grandmas and his grandpa. His grandmas and grandpa got him pretty cool presents, but one of the Team GeoTrax sets was the same as what we already have. Done. Rion’s going to have his next birthday party with two of his friends, but we’re celebrating all three of them. So, I don’t know which one to join with. There are two different kinds – batman and star wars. Done. - Owen

Learning Time

From these posts, you'd never guess that we do more than play with toys and attend parties. But, we try to be "good" parents once in a while. :) They actually love learning. Owen wants to know everything right now and loves a challenge. He's also a bit of a know-it-all and loves to let you know what he knows. Rion likes to learn slowly. I think it's tied to his attention span. You may not think he's listening, but later he'll say something and we'll realize, he was paying attention and really gets it.

A Weekend Away

I’ve been working crazy hours lately on my project at work, and Mike is getting started on his busy season, so we thought it would be fun to have a weekend away with the kids. Since they’d never been skiing, we thought that would be fun. Never would have guessed it was going to be a 50 degree weekend! It was a little warm, but we had a great time away at Cascade, near the Wisconsin Dells. The boys did great with the tubing and the skiing. By the time we left they were able to go down a big hill. And, as a bonus, Mike and I got to ski on our own while they were in their lessons. We didn’t do bad, but aren’t as young as we used to be. I think tomorrow may be painful. At least mine will just be muscle related. Mike will also have to deal with sunburn. Here’s the boy’s blog conversation on the weekend’s events!

Rion: We went on a tubing thing. We went to a hotel and we went on their water slide lots of times. It was fun and I want to go there again. And my teacher helped me ski. I went down a big hill. I went on a ski lift. The big one that you guys went on. Remember? I went with my teacher, Michelle my teacher.

Owen: We went tubing. It was lots of fun. Me and daddy raced four games and I won twice, Daddy won once, and we tied once. Me and Rion were learning how to make a pizza with skis. We went on a ski lift and there was a handle bar so we could hang on to it. Handle bar up on pole number five, put your skis up, and ski a little half a circle and then you ski down the hill. Me and Rion went on the big hill. We fell lots of times and one time we fell into the snow. In our hotel there was a water park. It was really fun. There was a castle waterslide. You would go up the stairs and there was water on the outside of it. I splashed Rion one time in the little pool, but it was only one foot. Sometimes I put my feet in the hot tub, but it was really hot. In the big pool with the waterslide, there was a bench in the water. Done!!!

Rion: And, I went on the big waterslide that was yellow.

Owen: Me and Rion –

Mommy: It is Rion and I.

Owen: Rion and I went on teeny, tiny waterslides. They weren’t that much fun. When we saw the castle one, we just ran onto it and ran into the pool. And then it was awesome because me and Rion splashed each other eight times. Done.

Rion: We went on a big huge water fall and I splashed Owen fifty hundred two times. And I broke a water bottle. Isn’t that silly? And we played together. And we put on ski boots.

Owen: Mommy, can I learn how to snowboard now. When will I get to learn how to snowboard?

Rion: Mommy, does Daddy know how to snowboard?

Mommy: No, daddy does not know how. You have to learn how to ski some more first.

Rion: Oh, Declan’s dad does. (Rion talks about his friend Declan’s dad as if he were a super hero. You’d think he were 8 feet tall and can do anything.)

Owen: When we learn how to go down the big hill without falling, we get to learn how to snowboard. Read it to me.

Mommy: (Reads the conversation above)

Owen & Rion: (Laugh hysterically)

Ready to tube. We started all bundled up, but it was a nice spring day and the clothes quickly came off. Rion stopped after a couple of trips down the hill. I think he got hot and hungry. Rion loves his snack time!

Owen loved racing Daddy down the hill, but before Daddy could start, he had to push Owen down the hill. Amazingly, Owen won most of the races.

We stayed in the Dells. If you ever visit, the Moosejaw restaurant was a big hit.

Water slides

Owen's swimming underwater.

Ready for the ski school

We went down a couple of hills while the boys were working with their instructors. When we came back to check on them, Owen was missing. We were very excited to find him up on the ski lift.

Rion and his instructor. She told us that if we were to ski backwards, it would be easier to teach him. She didn't offer to teach us how to ski backwards. It is harder than it looks.

Owen and his instructor

Rion on the ski lift

Brothers!

Owen: Rion, who is your favorite person in the world?

Rion: You.

Owen: Why?

Rion: I don’t know. You are just my brother.

Quote of the Day

Rion: Umm, Yummy!
Daddy: Don't lick Parker. That's gross.