April 10-12

Easter in Minneapolis

Wow! We had a busy, fun-filled Easter weekend! In conjunction with 'spring break' - I use the term loosely because the kiddos only had Friday, Monday and Tuesday - we decided to pack everyone up and go to the Mall of America. It was our second time going, and the foster kiddos' first time. ;) A fun time was had by all! In perfect 'Tina-ness', we did saw some other sights along the way ... it really doesn't pay to go all that way and just go to the mall, right?

Friday
After getting the car out of the shop (finally!), we left home around 1:45p - this was nearly seven hours later than I would have liked, but at least we were able to go. ;) We stayed at TLF housing at the St. Paul Air Reserve Station.

Here is a pic of the cemetery and our van ...
One of the Spanish-American War grave markers ...
Saturday
After a nice sleep, we got up early ('cuz we had tons to do!), we made our way to the Ft. Snelling National Cemetery. It was a gorgeous, sunny morning and we had an opportunity to talk to the kids about our military heroes - it reminded me a lot of Normany, France. We even saw graves from people who served in the Spanish-American War! The cemetery was large - almost 437 acres and has about 180,000 people buried there. There are wives of military members and even some sons and daughters, which I thought was interesting.

Next, we went to the Basilica of St. Mary, the first basilica in America. I must admit, going there brought me back to the cathedrals and basilicas we have seen in England and Europe. I snuck a photo inside the basilica, which I feel a little guilty about because there was a mass going on - obviously not guilty enough not to take the picture. ;)

4 out of 5 of the kiddos ...

stained glass of Mary ...

An action shot of Melissa ... she's so speedy!

A statue honoring the Belgian-priest-explorer Father Louis Hennepin ...
Onward to the Minnehaha Park and Waterfall. This is where we ate lunch - we brought our own - and fooled around a little. ;) It was cool to see the waterfall with snow and ice ... I was afraid that it would be frozen over from the winter!

Melissa - laughing/eating ...
Peel a banana upside-down ...
Nate ...
Annika ...
David ...
More fooling from M ...
Austin, trying to jump from one bench to the other ...
what they loved to do - video and text ...
Bubba ...
Annika ... she forgot her jacket ...
David ...
Annika, Nate 'n David ... ;)

The all-anticipated MOA (Mall of America) visit finally happened. I wanted to make sure we got there a little later in the day because the tickets for the rides drops after 5:00p. Melissa and I went shopping whilst Jacob sat at BABW with the other kiddos. Ah, Build-a-Bear! They all really enjoyed the whole experience there, but the line was ridiculous! Here is what the kiddos got:

Melissa - moose named Audry Inca
Austin - dog named Siliva
Nathan - dog named Budey
Annika - Hello Kitty named Hello Kitty (ha!)
David - bear named David

Then there was the rides! The kids totally enjoyed this part, except for Melissa who started a bad headache and felt feverish. I took her to the rooms and stayed with her until 10:00p when the mall closed. Poor Jacob had to deal with the four other kiddos, but he didn't complain too much because they all rode the rides. :)

Don't ask ... ;) you don't want to know what happened ... ;) MUAH HA HA HA ...
A, N & A, getting their hearts ready ...


Sunday
Our last day in Minneapolis was spent going to the zoo. It's been while since we've been to a zoo, so it was a nice time. The weather wasn't too hot or too cold and, being Easter Sunday, there weren't a whole lot of people there in the morning. :) We did stay there for 5 hours, though! The komodo dragon, the dolphins, the grizzly bears and the red panda were some of the highlights!

Here is a little posin' on the giant turtle ...
Ladybug! (or Ladybird, depending on where you are from ...)
A cloned cow named 'Lantz 2' ...
M, A 'n A, enjoying ice cream ...
D 'n N, taking a break ...
sharing means caring! ...
Annika was not impressed with this goat! ...the gizzlys ...
touching the starfish ... yes, Melissa knew I was walking around like this and didn't tell me ... :(I got a sunburn ... see?
All-in-all, we had a good time. It was nice to get out and visit something new, but it's also nice to come home!

March 14-15, 2009

Fargo, ND

I've been negligent on my blog lately - bad Tina! I admit I've been going on my Facebook a little too much ... my apologies! I'm hoping to post and journal things on my blog that are different from my FB ... let's see if I succeed!

So, Jacob had a speaking assignment in Jamestown (about 3 hours away) and being it was St. Paddy's Day weekend (couldn't find a room in the town of James), we decided to stay in Fargo. Woo Hoo! ;) I know ... it IS the biggest city in ND you know! (at least I think it is!) We stayed at a Holiday Inn and they had a cute pool area ... here are some pics to thrill you all with! ;)

We had a pretty good time there - I would recommend it, but the pool area was PACKED!

Ha - the limit on people in the hot tub was 6 ... yes, 6 - not 36! ;)

The 'Pirate Ship' at the hotel ... the kids really enjoyed it! (well, not Melissa) You can just make out Austin's face going down the slide! Weee!

Austin's smooth moves ...

March 20, 2009

Hiking - and I use the term loosely ...

Well, it had been getting warmer out there and I decided that we would all join in on a family hike! Woo Hoo! Jacob and I were the only ones impressed with this, sad to say. We motivated the kiddos and by 10:00am, we were out, walking around the base. Here are some pics of the "hike" ...

Here is everyone on "Deer Poop Alley" ...

The older housing area ...

More deer tracks - I guess they have a bad problem with the deer here on base ...

The trail is getting a little slippery ...

Everyone had wet feet by the time we arrived home, but it was nice of Jacob to 'rescue' the kids ...

A few days later, frozen rain on my windows, more snow out my door ... *sniff sniff*

March 6, 2009

Call me Ms. Edgy ...

Okay, so most have already seen my new hairs-cut. ;) Frankly speaking, I've had a very challenging week and decided to have a little pampering done.

I went to the 'beauty parlor' to get my hair done with no idea of what I wanted or what would look good. I was advised that it wasn't really a smart thing to go to a new hairdresser and say "do whatever you want", but I told Kim (my new bestie) that I wanted to be a little more stylish. She was NOT impressed with my box color dye-job (rude?) and suggested a color called 'mocha'. Hmm ... I have a naturally poop-brown boring hair color, so I was all for it. She put in some highlights, which I called 'latte' (it sounds fitting, no?) and the result was ... well, it was WOWZA!

Kim really did a good job - there was a small dog laying on the floor of the salon when it was all over ... she must have cut off 5 inches or so! :)

Anyhoo, I just wanted to share, cuz sharing means caring! :)

I kind of look like a schmuck, here ...

February 25, 2009

Blue & Gold Banquet

It's that time of year again for the Blue & Gold Banquet! This year, the theme was "the ABC's of America" - the boys celebrated places in the US they have visited. Unfortunately for Austin, we've just spent 3 years overseas and the only real places he's been to visit since we've been here are Wisconsin and the Mall of America (okay, the Old Mill State Park was nice). Our printer wasn't cooperating, so that meant he didn't have anything to show. I guess I could have had him draw a picture of something, but frankly speaking, I just don't have the energy lately. Poor Austin ...

The evening went well. There were yummy hamburgers and chips to eat and the boys played a game called "Where in the US is Carmen Santiago?". The boys enjoyed answering the questions and beating the adults! ;) Ah, and the much awaited Pinewood Derby cars were given out. Austin and Nate are really REALLY excited to do them! We've already been on the internet, looking at cars and paint jobs. :)

On a side note, Austin walked into the wall and bumped his head. :( It still is very sore to touch - he has a hard time combing his hair.

Austin and Nate are getting ready for the flag ceremony to begin ...

Austin is ready to receive some achievement beads ...

After receiving his achievement beads ...

Brother Farmer, reading off the awards for the night ...

Zoom zoom! ready for the derby!

It looked worse than this ... yeowch!