Skip to main content

Theo Turns 7 and the Grandparents Come to Visit

Instead of going to the cottage for President's day weekend, I talked my parents into coming to visit us. I wanted them to try our ice rink before the season was over. 

Theo and I really wanted to go to the cottage, but it was fun to have the in-laws check out the rink.

As it was Valentine's day, the kids get spoiled with treats. 

We got cake from the nearby Mexican market and the grandparents got the kiddos candies.

We wanted to show my dad the Wirth Lake ice trail. Of course it started snowing heavily on our drive there.

Meadow wasn't interested in coming. At least Theo was open to checking it out. 

A lone skier was traversing the lake trails with his dogs.

The full trail hadn't been shoveled after the last big snowfall. Only about a quarter of it was skateable. 

Theo was loving skating the big trail.

It was a winter wonderland. 

Another great day skating.


We did a few laps before calling it quits. 

Since it was nearby, we headed over to Utepils. Theo was happy that he got root beer and Meadow missed out. 

Utepils is still my favorite brewery in the Twin Cities.


They had the fire going in the beer garden, we could have sat outside. 

Meadow had wanted to play checkers with her Gigi but was too afraid to ask her. She had the game all set up when we got home too.

I made special heart shaped pizzas for Valentine's.

Theo and grandpa played some board games after dinner.

Another weekend of snow. Theo got right to work clearing the rink.

He cleared off a huge chunk of the ice and then we all helped him.

These kids are very competitive hockey players. 

I wasn't feeling great suddenly. Sadly I wouldn't be going along for many adventures the rest of the weekend.

I had to take my dad to the new claw machine arcade in Eagan.

This place was a mad house. I later learned that after they opened they sold out of inventory faster than they thought and had to close until they replenished. Today was the reopening. 

They make it fairly easy for you to win. 


They even had some food items. Theo loves these gummy kits. 


The kids made out pretty well. You can also trade in your items for other items. Like what's on the shelves behind Meadow. We were going to trade in Theo's winnings for a Kirby, but as you can see he had had enough at this point. It was so hot and loud with all the people. 

Looks intense.

Meadow's winnings. 


Once it got dark out we went on a luminary walk at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. 

I scrounged up enough energy to tag along.

Inside they had hot cocoa and exhibits.

My little guy.

My dad asked if there was anything going on at the convention center. This weekend was the RV show and it was free. We were all excited to go. 

I'm missing out on all the fun things.

I think Theo had the most fun. He climbed into every bed. 

And drove every RV.

My dad found his trailer.

Not enough storage for your mom.

The kids loved the lofted beds.  

That's insane.

This one had it's own children's wing. 

In no way am I thinking of getting a trailer. But this brand was more my vibe compared to the others. 

A yearly campervan or small RV relocation is fine by me.

Every year for Theo's birthday we got to Sushi Train.

Oh, I'm really sad I missed this. 


I was worried there wouldn't be anything my dad would eat. He found something, not exactly what he thought it would be. 

I think that's the exact opposite of finding something. Like the time I was in Paris and ordered some kind of raw cured meat and then steak tartare.


Theo finally got to open his gifts. 


He had been wanting Schleich figures. It's the first thing he wants to look at when we go to the toy store. 

The Eldrador series to be precise. Fierce monsters.

I made crepes for my little guy on his actual birthday.

More Eldrador figures!

From me!


He may be 7 now, but he's still just a little bub.

When Brooke got home he opened the rest of his gifts.

He was most excited for his gift from Meadow. 

I got him a Yoshi lego kit and a magic kit. He was not impressed with magic kit, claiming he had one already. 


Theo picked a mint chocolate cake for his birthday. 

I made it during daddy daycare.


It was supposed to be like a big York peppermint patty.

His birthday request was to play Bingo. 

Happy Birthday, Theo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Yardwork, Ikea and Pumpkins

My new parents-in-law got us a dehydrator for the wedding. Knowing we were going to be cleaning up the garden and going to farmer's market, we took a gander at our millionth kitchen device during breakfast.   Scott added granola to his oatmeal.  The oatmeal was rather bland, just the way Brooke likes it.   Scott was actually cleaning up so I had to take a quick photo of him as proof.  Scott told me he was, "putting a blanket down for Peanut," while singing. During the winter months peanut needs a warm place to peer through the window. Seeing as it was nearly November, I setup his blanket for him. Seeing as the farmers market season is dwindling down, we headed to the market...once again. The close proximity to the cities central farmer's market has to be one of the best assets of living in NoMi. We were both amazed by the bounty of produce still on sale. We quickly filled up our first bag and took it back to the car....

Japan Family Trip - Part III: Exploring Asakusa, Akihabara, Ginza, Yanaka and Tsukiji in Tokyo

After being away even for one night it felt strange to be back in the busy city. We arrived at  the end of the line for the Tobu Nikko line,  Asakusa Station .  Then we had to walk over to the Asakusa Line which took us most of the way to our aparthotel in Asakusabashi. It may sound confusing, but Google Maps never lead us astray. We made it onto the A line train for a short ride to  Asakusabashi. The kids look pooped. Eventually we followed the road next to the Chuo Sobu Line. Restaurants and cafes are tucked into many of the railways. A clever way to bring some life to what would otherwise be a desolate space. Our last stay was at the MONday Apart. The Asakusabashi Akihabara location. We were starting to get used to slipper life. In Japan you separate your trash into burnable trash and plastic garbage. We decided to get dinner nearby at Pizzeria Buono Buono, but when we arrived there was a note on the door that they were out of pizza dough for the night. ...

Japan Family Trip - Part II: Exploring the Shrines and Wilds of Nikko

We had originally planned on taking the bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto for a day or two. While being epically fast, it was a bit spendy for the four of us.  After talking to Brooke's coworker we settled on a two day trip to Nikko and its World Heritage Sites to break up our week in Tokyo. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The town is teaming with beauty from ancient shrines to epic waterfalls and some of the best meals we had on our trip. Kyoto didn't seem all that appealing to me when I started researching which location to go to. I too am glad we chose to head north to Nikko.  When we booked our Tobu Nikko Spacia X tickets I upgraded to the premium seats thinking that we'd be sitting facing one another. Instead we ended up with 4 individual seats, two in the first two rows and two in the last two rows. It turned out just fine with the kids sitting in front of us in two groups. Meadow and I were seated at the front of the car. Once in awhile we'd pas...