New Kid

This week the kids got a chance to meet one of their distant cousins. We picked up cousin's Dev at Lady Di's cousins home by St. Paul, MN. He is 1 year older than Number One Son and is visiting from Texas so he and N1S spent the entire drive home asking each other what kind of restaurants each state had. It turns out there are a lot more chicken chains in Texas than in Minnesota.

Dev stayed with us for three days and Lady Di packed each day with so many activities that the kids, who are used to staying up late in the summer, pretty much collapsed on their beds and were instantly sleeping each night.

We started off the activities at the zoo.

We paused a moment at the flamingos.

Here are some monkeys looking at some monkeys. Or maybe it's the other way around.
We ended our trip at the butterfly house.

The rest of Dev's stay was occupied by a trip to the beach, swimming in our backyard, going to a movie, playing basketball and eating pizza. Plus a few more outings squeezed in. I'd say a pretty good vacation.

When it was time for Dev to return to LD's cousin's house the kids were disappointed to see him go. Once we got home, LD and I were ready to just rest and have a quiet day. The kids must have gotten used to all of the special activities everyday. They quickly asked, "Well, where are we going tomorrow?"

So now they expect everyday to be a trip to somewhere exciting.

"Yes kids! Tomorrow we will visit a hands-on exhibit of the two messy rooms in Minnesota. And the best part is you will get to actually be in charge of the clean up effort! After that, you can go on a nature walk through beautiful flower gardens, immaculately mowed grass and end with a do-it-yourself artwork project involving chalk and an actual working driveway! So get to bed. You have a big day tomorrow."

Leeches, Tigers and Dots, Oh My!

May in Minnesota, means field trip season if you have school aged kids. Both kids had class field trips in the last two weeks. Lady Di chaperoned Number One Son's class trip to the Three Rivers Park. Three Rivers Park is a huge hiking, biking, fishing, camping nature learning center. It sounded pretty interesting. On their trip they learned about nature and conservation. They got to gather various bugs and creatures from a pond to make a bug zoo. N1S and Lady Di were the only ones to include a leech in their zoo. Lady Di had to reach into a mossy, slimy pond up to her elbow while N1S cheered her on. Lady Di is so lucky. Here are some of the creatures that N1S and LD collected for their zoo. Their zoo's main attraction, Mr. Leech, is prominently displayed in the lower left corner.

When the kids were done with the pond they went to the next station. Lady Di was so engrossed in studying her bugs that N1S had to come back to the pond to retrieve her. Through clenched teeth he hissed, "Come on, Mom." It appears Lady Di has an interest in pond scum.

The park gave a presentation and slide show inside about what they have been studying in their pond all year. As the presenter asked the class questions, many hands went up as the kids were eager to show what they have been studying. Lady Di looked back and forth to the other parents as they all shrugged their shoulders with each question. Clearly, they were out of their league.

I was lucky enough to be chosen to chaperon Sweet Pea's class trip to the Minnesota Zoo. This is about my third or fourth class trip to the zoo since both kids' pre-school and kindergarten classes always go to the zoo. Some of the animals are starting to recognize me. I was assigned to Sweet Pea and her friend M.

We arrived to the zoo at 9:55am and had to hustle from the bus to get to our first stop, the dolphin show at 10am. The dolphin show was a big hit with the kids. The oldest dolphin at the zoo is 41 years old. I had no idea that dolphins lived so long. After that we walked around to see the camels, caribou and bison. This is when the girls started asking, "Can we eat lunch yet?". It was 10:15AM.

We then ventured to prairie dog town where the girls squeaked until they were answered by the prairie dogs a few times. After another plead for lunch, we trekked to the tiger lair. Both of the ferocious beasts were unferociously sleeping. Exasperated, Sweet Pea whined, "When are they going to wake up?".

For a while, the funnest part of the trip for the girls was balancing on the curb walking to each exhibit.
Things got better at the monkey area. The girls thought the chimps red faces and red butts were cute. Then, once again, "Is it time to eat yet?"

I muttered under my breath, "No, but it may be lunch time for the tigers if you two are not careful."

I forced the girls to view a few more animals before finding a table to eat lunch. We finished our sack lunches, threw away our garbage and were ready to see some more animals. That is, we were ready after the girls asked for some Dippin Dots because they were still starving.

We finished with the tropical forest building and made it back to the bus just in time due to a slight detour at the bathroom. It seems little girls take a little more time in the bathroom than I had budgeted. We had to sprint back to the bus and I had to throw the girls through the opened bi-fold bus doors as the driver was pulling away. In the back of my head I could hear trumpets playing the Indiana Jones theme song. Not having a whip, I tossed our backpack through the bus door for the girls to pull me out of danger. Once in the rolling yellow tank, I picked up my dusty tattered Twins cap, wiped my sweaty brow and nodded my thanks to the girls.

Despite the long bus ride and the long walking at the zoo, we all had fun. The weather was great and most of the animals cooperated. I think Sweet Pea may have one more year of going to the zoo for her class field trip. Next year will be Lady Di's turn. Hopefully, the tigers will be rested by then.