Field Trips

It's the end of the school year and that means field trips!!  Unfortunately I couldn't get time off from work to join Kade but thankfully I had lots of mom friends sending me pictures throughout the day.  Looks like I missed a good time!

Porter and Kade, bus buddies

Watching the otters at Oxbow Zoo.  

Apparently they were quite the hit with the 1st grade boys!

Mrs. Clark's 1st grade class posing in front of the library

Mason and his daycare buddies at the playground

Mason was sad that he didn't get to go to the zoo like Kade did, so that following Wednesday just the 2 of us went.  It was a little cold and drizzly but we had a blast!

He was so excited for the bear.  

I think Mason expected him to be ferocious and loose (I'm pretty sure Mason's dream come true would be to wrestle and/or shoot a bear and an alligator), so he was a bit disappointed to see the bear caged and laying on it's back playing with it's feet.  

This kid is going to give me a full head of grey hair real soon.

After the zoo I took him to real restaurant.  He was so excited!!

We sat in a booth and he joined me on my side, best date I've ever had (sorry, not sorry Tall Guy!).

Every week I look at the past few posts and then scroll through the pictures on my phone to see which pictures I haven't added to a post yet.  I try to keep them somewhat in order by date but that doesn't always happen.  Tonight, going through my phone pictures I realized that summer is officially in full swing for us because I have TONS of pictures to choose from!  So there is no rhyme or reason to the order of these pictures.

Grandma H has started horse riding lessons with Kade!

For the past few weeks he's been going to a trainer to help teach him the basics. 

Coincidentally, one of Kade's classmates--Andrew (who also just happens to be his locker buddy) is also taking riding lessons!  Kade's pretty excited to have a friend to ride with.  

When you are a good boy for Mommy at Target you get hooked up!!

I never thought I'd see the day when Erik applied nail polish on anyone's nails.  

Nail polish and a gun--Mason's got all the bases covered.

A couple weeks ago we had Megan and her family over, we hadn't seen them since Christmas so the kids had fun playing and the mom's had fun enjoying drinks and "cackling on the porch" (as Erik and Tim reminded us multiple times that's what we were doing).

The kids enjoying kiddie cocktails in honor of Cinco de Mayo.

Vi and Mase enjoying a dip in ice cold hose water on the first real warm-ish day of the year.

Last Friday we had some friends over, who just also happen to be daycare buddies, over for pizza.

Ashtyn and Brinlee can hold their own in a wrestling match!!

The dads got their butts kicked by a bunch of little people.

And finally, these 2 goofballs...holy cow they need haircuts!

A couple weekends ago our neighbors to the south had a controlled burn on 10 acres of natural grasses right behind our house.  They let us know a few days before hand so it's all the boys could talk about for 3 days straight.  Fire, firemen, firetrucks in our own backyard--does it get any cooler for a kid?!?  Saturday morning, the day of the burn, Kade woke up extra early and set up watch to make sure they didn't miss a second.  Thankfully the weather cooperated and so all of their pyro dreams came true.

The burn has started.  

There's a tiny bit of smoke in the back right corner...

The smoke is picking up!

And the fire is getting closer.

In the words of our neighbor Jerry...

"Holy crap Mason, WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!?"

So there was a little bit of smoke going up in the air...

Our friend Melissa sent us this picture from the roundabout that's a few miles away.

Whew.  It's over and the fire was contained.  It actually went up really fast, it was over and done within about 10 minutes of lighting it.

We hopped on the gator to go for a ride so the boys could see the firemen and the firetrucks up close and personal.

And for the rest of the day Mason was a "fire guy" who was burning things.  

Now, in his mind, the firemen start the fires not put them out.

Trying out for his own month in the next fireman's calendar.

Spring has FINALLY sprung in MN!!  Which means outside all day and evening, daily baths, late bedtimes and exhausted little boys and we wouldn't have it any other way (except when their exhaustion catches up to them and they become grumpy--that we could do without).

Lots of mini rivers and ponds in our yard when the snow melts.  Splashing around in the water and pretend fishing entertains them for hours.

Mason isn't quite ready for a bigger bike, we're still working on riding without training wheels, but he's too big for the pull behind bike buggy.  This little tandem bike is the perfect fit for him!  He hopped right on and rode 4 miles on the first day we put it together.  He loved it!

Trout fishing with dad and grandpa C!  

They didn't catch anything but it sure beats pretend fishing in the backyard.