Outings with Auntie

We got to do some fun outings with Auntie Desha while she was here in August. They included:

The Park

Minneapolis Zoo

At the zoo, each animal exhibit was enormous and most of them had several different kinds of animals living together. Since the exhibits were so big, it made for a lot of walking, but Tanner mostly walked the entire time. The only times he was upset was when he would walk ahead of us in the wrong direction and then figure out that we wanted him to treck all the way back to go the correct way. 

He loved looking at the ostriches. Not your typical "eye catching" animal, so that was funny. Maybe he liked them because we've read about them in his ABC book?

It was hot and humid, which we loved! We took lots of rests to enjoy it all.

They had a really cool playground and splash zone at the zoo, too.

At one rest stop, Tanner became a T-rex on the benches. 

There was also a huge indoor rain forest exhibit. Can't wait to go there in the winter.

Look at all the little otters!

SPAM Museum

Niagara Caves

This cave is an hour from our house. It goes 200 feet below the surface, it has awesome rock formations, fossils along the walls, and a waterfall inside! Tanner loves the show Dinosaur Train, so we were "nature trackers" through the whole thing, finding fossils and rocks. He loved all of it, except for when a man sneezed in one of the narrow corridors. It vibrated through the cave and freaked Tanner out. Haha. 

My mom was here at this point, too, so she got to enjoy the adventure with us!  

I was really proud of carrying Tanner through about 1/2 of the tour, despite my ongoing back pain. It's hard holding my babies with such a weak back, but this backpack wasn't too bad.

Needless to say, these boys got tuckered out from all the adventures!

Getting Auntie Desha

Jeremy was on an overnight business trip in Chicago. He landed in Minneapolis at 1:00 on Thursday, Aug 15. So I drove the boys up to get him. We spent the afternoon and evening at IKEA to get some more things for the house and to kill time before getting Auntie Desha. We had a fun time chillin' and playin' along the way.

Dallin fell asleep in Jeremy's arms.

Tanner ran around the store with a stuffed ball that was on display. We just threw it from one area to the next to get him to move through the store. When we were in the big warehouse, I went to feed Dallin. Jeremy was loading our carts when Tanner disappeared into the giant shelves of boxes and crates. Jeremy called and searched for Tanner, but to no avail. Jeremy talked with the workers and they put out a "code blue" search for a little 2 year old boy. A few minutes later, Jeremy found Tanner 7 isles away, which is like a quarter of a mile, chillin' out on a couch with some strangers. The little punk!

Here we are waiting in the check out line. It was a long wait.

After IKEA, it was perfect timing to pick up Desha from the airport. We were so glad to see her. 

On Friday night, Jeremy and Tanner went camping with the church "father-son" campout. Desha, Dallin, and I went to Piggy's Blues, where they serve Hormel pork.

On Saturday morning, we left to go meet up with the camping boys. We were a little late, so everyone had left the campground except Jeremy and Tanner. We found them like this.

Dallin joined in.

Jeremy and Tanner showed us an itty bitty trail that they went hiking on. Tanner loved doing it the evening before with his Dada. He was a little chatterbox during their hikes on the trail over and over again. "I like hiking, Dada. Good hiking Dada!"

Then, we all went to the Zollman Zoo, which is part of the campground park. We went there earlier this summer, and Tanner loved it again!!

Watching the wolf.

Desha and Dallin watching the bear.

While sitting for a rest by the turkeys, Tanner wandered off. Jeremy called out, "Tanner, where did you go?" Just then, he saw a little face on the other side of the turkey cage pop up above the wooden barrier. "I'm right here!" Tanner was climbing the turkey cage!

And that's how our weekend of getting Auntie went. She stayed with us for 2 weeks, so there are more pics and stories to come!

More Summer Living

The Grush Farm

Some friends from church live on a farm that they bought last year. The place is gorgeous! They have lots of play area, chickens, huge gardens, horseshoe, play houses, fire pits, horses, etc. They had us over for Sunday dinner a few weeks ago, and we had so much fun! We went back again this week and they gave us tons of fresh produce!!

Hormel Nature Center

The nature center in town is AWESOME! I took the boys there a few weeks ago on my own. They have lots of taxidermy animals to look at and touch. The bear and bison freaked Tanner out. He was also uneasy about the live snake and kept saying "I scared, Mama. I getting scared." 

 They have a special room for preschoolers. Tanner loved the blocks made out of branches and trunks from different trees in the area.

They also had a sand station for learning about tracking different animals and identifying footprints, coloring and print making station, flannel boards, chalk wall, mini library, and look-out points to see birds and animals outside. After playing in the learning room, we went on a nature hike through the trails in the woods. I was so glad to find out the place is open all year long!

(Tanner's tower on left, mine on right)

 Bath time for Dallin

It is so fun giving Dallin his bath. He makes the funniest faces while I get him ready and put him in the water.