Monday, March 28, 2011

Kansas City Weekend

We decided to surprise the kids this past weekend with a 2 day get-away to Kansas City. Here are some of the highlights!

Of course the kids were so wound up when we got to the hotel on Friday night that they didn't get to sleep until almost 10pm and then were up ready to go by 6:15 the next morning. We started out our day on Saturday at a place called Kaleidoscope, a free craft studio where kids can let their creative juices flow with card making, painting, cutting, taping, and much more. Maia was in heaven!

Matt and Caden painting a picture frame.

A look at the studio.

Maia turning the wheel on a puzzle maker. She drew a picture on a piece of cardboard and this machine turned it into a puzzle.

For lunch we went to a burger joint called Fritz's. You order your food on a phone from your booth and then little trains running on tracks above you deliver the food to your table. No need for books and crayons to keep kids occupied in this restaurant because watching the trains is enough.

Conductor Maia keeping an eye on an incoming train.

And our food is delivered!

A look at the train and tracks.

So just before this picture was taken, Caden was riding on Matt's shoulders. He asked to get down and then ran to catch up with Maia and tucked his little hand into his sister's. Although Maia and Caden love each other dearly, this isn't a super common scene in our home so we just had to get a picture of this. Usually Maia and Caden are chasing or wrestling, so this little scene of tenderness melted our hearts.

We then headed over to Science City where we were greeted by this not so friendly dinosaur.

Showing off my balancing skills! Actually the bricks suspended from the bike did all the balancing for me!

A little physics lesson.

Caden landing the space shuttle.

Look at that golf form!

Maia taking a little rest with the turtles.

Maia and a green iguana having a face-off.

Maia sporting some glasses she made at the art studio.

Enjoying the view from our 15th floor hotel room.

Local NBC piece on Joe's Place film premiere

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Israel. . .in the mind of a 5 year old

So Matt recently spent 2 weeks in Israel for work. While he was gone I spoke with the kids quite often about some of the places he would be visiting. When he returned Maia was excited to hear about floating in the Dead Sea which according to her report is easy to float in because it has lots and lots of sugar in it! Then when we were talking about the Sea of Galilee, Maia was curious as to whether Daddy had a chance to "walk on the water." Yes, these two little ones of ours sure did miss their Daddy and it is clear that they think he can do just about anything!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Thanks for visiting Nani!

My Mom came for a visit this past week. . .she probably wasn't planning on doing sledding but true to her up for anything - adventurous self, she joined us on the sledding hill. . .much to the kids' delight!

Maia was delighted that Nani could watch her at her swimming lesson.

And Nani even jumped right in at an after school playdate with Maia's good friend and neighbor, Julianna. We made quite the impressive playdoh supermarket/restaurant. Thanks for coming Mom! We love you and miss you!

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Future Snowboarder?

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Saturday Morning Breakfast Guests

I love how the relaxed nature of Saturday mornings lend themselves to fun and creative times with the kids. What started as dressing up stuffed animals led to inviting these animals to breakfast. After breakfast the animals stayed for a tea party and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves!

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