Happy Father's Day!

To my dad...found this great pic of you outside the YMCA with my birth announcement. I'm sure that yellow box is full of other pics to show off the day I was born and you became a dad! Right?



And to Mark...congratulations on your first cross-country road trip with your Minnesota Marbles and Texas Teapots! And no diaper bag. Where else can we go?



Happy Father's Day to Larry and all the other fathers too!

Road Trip: Days 10 & 11

No photos. Drove like a bat outta hell to get home in two days. Stopped in Des Moines for 20 containers of AE dip and a styrofoam cooler. Stopped in Wichita for the night. Made it back to San Antonio Tuesday evening to find two scorpions in the house and were reminded that two of our neighbors had moved away. : (

But still, it was good to be home.

Road Trip: Day 9

On Saturday, my friend Sarah from high school hosted a BBQ for us. Coming off the 108 degree temp on Tuesday, we were not prepared for the 50-something degree high on Saturday. I spent most of the Q wrapped in a blanket but the kids didn't seem to mind as they ran amuck over Sarah and Daniel's yard, looking for bugs and playing in the sand and on the swing set.


Sarah and Mark.


Hans and Frances.


Silly Jodi and Frank. I just noticed a hooded Jacob in the background stealing another brownie!


Baby Ben ... foreshadowing college perhaps? His parents, Rick and Maria, used to live next door to my brother Todd in Eden Prairie. Small world.



Lucy, Sarah, Frances, Jacob, Soren, Will (behind bench), Ethan, Lucas and Ben.

Road Trip: Day 8

We spent Saturday at the Minnesota Children's Museum. Light years ahead and so much nicer than the San Antonio museum, the day started with painting your own face!


The Our World exhibit, where you can play in a Metro bus, grocery store, Chinese restaurant, post office, dance club or doctor's office.



Making a music video.


Some of the LEGO Castles exhibit. Amazingly intricate LEGO castles, knights, activities, etc. = Heaven for Jacob.





The Earth exhibit spills out onto a rooftop terrace where Lucas got to paint rocks and play all sorts of musical instruments.


Inside, you can burrow in ant tunnels large enough to crawl through and pretend you're a turtle.

Road Trip: Day 7

We got to visit with my friend Linnea at another stellar McDonald's lunch (I lost count of how many). Linnea has two kids, Brenden and Cameron, who used to attend daycare with Jacob and Sarah before we moved to Texas. After lunch, we caught the movie Kung Fu Panda 2 with Cam ...


... or at least SOME of us caught the movie.


Playing around while dad visited NAPA Minneapolis.



That night, we had a nice dinner at Granite City with my brother, Brad, who is playing with a Black Sabbath tribute band and recently played a show at O'Garas in St. Paul.

Road Trip: Day 6

We went back to the Mall of America and Nickelodeon Universe for another day of rides and other fun.


Sarah was the only one who wanted to try this adventure...the Ghastly Gangplank.


You wear a rock climbing harness attached to a safety line that goes over your head that you drag around the gangplanks. Some of them are steps, plank bridges, rope bridges or tightropes.



At the very top, you walk out on a 6-foot long gangplank and ring a bell with nothing to hold on to but your safety line. But she did it and came down exhilarated!


Lucas' favorite ride was the Log Chute. Mark snapped this pic of the Harmon Killebrew Memorial from the moving log! Killebrew hit a 522-foot home run in the old Metropolitan Stadium which was demolished to make room for the MOA. This spot marks where it would have soared to. The original location of the home plate is marked in the floor with a bronze plaque.



The pictures of them coming down the Log Chute hill were hilarious. They were also $12 each. Which is why we took a picture of the picture! Can you tell Lucas is between them?


View from the Ferris Wheel.


Scariest ride ever. Yeah right.


After another full day, we hit the Taste of Vadnais. Mark's sister, Brigid, is with the Park and Rec Dept. of Vadnais Heights and she organized this annual event with food vendors, a live band and children's entertainment. It was a delicious and fun way to wind down the crazy day!

Road Trip: Day 5

Our second favorite indoor play place is Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America.

Looking down on the LegoLand area. The Transformer is two stories tall. The helicopter could fit a real person inside!



Made it down three stories to play with the Legos!


Got to hang out with Blue.


Visited the American Girl store.


Lucas' favorite ride was the Log Chute where you ride in a log thru a rolling river until you get to the top and go down a big hill.


Look closely...can you find Mark?


Jacob's favorite ride...Brain Surge. I never thought he was going to get off of it.



"Can we live here? PLEEEAASSSEEE?"

After a wild day at the Mall, we went to my brother Todd's house for dinner. I got to meet my nephew, Wally, for the first time and the cousins enjoyed playing with each other and eating apple slices on Payton's top bunk.


Group photo right before bed? We can try...


Payton in his new Texan cowboy boot slippers.