Cycling with Sarah!

With the boys at school today, mommy working the day shift, and the sunny day approaching 50 degrees, daddy decided to get out his new birthday present (bike trailer) and take Sarah for a bike ride! Here she is in her new bunny helmet.



Bicycling big rig! Sarah's already in the trailer and raring to go! We rode to the Coon Rapids Dam and back, for a total of 11 miles.



On the way to the dam, we saw a pair of deer! We stopped, and they didn't even run away. When daddy pointed them out to Sarah, she said, "Oh!"



At the dam.



While we walked around at the dam, Rich ran into John, a friend of his, Roger and Gloria's from the Jim Klobuchar bike ride. John is from Indiana and was visiting his son's family in the Twin Cities, and he was out walking on the dam with his two grandsons, who don't have school this week. John took this picture of us, and said to say "Hi!" to Roger and Gloria.

Cycling with Sarah, continued...

On the way back home, we just had to stop at a playground for about 40 minutes to enjoy the sun and so Sarah could have some fun. Here she is crossing a bridge ...



... on the way to the big spiral slide. Her hair got all static-y, and she went down the slide about 12 or 15 times.



Riding the teeter-totter. She yelled "Boing! Boing! Boing!"



Wheeee! Swings! Daddy swung, too. We saw many robins looking for worms while we were on the swings, and Sarah (of course) named them: "Daddy! Mommy! Sarah!" When we got off the swings, she decided to chase a few robins to make them fly away.


The last few miles home knocked Sarah right out! It was a good day. Mommy and the boys have to come along next time!

First bike ride of 2008!

Winter has been hanging on a little too long here in Minnesota this year, so when the temps hit 40 degrees today, Erin and Rich decided to get out on their bikes in spite of the 20 mph winds. Here's Erin on the new Raleigh Cadent 2.0 bike she got last week at Erik's Bike Shop ... courtesy of Dubya's economic stimulus package! Memorable Erin quote of the day: "My butt! My butt!"


We rode from our house to the Coon Rapids Dam on the Mississippi River and back, for a total of 10.72 miles.


Pippi Longstocking on the river.


Awwww!

Rich's birthday (and Sarah and Grandpa G's)

Today was Rich's 42nd birthday, and Grandma and Grandpa Gordon were in town to celebrate it along with Sarah's 2nd birthday and Grandpa's 66th birthday (on March 18). We went to eat lunch at Red Lobster, where Sarah got to watch the employees transfer a load of lobsters into the restaurant tank.



Big box o' lobsters!



"What the heck are robster craws?" Sarah got to touch a few lobsters.


More presents!

The three birthday kids blew out the candles on another cake!



Sarah loves to share frosting!



Sharing cake with mommy.


The only way to make these two cuties any sweeter would be to smear frosting on 'em!

Honor student

Noah made the "A" honor roll at Edinbrook Elementary for the second straight trimester, with a GPA of 3.67. The school holds a special breakfast each trimester for the honor students in fifth and sixth grades, and today was the day! Here's Noah receiving his certificate from Mr. Groenke, the principal.



Noah and his classmates who received honors.



Noah with his friend Connor, who also made the honor roll.

Sarah's 2nd birthday (Ch. 1)

Sarah is normally the star of our blog, but especially today, on her second birthday. Hard to believe it's already been two years! Sarah started her big day when daddy tossed her in the bathtub to get clean.



"Hey, where did those bubbles come from???"



My name is Sarah, and I like to do drawrings! What? Don't look at my bum! Cheeky monkey!"



Pretty clothes? Check! Hairdo? Check! New water mug? Check! Horsey? Check!


The two prettiest babes on the planet.

Sarah's 2nd birthday (Ch. 2)

We ate supper at the Victory Grill, a new restaurant that opened near us this week. It was just OK, but the company was great!



We're not sure what Caleb was thinking in this photo! Maybe he got some bad water?



The two prettiest babes on the planet pop up again.



Sarah opens her present from Grandma and Grandpa Wynne. She got some new shoes and clothes!


The babes with Sarah's card from Grandma and Grandpa Wynne.

Sarah's 2nd birthday (Ch.3)

"Sarah" is Hebrew for "princess," and it just so happens that Sarah received a whole bunch of princess costumes from mommy and daddy!



Putting on earrings is hard!



Daddy's little angel, complete with wings.



Fairy princess poses proudly.


It's fun to see what you look like in the mirror!

Sarah's 2nd birthday (Ch. 4)

Mommy made Sarah a rainbow birthday cake! Sarah went with Daddy yesterday to pick out her decorations ... she chose the Care Bears, and Daddy got purple frosting for the writing, since purple is Sarah's favorite color.



Sarah loves her big brothers!



Picking at the frosting.



Daddy and Sarah.


Flying high on sugar!

Spring is coming!

We hit our first 50-degree temp of 2008 yesterday, and the snow has been melting fast! And Sarah turns 2 next week! She has had a touch of illness lately, and had her first power-barfing episode a couple of nights ago at 4 a.m., which scared her a little bit and kept mom and dad up for a couple of hours washing her bedding and comforting her. She looks pretty happy here, though!



Sarah's vocabulary has been growing quickly! Among the words she can say are poop (her first word!), teamwork (her second, thanks to the "Wonder Pets"), Mama, Daddy, Max, Harley, Noah, Lucas, Caleb, shoes, shirt, socks, hat, pants, butt, car, fly, what's that?, circle, pig, dog, cat, birdy, horse, moo, turtle, duck, frog, sheep, show, fork, spoon, munch (milk), water, Nemo, mouse, one, two, phone, sleep, baby, blanket, red, blue, purple, orange, green, please, some, run, all done!, candy, go, out, up, book, tickle, nose, heart, hot, cold, ouch, boo-boo, bite, more, fun, star, sun, towel, ball, and choo choo.



Sarah can point to (or say) the following body parts: head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, chin, hands, fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulders, arms, legs, tummy, butt, and knees.



Noah can also point to (or say) those body parts, but he was too tired from hockey and school! Noah made the A honor roll for the second consecutive trimester this past week, and he'll be recognized at a special ceremony at school on March 19. He's heading into his last trimester of sixth grade at Edinbrook, and will most likely attend seventh grade next year at Osseo Junior High.

We're Number One!

Caleb's Mite 2 Rangers hockey team finished up its season today at the Brooklyn Park Mite Jamboree. That's Caleb on the front left, in the green leggings. Coach Danny said the Rangers went the ENTIRE SEASON without a loss, and the other three teams were trying to find ways to beat them at the end. Way to go, Caleb and the Rangers! Each player received a medal, a trophy and a T-shirt, and we went to Godfather's Pizza for the end-of-year party. Noah's team has playoffs starting later this week.

Lazy Wednesday

Below-normal temps in Minnesota this week, although the sun's rays are feeling a LOT stronger! We mostly stayed inside today ... here, Sarah helps Lucas with his educational video computer.



Look who snuck up onto the couch next to Lucas!


Bad, BAD puppies, Max and Harley! Time to go to the vet to get tutored!