Spring has sprung!

It was a beautiful 72-degree sunny day in the Twin Cities today. With the boys at their dad's and Erin at work, Sarah and Daddy decided to get out of the house and do something fun. First we visited the open house at Thunderbird Aviation, where daddy used to teach, and he ran into a few old friends there and we shared a couple of free hamburgers and watched airplanes. Then we drove to Minneapolis and daddy pulled his bike and Sarah's trailer out of the minivan, and we rode 18.5 miles on the new Midtown Greenway and around Lakes Calhoun and Harriet. It was really windy, so we went really slow going east and really FAST heading west. Sarah took her usual 30-minute catnap in her trailer. Daddy was surprised to see that the Lake Harriet Pavilion got a new paint job. It used to be blue, right Aunt Ellaina?


Paris Hilton wannabe (please God, no!) visits Lake Harriet. Daddy wanted to buy Sarah an ice cream there, but he left his money back in the van, so we settled for water, bananas and a chocolate-chip granola bar that we already had with us.


With all the wind, it was a great day for sailing!


What are you doing, Sarah? Pilates?


This flower is for all of you, my internet fans. But the granola bar is MINE!

Cheeser, cheeser!


Sorry, Sarah, but those flowers behind you kinda put yours to shame.


Sarah picked a whole BOUQUET of dandelions. Her hands were yellow!


Downtown Minneapolis, as seen from the south side of Lake Calhoun. The trails were JAMMED with walkers, bicyclists, and skaters today.

Kitty-sitting

This weekend we're taking care of a mama cat and her five kittens, who are five weeks old. Caleb's friend Caitlin is out of town with her family, so the kitties are holed up in Noah's room.


Sarah loves to hold the kittens, but she frequently has to be reminded to be gentle with them. A couple of kittens were briefly picked up by the neck!


Awww!


Kisses for kitty.

"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Well, who else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here. Oh yeah? Huh? OK." (Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver")


Tigger, the most playful kitten, waits to pounce.


Nap time.

Erin's birthday weekend

This past Saturday was Erin's 40th, er, 39th, birthday, and Rich arranged a surprise for her up at Bowstring. Erin's parents, grandmother and her sister's family were waiting at Roger and Gloria's for a surprise birthday weekend! On the way up, our family stopped in Crosby, Minn., for a play break. Here are Sarah and Lucas on a big slide.


"Whoa! It's bright outside my teepee!"


Noah, Erin, Peyton and Sarah take a paddleboat ride at Bowstring. The water was cold! Only 50 degrees!


Grandpa G shows Sarah how to play the organ.


The boys slept out in their tent the first night. They made it until 5 a.m., when it got too cold, and they came inside the house and crashed on the living-room floor.

Thanks to her great-grandma Myrtle, who came all the way from Minot, N.D., Sarah started off her Saturday with some cereal.


Peyton, Zane and Sarah played their fishing game.


Libby, Peyton, Zane and Noah on the paddleboat. Noah was the first one in the lake this year ... he was trying to fly a kite off the dock, stepped back, and went completely under.


Erin sees her party decorations for the first time.


Let's party!

The kids all crowded around Erin when it came time to open her presents.


Erin's Aunt Sue (at left) came up from Remer for the party.


Sarah loved wearing the party hats, and often made sure other people were wearing theirs.


Sarah and Grandma had fun smacking each other with their balloons.


Even Gus the Dog got into the party spirit!

Erin even got to take a few whacks at a pinata!


But she needed to take off her blindfold to actually hit it!


Mmmm! Cake and ice cream!


Harley wanted to ride in the wagon with Sarah and Peyton so bad!


Max wore Erin's party headband around for a while.

Sarah and Zane

These two cute cousins had fun playing together in the sawdust near grandpa's woodpile.

All the excitement of party day caught up with Sarah right after she finished watching "Max and Ruby," her favorite show about two bunnies.


Myrtle with her two granddaughters and all six of her great-grandchildren.


Here's most of the rest of the gang!


Our family.


Four generations of women!

Sleepy waffle-whiffer

Guess who got sleepy eating her waffles this evening? Yup ... Sarah! She went to bed at 12:30 a.m. and woke up before everyone else at 7:30 a.m., forcing Daddy to get out of bed even before the usual 8:15 a.m. buzzer.


Awww!

More cycling with Sarah

Rich has been getting in some good miles on his bicycle, now that it's warming up in MN! Sarah has been out with Daddy in her trailer about five or six times so far. On Tuesday we rode 18 miles round-trip to Elm Creek Park Reserve and back, stopping for some playtime at the HUGE playground over there. And Sarah had it all to herself!


On the captain's plank.


It's slippery coming back down!


Daddy, you're too big to be on the swinging bridge!