Monday, March 21, 2011

National Eagle Center

Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their anniversary on Friday and asked us to go to Wabasha and Lacy City, MN to help them celebrate for the weekend.  The kids left Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa and went to a toy store in Kellogg.  This was not any ordinary toy store, it was a toy store that you could play in and eat in and all kinds of stuff!  One of the highlights for Kyra for the weekend was riding on the hard carved wooden carousel that they had at the toy store.  Some how each kid came away with a bag full of toys compliments of Grandma and Grandpa.  Jed and I met up with the gang at the hotel where we were swimming like fish.  On Sunday we headed to the National Eagle Center where we learned all abot Eagles and even got to take pictures with them.  On the 20 minute drive from Lacy City to Wabasha we saw many eagles flying around the open river water.  We even stopped at one look out point and watched them for a while.  We did see a few wild ones at the National Eagle Center as well as 3 that they have at the Center that were rescued and can no longer live in the wild.  And because it is National Eagle Month they had a special show for us.  The Cincinnati Zoo brought a bird show to MN.  We walked a couple of blocks from the Eagle Center to an auditorium and enjoyed an hour long show with parrots, pengiuns, eagles and many other birds that you don't get to see every day.  Back at the Eagle Center we enjoyed a class learning all about eagles and we got to watch one eat its Sunday meal - a white rat.  The kids and Grandma sat right in front and Reagan was definately trying to find a way out when the eagle got a little nervous and was flapping it's 7 foot wing span over top of the crowd.  The other kids loved it.  On the way home we followed the river for a while and did spot some more wild eagles at a distance and one right over our heads sitting on a branch out over the road but all 4 kids were sound asleep for the two hour drive home!  It was a great weekend!!!


































Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Disney Princess On Ice

Grandma took Kyra, Carley and me to see Disney Princess on Ice last Saturday.  The girls were so excited!  They got even more excited as we neared the cities and they saw all the TALL buildings.  They enjoyed all of the people walking around, the cars going every which way and seeing Target Field again.  Kyra still talks about the good food at that game.  :-)  When we got to the Target Center it took us approximately 0.34 seconds to realize that we were going to be in the minority.  At least 75% of the 2-8 year old little girls a this event were dressed up in their princess best.  My girls...not so much.  I thought I was being the good practical Mom - dressing them in layers so that if it was cold (to keep the ice frozen) then my girls would be prepared.  In reality, not such a good Mom decision, they should have been dressed from head to toe in there dress up best - plastic crown, plastic shoes plastic dresses with beads and glitter galore...oh well, I guess I know better for next time.  We all had a great time.  The show was awesome.  It was two hours long but was so engaging that it felt like a half hour long instead - that's a good show!  On the down side, every two steps throughout the building there was another booth set up to sell Disney Princess stuff.  Okay, I get it, it's a Disney Princess show, so let's sell some paraphernalia, but seriously people, the cheapest thing I saw there was a $7 box of popcorn!  Really?  $7 for one box of popcorn?  The next cheapest was $10 for a snow cone - what?  It's ice and some color/flavor - $10???  The girls really wanted a light up wand "thingy" but alas, I was once again a bad Mom and I refused to pay $22 x 2 for a plastic tube that lights up (for the time being).  You know that as soon as we got home with it (if it even made it home without breaking or quit working) that it would be shoved in the pile of toys that seems to litter our playroom floor 110% of the time.  Okay, I am done with my rant on extremely overpriced, overrated Disney Princess paraphernalia.  Enjoy the pics!
And what do "the boys" do while the girls are at Disney Princess?  Well Legos of course.  Gavin met me at the door when we got home.  He was so excited to show me the fruit bowl that he made out of Legos.  SO PROUD!