The Children's Museum

The third Sunday of each month is a free day for The Children's Museum here in St. Paul and this past Sunday we took Cole for his first time. For those of you who haven't been to the one in Minnesota let me just say it is HUGE.


There are four vast floors with so many things to look at from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. Scott went from room to room saying, "No, okay, so THIS is how I want to do Cole's room." There were hundreds of other families there and we knew it was going to get a bit wild but once Cole put on his war paint he was ready for anything.



Cole's Grandma Jane was in town for the weekend so she got the chance to witness his wild abandon first-hand.

Cole wasn't shy at all about playing with the big boys or handing items over to the cute girls.

At one point he placed his hand on the shoulder of this cute brunette girl who had to be about eight-years-old. He kept finding her room after room but I don't think she realized he was trying to hit on her. To her he probably seemed more like a pestering little brother.

Hey, I saw her first get outta here! Pretty girl, over here, remember me?

Cole tried to move on - this time with a blonde - and she was not shy at all about removing his hand from her shoulder again and again (our boy is nothing if not persistent).

Eventually he gave up on finding love and concentrated on making friends with this little boy named Ben.

When he wasn't stalking cute little girls or bouncing around with Ben he found other things to entertain and amaze himself with like snack time with Dad.

He also mastered the art of dropping balls into a hole before watching them go through a little maze and then back out another hole at the bottom.

He took time to spin a sunflower.

And of course he loved being in the Bob the Builder workshop.

To summarize, Cole just ran around the whole day squealing with excitement over all there was to see, hear, feel, and do.

And then on Monday he came down with a nasty virus! He's a trooper though and feeling better every minute.

One Last Snow Pic Before Spring!

Spring is fighting it's way through the chilly winter air but before it does I wanted to share this pic of Cole digging out. Scott was feeling a bit overwhelmed by his shoveling duties when we got snowed in so he enlisted the aid of Cole. You know what they say, 'Start 'em young. . .'

Our Day At The Zoo

The public libraries in Minnesota have this great program that enables you to get four free passes to one of many area museums and zoos.

Last Sunday we were able to take advantage of the free passes and took Cole for his first zoo outing.

The Minnesota Zoo is incredible - in the two hours we spent there we only made it through one area of the zoo so we'll definitely be going back soon.

Here are a few pics from our great day!

Oh, oh it's Magic

I don't quite remember eating my first Oreo but I do remember the picture taken of me. I had it all over my face - and for months now I have been anticipating Cole's first bite of an Oreo cookie. The other day when we were both particularly in dire need of some choco-therapy I called on Dr. Nabisco and he prescribed America's favorite cookie, the OREO. Yummy!



Just like his parents Cole experienced love at first bite. But then...



What do you mean there aren't any more cookies?


Aw, come on!

The City of Becker

Yesterday while out running errands

Cole fell asleep in his car seat.

So, what are you to do when your baby's asleep and you're at the wheel?

Take an excursion (I've been prohibited from referring to this as a road trip by the S.O.).

Grab a map or don't. Make a plan or improvise. Get a move on with some tunes on.

Yeah.


So, we decided to journey on up to the town of Becker, MN. You know we had to!

We spent a lot of time darting in and out of fun little shops with even more interesting owners -

none of whom had magnets to commemorate our 'excursion' to Becker.

Those of you who've seen our fridge know that we don't consider a trip truly done until we pick up a magnet or two. We have one from almost everywhere we've been since one became two and now that two have become three we intend to continue this tradition.
But alas, the city with our namesake was not prepared for this request - they actually thought it was bizarre until we explained the name connection - then they just thought it was funny. All in all it was a fun day and we took pics of some of Becker's landmarks.
We skipped the Becker Baptist Church, the Becker Cemetery, the Becker Athletics Club, the numerous Becker this or Becker that storefronts - to be honest we were beginning to feel a bit Beckered out by the end of the day.

Their downtown area has pennants every twenty feet or so that say WELCOME TO BECKER followed by a community sponsor's name. The water tower has Becker written on it with a rainbow going across the top.
We skipped the pic of that too but we did have several people tell us what a great place it is to live - excellent schools, booming economy, and whatnot.

We did manage to pick up a Becker Community Center tee and a great meal at Lucy's Kitchen of Becker.

Let's Go Out and Play

It's Saturday morning but for Cole it's a holiday because both Mom and Dad are home. He's running around the house harmonizing and pulling out all the cardstock he can reach out of Mom's so-called babyproofed drawers. Ha! Babyproof this! He would love to be outside because in his mind the glass is half-frosted not half frozen but in reality it is 34 below out there. The sun is shining but the wind is howling to remind you of what's really going on. So for now Cole's going to have to settle for a game of chase or 'hereyagothankyou' with Mom and Dad.