A Cold, Rainy Fall

We spent a lot of time this fall in winter wear or playing at indoor locations.  Emma had three indoor Girl Scout meetings one at the local animal shelter, one learning about wolves at the library and one at the senior home making holiday cards together.  Emma said that she enjoyed visiting with the seniors and hearing stories about their family traditions.

 We have spent lots of evenings practicing math facts with blocks, designing with Legos and working on puzzles as a family.

 When Analise went to a gymnastics birthday party, Emma and Mommy went to a trampolene park and chased each other from trampolene to trampolene.  Emma even tried climbing the indoor wall.  She was afraid to fall but was able to successfully push her feet off the wall and land on the floor.

 Strap in and let's go!

 The Stillwater Pumpkin Days

 Looking at World Record Breaking Pumpkins

 Getting ready for the big pumpkin drop.  The pumpkin was made into a pinata that candy flying with pumpkin guts upon smashing into the ground.

 Mahtomedi Fall Festival Bounce Activities

 Tons and tons of stories

 A day at the Minnesota Zoo.  We like pairie dogs and pandas.  With this said, we spent the majority of our time climbing on the natural structures within the zoo play area.

Lego Mania

 Make your own Lego Tile

 World's Largest lego puzzle.  We put together one square as a family.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with both the Walczynski family and Maas family.  The turkey was a bit overcooked, plates went missing, Dan became our Christmas tree and the girls played one too many game of Go Fish Shopkins style.  The grandmas went out and played a soccer game and we learned how to use the Sphero robotic balls.

The day after Thanksgiving, Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy and the girls went to the Works for some afternoon fun.  We played with a giant Kerplunk set, build a race car track, build a house from foam blocks area, cool activities with light and reflection.  They also had a maze with a variety of sensors. 

On Saturday we went to the James J. Hill house to take their Christmas tour.  We learned that James J. Hill met his wife when she was working at a restaurant.  He paid for her to attend a women's boarding school.  She was the oldest in the group at age 18.  Most girls that attended went as 14 year olds.  We saw one of the needlework pieces she created when she was in school.  Mommy said she would never have the patience to complete a project like the one created by Ms. Hill.  We also learned about the servants and how they were hired from different countries and many of the cooks came from New York.  Many famous people were served in the dining hall at the Hill's house.

 Analise and Mommy build a palace complete with windows and a doorway.  Analise wanted the castle to be as tall as her.

 Mirror, mirror on the wall who has the weirdiest figure of all?